Category: Hardware

The Corsair H150i Elite Capellix AIO Cooler Review: Go Big Or Go Home

Corsair is one of the oldest and most reputable PC component manufacturers in the PC market. The company’s origins lie with memory-related products but, nearly two decades ago, the company slowly began diversifying into other segments of the market. While their initial attempts were reluctant, releasing but a couple of products each time, most of these attempts were highly successful and drove the company to grow massively into the entrepreneurial (and recently IPOed) giant that they are today.

These days, one of Corsair’s most successful product segments is that of all-in-one (AIO) liquid coolers – an ironic outcome considering that liquid coolers were the company’s first unsuccessful diversification attempt back in 2003. Corsair did not give up on liquid cooling though and several years later, when simple and maintenance-free AIO cooler designs appeared, Corsair successfully launched their own AIO coolers. Today, AIO coolers are one of Corsair’s most popular group of products, with the company retailing over a dozen different models at this point of time.

In this review we’re taking a look at our first cooler from Corsair’s new Elite Capellix series of AIO coolers, the H150i Elite Capellix. Like previous H150 AIO coolers, this is a 360mm (3x120mm) cooler, the largest that Corsair makes and ostensibly offering the best cooling performance thanks to its hefty radiator size. For cases that can fit the sizable cooler, the H150 series typically addresses both end of the performance spectrum, offering modest cooling at very low fan speeds (and thus noise levels), or top-tier cooling at more normal fan speeds.

For their new Elite Capellix generation of coolers, Corsair has given their product lineup another layer of polish. Along with incorporating the latest and greatest from Corsair in terms of MagLev fans and pump heads, Corsair has focused on making the Elite Capellix series “Smart” AIO coolers, adding an advanced Commander CORE module into the bundle. A combination fan and RGB lighting controller, the Commander CORE greatly enhances the programming flexibility of the cooler’s performance and lighting features, allowing it to control fans and lighting throughout an entire system.

Packaging & Bundle

We received the new H150i Elite Capellix in a long cardboard box, hinting the size of the cooler. Corsair is currently shipping most of their products in artistically similar black/yellow themed packaging and this cooler is no exception. A colorful picture of the H150i covers the relatively simple front of the packaging. Inside the box we found the cooler and its parts well protected by custom cardboard inserts.

As expected, Corsair includes all of the necessary mounting hardware into the box. The H150i Elite Capellix supports most of the current consumer CPU sockets, including sTR4/sTRX4 for AMD Threadripper CPUs, the mounting hardware for which are also included in the bundle. Corsair also includes an alternative main block cover for aesthetic purposes.

Corsair supplies a Commander CORE module alongside with the H150i Elite Capellix, which essentially is a version of the iCUE Commander Pro RGB controller that the company retails as a stand-alone product, simply tailored to control the RGB lighting of the liquid cooler instead. Nevertheless, it sports six fan power and RGB LED connectors, allowing users to install up to three additional compatible fans, enabling either push-pull configurations or the control of system fans.

The included three ML120 fans feature cutting edge magnetic levitation engines, with their specifications suggesting extraordinary longevity. Unlike all classic designs, these engines magnetically repel the fan’s rotor, greatly reducing friction. Lower friction should lead to significantly superior overall performance and longevity, as well as lower energy consumption, which explains the low current requirement for the rated speed of 2400 RPM. The fans have frosted blades and a black frame, with eight RGB LEDs each.

The Corsair H150i Elite Capellix Liquid Cooler

At first sight, Corsair’s latest liquid cooler looks deceptively simple. Its massive proportions certainly are inspiring but the simplistic appearance does not hint at how advanced this cooler is. At a high level, the design is based on the standard AIO configuration of a single radiator, two hoses, and a single block that combines the copper CPU contact plate with a mini liquid pump. Corsair went with thick-walled FEP (Fluorinated Ethylene Propylene) tubing with nylon sleeve braiding instead of the usual stiff corrugated tubing, which is more flexible and aesthetically superior.

The massive 400 mm long radiator requires a case designed to hold three 120 mm fans in the row, yet also with enough clearance to fit the extra mass of the radiator itself. It is 27 mm thick, requiring a clearance of 55 mm with the fans installed in order to fit inside a system. Size aside, the radiator is the typical dual-pass cross-flow design with tiny fins soldered on thin oblong tubes, as the vast majority of AIO cooler radiators are. Due to its thickness, the radiator’s airflow resistance is low and clearly designed to perform with very little air pressure.

The main block assembly of the H150i Elite Capellix initially appears unrefined – however, the octagonal body hides a record number of thirty-three fully programmable RGB LEDs and the top plate is removable, providing extra flexibility to users. Corsair includes two top plates in the bundle, one darker and one brighter, but the relatively simple shape of the top cover allows for very easy customization if someone has access to a 3D printer or CNC. The block is powered via the Commander CORE module and has a 3-pin motherboard connector that serves only as a tachometer for speed/health monitoring.

The octagonal copper contact plate is attached to the base of the block with eight screws. Although it is not machined to a perfect mirror finish, it is very smooth and perfectly flat, which is what matters for good thermal performance. Thermal material is pre-applied to it.

Once everything is properly connected and powered, the H150i Elite Capellix becomes a canvas full of colors. The LEDs are controlled by the Commander CORE interface and lighting effects are programmable via Corsair’s iCUE software. It is the presence of the Commander CORE module that makes the new H150i Elite Capellix so much more flexible than previous versions of the cooler – when combined with the now highly advanced iCUE software, the number of programming options are endless.

For example, users can stick with basic lighting effects that are purely aesthetic or program practical indicative lighting effects and/or reactions, such as temperature-dependent colors, alarms, and more. Additionally, the Commander CORE module paired with the iCUE software offers a complete synergy between all compatible Corsair devices, allowing inter-device manipulation and commands. For example, users could very well turn the Function row of a compatible keyboard into a lighting bar that indicates the RPM % of the cooler’s fans or change the cooler’s lighting colors based on which mouse profile is currently active. 

Testing Methodology

Although the testing of a cooler appears to be a simple task, that could not be much further from the truth. Proper thermal testing cannot be performed with a cooler mounted on a single chip, for multiple reasons. Some of these reasons include the instability of the thermal load and the inability to fully control and or monitor it, as well as the inaccuracy of the chip-integrated sensors. It is also impossible to compare results taken on different chips, let alone entirely different systems, which is a great problem when testing computer coolers, as the hardware changes every several months. Finally, testing a cooler on a typical system prevents the tester from assessing the most vital characteristic of a cooler, its absolute thermal resistance.

The absolute thermal resistance defines the absolute performance of a heatsink by indicating the temperature rise per unit of power, in our case in degrees Celsius per Watt (°C/W). In layman’s terms, if the thermal resistance of a heatsink is known, the user can assess the highest possible temperature rise of a chip over ambient by simply multiplying the maximum thermal design power (TDP) rating of the chip with it. Extracting the absolute thermal resistance of a cooler however is no simple task, as the load has to be perfectly even, steady and variable, as the thermal resistance also varies depending on the magnitude of the thermal load. Therefore, even if it would be possible to assess the thermal resistance of a cooler while it is mounted on a working chip, it would not suffice, as a large change of the thermal load can yield much different results.

Appropriate thermal testing requires the creation of a proper testing station and the use of laboratory-grade equipment. Therefore, we created a thermal testing platform with a fully controllable thermal energy source that may be used to test any kind of cooler, regardless of its design and or compatibility. The thermal cartridge inside the core of our testing station can have its power adjusted between 60 W and 340 W, in 2 W increments (and it never throttles). Furthermore, monitoring and logging of the testing process via software minimizes the possibility of human errors during testing. A multifunction data acquisition module (DAQ) is responsible for the automatic or the manual control of the testing equipment, the acquisition of the ambient and the in-core temperatures via PT100 sensors, the logging of the test results and the mathematical extraction of performance figures.

Finally, as noise measurements are a bit tricky, their measurement is being performed manually. Fans can have significant variations in speed from their rated values, thus their actual speed during the thermal testing is being recorded via a laser tachometer. The fans (and pumps, when applicable) are being powered via an adjustable, fanless desktop DC power supply and noise measurements are being taken 1 meter away from the cooler, in a straight line ahead from its fan engine. At this point we should also note that the Decibel scale is logarithmic, which means that roughly every 3 dB(A) the sound pressure doubles. Therefore, the difference of sound pressure between 30 dB(A) and 60 dB(A) is not “twice as much” but nearly a thousand times greater. The table below should help you cross-reference our test results with real-life situations.

The noise floor of our recording equipment is 30.2-30.4 dB(A), which represents a medium-sized room without any active noise sources. All of our acoustic testing takes place during night hours, minimizing the possibility of external disruptions.

Testing Results, Maximum Fan Speed

As always, we’ll start things off by testing things at full speed/performance. Our maximum speed testing is performed with both the fans and the pump powered via a 12V DC source. This input voltage should have the pump and fans matching the speed ratings of the manufacturer. According to Corsair’s specifications, the MagLev fans included with the H150i Elite Capellix should have a rotational speed of 2400 RPM. Our tachometer indicated that the fans were rotating at an average speed of 2370 RPM, very close to their rated specifications.

The Corsair H150i Elite Capellix seems to be getting the best thermal performance out of every similarly sized AIO cooler that we have tested to this date, outperforming NZXT’s X73 by a whisker. The performance seems to be fairly stable across most of the load range, offering predictable performance regarding of the load, with the exception of very low loads where the temperature difference is far too small for appropriate heat transfer between the mediums.

The average thermal resistance of 0.0704 °C/W is impressive but users need to keep in mind that this performance comes with the fans rotating at their maximum speed. With the powerful fans of the H150i Elite Capellix, this results to a sound pressure level of 43 dB(A), a relatively high figure for a CPU cooler.

Testing Results, Low Fan Speed

Using a PWM voltage regulator, we reduced the speed of the fans manually down to half their rated speed. At this setting, the 120 mm MagLev fans of the H150i Elite Capellix rotate at 1220 RPM. Since the pump’s speed cannot be controlled directly, we had the Commander CORE module attached to a PC and set the pump to operate in its “Quiet” mode while testing.

When it comes to thermal resistance, Corsair’s latest AIO cooler initially seems to be slightly outperforming all of the 360 mm coolers that we have tested to this date. The average thermal resistance of 0.0808 °C/W is almost identical to the figures we received from the recently released NZXT X73, with Corsair’s MagLev fans giving the H150i Elite Capellix a small advantage in terms of acoustics.

But if one looks at just the thermal performance charts, other implementations with significantly slower fans, including Corsair’s older H150i Pro RGB, initially seem to be performing slightly worse. A closer look reveals that the better thermal performance is due to the quick fans of the H150i Elite Capellix, resulting to significantly higher noise levels. Setting the fans to operate even slower is likely to neutralize any thermal performance advantage that the cooler has.

Thermal Resistance VS Sound Pressure Level

During our thermal resistance vs. sound pressure level test, we maintain a steady 100W thermal load and assess the overall performance of the coolers by taking multiple temperature and sound pressure level readings within the operating range of the stock cooling fans. The result is a graph that depicts the absolute thermal resistance of the cooler in comparison to the noise generated. For both the sound pressure level and absolute thermal resistance readings, lower figures are better.

This graph reveals interesting information regarding the overall performance of the H150i Elite Capellix. Although it does manage to get the best thermal performance out of every other similarly sized cooler, it can be seen that the older H150i Pro RGB actually outperforms it when taking the acoustics into account. This is because of the fast 2400 RPM fans that Corsair includes with the H150i Elite Capellix and our two-point testing methodology. Theoretically, the H150i Elite Capellix would perform identically or nearly identically with the H150i Pro RGB if both coolers were to share the same fans. It is also proof that the long and thin 360 mm radiator benefits very little from higher airflow, as its heat transfer surface is far too large to allow for significant temperature differences even if the airflow is low.

Conclusion

All-in-one CPU coolers first hit the market in force over a decade ago, which since then has allowed for more than enough time for developers to optimize their thermal performance, leaving little room for additional raw performance advancements. Nowadays, with many manufacturers retailing AIO cooler solutions, the market is pretty much saturated, a common outcome in the world of PC parts. Because of this, Corsair is always striving to maintain a competitive advantage by designing products with unique features, which is what made the release of the H150i Elite Capellix an anticipated move.

Where the H150i Elite Capellix has the lead over most of the competition is in terms of quality. Corsair ensured that their top AIO cooler is very well made, with excellent materials and a solid overall build quality. They also supply top-tier and fairly expensive MagLev cooling fans with the cooler, something that is often overlooked despite the fans being one of the most important parts of an AIO cooler.

The prime marketing feature of the H150i Elite Capellix is the included Commander CORE module and its compatibility with Corsair’s iCUE ecosystem. This opens up practically limitless user-programmable options, both aesthetic and practical. Except from the versatility that the iCUE software affords to the H150i Elite Capellix itself, it also enables greater control over other system fans and lights, allowing for system-wide lighting programming and sensory input. For example, it is easy to change the lighting of the cooler depending on which gaming profile is selected or for all compatible devices to share exactly the same lighting effect. The disadvantage of this feature is simple and obvious – this kind of total synergy only works with iCUE compatible devices, meaning that not even all of Corsair’s products are compatible with this feature.

However when it comes to performance, the H150i Elite Capellix barely any better than the H150i Pro RGB that the company released two years ago. We suspected as much from before we tested the cooler, as it is obvious that both coolers share the same radiator and tubing. The H150i Elite Capellix technically leads our thermal performance charts but the very powerful 2400 RPM fans are primarily responsible for this, which actually damage the cooler’s noise-to-performance ratio. Running the fans of the H150i Elite Capellix at the same speed as the fans of the H150i Pro RGB yields virtually the same performance, with but a tiny advantage for the H150i Elite Capellix – an advantage so small that can easily be a statistical error. Regardless, the quick fans provided with the H150i Elite Capellix offer greater versatility, as they can be programmed to stay quiet but also can be made loud if, for whatever reason, the user needs them to be.

Although the H150i Elite Capellix does not have a distinct performance advantage over the previous generation of cooler, its MSRP of $189 actually is reasonable and competitive. Despite the included Commander CORE, iCUE compatibility, and other minor upgrades, it’s the same MSRP as the older H150i Pro RGB, making for a pleasant surprise as it means Corsair hasn’t raised priced. In fact, it’s generally priced close to – or even lower than – most of its direct competition. So from a performance standpoint, although Corsair hasn’t managed to really move the needle on performance or pricing for their new cooler, the latest H150i is (still) just as competitive as the previous version.

Ultimately, this means that although we can’t recommend the H150i Elite Capellix as an upgrade over a previous-generation cooler, Corsair continues to deliver a solid AIO cooler as far as new builds are concerned. The small quality of life improvements that come with newest H150i will help ensure that Corsair keep its advantage with unique features, all the while offering a better value to users that are considering a large AIO cooler today.

Leven JPR600 2 TB NVMe SSD Review – Introduction

Leven JPR600 NVMe SSD(2 TB)

Leven is a Taiwanese company established in 1996. It’s not known very well in Europe, where Amazon is its primary retailer. The JPR600 is the best NVMe model from this company, and 2 TB is the highest available capacity. There are also two other m.2 series from Leven (JP300 and JP600) but they reach the maximum capacity of 1 TB and read/write speed of up to 2400/1200 MB/s. The JPR600 is an SSD that’s available with a storage capacity of 512GB, 1 TB, and also 2 TB. We received the biggest one and for most of the users – this capacity should be enough for most of the tasks (but the games nowadays quite easily reach over 100 GB each). The drive uses the NVMe protocol and, according to the manufacturer, this series achieves read speeds of up to 3500 MB/s and write speeds of up to 3400 MB/s (which is great although you need to remember that there are also PCIe Gen 4 NvMe 1.3 drives out there, reaching 5000 MB/s). TBW for the 2 TB version is 3300 TB which looks really good. Equipped with a heatsink to cool down the drive, this is not a budget-oriented product. You can’t fit it into your laptops, as it’s not “bare” (and removing the heatsink equals voiding the warranty). The unit follows a smaller M.2 2280 form factor (8cm), so it will fit on most ATX motherboards capable of M.2 just fine.

The new model is offered with capacities ranging from 512 GB to 2 TB. Each of these options has different specifications:

512 GB: up to 3,400 MB/s in reading and up to 2,600 MB/s in sequential writing. No IOPS/TBW data is given.

1 TB: up to 3,400 MB/s in reading and up to 3,000 MB/s in sequential writing. No IOPS/TBW data is given.

2 TB: up to 3,500 MB/s in reading and up to 3,000 MB/s in sequential writing. No IOPS/data is given. The BTW is 3300 TB which is a good result

These SSDs have been fitted with TLC NAND, and they follow the NVMe form factor. Leven offers a very nice 5-year warranty on this product. The 2 TB variant is available for about 300 EUR. But let’s have a closer look at the JPR600 model, shall we?

AMD Boosts Prices For New Ryzen 5000 Chips

With its first few generations of Ryzen desktop CPUs, chip company Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) was aiming to catch up to its larger rival Intel (NASDAQ:INTC). The third-generation Ryzen 3000 series, launched in mid-2019, largely accomplished that goal, although Intel retained a single-threaded performance advantage which made its chips ideal for gaming.

With the Ryzen 5000 series, AMD claims to have finally surpassed Intel in single-threaded performance. The company touts as much as a 26% increase in gaming performance for one of its new high-end chips compared to its predecessor, and a 7% gaming performance advantage over a comparable Intel chip. AMD is claiming that the Ryzen 9 5950X offers the highest single-threaded performance of any desktop gaming processor. That would have been unthinkable just a few years ago.

Intel’s biggest selling point for PC gamers will be gone when Ryzen 5000 series chips become available for purchase on Nov. 5, at least if AMD’s numbers are to be believed. But gamers will have to pay up for AMD’s new products.

More powerful, less affordable

The notable thing about last year’s Ryzen 3000 series chips was the pricing. The six-core, 12-thread Ryzen 3600 had a suggested price of $199, and the 12-core, 24-thread Ryzen 9 3900X was priced at $499. For use cases where single-threaded performance isn’t critical, Ryzen 3000 offered a compelling value proposition.

This time around, AMD is using its newfound performance advantage over Intel to position Ryzen as a premium product. The lowest-end chip in the lineup right now is the six-core, 12-thread Ryzen 5 5600X. The 5600X will go for $299 when it launches, 50% higher than the 3600 and 25% higher than the 3600X. Meanwhile, the Ryzen 9 5900X will succeed the 3900X at a 10% premium.

Those price premiums buy customers more performance, but they got that extra performance for nothing in previous Ryzen generations. The Ryzen 3600, for example, carried the same price as its predecessor despite substantial performance gains.

AMD’s willingness to raise prices indicates that it’s confident it can continue to win market share from Intel at higher price points. Intel’s desktop processors have been hamstrung by the company’s persistent problems with its 10 nm manufacturing process. The company’s current lineup still uses its 14 nm process, and its upcoming Rocket Lake desktop processors set to launch in the first quarter of next year are also expected to be 14 nm parts.

While Intel’s 14 nm process is heavily optimized at this point, the 7 nm process from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing that AMD uses for its Ryzen chips has erased the manufacturing edge Intel once had. Rocket Lake is expected to be based on a new architecture which should bring meaningful performance improvements, but it will arrive months later than AMD’s Ryzen 5000 series.

The potential for higher margins

Boosting prices could certainly help AMD’s profitability. The company has made good progress increasing its gross margin over the past few years, driven by a growing focus on premium products and a mix shift away from lower-margin game console chips thanks to surging demand for PC products.

The Ryzen 5000 launch also comes at a time when sales of PCs are booming. PC shipments surged nearly 13% in the third quarter due to the pandemic, the highest growth in more than a decade. This growth was concentrated in the laptop market, but the data only includes sales of pre-built systems. A sizable chunk of the desktop PC market is comprised of do-it-yourself systems. Given that sales of video game products are also soaring due to the pandemic, demand for gaming desktop PC chips is likely strong right now.

On the other hand, AMD’s new chips will launch into a highly uncertain economic environment. The U.S. economy has lost millions of jobs due to the pandemic, a winter wave of COVID-19 could force new economy-crippling stay-at-home orders later this year, and the prospect of additional economic stimulus is unclear. Elevated demand for PCs and gaming products may not last if something close to the worst-case scenario plays out.

Four generations in, Ryzen is proving to be a powerful weapon in AMD’s quest to chip away at Intel’s market share. Intel will fight back early next year with Rocket Lake, but AMD appears to have a clear advantage with its Ryzen 5000 series.

Intel quietly upgrades the Core i3-9100F processor to 10th-gen for the same price

u/Akira13645 on Reddit has observed that Intel has updated the Core i3-x100F series for the final quarter of 2020 (4Q2020). This recently-established line exists to offer budget processing without UHD graphics. The new i3-10100F still fits this mold, although it also has marked Comet Lake-afforded advantages over its predecessor.

For example, it is the first F-variant to exhibit Intel Hyper-Threading Technology – which means double the threads for its 4 cores for the first time. They can use Turbo Boost Max v2.0 for a maximal clock of 4.3GHz, whereas the i3-9100F could only go up to 4.2GHz.

The i3-10100F also now supports up to 128GB of DDR4-2666 RAM, whereas its predecessor was rated for half that much DDR4-2400 memory. There is also a maximum bandwidth of 41.6 GB/s compared to 37.5 GB/s. The Comet Lake-based i3 F variant also uses the LGA 1200 socket rather than the LGA 1151.

Then again, the two chipsets share a TDP of 65W, a 6MB cache, have 2-channel memory and are, of course, still both 14nm. The Core i3-10100F is also still pitched at low-powered PCs, probably thin clients and tablets, and has an MRSP of US$79 to $97.

GELID Slim Silence AM4: Low Profile Cooling

GELID Solutions latest offering is a low profile cooler for AMD AM4 socket based machines. If space is at a premium in your HTPC or embedded build then SLIM SILENCE AM4 may just offer the correct ratio of cooling versus size.

Measuring just 1.1 inches (28mm, 1U) tall, the SLIM SILENCE AM4 is compatible with AMD Ryzen 3 / 5 / 7 CPUs with a TDP up to 85W. It comes with a double heatpipe in the base of the heatsink optimized to provide efficient cooling considering its diminutive size. Inside the heatsink is the embedded 65mm fan, controlled using GELID PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) which controls the speed of the fan based on the temperature, running as quiet as possible but accelerating to higher speeds when needed for heavier loads.

With a $22 price tag and five years warranty this looks to be a considered choice of cooler for your HTPC setup.

AMD Ryzen 9 5900X “Vermeer” 12 Core & 24 Thread Zen 3 CPU Allegedly Up To 5 GHz With 150W TDP

Alleged specifications of AMD’s Ryzen 9 5900X “Vermeer” Desktop CPU have leaked out by Tech Tuber, PC WELT. According to the information, AMD seems to be going all out with its next-generation Zen 3 powered Ryzen lineup by offering the fastest clock speeds on a higher core count chip.

AMD Ryzen 9 5900X Zen 3 “Vermeer” CPU Alleged Specifications Leak Out – 12 Cores, 24 Threads, 5 GHz Boost Clock & 150W TDP

The source reports that AMD’s Ryzen 9 5900X is going to be the fastest chip offering for some time and it will feature a maximum of 12 cores and 24 threads. We know this from previous rumors too that AMD is preparing at least two Zen 3 “Vermeer” SKUs for the AM4 platform which would include the Ryzen 9 5900X 12 core and Ryzen 7 5800X 8 core processors.

As for the alleged specifications, the AMD Ryzen 9 5900X is said to feature an IPC improvement of up to 20%. One of the main areas of improvement where AMD has put lots of effort into tuning on Zen 3 is the clock frequencies. As such, the AMD Ryzen 9 5900X is said to reach boost clocks of up to 5 GHz. That’s a +300 MHz improvement over the Ryzen 9 3900XT and a +400 MHz improvement over the Ryzen 9 3900X in terms of boost clocks. The boost clock is for a single-core with all-core boost frequencies still being under the 5 GHz barrier but we can expect some decent clocks out of the chip.

The details also highlight that the Ryzen 9 5900X will ship with a TDP of up to 150W which is 45W higher than the Ryzen 9 3900X (105W TDP). While this is just a rumor, it seems like AMD will be trying to access extra performance by increasing the TDP of their chips and unlike Intel, their chips do sit close to the suggested TDPs while Intel’s TDPs are defined at the base frequency (PL1) with actual TDP numbers being much higher, either close or above the 200W limit. The 7nm+ process node will also help AMD keep and excel its power/performance efficiency advantage over Intel by miles.

We have already seen engineering samples running at 4.9 GHz boost clocks so 5.0 GHz won’t be that hard with the increased TDP limits. Once again, this is all a rumor so far but the Zen 3 unveil is coming next week so we will definitely be getting more information soon.

The AMD Zen 3 architecture is said to be the greatest CPU design since the original Zen. It is a chip that has been completely revamped from the group up and focuses on three key features of which include significant IPC gains, faster clocks, and higher efficiency.

AMD has so far confirmed themselves that Zen 3 brings a brand new CPU architecture, which helps deliver significant IPC gains, faster clocks, and even higher core counts than before. Some rumors have even pointed to a 17% increase in IPC and a 50% increase in Zen 3’s floating-point operations along with a major cache redesign.

We also got to see a major change to the cache design in an EPYC presentation, which showed that Zen 3 would be offering a unified cache design which should essentially double the cache that each Zen 3 core could have access compared to Zen 2.

The CPUs are also expected to get up to 200-300 MHz clock boost, which should bring Zen 3 based Ryzen processors close to the 10th Generation Intel Core offerings. That, along with the massive IPC increase and general changes to the architecture, would result in much faster performance than existing Ryzen 3000 processors, which already made a huge jump over Ryzen 2000 and Ryzen 1000 processors while being an evolutionary product rather than revolutionary, as AMD unveiled very recently.

The key thing to consider is that we will get to see the return of the chiplet architecture and AMD will retain support on the existing AM4 socket. The AM4 socket was to last until 2020 so it is likely that the Zen 3 based Ryzen 4000 CPUs would be the last family to utilize the socket before AMD goes to AM5 which would be designed around the future technologies such as DDR5 and USB 4.0. AMD’s X670 chipset was also hinted as to arrive by the end of this year and will feature enhanced PCIe Gen 4.0 support and increased I/O in the form of more M.2, SATA, and USB 3.2 ports.

It was recently confirmed by AMD that Ryzen 4000 Desktop CPUs will only be supported by 400 & 500-series chipsets while 300-series support would be left out.

AMD had also recently confirmed that Zen 3 based Ryzen 4000 desktop processors would mark the continuation of its high-performance journey. The Zen 3 architecture would be first available on the consumer desktop platform with the launch of the Vermeer family of CPUs that will replace the 3rd Gen Ryzen 3000 Matisse family of CPUs.

As of now, the competitive advantage that AMD has with its Zen 2 based Ryzen 3000 is just way too big compared to whatever Intel has in their sleeves for this year, and Zen 3 based Ryzen 4000 CPUs are going to push that envelope even further. Expect AMD to unveil its next-generation Ryzen CPUs and the underlying Zen 3 core architecture on 8th October.

ASRock Industrial 4X4 BOX-V1000M Ryzen Mini-PC Review: Finding Zen In The Small Things

Hardware Setup and Platform Analysis

The internal components of the 4X4 BOX-V1000M are packed densely together. The front panel’s two USB 2.0 ports are enabled by a daughterboard connecting to the motherboard’s USB 2.0 headers. The mounting for this daughterboard, and the SATA port / cable location make the installation of the DDR4 SODIMMs a challenging process. In fact, based on my experience, it is better to completely take out the daughterboard prior to the SODIMM installation process. Installing a 2.5″ drive is fortunately not as painful, as it is similar to the installation process in the tall NUCs from Intel, and the SATA cable is already in place inside the chassis.

The rest of the internal components are the usual suspects in a NUC targeting industrial applications – a Realtek ALC233 audio codec, an Exar SP339E serial port transceiver, and a couple of Raltek RTL8111G gigabit Ethernet controllers on one side, and a 60mm fan on top of a copper heat sink on the other side.

Once the build components were in place, it was a fairly uneventful process to complete the OS installation. The UEFI BIOS of the 4X4 BOX-V1000M is quite basic – consumers used to ASRock’s fancy GUI and plethora of value additions are bound to be disappointed with the spartan AMI BIOS interface in this ASRock Industrial system. The gallery below shows the various available BIOS options.

The block diagram of the Ryzen Embedded V-Series SoC is presented below.

The V1605B specifically provides:

2x 10GbE

1x USB 2.0

1x USB 3.1 Gen1

4x USB 3.1 Gen2

2x SATA III

The 4X4 BOX-V1000M does not use the 10GbE interfaces. It also uses the single USB 2.0 port of the SoC to drive a header on the board that enables a daughterboard downstream to provide 2x USB 2.0 ports in the front panel. The USB 3.2 Gen 1 port and one of the USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports of the SoC are left unused. Networking support is provided using PCIe lanes.

The AIDA64 system report for our 4X4 BOX-V1000M configuration provides a breakdown of the usage of the PCIe lanes and adds additional context to the above block diagram:

PCIe 3.0 x4 and a SATA port multiplexed behind the M.2 2242/2260 slot

PCIe 3.0 x1 for the Intel Wireless-AC AC3168 WLAN card

PCIe 3.0 x1 for the Realtek RTL8111G #1

PCIe 3.0 x1 for the Realtek RTL8111G #2

The absence of a discrete PCH means that there is no ‘DMI bottleneck’ at play in the SoC. Another interesting aspect is the support for four simultaneous 4Kp60 display outputs from the V1605B. The 4X4 BOX-V1000 only supports three, though, with two DP 1.2a ports and a HDMI 2.0a port.

In the remainder of this review, we will first look at various UL benchmarks, followed by miscellaneous workloads. A detailed look at the HTPC credentials of the system is followed by testing of the power consumption and thermal solution. In our recent system reviews, we have usually started off with BAPCo’s SYSmark 2018 – unfortunately, we ran into some showstopper issues with the 4X4 BOX-V1000M review configuration, as the benchmark program consistently errored out (mostly during the Photoshop CC workload component). We had seen similar problems in previous AMD-based PCs that ended up getting resolved with driver updates, but we had no such luck with this system. Incidentally, with the same GPU drivers, we were able to get the workload processed correctly on an ECS LIVA A320 sporting an AMD Athlon 3000G processor. Debugging the issue on the 4X4 BOX-V1000M beyond a few attempts was beyond the scope of this review. Hence, we decided to drop the attempt to publish SYSmark 2018 numbers for the 4×4 BOX-V1000M. 

Newegg Insider Reportedly Reveals Radeon RX 6900 XT, RX 6800XT, RX 6700 XT Specifications

It’s uncertain whether it’s pure speculation or insider information, but Newegg seems to have all the juicy details on AMD’s Radeon RX 6000-series graphics cards. In the latest installment of Newegg Insider (via VideoCardz), the U.S. retailer reportedly exposes the specifications for the Radeon RX 6900 XT, RX 6800 XT and RX 6700 XT.

Newegg Insider is a platform that offers consumers buying guides, videos and product overviews. Some of the specifications in the article appear to fall in line with a previous discovery. Since we can’t be certain if the author had access to confidential information or not, we recommend you take the specifications with a bit of salt.

A couple of things make us question the accuracy of Newegg Insider’s alleged specifications. The publication seems to think that all three RDNA 2 graphics cards will come with a 1,500 MHz base clock, which seems doubtful. This is probably conjecture since we probably won’t know the exact clock speeds until AMD announces the Radeon RX 6000 series on October 28.

Secondly, the Radeon RX 6700 XT presumably features 6GB of GDDR6 memory. If the Stream Processor (SP) count is legit, the Radeon RX 6700 XT should replace the Radeon RX 5700 XT, which has 8GB of GDDR6 memory. We wouldn’t say it’s impossible, but it’s unlikely that the successor would arrive with less memory than the model it replaces.

The confined memory interfaces show up as red flags on the map, too. However, rumors have neem brewing that AMD might have revamped the cache design on RDNA 2 to alleviate the lower memory bandwidth.

According to the Newegg Insider, the Radeon RX 6900 XT, RX 6800 XT and RX 6700 XT are equipped with the same 1,500 MHz base clock and 16 Gbps GDDR6 memory chips. 

The Radeon RX 6900 XT supposedly checks in with 5,120 SPs and 16GB of GDDR6 memory across a 256-bit memory bus. The end result is a memory bandwidth of 512 GBps.

Apparently, the Radeon RX 6800 XT lands with 3,840 SPs and leverage 12GB of GDDR6 memory. It’s plausible that the Radeon RX 6800 XT could have a 192-bit memory interface, putting the maximum theoretical bandwidth at 384 GBps.

As for the Radeon RX 6700 XT, the graphics card ostensibly has 2,560 SPs and 6GB of GDDR6 memory. The publication claims that the Radeon RX 6800 XT and the Radeon RX 6700 XT offer the same level of memory bandwidth, albeit the latter having 6GB instead of 12GB.

The final bit of information from the article shows that the Radeon RX 6900 XT, RX 6800 XT and RX 6700 XT might sport TDP (thermal design power) ratings of 300W, 200W, and 150W, respectively.

Admittedly, there are still a lot of questions surrounding the Radeon RX 6000 series. Lucky for us, AMD will have all the answers for us in a month.

Intel Announces 10nm SuperFin Atom x6000E Elkhart Lake, Celeron and Pentium CPUs

Intel announced its new Atom x6000E series ‘Elkhart Lake’ of processors today, along with Pentium and Celeron N and J series chips, all targeted at industrial, embedded, and IoT applications. Intel is also pressing its Tiger Lake-UP3 chips into service for edge applications that require a higher level of performance. 

The Atom x6000E, Pentium, and Celeron processors feature either dual- or quad-core Tremont designs. Base frequencies for the Atom models vary between 1.2 to 1.8 GHz, while boost speeds top at at 3.0 GHz for chips that come with the feature. The Atom chips serve the 4.5W to 12W TDP range, while Intel splits the Pentium and Celeron processors into 6.5W and 10W variants. 

All models have baked in support for up to 64GB of dual-channel DDR4-3200 or LPDDR4x-4267 memory, much like the Tiger Lake processors, and come in BGA-mounted packages, meaning they aren’t socketed processors. Intel also segments the stack by only providing ECC support for the Atom processors. 

The lineup comes with Gen11 graphics, which Intel says offers up to twice the performance of the Gen9 graphics found on prior-gen models. Atom also takes a step forward, courtesy of the Tremont architecture, to notch a 1.7X gain in single-threaded workloads and 1.5X gain in multi-threaded work over previous-gen Goldmont Plus. 

As we see with chips destined for the IoT space, Intel offers a seven to ten-year support window, and that includes ensuring the chips will be available throughout that same window. Intel also leans in on AI support with this generation, including support for the OpenVINO toolkit that includes containerized packages to speed deployment of automation, sensing, and vision applications. 

Tiger Lake-UP3

Intel is also pressing its Tiger Lake-UP3 chips into service for applications that require a higher level of performance. These chips come with all of the normal trimmings of the Tiger Lake processors, which you can read about in-depth here, like the 10nm SuperFin process, Xe LP graphics, Thunderbolt 4, and support for AVX-512 and VNNI. 

Newegg Mistakenly Lists Pricing For Custom GeForce RTX 3090 GPUs

The GeForce RTX 3090, which will likely destroy even the fastest gaming graphics card, has already gone up on Newegg. Although the U.S. retailer doesn’t publicly disclose the pricing, a resourceful Redditor has discovered a way to uncover the prices for the different custom models. We confirmed the postings, and even found a few extra. 

The GeForce RTX 3090 is scheduled to go on sale on September 24, just a couple of days from now. Nvidia itself will charge $1,499 for the Founders Edition, but there will be tons of custom options for those of you that don’t dig Nvidia’s unconventional cooler design or the 12-pin PCIe power connector. However, it appears that you might have to pay a small premium for custom cards (as expected).

Presently, Newegg has posed 14 custom GeForce RTX 3090 SKUs that hail from the major players on the market, including Asus, EVGA, Gigabyte and Zotac. Nevertheless, only eight of the listed SKUs have believable real price tags. The remaining postings seemingly have placeholder pricing as they exceed the $5,000 mark. The GeForce RTX 3090 is going to be expensive, but not that expensive.

Gamers that want to get something that’s closest in pricing to the Founders Edition will find refuge in Asus’ TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 3090, which Newegg lists for $1,499.99. The triple-fan graphics card has a boost clock up to 1,725 MHz, a tiny 1.8% upgrade over the Founders Edition. Moreover, the TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 3090 relies on a pair of 8-pin PCIe power connectors in lieu of the 12-pin PCIe power connector that Nvidia is trying to push.

At $1,799.99 a pop, the Asus ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3090 OC Edition and EVGA GeForce RTX 3090 FTW3 Ultra Gaming are the two most expensive custom iterations of the GeForce RTX 3090. 

Asus is still reluctant to expose the clock speeds for the ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3090 OC Edition. On the flipside, Newegg lists the EVGA GeForce RTX 3090 FTW3 Ultra Gaming with a 1,800 MHz boost clock, which represents a 6.2% increase in comparison to the GeForce RTX 3090 Founders Edition. Being heavily factory-overclocked models, both have steeper power requirements and command three 8-pin PCIe power connectors.

When it comes to specifications and steep price tags, we expect MSI’s GeForce RTX 3090 Gaming X Trio or Gigabyte’s Aorus RTX 3090 Xtreme to be at the same caliber as the Asus and EVGA models.

Official availability of these cards is just days away on 9/24, at which time Newegg and the third-party GPU makers will whip the covers off of full pricing and specs for the RTX 3090. We just hope the cards don’t suffer from the soul-crushing shortages we see with the RTX 3080.