Category: Processors

AMD to finally add more cores with Zen 6, up to 24 in desktop?

News, Processors | | Jan Olšan

It feels like the competitive battle between AMD and Intel has somewhat extended into the “future dimension” of internet leaks talking about hardware that doesn’t yet exist. Recently we’ve seen news of the upcoming Nova Lake processors said to have up to 52 cores, and then about the Core Ultra 300 slated for this year. And as if on cue, “counter” leak about AMD Zen 6 processors that will face these future Intel CPUs has surfaced. Read more “AMD to finally add more cores with Zen 6, up to 24 in desktop?” »

Ryzen 5 7400F delid: Grease instead of solder in cheap AMD CPUs?

News, Processors | | Jan Olšan

Last month AMD introduced a new budget processor for the AM5 platform, the Ryzen 5 7400F. It should cost even less than the 7500F, but it’s still a full-fledged Zen 4 hexa-core with 32MB of cache and PCIe 5.0 ×16 support for the GPU, so price-wise it’s probably AMD’s best candidate for an affordable non-AM4 gaming PC. It does seem to have one drawback that sets it apart from more expensive models, though. Read more “Ryzen 5 7400F delid: Grease instead of solder in cheap AMD CPUs?” »

48 cores? Intel Nova Lake can have two CPU tiles, Ryzen-style

News, Processors | | Jan Olšan

When Intel released the long-awaited Arrow Lake processors last fall, the core count remained at 24 (8 large P-Cores and 16 smaller, efficient E-Cores), the same configuration as used by the Raptor Lake processors from 2022. There were rumors about a future upgrade to 8+32 cores, but that was axed. However, the next-generation Nova Lake in 2026 could make up for this and deliver a significant leap in PC processor performance. Read more “48 cores? Intel Nova Lake can have two CPU tiles, Ryzen-style” »

AMD releases Ryzen 5 7400F, cheapest AM5 CPU for gaming PCs

News, Processors | | Jan Olšan

AMD announced several CPUs at CES 2025 during the keynote now notorious for the absence of Radeon graphics cards  – Ryzens 9 9900X3D and 9950X3D with V-Cache, Strix Halo extreme laptop CPUs, Krackan APUs and Ryzen Z2 for handhelds. Later we found out AMD stealthily launched even more CPUs, among them Ryzen 5 9600. It turns out there is yet another potentially attractive AM5 CPU that has been launched to market in this manner. Read more “AMD releases Ryzen 5 7400F, cheapest AM5 CPU for gaming PCs” »

Intel cancels x86S, effort to clean up x86 CPUs legacy cruft

News, Processors | | Jan Olšan

In fall, we reported here that Intel’s Panther Cove CPU architecture coming in two years (not in Panther Lake CPUs though) reportedly adopts an upgrade to the x86 instruction set labeled APX and also the AVX10 SIMD instructions, which are a compromise between AVX-512 and AVX2 designed for hybrid processors. However, the x86S architecture, the third of these awaited ISA innovations, will not be coming. It has in fact been cancelled. Read more “Intel cancels x86S, effort to clean up x86 CPUs legacy cruft” »

Windows 11 requirements dropped? Unfortunately, it’s not true

Motherboards, News, Processors, Software | | Jan Olšan

Unfortunately, in this case it comes down to the saying that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Reports have appeared on the web reporting that Microsoft has changed its mind about Windows 11’s strict requirements and will allow installation on older computers without a TPM. This would save a lot of older PCs running Windows 10. No such luck though, these rumors are just a misunderstanding of old documents. Read more “Windows 11 requirements dropped? Unfortunately, it’s not true” »

Intel Core Ultra 5 245K vs. AMD R5 9600X or… R7 9700X?

Extra tests, Processors | | Ľubomír Samák

The lowest “K” model of the Intel Arrow Lake CPU family benefits, like its predecessors, from a large number of cores. Unlike them, it doesn’t have Hyper Threading, but it doesn’t lag behind compute-wise, and the Core Ultra 5 245K is more efficient. However, it’s not enough to rival the Ryzen 9000s. Not at high performance. In medium workloads, typical of gaming PCs, however, the situation turns around. Read more “Intel Core Ultra 5 245K vs. AMD R5 9600X or… R7 9700X?” »

Intel Core Ultra 9 285K: #1 in multi-threaded tasks even without HT

Extra tests, Processors | | Ľubomír Samák

A new CPU has taken the throne of absolute performance – the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K. Yes, it’s a tight race, it’s with higher power consumption and lower efficiency, but that’s a necessary tax to pay for that “absolute peak”. Sure, someone will gladly sacrifice that leadership in favor of better operating characteristics, but either way, the 24-core CPU is the one that sets the pace in compute tasks on a mainstream platform. In this case, it’s Intel LGA 1851. Read more “Intel Core Ultra 9 285K: #1 in multi-threaded tasks even without HT” »

Intel Core Ultra 7 265K: Often more efficient than Ryzen 7 9700X

Extra tests, Processors | | Ľubomír Samák

Intel Arrow Lake desktop CPUs have undergone a significant change on many levels. Aside from the new performance (P) and efficient (E) core architectures, they are now chiplet-based and have stopped using Hyper Threading, for example. At the same time, the power consumption is lower and the Core Ultra 7 265K CPU is often more power efficient compared to the competition. This even in games, which we haven’t seen before. Read more “Intel Core Ultra 7 265K: Often more efficient than Ryzen 7 9700X” »

Intel plans its own 3D V-Cache, but not for gaming CPUs

News, Processors | | Jan Olšan

AMD processors are now the performance leaders in games (people likely didn’t see this coming, back in the early Ryzen days), thanks in large part to 3D V-Cache technology boosting the L3 cache capacity to 96MB, which can hold a good part of game’s hot data. It makes sense to expect Intel to come up with something similar to catch up to AMD. After all, they once had something similar in the form of Broadwell processors with eDRAM. Read more “Intel plans its own 3D V-Cache, but not for gaming CPUs” »

Intel: Arrow lake will get AMD-style post-launch performance fixes

News, Processors | | Jan Olšan

There’s perception that AMD releases CPU rather early and tweaks the platform (firmware, drivers and other things) after the release. Performance improves as time goes on, but on the other hand, it’s not at 100% at the beginning. Ryzen 9000 really put this on display, but it looks like Intel may be the same story this year. Core Ultra 200S CPUs have allegedly not shown their real power and will get faster. Will that turn the tide? Read more “Intel: Arrow lake will get AMD-style post-launch performance fixes” »

AMD CPUs with Zen 6 architecture will still use the AM5 socket

News, Processors | | Jan Olšan

The AMD AM4 platform has a reputation for longevity. For most, it goes back to 2017 an the first Ryzen, but it’s even been used with Excavator APUs in 2016. It supports CPUs and APUs all the way up to the 2020/2021 Ryzen 5000, meaning that three Zen architecture generations of Zen can be used, which has keept older motherboards relevant way longer than is usual. It looks like AM5 platform owners will be similarly lucky. Read more “AMD CPUs with Zen 6 architecture will still use the AM5 socket” »

AMD plans Threadrippers with 3D V-Cache, X3D APUs coming too

News, Processors | | Jan Olšan

AMD has launched the Ryzen 7 9800X3D with second-generation 3D V-Cache technology with a large cache in an extra chipset, which makes it a good (currently the best) CPU for gaming. But this technology is now likely to be deployed more widely. It’s apparently coming to high-performance Threadripper processors for the first time, and could even appear in APUs, i.e. mobile processors for laptops, perhaps as Infinity Cache for their GPUs. Read more “AMD plans Threadrippers with 3D V-Cache, X3D APUs coming too” »

AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D: Top “gaming” CPU with MT perf boost

Extra tests, Processors | | Ľubomír Samák

High gaming performance is something that is kind of expected from the AMD R7 9800X3D. Compared to its predecessor (R7 7800X3D), however, the cooling options have been greatly improved, paving the way for higher clock speeds. The R7 9800X3D has thus advanced especially in terms of multithreaded, but also single-threaded performance. This makes this CPU more versatile – better able to handle multiple usage scenarios. Read more “AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D: Top “gaming” CPU with MT perf boost” »

Full of latest hardware and… surprises – SOŠE Liptovský Hrádok

Motherboards, Processors, Reportage | | Ľubomír Samák

The last stop of this year’s HWCooling Techtour. It was different, but still energetic, professional and enriching for students. In Liptovský Hrádok, we found out the “overall winner” of the skills competition and managed to do other things that we hadn’t quite done before. Third time’s the charm? Definitely. The students were (again) very active, curious and overall well prepared. Read more “Full of latest hardware and… surprises – SOŠE Liptovský Hrádok” »

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