Tech News
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PCI-Express 4.0 Performance Scaling with Radeon RX 5700 XT @ TechPowerUp
Published: Sunday, July 7, 2019 | By: DennisWith the launch of Zen 2 we also get our first look at PCI Express 4.0 and heaps more bandwidth. The question is. What can you use all that bandwidth for?
Games of course!
PCI-Express 4.0 has been one of the main new features prominently brandished on the product boxes of both the 3rd generation Ryzen desktop processors, and Radeon RX 5700 series graphics cards. We examine the performance impact of running these cards on older generations of PCIe.
A good indication that we have an increase in performance is to do an Apples to Apples test taking the faster component and using it with slower hardware. That will give you a good benchmark to compare against and with how much faster PCI Express 4.0 is it would be interesting to see exactly how it will benefit you.
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Ryzen 3900X & Ryzen 3700X Review @ Bjorn3d
Published: Sunday, July 7, 2019 | By: DennisWhen I was at Computex 2019 I had attended the opening ceremonies where Dr Lisa Su addressed the crowd with news of a 3rd generation Ryzen CPU. As Darren and I have talked on the Hardware Asylum Podcast the new 'Zen processors are rumored to be faster than the Intel parts and in the instance of teh 12-Core Ryzen 9 3900X it was faster than the $1200 12-Core Intel Core i9 9920X.
Well, it would seem that the reviews have started coming in. Lets see what they say.
The King is Dead, Long Live the King! – Ryzen 3900X & Ryzen 3700X Review
The wait for Zen 2 is over and Ryzen 3000 is here! I know I’m kinda spoiling the result by announcing the new king is here, but I don’t think anyone will be surprised with the results we will see today. AMD announced the new Ryzen 3000 series including the two CPUs we have today, the Ryzen 9 3900X and the Ryzen 7 3700X. A short while ago and when AMD demo’d the new Zen 2 based CPU via a Cinebench run head to head and beating the 8700K, I knew we would be in store for something special. How special, I was not sure and while I know, I can tell you that the mainstream king CPU the Core i9 9900K has been usurped.
I really simplified that but I hope you get the point. The CPU wars have been heating up since Zen initially launched a few years back and AMD has been slowly chiseling away at Intel’s market share primarily, but also their performance lead as well. This has been a rather quick progression but in small steps as Ryzen 1st gen and second gen used the initial Zen, then Zen+ which was a more refined version of the initial ZEN core. Now we have Zen 2 which is slated to flip the CPU market on its head if AMD’s initial claims were to be believed. And now its time to dig in and follow the path of what the new platform has to offer and what it can do.Seems they are impressed.
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Mushkin Alita Battle Angel Sweepstakes Campaign
Published: Wednesday, July 3, 2019 | By: DennisEveryone loves a little free stuff every once in awhile right??
Mushkin has you covered with their Alita campaign with some really great prizes!
The list of sponsors include:
Mushkin
AMD
ASRock
Razer
Raijink
Zytel
Zotac
ThunderX3With prizes being seperated by region. For those of you in the United States we are talking 80" Flat Panels!
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NVIDA GeForce RTX 2070 Super @ TechPowerUp
Published: Wednesday, July 3, 2019 | By: DennisWith the release of the new "Super" graphics cards from NVIDIA we should get a new group of reviews. By the looks of it aftermarket cards will be late to the party but the Founders Editions will be in the wild soon.
NVIDIA gave the GeForce RTX 20-series a midlife refresh with the new "Super" brand extension in the wake of AMD's upcoming Radeon Navi 7nm GPU. The RTX 2070 is based on the RTX 2080, which means SLI support and more shaders compared to the the original RTX 2070.
What is not all that suprising is that these cards are tuned up versions of their namesake with more memory. Makes you wonder why they are faster.
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With Great Power Comes Great Gaming: NVIDIA Launches GeForce RTX SUPER Series
Published: Wednesday, July 3, 2019 | By: Dennis*Cheesy Title*
Best-In-Class Performance, Power Efficiency, Plus Real-Time Ray Tracing for Growing Wave of Blockbuster Games
SANTA CLARA, Calif., July 02, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NVIDIA today supercharged its lineup of gaming GPUs by introducing GeForce® RTX 2060 SUPER™, GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER and GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER -- delivering best-in-class gaming performance and real time ray tracing for today’s and next-generation games.
The result of nearly a year of architectural and process optimizations, the new GeForce RTX SUPER GPUs deliver the fastest gaming performance, and the best power efficiency of any gaming GPU in their class. They also offer gamers an uncompromised combination of leading performance and cutting-edge features.
“The ecosystem driving real-time ray tracing is immense -- tens of millions of GPUs, industry standard APIs, leading game engines and an all-star roster of game franchises,” said Jeff Fisher, senior vice president of the PC business at NVIDIA. “This killer lineup of SUPER GPUs delivers even more performance for demanding PC gamers and ensures that they’re prepared for the coming wave of real-time ray tracing blockbusters.”
Ray tracing is the advanced graphics technique used to give movies their ultra-realistic visual effects. Only GeForce RTX™ GPUs use a hybrid architecture of advanced shading, programmable ray tracing and compute cores to deliver ray traced games in real time. Ray tracing is supported in industry standard APIs, including Microsoft DirectX Raytracing (DXR) and Vulkan, as well as in the game engines used by developers to create games, including Unreal Engine, Unity, Frostbite, id Tech, Northlight, 4A Engine and more.
Last month’s Computex and E3 trade events marked a milestone for real-time ray tracing, as a growing number of developers announced that they will be using it to create stunning visuals in their upcoming games. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Control, Cyberpunk 2077, Doom Eternal, Sword and Fairy 7, Watch Dogs: Legion, and Wolfenstein: Youngblood joined the list of major titles that will be using ray tracing. Battlefield V, Metro Exodus Quake II RTX, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and Stay in the Light (early access) are already shipping with ray tracing support.
The new SUPER series of RTX GPUs join the existing GeForce RTX 2060 (starting at $349, the first step up to RTX performance) and the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti (starting at $999, the best gaming GPU on the planet).
- GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER GPU - Starting at $399, Available July 9
º Up to 22% faster (average 15%) than RTX 2060
º 8GB GDDR6 - 2GB more than the RTX 2060
º Faster than GTX 1080
º 7+7 TOPs (FP32+INT32) and 57 Tensor TFLOPs
- GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER GPU - Starting at $499, Available July 9
º Up to 24% faster (average 16%) than RTX 2070
º Faster than GTX 1080 Ti
º 9+9 TOPs (FP32+INT32) and 73 Tensor TFLOPs
- GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER GPU - Starting at $699, Available July 23
º Memory speed cranked up to 15.5Gbps
º Faster than TITAN Xp
º 11+11 TOPs (FP32+INT32) and 89 Tensor TFLOPs
GeForce RTX GPUs support multiple cutting-edge and advanced gaming features. In addition to being the only GPUs capable of real-time ray tracing, they deliver an order of magnitude increase in AI processing performance with NVIDIA Deep Learning Super Sampling (up to 130 Tensor TFLOPS of horsepower), and are also the only ones that support advanced features including Mesh Shading and NVIDIA Adaptive Shading (NAS).
NAS also supports Variable Rate Shading, including motion and content adaptive shading for the highest performance and image quality, as well as Foveated Rendering, which puts the detail where the gamer is looking when used in combination with eye-tracking, to deliver next-generation VR experiences.
All NVIDIA GPUs come with GeForce Experience™, an application that makes PC gaming more accessible and provides unique, easy-to-use in-game features. GeForce Experience includes NVIDIA Highlights, which automatically captures the best gaming moments; NVIDIA Ansel, which lets gamers take stunning in-game screenshots; and NVIDIA Freestyle, which lets gamers customize their games’ appearance with more than 15 post-processing filters and 38 different configurations including settings for image sharpening, color blindness and photo-realism. Gamers can even use the special night mode, which reduces the amount of blue light emitted, so they can get to sleep easier after a night of gaming.
Super Fast. Supernatural Bundle.
For a limited time, starting on July 9, qualifying purchases of a GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER, GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER, or GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER- based graphics card or desktop PC will include a copy of two award-winning games that support real-time ray tracing, Control and Wolfenstein: Youngblood. a value of $90.Where to Buy
The GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER, RTX 2070 SUPER and RTX 2080 SUPER GPUs will be available as custom boards, including stock-clocked and factory-overclocked models, from top add-in card providers such as ASUS, Colorful, EVGA, Gainward, Galaxy, Gigabyte, Innovision 3D, MSI, Palit, PNY and Zotac and as Founders Editions from www.nvidia.com. Look for the GeForce RTX SUPER GPUs in gaming systems built by Acer, Alienware, Dell, HP and Lenovo, as well as by leading system builders worldwide.For more information on the new RTX SUPER GPUs, please visit https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/news/geforce-rtx-20-series-super-gpus and click here for a product video.
Keep Current on NVIDIA
Subscribe to the NVIDIA blog, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram, and view NVIDIA videos on YouTube and images on Flickr. - GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER GPU - Starting at $399, Available July 9
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Bitfenix Enso Mesh @ TechPowerUp
Published: Wednesday, June 26, 2019 | By: DennisThere is an interesting thing about cases and how they are designed. Sometimes the designers come up with some very unique ideas that are welcome additions to the market while other times you get a copy of a copy of a copy. Sadly, the later of these two options is what we see most of the time.
The Bitfenix Enso Mesh is a really sharp looking case, it features tempered glass, a full mesh front panel and stylish white design and interior. However, it also looks like they combined features from three other cases and just applied those to their base chassis.
For instance, I look, at the front panel and see a Phanteks side panel, I look at the side and see and Antec or Silverstone design. And, now that I think about it, the SilverStone SST-PM02 Primera might be the case I am thinking of.
The original Bitfenix Enso managed to impress with solid quality and cool looks. The Enso Mesh is built around the same base, but with much-improved airflow and accessibility to the front fans, which gives you more freedom to customize your cooling setup.
I think the Mesh is speaking mostly to the improved cooling over a totally new design.
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COMPUTEX 2019 Ended Successfully The Heat of Gaming Is Extended to the Battle of High-Performance Computing
Published: Saturday, June 1, 2019 | By: DennisYay! another Computex in the can/bag/history books whatever you wanna say. This has been a pivitoal show for me and I have seen plenty of changes over the years. In fact the first time I attended the show it was really quite tame however, the years that followed had more booth babes / show girls and the displays started to get larger.
This was when the show stopped being 100% about sales and more about marketing and brand reconition. This isn't always a bad thing but does change the dynamic and what you can expect from attending.
Below is a press release from the Computex folks talking about the show. I'll be finishing my show coverage this following week and should have a total of 19 articles posted when I am done. I say 19 but, it might be less
Despite there being only AMD stuff as "new" there was some fun stuff to see.------------------------------------
June 1, 2019 – Taipei, COMPUTEX 2019 closed today (June 1) with a huge success. In the last five days, 42,495 international buyers from 171 countries flooded into the show, a 0.5% growth from the previous year. The top 10 buyer countries are, namely, China, the US, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Germany, Malaysia, and India. Once again, COMPUTEX established the role of a leading ICT tradeshow that connects businesses along industry supply chains and opens up infinite possibilities in the tech ecosystem. In addition, InnoVEX 2019 attracted 18,251 visitors in 3 days, a 3% from the previous year, showing significant startup dynamics. During the show, 76 heavyweight buyers from around the world participated in 470 sessions of one-on-one procurement meetings. Furthermore, InnoVEX invited 45 international venture capital firms, including Samsung NEXT, LINE, Delta, China Trust, and Israel's largest fundraising platform, OurCrowd, to match with 69 startups.
Myriads of Gaming Devices Launched; New-Generation High-Performance Products Glowed
With the advancements and introduction of new AAA games based on generous production budgets and marketing cost, PC manufacturers are taking up challenges to break technological boundaries. The development of high-performance multitasking processors, graphics cards, memory, and high-end peripherals is indicating that these brands are catering to professional eSports players and enthusiastic gamers, meeting their demands and expectations for immersive gaming experiences.MSI’s flagship GT76 Titan gaming laptop showcased at COMPUTEX was armed with an Intel® Core™ i9 processor that can be overclocked to 5.0GHz across all 8 cores, while its extreme cooling capability handles the most extreme heat, granting the new GT Titan its overclocked desktop performance. ADATA showcased its XPG ORB that presents all XPG products and offers immersive experiences. ASRock introduced its Phantom Gaming motherboards while its premium Z390 Phantom Gaming X received the most attention at COMPUTEX for being the first motherboard in the world to support Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax), providing improved thermal result and superior performance.
Inspiring eSports Games Held for Charity on the International Stage
As the first charity eSports event held at COMPUTEX, ZOTAC CUP Fight for Charity LOL Tournament ended today. A total Grand Finals prize pool of US$100,000 will go towards charities including Esports Foundation in the US, Gaming Aid in Germany and Make-A-Wish Foundation. ZOTAC successfully made positive impacts and give back for a good cause.G.Skill OC World Record Stage 2019 and OC World Cup 2019—organized by G.Skill and sponsored by Samsung and Intel—ended with championship taken by Alex@ro from Romania. The 8th G.Skill OC World Record Overclocking Competition invited 15 overclockers to represent the major e-sports vendors to demonstrate the powerful hardware performance on the spot. And in addition to the overclocking contest, G.Skill Extreme Mod Stage 2019, on the other hand, invited 10 teams of talented system mod builders to bring their creativity into full play at COMPUTEX and presented 11 of the world’s most creative and special system mods.
Promising Startups From Around the World Gathered at InnoVEX, Pitch Competition Awards Delivere
As a global indicator, InnoVEX is a platform that encourages startups to show their unlimited creativity and offers publicity opportunities. Every year at InnoVEX, a pitch competition is held. This year, the total award reached US$420,000. The grand prize worthy of US$30,000 was taken by MedFluid. Omni Eyes, Mind & Idea Fly, Onesoftdigm, MedFluid, and PurCity left with Startup Terrace Awards and US$ 60,000. MTAMTech was awarded US$10,000 by Taiwania Capital and Ganzin technology received US$10,000 award by Qualcomm.For the first time, a CEO Keynote was held with COMPUTEX pre-show International Press Conference with AMD President & CEO Dr. Lisa Su as the keynote speaker. Dr. Lisa Su addressed how the next-generation of computing will drive innovation. She also invited Microsoft, ASUS, Acer and close to 20 industry partners to present the computing industry ecosystem. Leonor Lin, TAITRA Executive Vice President said, “This year, we have seen various innovative applications driven by the advancements of AI, IoT, and 5G. The technologies to process a massive amount of data and high-performance computing will be one of the most important driving forces to sustain the growth of the tech industry in the future. COMPUTEX 2019 has fulfilled its promise to build global tech ecosystems. As the scope of exhibitions and the number of participants set new records, we expect COMPUTEX to keep leading technology businesses forward to build global technology ecosystems that bring prosperity to all.”
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AMD announces next-generation products at Computex 2019
Published: Monday, May 27, 2019 | By: DennisWhat an amazing KeyNote from AMD during Computex 2019. By the time I get to posting this bit of news I'm sure EVERYONE will have gotten all the juicy specs. If not, head on over to Digitimes, they have captured everything you'll need to know.
AMD has announced high-performance 7nm-based computing and graphics products. During her Computex keynote today, AMD president and CEO Lisa Su announced a range of products including the new Zen 2 core, the 3rd Gen Ryzen desktop processor family, the X570 chipset for socket AM4, RDNA gaming architecture, and the 7nm Radeon RX 5700-series gaming graphics card family.
The Zen 2 core widely outperforms the historical generational performance improvement industry trend, up to 15% estimated instructions per clock (IPC) uplift over the predecessor Zen" architecture, according to AMD. The Zen 2 CPU core powering the next-generation Ryzen and EPYC processors also includes design improvements including lager cache sizes and a redesigned floating point engine.
On a related note I'll be posting my own take on the announcement shortly.
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LIAN LI Launches New Stylish BORA Digital Fans
Published: Saturday, May 25, 2019 | By: DennisMAY 20th, 2019, Taipei, Taiwan – LIAN LI Industrial Co. Ltd., a world leading manufacturer of aluminum chassis and peripherals, is proud to unveil the latest addition to its family of well-received RGB fan with the BORA Digital. Following the great success of the BORA and BORA Lite cooling fans, the price competitive BORA Digital is here to dominate in style with 3 frame finishes, built-in 12 addressable LEDs customizable via a RGB controller (or motherboard), and one of the most silent performances in the field, thanks to its adjustable speed and fluid dynamic bearings.
A Revolutionary Style
At last a fan that ticks all the boxes for gamers and enthusiasts alike is here, thanks to LIAN LI and the BORA Digital, an addressable RGB 120mm system fan that stands out, is efficient and stays silent. Available with frames in Silver, Space Grey and Black, the BORA Digital comes ornamented with an elegant LIAN LI logo CNC milled in aluminum at the center of the fan. Surrounding the logo, the built-in 12 addressable LEDs are tactically located to elevate the RGB experience to the next level and let the user truly customize its computer case’s style. At an MSRP of $59.99 USD, the BORA Digital includes a set of 3 fans, a controller, power cables, daisy chaining cables as well as an LED hub.16 Lighting Modes and 9 Lighting Speed Levels via an RGB Controller
A chassis is only as good looking as how it is lit, and the BORA Digital offers all the lighting effects one could desire. Customizable via an exclusive controller, enthusiasts can switch between 16 unique lighting modes and 9 progressive lighting speed levels. Because sometimes words are not enough, here is a video to experience first hand the modes available:https://youtu.be/e2Q3p-zXJSsAttention to detail is everything, that is why perfectionist will be happy to know the BORA Digital is compatible with their favorite LIAN LI STRIMER 24-pin RGB cable for a synchronized and harmonious lighting effect, as well as with a wide variety of motherboards LED management software such as the ASUS AURA Sync, GIGABYTE RGB Fusion, MSI Mystic Light Sync, and ASRock Polychrome Sync.
Unbeatable Silent Cooling Solution
LIAN LI made sure to design the BORA Digital to perform as quietly as possible. Firstly, rubber pads are located on all contact points to prevent unnecessary vibrations that may steer the gamer’s attention away from his intense gameplay. Secondly, the BORA Digital fan blades are mounted on fluid dynamic bearing which keeps friction to a minimum and provides a smooth spinning experience even at high revolution. Lastly, the fan speed can be adjusted as needed from as low as 900-1800 RPM with 19.4-29 dBA for the quietest experience. Make your PC comfortable to be around, keep its noise down with the BORA Digital.The MSRP of BORA Digital is $59.99 USD, which includes a set of 3 fans, an RGB controller, power cables, daisy chaining cables as well as an LED hub. For more information of the LIAN LI BORA Digital fan, see the official product page here: http://www.lian-li.com/bora-digital/
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MSI Lighting Graphics cards, a trip down memory lane @ Guru3D
Published: Thursday, May 23, 2019 | By: DennisThe MSI Lightning was really the first purpose built video card for overclocking. It always featured a custom cooler, factory "hot clock" and in most cases a revised design that allowed it to run better at the higher speeds.
It would seem that at Computex MSI will unveil a 10th anniversary edition of the 2080Ti Lightning and I hope it lives up to the hype.
At Computex 2019 starting in a week or two, MSI will release a 10th Anniversary Lighting edition of their graphics cards. Ten years of releasing graphics card made for the more enthusiast crowd as well as overclockers., Beefed up VRM designs, supporting overclocking software that could push the card a bit more (even despite NVIDIA did not always like that), yeah it has been a wild ride.
Maybe one of the biggest issues with the Lightning (and other purpose built video cards) is availability. Mfgs are timid when it comes to building these expensive cards due to the increased costs and reduced margins. Of course the biggest issue on top of that is the consumer and how the market has shifted from actually wanting to build a PC to "what the 'F---' is a PC?"
You also have to factor in pressure from Nvidia to "lock the chips down" to prevent costly RMA returns (again because of consumers) or just to flex their market dominance.
Guru3D has all of the MSI Lightning cards shown in a single article and to be honest it brings a tear to my eye.
