CPUID recently released version 2.06 of the globally popular free CPU-Z utility which includes updates to support reporting of a variety of recent or obscure CPU and GPU models. Intel's "Alder Lake-N", AMD's recently released "Dragon Range" mobile Zen 4 processors, Zhoaxin's KH-40000 and KX-6000G, and of course NVIDIA's RTX 4060 Ti as well as AMD's RX 7600. Most interesting of all is a small addition down at the very bottom of the list, "Preliminary support for AMD Storm Peak platform." "Storm Peak" is AMD's yet to be announced Ryzen Threadripper 7000 series which will feature "Zen 4" and hopefully heat up competition in the HEDT market. No detailed specifications or information on SKUs have been released yet with "Storm Peak" expected to receive a proper announcement sometime in Q3 2023. The mention on CPU-Z suggests that the platform is nearing market readiness, and possibly that the folks at CPUID have been seeded samples or specifications to prepare with. Threadripper 7000 is expected to be released on yet another new socket, TR5, and has been rumored to be coming in both HEDT and workstation variants.

Intel brought competition to the HEDT market for the first time in nearly 4 years with the release of their Sapphire Rapids Xeon W range of processors back in February. Xeon W features unlocked SKUs tackling AMD's Threadripper 5000 series from top to bottom; going as high as the 56-core Xeon w9-3495X at a blistering $5,889 USD to as low as ~$1,000 USD for the 12-core Xeon w5-2455X. Intel also interspersed some lower cost locked SKUs to allow system integrators to offer the new platform as workstations to the prosumer market that generally cares little about overclocking. With Intel competing directly with Threadripper again it was expected that it wouldn't be long before AMD would be cooking up a response with their latest and greatest.

ASRock, a global leader in motherboards, graphics cards, monitors, and small form factor PCs, is excited to announce its participation in the upcoming COMPUTEX Taipei 2023 after years of anticipation. ASRock will showcase a range of breathtaking innovative products and highly anticipated technology demonstrations. Attendees will have the opportunity to explore the ASRock latest products and solutions firsthand; also, get the immersive gaming experience at ASRock booth.

Unveiling the Next-Gen ASRock Monitors
ASRock is set to showcase an exciting lineup of monitors at COMPUTEX 2023, featuring six existing products along with new gaming and business models. The spotlight will be on the PG558KF and PG32UMF, two high-end monitors.

ASUS today announced the all-new 14-inch, 16:10 Chromebook CM34 Flip, delivering an exquisite blend of powerful performance and versatility to empower both work and study. This stylish laptop features up to an AMD Ryzen 5 7520C processor, and WiFi 6 and a long-lasting battery, so it's well-equipped to breeze through everyday tasks anywhere.

The versatile 360° ErgoLift hinge means Chromebook CM34 Flip has the flexibility to function in a diverse array of modes, while the optional garaged stylus enables intuitive input to jot down notes or capture ideas. To top it all off, military-grade durability, one-touch fingerprint unlock and a physical webcam shutter for instant privacy offer peace of mind—at home, in the office or classroom, or exploring the world.

AI is one of the most transformative technologies to debut in the past 40 years, but taking full advantage of its capabilities requires more than just the latest processor or graphics card. Previous major shifts in computing, like the adoption of 64-bit software and the introduction of 3D-accelerated graphics in the late 1990s, required significant software support as well as sophisticated new hardware capabilities. Today, AMD and Microsoft are stepping up to this challenge, working together to create the building blocks developers and consumers will need to take full advantage of AI both today and in the future.

While many AI tasks can run on a conventional CPU or GPU, these often aren't the ideal locations for executing a machine learning inference workload. As more AI models and workloads evolve, it will be vital to use specialized AI engines on the silicon designed specifically for AI tasks to deliver the right performance and experience to end users. The select new AMD Ryzen 7040 Series processors with Ryzen AI deliver cutting-edge AI features via a dedicated on-die processing block that's purpose-built to handle AI workloads - the first of its kind for x86 Windows 11 laptops. Integrating this functionality in ultrathin laptops will give these systems the outstanding AI performance they might not enjoy if relying on more conventional processors.

AMD's cheapest Zen 4 X3D processor is shaping up to be its most popular. Sales numbers from Germany's Mindfactory posted by TechEpiphany seemingly shows the recently launched Ryzen 7 7800X3D outselling last year's Ryzen 7 5800X3D nearly 2:1, with 4,720 7800X3Ds selling to the 5800X3D's 2,510 over a few week period. While these figures show sales for only a single region, evidence for this momentum is reflected in other regional retailers as well as some global outlets. On Amazon, for example, the 7800X3D has made a frequent appearance on the top 10 best selling CPUs list, with the rest of the Zen 4 lineup trailing well behind. Newegg reports the 7800X3D to be among the top 5 best selling CPUs on the site at time of writing. Microcenter also shows the 7800X3D and 5800X3D side-by-side in seventh and eighth places respectively for popularity.

Despite recent troubles with the AM5 platform and Zen 4 X3D processors, the Ryzen 7 7800X3D is proving to be quite a success for AMD. The 7800X3D in our review was shown to be one of the most efficient processors we've ever tested, and offered gaming performance at or near the top of the charts across the gauntlet of games and resolutions thrown at it. The staggered release of the 7000X3D lineup, with the 7950X3D and 7900X3D launching first and the 7800X3D launching later, gave early signals that AMD knew what they had and wanted to push as many early adopters away from the better value chip as they could. Pricing for the Ryzen 7 7800X3D has been steady since it released, however we've already seen retailers offering discounts on the Ryzen 9 7950X3D and Ryzen 9 7900X3D, as they presumably struggle to sell as well as the more aggressively positioned 7800X3D.

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700X has been discounted down to $294.99 in the US, which actually makes it less expensive than the Ryzen 7 7700 (non-X). Since it launched at $399.99 and later pushed down to $329.99, the latest discount makes it quite a catch. In Europe, the price is still holding at around €320, depending on the region, although it has been seen at €309 earlier.

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700X is an 8-core/16-thread Zen 4 CPU with 40 MB of cache and a 105 W TDP. It works at 4.5 GHz base and 5.4 GHz Turbo clocks. As spotted by Videocardz, the discount was available on both Amazon and Newegg but the one on Amazon has either been removed or ended and now holds at $339. It is possible that it was a limited deal coming directly from AMD. The next step is the Ryzen 7 7800X3D, but the price has not budged from $449.

AMD is reported to be reissuing its old Zen+ (12 nm) tech in order to meet demand for cheaper, lower-end systems in China, according to information released by Board Channels this week. The insider source claims that a new production order has been placed for Ryzen 3000G series APUs (requesting up to 30,000 units) and these processors are likely to be sold as part of hardware bundles with (similar vintage) low-end AM4-based motherboards - for example the B450 and A320 series, these older boards are still popular budget choices in China and readily available. The leak does not mention whether AMD is choosing to issue completely new hardware or if it is simply reproducing its 2019-era SKUs.

AMD released two Ryzen 3000G models back in 2019 - the 3400G and 3200G, both are quad-core Picasso APUs although the latter is lacking in simultaneous multithreading. It is not clear whether the super low budget AMD Athlon 3000G model will be included as part of the alleged 30K unit order. The 3000G series' onboard iGPUs (based on AMD's first generation Vega architecture) are likely preferred by the budget-conscious buyer since a discrete graphics card is not an essential part of builds intended for an office setting or a simple/functional home computer setup.

When we announced the Framework Laptop 13 (AMD Ryzen 7040 Series) last month at the Framework Next Level Event, we were only able to share a very limited set of information on what is powering it. With the processors now officially unveiled by AMD, we're able to share much more detail. We're using Ryzen 5 7640U and Ryzen 7 7840U processors, both of which offer incredible CPU and GPU performance. These are both pre-orderable today, with batches shipping as early as Q3 this year.

The Ryzen 5 7640U processor has 6 CPU cores clocked at a base frequency of 3.5 GHz and up to a max boost of 4.9 GHz, while the Ryzen 7 7840U has an amazing 8 cores and 16 processing threads clocked at a base of 3.3 GHz and up to 5.1 GHz max boost. These are all Zen 4 cores, which feature AMD's fastest processor technology ever. These chips are fabricated on TSMC's 4 nm process node, meaning that even with such high performance, they are also extremely efficient. We've designed the thermal system to be able to handle the processors at up to 28 W continuous load if you need to do some heavy crunching too.

AMD has already announced that its Ryzen 7040HS laptop processors will be shipping in April, missing its original March date. As these are still nowhere to be seen on retail/e-tail shelves, AMD has now confirmed these chips have shipped to OEMs, and it is just a matter of time before these laptops become available.

Speaking to Tom's Hardware, AMD representative confirmed that the company has start to ramp production of Ryzen 7040 series chips, started shipping those chips last quarter, and the first Ryzen 7040HS systems should hit retail/e-tail "over the next several weeks". As said, it appears that AMD's original statement regarding the delay was about shipping those chips to OEMs, rather than OEMs shipping actual products.

AMD is late in releasing its Phoenix Zen 4 lineup of mobile APUs - the original April launch has been missed, and laptops bearing Ryzen 7000HS & H-series are expected to arrive at some point this month. Preview hardware has made its way into the hands of testers, and one particular outlet - Golden Pig Upgrade, a content creator on the Chinese Bilibili video site - has performed benchmark tests. He seems to be the first reviewer to get hands-on time with AMD Ryzen 7040 Phoenix APUs, and his findings point to class leading performance results in terms of graphical capabilities - the 7840HS (packing a Radeon 780M RDNA3 iGPU) is compared to the Rembrandt-based 7735H, as well as a pair of Intel Raptor Lake CPUs - the 13700H and 13500H models.

AMD's newest Phoenix APU is the group leader in GPU performance stakes, but the jump up from the last-gen Rembrandt (RDNA2 iGPU) chip is not all that significant. VideoCardz reckons that the Radeon 780M integrated GPU is roughly equivalent to an NVIDIA GeForce MX550 dGPU and not far off from a GeForce GTX 1650 Max-Q graphics card (in terms of benchmark performance). According to AMD's internal documentation the RDNA 3 core architecture utilized in Phoenix APUs is referred to as "2.5" so this perhaps explains why the 780M is not doing laps around its older silbing(s).

DigiTimes has been informed that many of TSMC's customers are likely to postpone usage of the foundry's 3 nm process node into 2024 or beyond, due to a slowdown in the PC hardware market - insider sources suggest that AMD will be sticking with 4 nm and 6 nm nodes for many of its future CPU lineups. The next generation Zen 5-based family is expected to launch in 2024 - which aligns with information issued by AMD via financial reports - a roadmap (based on DigiTime's findings) points to AMD offering a range of mainstream desktop (Granite Ridge) and laptop/mobile CPUs (Fire Range).

No high-end desktop (HEDT) options are marked for release in 2024, and DigiTimes reckons that AMD is planning to release Zen 5-based Ryzen Threadripper processors in the following year. The codename for the Ryzen Threadripper 8000-series seems to be "Shimada Peak" and industry experts think that these HEDT CPUs will eventually succeed the Threadripper "Storm Peak" 7000 family (due for launch later in 2023) - a shared socket design is also a likelihood due to AMD wanting to stretch out the lifespan of mounting connection standards by avoiding costly decisions - their sTRX4/SP3r3 socket only survived for one generation.

According to investigations undertaken by Igor's Lab and Hardware Busters this week it seems that AMD's problematic lineup of Ryzen 7000 & Ryzen 7000X3D CPUs are consuming unexpected levels of power in short bursts when running in idle mode. In conducting more in-depth tests over the past few days, Igor Wallossek and (outgoing TPU PSU expert) Aristeidis Bitziopoulos have both found that that the aforementioned AMD processors are producing (to the testers' slight concern) power spikes in situations involving minimal computing activity. It is not currently known whether the sharp climbs in power consumption are in any way related to the burnout issues experienced by unlucky overclockers this week.

Aris/crmaris (at Hardware Busters) says that he has tested many of the affected processors in the past, but was not privy to any major problems relating to burnout or power consumption spikes. By running new tests this week, using his own Powenetics v2 board, Aris has found out that: "There are some interesting facts here, which I didn't pay much attention to during the reviews because I only look at the average values and not the peak ones in idle. In the 7950X3D, there is a high spike during idle at 130 W, which is unjustified because the peak CPU load is only 3.53%. Even with the Curve Optimized enabled and a -15 setting, the idle power spike is close to 125 W, so something is happening there. On the 7800X3D, the spike during idle stays low, but this is not the case for the 7900X, which has an idle power spike at 109 W, while the peak CPU load at idle was at 5.12%, so these 109 W are not justified, either."

MSI has been in close contact with the AMD and has referred to their official technical guidance to provide users with a safer and more optimized hardware environment. To achieve this goal, MSI will release a new list of BIOS updates specifically for the AMD Ryzen 7000 series CPU.

According to AMD's design specifications, the Ryzen 7000X3D series CPU does not fully support overclocking or overvoltage adjustments, including CPU ratio and CPU Vcore voltage. However, AMD EXPO technology can be used to optimize memory performance by appropriately increasing the CPU SoC voltage to ensure system stability when operating at higher memory frequencies.

The recent escalating AMD Ryzen 7000X3D Series CPU issue has come to our attention, ASRock treats this type of incident seriously and would like to offer the most updated BIOS across our entire range of AM5 motherboards. ASRock has released new BIOS as well as A-Tuning utility for following AM5 chipset motherboards which limit CPU voltage on certain power rails. We encourage users to update to the new BIOS with the appropriate voltage settings urgently to ensure system stability and durability.

Apart from bringing rock-solid hardware products to PC users, ASRock is also keen on working with AMD and integrating the most up to date technologies into its products. If you're unsure about the risk of using old BIOS version, please seek professional support from ASRock customer service.

Today, AMD introduced the new Ryzen Z1 Series processors, the ultimate high-performance processor for handheld PC gaming consoles. The Ryzen Z1 Series features two high performance processors, the Ryzen Z1 and Ryzen Z1 Extreme, both offering industry-leading gaming experiences, uncompromising battery life, and featuring AMD RDNA 3 architecture-based graphics. AMD is partnering with Asus to launch the first Ryzen Z1 Series device with the Asus ROG Ally, a premium handheld PC console, featuring up to a Ryzen Z1 Extreme processor.

"At AMD, we're continually advancing the next generation of gaming experiences, from consoles to desktops to on-the-go handheld devices," said Jason Banta, corporate vice president and general manager, Client OEM at AMD. "Ryzen Z1 processors deliver gamers an elite gaming experience and extreme portability in exciting gaming form factors."

ASUS has released an official statement regarding the recently discovered issues with AMD Ryzen 7000 series CPUs, especially the Ryzen 7000X3D series. ASUS has also released EFI updates on Friday, that include thermal monitoring mechanism to protect motherboards and CPUs and is working on new updates that should be available soon and define new rules for AMD Expo and SoC voltage, which appear to be the main issue related to the CPU VDDIO/MC voltages.

We have already covered the first reports of damaged Ryzen 7000X3D series CPUs that suffered physical damage, and some motherboard manufacturers have already released new BIOS updates, including MSI. In the meantime, Roman "Der8auer" Hartung has also discovered that the issue might not be just limited to the Ryzen 7000X3D series, but could also impact the Ryzen 7000 X-series CPUs. Although there were no earlier reports on such issues, AMD Expo appears to be the main source of the problem and users can either disable it or manually set the SoC voltage, at least until motherboard makers come up with new BIOS updates or we hear an official statement from AMD.

GEEKOM is thrilled to announce the release of the GEEKOM AS 6, an AMD-powered mini PC. This powerful, feature-packed PC is the result of an exclusive collaboration between GEEKOM and ASUS, with these two industry-leading companies teaming up to co-develop a Mini PC with better overall performance than the Intel NUC 13 Pro Arena Canyon, making it the best choice for the gaming and office of the future!

GEEKOM and ASUS always strive to bring users the most optimal mini PC experience, and the AS 6 is proof of that commitment. The AS 6, powered by the AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX processor, delivers unprecedented levels of performance to effortlessly handle any task-from playing the latest games to intensive office work. It is truly eye-opening to discover that the AMD Radeon Graphics 680M in the AS 6 boasts a staggering performance improvement of nearly 90% compared to Intel Iris Xe Graphics in the NUC 13 Pro. And the new Radeon graphics technology combined with ultrafast DDR5 memory offers up to 2x faster game performance than the last gen.

Acer today announced the new Acer Swift X 16 (SFX16-61G), designed to bring out one's creativity through a suite of performance-packed features for graphic designing, 3D rendering and video editing. The creator laptop brings captivating color and clarity with an option for a 16:10 OLED display supporting 100% DCI-P3 and 500 nits peak brightness.

Combining an attractive design and powerful performance, the Swift X 16 comes in a refined 17.9 mm thin design with up to the AMD Ryzen 9 7940H processor and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Laptop GPUs with NVIDIA Studio Drivers to help take creative projects to the next level. It also comes packed with a TwinAir cooling system, a larger battery, and all the vital connection ports for enhanced productivity. Video calls and streaming have never been better as the RTX laptop utilizes a 1080p FHD camera that uses Acer's Temporal Noise Reduction (TNR) and its suite of AI technologies for clear and crisp videos.

AMD today announced the availability of its high-performance AMD Ryzen Embedded 5000 Series, a new solution for customers requiring power-efficient processors optimized for "always on" networking firewalls, network-attached storage systems and other security applications. The Ryzen Embedded 5000 Series rounds out the "Zen 3"-based AMD embedded processor portfolio which also includes the Ryzen Embedded V3000 and EPYC Embedded 7000 series families.

Built on 7 nm technology with planned five-year manufacturing availability, and equipped with 6, 8, 12 or 16 cores and 24 lanes of PCIe Gen 4 connectivity, Ryzen Embedded 5000 Series processors are designed for enterprise reliability to support the consistent uptime requirements needed by security and networking customers. Ryzen Embedded 5000 Series processors include robust reliability, availability and serviceability (RAS) features, including an ECC-supported memory subsystem. With a thermal design power (TDP) profile ranging from 65 W to 105 W, Ryzen Embedded 5000 processors enable the reduction of overall system cooling footprint for space-constrained and cost-sensitive applications.

IBASE Technology Inc, a world leader in the manufacture of embedded boards and solutions, rolls out the 5G-enabled MI993 Mini-ITX motherboard based on the powerful AMD Ryzen Embedded R2000 series processor that is capable of delivering 8 cores and 16 threads, allowing users to experience faster rendering times and overall system performance. With a host of robust features including independent display with two HDMI ports and two DisplayPort, it is an ideal choice for digital signage, interactive kiosks, and other applications that require multiple displays.

The MI993 boasts two DDR4 sockets with a capacity of 32 GB of memory, ensuring smooth multitasking without slowdowns. It is equipped with dual Intel 2.5G LAN for high-speed and reliable connectivity, five USB 3.1 and two USB 2.0 ports to connect to a wide range of peripherals, as well as interface options with four serial ports, one SATA port and three M.2 sockets to support legacy devices and add expansion options as needed.

MSI Afterburner has been finally updated to a new version, the v4.6.5, bringing support for NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 series and AMD Radeon RX 7900 series graphics cards. MSI Afterburner has been one of the most popular overclocking and monitoring tools for graphics cards, especially since the EVGA Precision X has been discontinued, but it has hit a snag back in 2022 when the developer was not paid by MSI.

The latest update is a big milestone for Afterburner, as the new version 4.6.5 is a stable release and comes after the Afterburner was not updated in a while due to the fact that the developer Alexey Nicolaychuk, who goes by the name Unwinder over at Guru3D, was not paid by MSI. While there were BETA updates in the meantime, there has not been a stable release since 2019. The new version adds support for both NVIDIA RTX 40 series and AMD Radeon RX 7900 series graphics cards, adds experimental support for Intel's 13th Gen Core CPUs and AMD Ryzen 7000 series CPUs, as well as brings plenty of other fixes.

Update: Unwinder notified us that the previous stable Afterburner 4.6.4 release was published in the end of 2021 (03.12.2021).

Earlier this month, AMD wrapped up the launch of its incredible Ryzen 7000X3D processor series, which storms the company's gaming performance competitiveness against Intel back to the top, setting it up for the crucial Spring-Summer season, when PC gamers tend to upgrade and play the latest games. The 3D Vertical Cache memory deployed on the Ryzen 9 7950X3D, 7900X3D, and Ryzen 7 7800X3D, supercharges the gaming performance of these processors, and our testing has shown that the 7800X3D is all that an elite gaming PC build needs if all you're doing is playing games with some domestic productivity on the side; whereas the 7950X3D is for those into heavy content creation and application workloads besides gaming, which means AMD levels up to Intel on both fronts.

We have extensively covered the technical aspects of what 3D Vertical Cache is, and how it works, in our reviews of the 7950X3D and 7800X3D. It is a fast 64 MB slice of SRAM cache stacked on top of the 32 MB on-die L3 cache of "Zen 4" chiplets, which extends the L3 cache size to 96 MB. This has a profound impact on gaming workloads, as the CPU cores have more amount of game data at much lower latency than DRAM. As part of our coverage of the Ryzen 7000X3D processor series, we had the opportunity to interview AMD on some of the technical aspects of Ryzen 7000X3D processor series. We also took the opportunity to ask a few general questions about the Ryzen 7000 desktop processor series itself. You can also catch our interview with Robert Hallock, the former technical marketing head, for some additional questions that you may find relevant.

MINISFORUM, a leading provider of compact computing solutions, is proud to announce the launch of the Venus series UM560XT Mini PC, powered by the AMD Ryzen 5 5600H mobile processor. With its small form factor of only 128 x 126.6 x 46.5 mm, the UM560XT is a truly compact Mini PC that is perfect for various usage scenarios.

Featuring built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth capabilities, the UM560XT allows users to connect wirelessly, providing convenient connectivity options. The device is equipped with two HDMI (4K@60hz) ports and a USB Type-C (4K@60hz) port, enabling high-definition video output for an immersive visual experience. Moreover, the UM560XT comes pre-installed with Windows 11 Professional, allowing users to quickly get started with their computing tasks. The UM560XT supports dual-channel DDR4 memory and three-screen display, providing users with a seamless and efficient computing experience. Its small size combined with powerful performance makes it an ideal choice for various scenarios such as home office, entertainment, and gaming.

According to the latest information, it appears that first laptops with AMD Ryzen 7040 series APUs, code name Phoenix, will launch in late April, with U-series coming in May. AMD has previously delayed the Phoenix APUs in order to "align with platform readiness and ensure the best possible user experience," the first notebooks powered by Ryzen 7040HS series processors are expected in April.

According to Golden Pig Upgrade from Bilibili, at least the Ryzen 7840HS will launch on April 30th, and the 7840U SKU is probably expected on May 1st. As noted, AMD has announced the 7040 HS- and H-series SKUs, and has previously briefly mentioned the 15 W U-series SKUs, but has not officially unveiled any specifications. So far, three 7040 U-series SKUs have leaked online. Hopefully, AMD will share a bit more details by the end of this month.

ASUS today announced Vivobook 15X OLED (M3504), Vivobook 16X OLED (M3604), and Vivobook 17X (M3704), a trio of stylish everyday laptops smoothly powered by AMD Ryzen 7000-Series Processors. Featuring up to a power-efficient eight-core 4.5 GHz AMD Ryzen 7 7730U processor that's capable of handling all everyday tasks, 16 GB of RAM, and a 1 TB PCIe SSD, these laptops also have high-capacity up to 63 Wh batteries that offer outstanding battery life for daily productivity on the go.

Equipped with brilliant world-leading up to 4KOLED HDR Pantone Validated displays on the OLED models (M3504, M3604), or a crisp and clear FHD IPS display (M3704 only), the laptops also include a powerful DTS-tuned ASUS SonicMaster audio system for rich, immersive entertainment. Home users and remote workers will both appreciate the crystal-clear video and noise-free audio during video or audio conference calls, enabled by the FHD webcam with ASUS 3DNR technology and AI noise-canceling audio.