AMD sure seemed to take the fight right up to NVIDIA's alley with the launch of the new Radeon RX 6000 series GPUs. While AMD's performance numbers during the keynote were definitely welcomed, the company didn't fully address two pertinent features — ray tracing and super sampling.
There are still only a limited number of games that support ray tracing and/or NVIDIA's deep learning super sampling (DLSS). However, DLSS has been shown to be very useful in generating excellent image quality and high frame rates as is evident in games such as Death Stranding. While NVIDIA may still have the edge for now in implementing super sampling, AMD may not actually be that far behind.
Back during GDC 2019, Microsoft gave a glimpse of DirectML super-resolution functions by upscaling a 540p image to 1080p and a 1080p image to 4K. When tested on an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti, DirectML allowed for a low latency of 15 ms for a 540p to 1080p upscale with high frame rates up to 67 fps compared to the original TensorFlow model that had a 55 ms latency and ran at 18 fps. The Xbox Series X and Series S are also said to leverage DirectML super sampling.
AMD's implementation of super sampling is likely to be based on DirectML and will be part of FidelityFX. The Vergenotes that AMD's offering will be open source and cross-platform. This means that the PlayStation 5 is also likely to get super sampling support at a later date. However, the possibility of the feature being available on Radeon RX 6000 series cards on launch day is highly unlikely.
That being said, Alienware co-founder and now Chief Gaming Architect at AMD, Frank Azor, has confirmed that more information about ray tracing and super sampling will be available sometime before launch date. So even though the tech may not be fully ready for prime time, we might soon get to see some glimpses of how AMD plans to take it forward.
MediaTek passed the past years in a quite irrelevant position. The company couldn’t find a way to compete in the flagship segment, and its mid-range SoCs were far from being impressive. Everything started to change with the introduction of its Helio G90T gaming chipset in the last year. After the arrival of an excellent gaming SoC, OEMs started to look again at the Taiwanese chipmaker direction. This year, the company nailed it with the launch of its 5G-ready Dimensity lineup of chipsets. The company really developed excellent chipsets with cutting-edge technology, strong performance, power efficiency, and more importantly, phones with it were cheaper than ones sporting Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 765G. The Taiwanese chipmaker forced its US rival to quickly deploy more 5G chipsets for the mid-range segment. According to a recent report, MediaTek has more chipsets in tow.
According to the popular Chinese leakster, Digital Chat Station, the company is preparing two new chipsets for the market. The two new chipsets are known as MT6839 and MT6891. They’ll be based on the 5nm or 6nm nodes and will offer high-performance thanks to the presence of a more powerful ARM Cortex-A78 core. While the marketing names of these chipsets are unknown, we have more than enough reasons to believe that they will enter the very successful Dimensity lineup.
The two chipsets bring significant improvements over the MediaTek Dimensity 1000+
Interestingly enough, MediaTek’s most powerful chipset is the Dimensity 1000+. It comes with Cortex-A77 cores and it was developed on a 7nm process. Therefore, the new chips will bring significant boosts in performance and will also be more power-efficient than the company’s current offering. Of course, we expect the duo of chipsets to feature 5G modems. After all, there’s no reason to skip the fifth-gen network nowadays. The Dimensity lineup helped more people to get their hands on a 5G-ready smartphone. We believe that the company will keep this legacy in the next year.
Unfortunately, there are no details regarding the availability of the new processors. However, Digital Chat Station says that the development is progressive at a faster pace than last year’s chips. So they’ll arrive much earlier than their predecessors. We expect to hear more details in the coming weeks. Moreover, we wouldn’t be surprised to see MediaTek announcing the new chipsets before the end of 2020. The Taiwanese chipmaker should ramp up its production due to increased demand. After all, Huawei will probably be a strong user of its chipsets in the next year.
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The Moto G 5G Plus is the most affordable 5G Motorola smartphone on the market right now, but leaked info has revealed that there will soon be an even cheaper model that ditches the ‘Plus’ branding.
A big battery to go with the big OLED screen
Codenamed ‘Kiev’ and set to be marketed as the ‘Motorola Moto G 5G’ across international markets, the smartphone in question boasts the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 750G chipset on the inside. The performance downgrade versus the Plus-branded model, which is powered by the Snapdragon 765, should be minimal. On a related note, the chipset is supported by 6GB of RAM and 128GB of expandable internal storage.
On the outside, the lack of Plus branding hasn’t translated into a smaller package. Motorola has fitted the Moto G 5G with a 6.66-inch OLED screen with support for a Full-HD+ resolution, HDR content, and a 60Hz refresh rate.
As per a leaked image, the switch to OLED also brings a centered punch hole rather than one positioned in the left or right corner. Bezels, on the other hand, are exactly what you’d expect – slim with a thicker chin.
Motorola has become known for its generous batteries in recent years and that trend continues with the Moto G 5G. Specifically, it has been fitted with a 5,000mAh cell that presumably supports some form of fast charging.
As for the software side of things, customers can expect Android 10 straight out of the box, although an update to Android 11 at some point next year is likely. Other features include NFC and a Google Assistant button on the international model.
The Moto G 5G has a telephoto camera on the back
Smartphone manufacturers love to fit their cheaper models with loads of cameras regardless of their usefulness, but Motorola’s setup includes at least two useful ones. The Moto G 5G boasts the same 48-megapixel main shooter as its pricier sibling.
There’s also an 8-megapixel telephoto camera, which is something you don’t often find outside of the flagship segment, and a 2-megapixel depth sensor for bokeh shots. The latter’s use is limited, but it allows Motorola to market this as a triple-camera setup.
On the selfie front, a 16-megapixel sensor has been selected.
Motorola Moto G 5G announcement, release date, carrier availability
The Motorola Moto G 5G Plus hit shelves in the United States under the Motorola One 5G branding. Motorola has plans to offer the standard Moto G 5G in the US too, although it’s unclear if there will be a name change.
One thing that does seem certain, however, is Motorola’s plans to offer the smartphone through Verizon. It’ll ditch the Google Assistant button and will probably be a UW variant that can tap into Verizon’s Ultra Wideband network.
There's no word yet on when Motorola will announce this product or whether other carriers will offer it, but an announcement at some point in November does seem to be on the cards. After all, it'd give both Motorola and its partnering carriers the opportunity to milk the holiday season for all its got.
The Moto G 5G Plus
Arriving alongside the Moto G 5G is likely to be the Moto G9 Power, although the latter isn't expected to be available in the United States and will instead be focused on Europe and other international markets.
AMD has shared some fresh benchmarks for its incoming Big Navi graphics cards, and they’ll likely have Nvidia worrying even more about the RX 6000 series.
The new benchmarks shared on AMD’s website are drawn from 10 games, and show performance at both 4K and 1440p, with the full PC spec provided. The testbed rig was powered by a Ryzen 9 5900X processor (in an X570 motherboard) with 16GB of DDR4-3200 system RAM.
It should be noted that AMD Smart Access Memory was enabled, a technology which allows RX 6000 GPUs to work in tandem with Ryzen 5000 CPUs for a performance boost. So that’s a slight extra edge over Nvidia which those folks who haven’t upgraded to Ryzen 5000 won’t have.
The benchmarks themselves are seriously impressive for AMD, particularly at 1440p resolution, and of course 4K resolution remains a very niche proposition anyway (in fact, the vast majority still game at 1080p going by the Steam hardware survey).
At 1440p, the flagship Radeon RX 6900 XT beats out Nvidia’s RTX 3090 in every game, except for two: Wolfenstein Youngblood, where the 3090 is champ, and Doom Eternal which is pretty much a dead heat.
Interestingly, the 6800 XT even outguns the RTX 3090 in Borderlands 3 – and by some way – and the vanilla RX 6800 is a match for the RTX 3080 in this game at 1440p.
The 6800 XT also owns the 3090 at Gears 5. And in Battlefield V, both the 6800 XT and vanilla 6800 beat out the RTX 3090, with the same being true (to an even greater extent) in Forza Horizon 4.
Further note that the RX 6800 easily bested Nvidia’s RTX 2080 Ti across all the benchmarks (which AMD was using for testing in lieu of an RTX 3070, apparently, because performance levels are about on par, as we observed in our review).
Remember that the 6800 XT is pitched at $649, which is less than the RTX 3080 which costs $699 – and of course the RTX 3090 is a staggering $1,499, with the RX 6900 XT way undercutting that at $999.
4K battleground
As for the 4K benchmarks, the RX 6900 XT beat the RTX 3090 in five of the benchmarks, meaning that Nvidia won the other five – it was effectively a draw.
AMD’s RX 6800 XT, however, beat the RTX 3080 in six benchmarks, with the Nvidia graphics card only winning in three instances – Shadow of the Tomb Raider was a draw. Indeed, the RX 6800 XT edged out the 3090 in Borderlands 3, Gears 5 and Forza Horizon 4 at 4K.
So, worrying stuff for Nvidia? It would seem so, although we must bear in mind that these are internal AMD benchmarks, so a bit of cherry-picking could be going on (and as we’ve already mentioned, Smart Access Memory tech is also being used to give the RX 6000 cards an upper hand).
The other point of concern for Nvidia right now must be its failure to get anything like a sufficient number of RTX 3000 graphics cards out there, a situation which apparently won’t change until 2021.
Nvidia can also take comfort in the fact that AMD isn’t talking about ray tracing, although purportedly work is underway at AMD on a similar tech to Nvidia’s DLSS to help with frame rates when it comes to turning on all the ray-traced bells and whistles.
I've had a passion for PC gaming since 1996, when I watched my dad score frags in Quake as a 1 year-old. I've gone on to become a Penguin-published author and tech journalist. When I'm not traveling the world, gathering stories for my next book, you can find me tinkering with my PC.
The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X CPU which features the Zen 3 architecture and 16 cores has also been reviewed by SiSoftware. The application maker's have already given us a glimpse of the Ryzen 7 5800X and the Ryzen 5 5600X in their reviews posted yesterday and now they have posted the Ryzen 9 5950X review.
AMD Ryzen 9 5950X 16 Core Zen 3 Desktop CPU Reviewed, Up To 24% Faster Than Its Zen 2 Based Predecessor
According to SiSoftware themselves, both AMD Ryzen 5000 Desktop CPUs were tested on an X570 test bed with the latest BIOS installed from the specific manufacturer. The review highlights some of the key differences between Zen 3 and Zen 2 processors and evaluates the processors through their own test suite which is quite comprehensive.
The tests include arithmetic, SIMD and also the cryptography performance. Before we get into the test results, let's take a look at the specs & how Zen 3 Ryzen 5000 Desktop CPUs compare to their predecessors in terms of features.
AMD Ryzen 9 5950X "Zen 3" Desktop CPU - 16 Cores / 32 Threads Up To 4.9 GHz For $799 US
AMD announced the Ryzen 9 series which is made up of the Ryzen 9 5950X. The Ryzen 9 5950X is the flagship 16 core part which is aimed at users demanding heavy multi-threading performance on AM4 sockets.
The chip has a total cache of 72 MB and a TDP of 105W. The chip features a boost clock of up to 4.9 GHz boost which when put together is just stunning for a 16 core part. The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X is going to cost $799 US and will be available on the 5th of November like the rest of the lineup.
AMD Ryzen 5000 Series "Vermeer" CPU Lineup
CPU Name
Cores/Threads
Base Clock
Boost Clock
Cache (L2+L3)
PCIe Lanes (Gen 4 CPU+PCH)
TDP
Price
AMD Ryzen 9 5950X
16/32
3.4 GHz
4.9 GHz
72 MB
TBA
105W
$799 US
AMD Ryzen 9 5900X
12/24
3.7 GHz
4.8 GHz
70 MB
TBA
105W
$549 US
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
8/16
3.8 GHz
4.7 GHz
36 MB
TBA
105W
$449 US
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X
6/12
3.7 GHz
4.6 GHz
35 MB
TBA
65W
$299 US
AMD Ryzen 5 5600
6/12
TBA
TBA
32 MB
TBA
65W
$219 US?
Some of the main features that were highlighted by AMD for its Ryzen 5000 Zen 3 processors will include:
Still built around “chiplets” CCX (“core complexes”) but now of 8C/16T and 32MB L3 cache (still 7nm)
Same central I/O hub with memory controller(s) and PCIe 4.0 bridges connected through IF (“Infinity Fabric”) (12nm)
2 chiplets on desktop platform thus up to 2x 8C (16C/32T 5950X)
L3 is the same 64MB on 5950X but 2x 32MB not 4x 16MB (not fully unified though unlike 8-core and less versions)
20 PCIe 4.0 lanes
2x DDR4 memory controllers up to 3200Mt/s official (4266Mt/s max)
Micro-architecturally there are more changes that should improve performance and security:
Control Flow Integrity eXtensions (CFX) & Shadow Stacks (SSX)
Multi-Key Memory Encryption, e.g. individually encrypted VM memory
Inter-core latencies reduced through shared L3 (8C and less); no more trips to memory to share data
AMD processors have thankfully not been affected by most of the vulnerabilities bar two (BTI/”Spectre”, SSB/”Spectre v4″) that have now been addressed in hardware.
AMD Ryzen 9 5950X 16 Core Desktop CPU Benchmarks
Coming to the test results, SiSoftware measured up to 24% performance uplift for the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X over its predecessor, the Ryzen 9 3950X and gave it a score of 10/10. SiSoftware terms AMDs Ryzen 9 5950X as the pinnacle of compute performance on the desktop and says that even with its AVX-512 support, Intel simply cannot beat AMD's Ryzen 5000 desktop processors. It is also stated that the Ryzen 9 5950X is such a high-end CPU that the DDR4 (dual-channel) interface just doesn't cuts out for it and is definitely in need of a higher channel interface or DDR5 support which will be offering higher bandwidth to feed the insane amount of cores this mainstream CPU has to offer.
AMD Ryzen 9 5950X 16 Core "Zen 3" Desktop CPU Test Results:
SiSoftware Review Conclusion: Unlike the 8-core and less Zen3 designs with unified L3 cache, the 12/16C Zen3 (e.g. 59XX range) still has separate L3 caches but now one for 8-cores not 4. Thus we thought it will improve a bit over Zen2 (16C) but not buy much. But it still manages to be a whopping 24% faster across all benchmarks.
This is the pinnacle of compute performance on the desktop – all still on the old AM4 socket (with a BIOS update) – without spending serious money on work-station/HEDT kit. Not that the 5950X (like the 3950X before it) is “cheap” but considering what HEDT platform costs (e.g. ThreadRipper, Intel’s 2011 socket, etc.) it is good value. The 5950X is so powerful that even AVX512 Intel high-end CPUs cannot beat it – and even old ThreadRippers (e.g. 1950X, 2990X) are beaten in compute tasks.
DDR5 cannot come soon enough – but that will require a new platform (AM5 socket). Such high-end CPU should also be ideally paired with a good mainboard (e.g. X570) with PCIe4 as here it is likely to make a difference – again feeding all those cores.
If you have the money and the need for top-end compute performance and somehow cannot afford HEDT platform then this is the best you can get by a long shot. Best in class.
The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X will be making its formal debut in the retail segment on 5th of November for a price of $799 US. For the Ryzen 9 5950X, the16 core is phenomenal in performance and it is recommended to pre-order and purchase one as soon as possible since the site claims that there will be reduced stock at launch and due to increased demand from OEMs, the prices for the chips are likely to increase soon after launch on 5th of December.
Which AMD Ryzen 5000 Desktop CPU are you most excited about?
Today may be Halloween, but what Intel is up to is no trick. Almost a year after showing off their alpha silicon, Intel’s first discrete GPU in over two decades has been released and is now shipping in OEM laptops. The first of several planned products using the DG1 GPU, Intel’s initial outing in their new era of discrete graphics is in the laptop space, where today they are launching their Iris Xe MAX graphics solution. Designed to complement Intel’s Xe-LP integrated graphics in their new Tiger Lake CPUs, Xe MAX will be showing up in thin-and-light laptops as an upgraded graphics option, and with a focus on mobile creation.
We’ve been talking about DG1 off and on since CES 2020, where Intel first showed off the chip in laptops and in a stand-alone development card. The company has continuously been coy about the product, but at a high level it’s been clear for some time that this was going to be an entry-level graphics solution suitable for use in smaller laptops. Based heavily on the integrated graphics in Intel’s Tiger Lake-U CPU, the Xe-LP architecture GPU is a decidedly entry-level affair. None the less, it’s an important milestone for Intel; by launching their first DG1-based product, Intel has completed first step in their plans to establish themselves as a major competitor in the discrete GPU space.
Sizing up Intel’s first dGPU in a generation, Intel has certainly made some interesting choices with the chip and what markets to pursue. As previously mentioned, the chip is based heavily on Tiger Lake-U’s iGPU – so much so that it has virtually the same hardware, from EUs to media encoder blocks. As a result, Xe MAX isn’t so much a bigger Xe-LP graphics solution so much as it is an additional discrete version of the Tiger Lake iGPU. Which in turn has significant ramifications in the performance expectations for the chip, and how Intel is going about positioning it.
To cut right to the chase for our more technical readers, Intel has not developed any kind of multi-GPU technology (ala NVIDIA’s SLI or AMD’s CrossFire) that allows for multiple GPUs to be used together for a single graphics task. So there is no way to combine a Tiger Lake-U iGPU with Xe MAX and double your DOTA framerate, for example. Functionally, Xe MAX is closer to a graphics co-processor – literally a second GPU in the system.
As a result, Intel isn’t seriously positioning Xe MAX as a gaming solution – in fact I’m a little hesitant to even attach the word “graphics” to Xe MAX, since Intel’s ideal use cases don’t involve traditional rendering tasks. Instead, intel is primarily pitching Xe MAX as an upgrade option for mobile content creation; an additional processor to help with video encoding and other tasks that leverage GPU-accelerated computing. This would be things like Handbrake, Topaz’s Gigapixel AI image upsampling software, and other such productivity/creation tasks. This is a very different tack than I suspect a lot of people were envisioning, but as we’ll see, it’s the route that makes the most sense for Intel given what Xe MAX can (and can’t) do.
At any rate, as an entry-level solution Xe MAX is being setup to compete with NVIDIA’s last-generation entry-level solution, the MX350. Competing with the MX350 is a decidedly unglamorous task for Intel’s first discrete graphics accelerator, but it’s an accurate reflection of Xe MAX’s performance capabilities as an entry-level part, as well as a ripe target since MX350 is based on last-generation NVIDIA technology. NVIDIA shouldn’t feel too threatened since they also have the more powerful MX450, but Xe MAX has a chance to at least dent NVIDIA’s near-absolute mobile marketshare by going after the very bottom of it. And, looking at the bigger picture here for Intel’s dGPU efforts, Intel needs to walk before they can run.
Finally, as mentioned previously, today is Xe MAX’s official launch. Intel has partnered with Acer, ASUS, and Dell for the first three laptops, most of which were revealed early by their respective manufacturers. These laptops will go on sale this month, and the fact that today’s launch was timed to align with midnight on November 1st in China offers a big hint of what to expect. Intel’s partners will be offering Xe MAX laptops in China and North America, but given China’s traditional status as the larger, more important market for entry-level hardware, don’t be too surprised if that’s where most Xe MAX laptops end up selling, and where Intel puts its significant marketing muscle.
Intel GPU Specification Comparison
Iris Xe MAX
dGPU
Tiger Lake iGPU
Ice Lake
iGPU
Kaby Lake iGPU
ALUs
768
(96 EUs)
768
(96 EUs)
512
(64 EUs)
192
(24 EUs)
Texture Units
48
48
32
12
ROPs
24
24
16
8
Peak Clock
1650MHz
1350MHz
1100MHz
1150MHz
Throughput (FP32)
2.46 TFLOPs
2.1 TFLOPs
1.13 TFLOPs
0.44 TFLOPs
Geometry Rate
(Prim/Clock)
2
2
1
1
Memory Clock
LPDDR4X-4266
LPDDR4X-4266
LPDDR4X-3733
DDR4-2133
Memory Bus Width
128-bit
128-bit
(IMC)
128-bit
(IMC)
128-bit
(IMC)
VRAM
4GB
Shared
Shared
Shared
TDP
~25W
Shared
Shared
Shared
Manufacturing Process
Intel 10nm SuperFin
Intel 10nm SuperFin
Intel 10nm
Intel 14nm+
Architecture
Xe-LP
Xe-LP
Gen11
Gen9.5
GPU
DG1
Tiger Lake
Integrated
Ice Lake Integrated
Kaby Lake Integrated
Launch Date
10/2020
09/2020
09/2019
01//2017
Kicking off the deep dive portion of today’s launch, let’s take a look at the specs for the Xe MAX. As previously mentioned, Xe MAX is derived from Tiger Lake’s iGPU, and this is especially when looking at the GPUs side-by-side. Xe-LP as an architecture was designed to scale up to 96 EUs; Intel put 96 EUs in Tiger Lake, and so a full DG1 GPU (and thus Xe MAX) gets 96 EUs as well.
In fact Xe MAX is pretty much Tiger Lake’s iGPU in almost every way. On top of the identical graphics/compute hardware, the underlying DG1 GPU contains the same two Xe-LP media encode blocks, the same 128-bit memory controller, and the same display controller. In fact Intel didn’t even bother to take out the video decode blocks, so DG1/Xe MAX can do H.264/H.265/AV1 decoding, which admittedly is handy for doing on-chip video transcoding.
And, to be sure, Intel has confirmed that DG1 is a real, custom-designed GPU. So Xe MAX is not based on salvaged Tiger Lake CPUs or the like; Intel is minting discrete GPUs just for the task. As is usually the case, Intel is not disclosing die sizes or transistor counts for DG1. Our own best guess for the die size is an incredibly rough 72mm2, and this is based on looking at how much of Tiger Lake-U’s 144mm2 die is estimated to occupied by GPU blocks. In reality, this is probably an underestimate, but even so, it’s clear that DG1 is a rather petite GPU, thanks in part to the fact that it’s made on Intel’s 10nm SuperFin process.
Overall, given the hardware similarities, the big performance advantage that Xe MAX has over Tiger Lake’s iGPU is that the discrete adapter gets a higher clockspeed. Xe MAX can boost to 1.65GHz, whereas the fastest Tiger Lake-U SKUs can only turbo to 1.35GHz. That means all things held equal, the discrete adapter has a 22% compute and rasterization throughput advantage on paper. But since we’re talking about laptops, TDPs and heat management are going to play a huge role in how things actually work.
Meanwhile the fact that Xe MAX gets Tiger Lake’s memory controller makes for an interesting first for a discrete GPU: this is the first stand-alone GPU with LPDDR4X support. Intel’s partners will be hooking up 4GB of LPDDR4X-4266 to the GPU, which with its 128-bit memory bus will give it a total memory bandwidth of 68GB/sec. Traditionally, entry-level mobile dGPUs use regular DDR or GDDR memory, with the latter offering a lot of bandwidth even on narrow memory buses, but neither being very energy efficient. So it will be interesting to see how Xe MAX’s total memory power consumption compares to the likes of the GDDR5/64-bit MX450.
As an added bonus on the memory front, because this is a discrete GPU, Xe MAX doesn’t have to share its memory bandwidth with other devices. The GPU gets all 68GB/sec to itself, which should improve real-world performance.
And since Xe MAX is a discrete adapter, it also gets its own power budget. The part is nominally 25W, but like TDPs for Intel’s Tiger Lake CPUs, it’s something of an arbitrary value; in reality the chip has as much power and thermal headroom to play with as the OEMs grant it. So an especially thin-and-light device may not have the cooling capacity to support a sustained 25W, and other devices may exceed that during turbo time. Overall we’re not expecting any more clarity here than Intel and its OEMs have offered with Tiger Lake TDPs.
Last but not least, let’s talk about I/O. As an entry-level discrete GPU, Xe MAX connects to its host processor over the PCIe bus; Intel isn’t using any kind of proprietary solution here. The GPU’s PCIe controller is fairly narrow with just a x4 connection, but it supports PCIe 4.0, so on the whole it should have more than enough PCIe bandwidth for its performance level.
Meanwhile the part offers a full display controller block as well, meaning it can drive 4 displays over HDMI 2.0b and DisplayPort 1.4a at up to 8K resolutions. That said, based on Intel’s descriptions it sounds like most (if not all) laptops are going to be taking an Optimus route, and using Tiger Lake’s iGPU to handle driving any displays. So I’m not expecting to see any laptops where Xe MAX’s display outputs are directly wired up.
MediaTek has had a really good year, if I may so. The Taiwanese semiconductor company’s current offering of mobile processors powers several devices announced this year. Its Dimensity series can also be said to have made a significant contribution in pushing 5G phones into the hands of a lot more people.
If you are wondering what new chipsets MediaTek has cooking in its oven, The Chinese leaker, Digital Chat Station, has revealed some few details of two new processors.
The two chipsets are the MT6893 and MT6891 and they will be 5nm and or 6nm processors according to him. The two chipsets will be high-performance processors as they feature the more powerful Cortex-A78 Arm CPU core.
The Dimensity 1000+ which is currently MediaTek’s most powerful mobile processor has Cortex-A77 cores. It is also a 7nm chip. These new chips should bring significant boosts in performance as they are built on a smaller node and feature a more powerful CPU. They should also launch under the Dimensity series and with built-in 5G modems.
There is no news yet regarding when the new processors will be announced but the leaker says that development is progressing faster than last year’s chips. We expect more details will be revealed in the weeks leading up to their announcements.
Looking to build a PC or upgrade your PC to match a shiny new RTX 3070 or RTX 3080 - or perhaps your planned purchase of an AMD RX 6800 or 6800 XT 'Big Navi' graphics card? Here's a complete Digital Foundry approved PC build.
The idea is to design a system that will give you a reasonable degree of future-proofing and the ability to handle both gaming and content creation tasks, all for a reasonable price.
For each category of components - processor, RAM, storage - we've given our top value-for-money recommendation, plus more options if you want to save money or go for higher-grade components than our suggested spec. At the end of the piece, you'll have a balanced build with components that should work together well.
AMD vs Intel: We've chosen an AMD Ryzen CPU and a matching motherboard for our 'default' build, thanks to Ryzen's generally lower cost of entry, higher core count and PCIe 4.0 support. These characteristics make it a good choice for mixed use, where your PC is used for gaming and streaming or content creation.
However, Intel's processors tend to offer slightly better raw gaming performance, especially at lower resolutions like 1080p. Therefore, we've included an equivalent Intel build towards the end of the article which keeps the majority of our components but swaps out the processor, motherboard and cooler.
Let's take a quick look at our recommendations summarised in handy table form, then we'll move onto the reasoning behind each component choice - plus alternative picks for saving money or getting faster components as your budget allows.
Click the links below to jump straight to the component recommendation you're interested in, or scroll on to see the whole build!
Note: Please disable ad-blockers to see our specific recommendations and live prices.
Recommended CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600
The Ryzen 5 3600 is the standout member of AMD's 3rd-gen desktop processor lineup, with more cores than corresponding Intel parts and a very reasonable price point. It's cheap enough that you could later upgrade to a faster 3rd-gen or 4th-gen Ryzen processor, but not so cheap that you'd feel obligated to do so right away! This CPU provides a good overall level of performance that should hold you in good stead for a few years, especially in modern games that can take advantage of CPUs like the 3600 with high core and thread counts. Ryzen processors are also a great choice for content creation workloads, like transcoding or editing video.
If you want to spend less: We'd recommend the 3300X, another insanely great value CPU. However, you will be slightly bottlenecking yourself, especially at low resolutions like 1080p, so we'd recommend the 3600 if at all possible. The 3300X is also incredibly hard to find at present, so the 3600 may be the best option.
If you can spend more: The 3600X comes with a better CPU cooler at a small premium. The 3700X and 3900X are more meaningful upgrades, providing more cores and faster single-core performance at justifiably higher price points.
Recommended CPU cooler: AMD Wraith Stealth / Wraith Prism
The Wraith Stealth and Wraith Prism coolers that come for free with AMD's 3rd-gen Ryzen CPUs are surprisingly decent, providing sufficient cooling performance albeit at relatively high noise levels. That means you don't need to spend any money on a custom cooler, as you would do with an Intel system.
If you want to spend more: If you want better thermal performance at lower noise levels, it can make sense to upgrade to a AiO ('All in One') liquid cooler. These generally provide better thermal performance than the Wraith at lower noise levels, while providing better access to the area of the motherboard near the CPU socket than a typical air cooler. However, you will need to dedicate more space in your case to mounting a radiator and fans. Most cases support 120mm, 140mm or 240mm radiators without much problem, but larger 280mm, 360mm and 380mm mounting positions are less commonly available - so always check what radiator mounts your case supports.
Another option is a better air cooler. These tend to heat up more quickly than an AiO but will provide about the same overall cooling performance and noise levels. They're easier to install, but take up more space near the CPU socket which can make swapping out RAM or plugging in some fan headers more difficult. Before buying, check your case's CPU height clearance.
Recommended motherboard: A budget B550 or X570 board
While B450 boards are an even cheaper option that will normally work out of the box with the Ryzen 5 3600, B550 and X570 motherboards have two major advantages: support for future AMD processors (ie Ryzen 4000-series) and support for PCIe Gen 4.0 storage and graphics cards. Having access to these adds a degree of future-proofing that you won't find on B450, in exchange for a slightly higher up-front cost. X570 boards tend to support a larger number of PCIe 4.0 devices simultaneously, but tend to cost more. If you plan to have a lot of fast PCIe 4.0 storage installed, then X570 makes sense; otherwise go for B550 as you'll get better value.
When choosing a motherboard, we recommend sticking to the lower end of the market unless you plan on heavy overclocking, using super-fast RAM or installing a large number of PCIe drives. Basically all of the mainstream manufacturers produce good stuff - Asus, Gigabyte, MSI - so don't worry too much about your choice if you can see it has the features you might want (Wi-Fi, enough NVMe drive slots, USB-C and so on). You can always check for reviews of your chosen drive as a sanity check before you buy!
If you want to spend less: Get a cheap B450 board, preferably a board with a 32MB BIOS that may support next-gen Ryzen CPUs like MSI's B450 Max series. You'll give up PCIe 4.0 support, but save a decent amount.
If you can spend more: Get a fancier board, but be reasonable - each dollar spent here could almost be certainly used elsewhere if you can bump your graphics card or processor up a tier!
As we discovered in our RAM testing on Ryzen article, 3200MHz CL16 RAM represents the best value option right now. If you can get higher frequencies (the MHz value) or lower latencies (the CL number) at a similar price then go for it, but 3200MHz CL16 is a great starting point. Don't worry about brand here - memory is largely a commodity, so you're mostly paying for a specific flash manufacturer (useful for overclocking) or the looks (nothing says bling like RGB RAM).
If you want to spend less: Slower RAM isn't any cheaper these days, so your only option here is to stick with 8GB of memory. If you think you'll be able to upgrade soon, get one 8GB stick and then get another exactly the same when you can to reach our original planned configuration. Otherwise, go for two 4GB sticks, as running only a single stick results in a noticeable performance penalty that's best avoided.
If you can spend more: You could opt for 32GB if you're doing content creation, or higher frequency sticks if gaming is more the focus. Anything up to 3600MHz CL16 should be a reasonable price; beyond this the performance gains get pretty small.
Recommended storage: Crucial P2 1TB NVMe SSD
This one's pretty simple: 1TB of storage space will give you enough room to keep Windows 10 and a good amount of (non-Warzone) games installed simultaneously, while the NVMe M.2 connection means that there are no cables to plug in and game load times are short - ideal for taking advantage of future cross-generation games that should benefit from fast read and write speeds. In terms of manufacturers, we like drives from Samsung, Adata, Crucial, WD and Sabrent. We have full SSD recommendations here if you're interested!
If you want to spend less: Swap that NVMe SSD for a SATA SSD. Boot and game load times will be marginally slower, but you'll be able to get the same capacity at a much lower price. Don't go for an HDD though - come on, it's 2020.
If you can spend more: There are lots of options here. The obvious one is to add a secondary SATA SSD or spinning disk hard drive for media/game storage, but you could also opt for a larger NVMe drive to allow more games to be installed at once. Finally, you could also upgrade to a faster PCIe 4.0 drive, which is useful in the here and now for content creation like 4K video editing - and may become better utilised by games over the next few years.
Recommended PSU: 750W Gold modular/semi-modular
A 750W power supply is recommended for RTX 3080 systems, so that's what we've gone for here. If you plan to use an RTX 3070 instead, feel free to swap in a 650W PSU instead. We like modular and semi-modular power supplies because they leave more space free in your case for building, but non-modular alternatives are fine too. Brand is important here; we recommend the likes of Corsair, Seasonic, EVGA and Be Quiet! Any mainstream brand should be fine, but you really want to avoid no-name units here as if your PSU goes, it may take every other component in your system with it. Additionally, look for at least a Gold rated power supply as this indicates a base level of efficiency.
If you want to spend less: you'd probably be able to get away with a 650W PSU here if you stick to the rest of our component recommendations, but you might have less headroom for future upgrades. Whatever you do, don't sacrifice on brand and get a no-name option - in our view, it's better to make cuts elsewhere in your build than take the risk.
If you can spend more: You can get a higher-spec power supply, but Nvidia still only recommend a 750W PSU even with a Core i9 10900K and an RTX 3090, so there's no massive need to push the boat out beyond 750W for a standard system, even if you plan to overclock. You could opt for a more premium brand, like Seasonic, or a higher efficiency rating instead.
Recommended case: Fractal Design Meshify C (or pick your own)
Cases are a very personal choice, as they're the part of your computer that you'll see the most often. Basically any ATX case on the market will suit this build as long as it can physically fit the graphics card you've chosen, so feel free to choose what appeals to you if the reviews for it are at least decent and GPU clearance figures sync up!
We like the Fractal Design Meshify C and the Lian-Li O11 Dynamic because they emphasise airflow; great if you've got a power-hungry GPU like the RTX 3080. However, you might prefer a quieter case like the Phanteks P400A or NZXT H510, so do a bit of research and pick the one you like best.
What about an Intel build?
Good question! In that case, swap out the Ryzen 5 3600 and B550/X570 motherboard for a Core i5 10600K, Core i7 10700K or Core i9 10900K. The Z490 platform provides all of the features you'd want, including memory overclocking and the potential for PCIe 4.0 support with a next-gen Intel processor, although it does cost a fair amount. You'll also need an air cooler or AiO - we recommend something by Noctua, a classic CM Hyper 212 Evo or an AiO from the likes of Alphacool, Corsair or NZXT.
While 4K performance isn't hugely different between similarly-priced Intel and AMD systems, your processor will make more of a difference at lower resolutions (1440p and 1080p) and higher frame-rates (144, 240 or even 360Hz). This is where Intel still holds onto a small advantage, so a pure gaming build designed to operate at 1080p or 1440p might be better served by choosing Intel parts.
What about Ryzen 5000 and Radeon RX 6000?
If AMD's claims hold water, then Ryzen 5000-series CPUs could be a big step forward in terms of gaming performance, especially when paired with a Radeon RX 6000 graphics card like the RX 6800, RX 6800 XT or RX 6900 XT. However, these processors will debut at or above their recommended retail price, while 3rd-gen Ryzen processors will hit historic lows, so you will be paying more for that extra performance. If you're not fussed about building a computer right now, then it makes sense to wait to see how good the new processors are.
Similarly, it's worth holding off on an RTX 30-series purchase (if you even have the option!) if you want to see how good AMD's recently announced RX 6000 series graphics cards are. They certainly have the potential to offer better value for money than Nvidia's offerings, although questions remain over their ray-tracing performance and AMD's lack of a real DLSS equivalent. In general, waiting is almost always the right move, so don't get caught up in the hype over a new product launch if you are still happy with your current system!
What should I spend the most money on?
Generally, the performance-affecting components that will cost the most in a balanced build are the graphics card, processor, motherboard and RAM. Of these, the graphics card and processor are where you should probably spend any extra money you have.
Going up a 'tier' to a new model (eg RTX 3070 to RTX 3080 or Ryzen 5 3600 to Ryzen 7 3700X) will normally provide the biggest benefit, compared to getting a more expensive version of the same model (eg choosing a premium Asus ROG Strix RTX 3080 instead of a cheaper Asus Tuf 3080, or a Ryzen 3600X over a Ryzen 3600).
How do I check my build?
You could always post it in the comments below or ask us on Twitter (@wsjudd) - we'll try to be around to answer any questions! Otherwise, there are some great sites out there like PC Part Picker and Logical Increments that provide good guidance on choosing complementary components. It's also wise to check out reviews of components like PC cases and motherboards, as there are a lot of options here and the best-looking parts aren't always the easiest to work with. Gamers Nexus and Hardware Unboxed are great publications for case and motherboard reviews in particular.
Total cost
So how much do our builds come to? Component prices change all the time and graphics cards in particular are in short supply, but we can have a go of summing up our components choices at the time of writing. Our primary build, focused around the Ryzen 5 3600, an X570 motherboard, 16GB of RAM and a 1TB NVMe SSD comes to around £675 for all components - plus whatever you spend on your graphics card; probably around £650 for the RTX 3080. That makes for a final sum of around £1325.
If we instead opt for the Intel-based system - with Core i5 10600K, Hyper 212 Evo cooler and Z490 motherboard, but otherwise the same parts - it comes to around £775, about £100 more expensive, plus the RTX 3080's cost of around £650. That brings the Intel system's total cost to around £1425.
Neither of these are insignificant chunks of change, but you'll be left with a powerful gaming PC that should cope easily with the latest games for at least a few years, whether you're gaming at 1080p, 1440p or even 4K.
Remember that this is for a complete desktop PC, but we haven't included an operating system (as Windows 10 can be bought online for relatively cheap these days and Linux works nicely for gaming) or peripherals (so you'll need to keep your existing monitor, keyboard,mouse and headset, or buy them fresh if you don't have any!).
Can I have a table of links?
Sure, here you go. Three recommendations for each category - default, cheaper and more expensive - with a few changes from the recommendations above, due to stock considerations and the need to recommend specific products here, where earlier we went for more general advice. Note that there are separate suggestions for CPU, cooler and motherboard depending on whether you prefer AMD (lower prices, PCIe 4.0 support) or Intel (faster gaming performance, higher cost of entry). Feel free to mix and match according to your preferences between the default, budget and upgrade recommendations too!
We've only had a chance to do this for our UK (🇬🇧) picks so far, so apologies to any Americans in the audience - do let us know if you want to see an American equivalent of this table!
Choosing just the right build will always depend on your own circumstances, preferences and market conditions, so don't be afraid to take our recommendations with a grain of salt and forge your own path. There isn't a 100 per cent perfect build for every person at every time, but hopefully these picks will give you at least a good starting point. Of course, this is far from a definitive guide, so feel free to post your own component recommendations in the comments that would make this build even better. We'll keep things updated going forward, so check back if you're not quite ready to pull the trigger yet - we'll be waiting for you.
The Snapdragon 875 chipset is code-named “Lahaina” and it may be significantly faster than expected – an early benchmark shows a score of over 847,000 points in AnTuTu. This is much higher than its predecessor, which currently tops the charts with 663,000 points or so.
That’s a jump of over 25%, a huge leap for a yearly upgrade. Of course, these results will need to be corroborated before the Qualcomm team can pop the champagne.
For comparison, the iPhone 12 scored 660,000. While the Kirin 9000 and Exynos 1080 posted scores of 696,000 and 693,000, respectively – enough to top current Snapdragon 865 phones, but nowhere near the alleged result of the 875.
Interestingly, AnTuTu’s charts are currently led by Snapdragon 865 (the vanilla chip, not the plus). The AnTuTu team explains (link in Chinese) that RAM and storage configurations also play a role in the final score, so high capacity UFS 3.1 storage might offset the minor clock speed deficit of the non-plus chipset.
Another post mentions that Oppo has been testing an overclocked version of the 865, which will go up to 3.2 GHz or so. The prime core in the 865+ is clocked at 3.09 GHz.
Qualcomm will officially unveil the Snapdragon 875 (and, potentially, other chips as well), and if this benchmark result is to be believed, the event will be a must-see.
Although the Qualcomm Snapdragon 875 isn't due for release until the first week of December, several leaks have given us a rough idea about its performance. However, most of the leaks have Geekbench results. The chip has evaded AnTuTu so far, until now.
Renowned leaker Abhishek Yadav on Twitter stumbled upon what appears to be an AnTuTu score for a Qualcomm chip called Lahania. This, according to an earlier report, is none other than the Qualcomm Snapdragon 875. The silicon manages to net a score of 874,868, handily outperforming its predecessor- the Snapdragon 865+, which only manages to score around 629,245. Unfortunately, a breakdown of the scores wasn't provided. It also leaves Samsung's Exynos 1080 and the HiSilicon Kirin 9000 in the dust. However, both chips were only a few points shy of 700,000 on AnTuTu.
While the stellar 800,000+ AnTuTu score might suggest that the Snapdragon 875 is on par with Apple's A14 Bionic, that isn't necessarily the case. AnTuTu is designed to compare devices based on the same operating system, as emphasized by its makers. It'll be interesting to see how the Exynos 2100 fares on AnTuTu. The chip, much like the Snapdragon 875, has surfaced exclusively on Geekbench so far. Based on what we've seen so far, the Snapdragon 875 is slightly behind the Exynos 2100
Two 'early' reviews of the soon to be released AMD Ryzen 7 5800X and Ryzen 5 5600X CPUs show impressive performance gains using the Zen 3 architecture over its predecessor, Zen 2, according to SiSoftware.
The benchmarking software developer posted performance evaluations of the two Ryzen 5000 series CPUs online this week, showing a roughly 15 percent to 40 percent improvement over the previous generation Ryzen 5 3600X for the Ryzen 5 5600X and a roughly 25 to 40 percent improvement for the Ryzen 7 5800X over the Ryzen 7 3700X.
It's speculative at the moment, as Videocardz notes, since it's unclear whether SiSoftware was in possession of review units of the CPUs itself, or whether it was aggregating data from others who were benchmarking the CPUs using its software.
In a critical claim by the benchmark maker, the six-core Ryzen 5 5600X was apparently able to beat out the eight-core Intel Core i9-9900k, which would be a major win for Team Red if true.
SiSoftware also described the performance of the Ryzen 7 5800X as being equivalent to a 12-core Zen 2 processor, like the Ryzen 9 3900X. "We certainly did not expect performance to be this good," the developer said.
We haven't tested the new AMD CPUs ourselves, so it remains to be seen if these numbers hold up, but if they do, Team Red will have come through big in its battle with archrival Intel.
Markets are down, but not collapsing. Investors remain worried about the coronavirus, and Tuesday’s election remains up in the air. Uncertainty rules the day, exacerbated by recent market losses. Wall Street, however, expects that the bulls will start running again after next week’s results – who wins will be less important than having a result.In the meantime, market declines and low share prices make for a prime time to buy in – if you judge the bottom correctly. Do that, and the rest is just ‘buy low and sell high.’ And to that end, Wall Street’s analysts have been pointing out stocks that may have hit bottom.Using TipRanks database, we pinpointed three such stocks. Each is down significantly, but each also has a Strong Buy consensus rating and at least 30% upside potential for the coming months.Fury Gold Mines (FURY)Gold – just the precious metal asset – has grown popular during the course of 2020. The coronavirus crisis and investors’ desire for a stable store of value pushed it above $2,000 earlier this year, and one ounce of gold is still selling for over $1,800. For those who haven’t got that kind of resource, however, buying stock in gold miners may be the next best thing.Fury Gold Mines is a small-cap mining company headquartered in Toronto and focused on exploiting the vast resources of the Canadian North. With mines in British Columbia, northern Quebec, and the far-north territory of Nunavut, Fury has large gold reserves in both open pit and underground mines. World gold production dropped by 1% in the last 12 months, giving the first hint that we may be at ‘peak gold,’ and prices will soon increase further.That development would bode well for Fury, which operates at a net loss. The company formed earlier this year, as a restructure of Auryn Resources that involved a merger with Eastmain and the divestment of Peruvian mines. The result is a company that is focused on Canadian development, able to take advantage of Canada’s stable work environment.The stock saw sharp declines recently, when the new FURY ticker started trading, taking Auryn’s place in the market and keeping the older company’s trading history. The drop saw Fury shares shed 67% this month.Covering the stock for Cantor, analyst Matthew O’Keefe sees plenty of upside ahead. The analyst noted, "Based on a combined gold equivalent resource of 3.9Moz, Fury is trading $43/oz versus peers at $60/oz. We expect that, as the new management makes its mark with new drill results (towards the end of 2020 and throughout 2021) and demonstrates advancement of its projects, the stock should move up."But how much up? O’Keefe’s $2.60 price target on FURY suggests a 126% upside potential for the coming year and supports his Buy rating. (To watch O’Keefe’s track record, click here)The Wall Street analyst consensus on Fury is a Strong Buy, based on 4 Buy ratings with no Sells or Holds. The stock is selling for $1.13 and its $3.37 average price target suggests it has room to nearly double in the next 12 months. (See FURY stock analysis on TipRanks)Star Bulk Carries (SBLK)Next up, Star Bulk Carries, is a Greece-based shipping company specializing in the dry bulk ocean carry trade, the backbone of the world’s shipping industry. Star Bulk operates a fleet of 116 carriers, ranging in size from ~50,000 tons to giant Newcastlemax bulk haulers rated over 200,000 tons. The trade disruptions caused by corona were hard on the industry, and SBLK was no exception. The stock is down 47% year-to-date. However, the company’s financial performance this year has been in line with its historical pattern – the first half of a calendar year sees a net loss, while the second half sees net gains. The losses in 1H20 where normal for SBLK’s pattern – and the outlook for Q3 is a return to net profits, with EPS projected at 30 cents.Covering this stock for Deutsche Bank, analyst Amit Mehrotra notes a series of related points: “[We] think the company’s net debt position should improve by about $50M vs. 2Q levels, reflecting cash flow generation in excess of >$40M of debt paydown in 3Q. We also expect the company’s prospective breakeven to reduce to under $11k per day… While we remain frustrated by the lackluster performance of SBLK shares in the context of above-mentioned improving fundamentals...we remain very comfortable that the intrinsic value of SBLK’s equity value is improving in the current environment…” Mehrotra sums up his view of Star Bulk succinctly: “On the whole, we’re encouraged by the fundamental trajectory of the company…” The analyst rates SBLK a Buy, while his $15 price target implies an upside potential of 143% from current levels. (To watch Mehrotra’s track record, click here)With 3 recent Buy reviews, SBLK holds a unanimous Strong Buy rating from the analyst consensus. The stock is currently trading at $6.18 and has an average price target of $12.09, making the one-year upside 96%. (See SBLK stock analysis on TipRanks)Heritage-Crystal Clean (HCCI)Pollution is a problem, no matter what. We all want a clean environment to live in, and we should all care about how modern industrial pollutants are disposed of. Heritage-Crystal Clean inhabits that clean-up niche, providing environmental cleaning services, including vacuum services for street cleaning, light industrial and mechanical parts cleaning technology, and a variety of waste recovery services including recovery and disposal of oil and oil products, antifreezes, and general industrial liquid waste. It’s an important, often overlooked, and vital niche in a modern technological society.After a dip into negative territory in Q2, HCCI reported stronger results for Q3. Revenues gained sequentially from $74 million to $82 million, and EPS swung from a 31-cent loss to an 18-cent gain. Despite the positive results, both earnings and revenues remain depressed compared to the year-ago quarter, and the stock has failed to regain traction after last March’s decline. HCCI is down 49% year-to-date.Roth Capital’s Gerry Sweeney, in his comments on this stock, notes that “Revenue continues to rebound as economic activity improves from COVID shelter in place orders... The highlight in the quarter was a faster than anticipated rebound in margins. While margins are still down from last year’s pre-pandemic level of 25.7%, they are up from 2Q margins of (28.2%). The improvement was driven by higher labor utilization and leverage of assets, lower solvent costs, and the internalization of waste disposal…”Sweeney rates the stock a Buy. His $21 price target indicates confidence in a solid 32% upside for the next year. (To watch Sweeney’s track record, click here.)Over the past three months, three other analysts have thrown the hat in with a view on HCCI. The three additional Buy ratings provide the stock with a Strong Buy consensus rating. With an average price target of $20.75, investors stand to take home a 30% gain, should the target be met over the next 12 months. (See HCCI stock analysis at TipRanks)To find good ideas for beaten-down stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks’ Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks’ equity insights.Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analysts. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.
