Hardware News and Reviews

New CPU launches for November 2019

Both AMD and Intel are about to shake up the CPU market once more, with new CPUs and pricing announced this month from both major CPU makers:

Unlike the battle between Skylake-X refresh CPUs and their 2nd Gen Threadripper counterparts, though, Intel's Cascade Lake-X price drops and AMD's slight price hikes for the Threadripper 3960X and 3970X as well as lack (so far) of 12- or 16-core parts mean that, in my view, the two are no longer really competing directly with each other - Intel's Cascade Lake-X flagship will be around $1,000 for 18 cores, while AMD's starting point will be 24 cores at $1,400. The two associated platforms will also offer distinct reasons to buy into them. Starting with AMD's new HEDT lineup, it's fairly clear now that it will hold the high ground and offer more performance than Intel can muster. If AMD has managed to sort out the previous WX-series' shortcomings, the new chips could finally be far better all-rounders too with genuinely good performance in games and lightly-threaded tasks and not just more grunt in multi-threaded applications.
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Bit-Tech have the full article here:
https://bit-tech.net/blogs/tech/cpus/novembers-cpu-launches-will-redraw-battle-lines/1/
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by Ian, Nov 14, 2019

A look inside AMD's 64-Core EPYC and Ryzen CPUs

HardwareLuxx have an interesting article which takes a detailed look a AMDs 64-core CPU die, with some really interesting images. The article is in German, so please use your browsers translate feature:

Our forum member OC_Burner is usually the supplier of such chips or dieshots and has now got an engineering sample of a current EPYC processor and placed it under the microscope. First of all, he has limited himself to a transillumination by means of near infrared light, because even then gives the silicon, which is partially transparent for such wavelength, first details. As I said, we already know the CCDs and IODs of the new Ryzen processors. However, we could not take a look at the IOD of an EPYC processor.
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Read the article here:
https://www.hardwareluxx.de/index.p...istoren-ein-rome-iod-zeigt-seine-details.html
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by Ian, Oct 23, 2019

Inno3D GeForce RTX 2080 Super iChiLL Black

Hexus review the Inno3D GeForce RTX 2080 Super iChiLL Black graphics card, which comes with a full 280mm radiator based cooling solution:

Having an external cooling solution enables Inno3D to produce a reasonably small, compact card. Measurements of 272mm long, 112mm high, and fitting into a strict dual-slot form factor are common amongst this range. That's all well and good, but you obviously need room to house the radiator and fans, and it's no surprise to learn the cooling is actually bigger than the card, coming in at 280mm long, 120mm high, and 60mm thick (including dual 120mm fans). 350mm of sleeved tubing from card to radiator is relatively bendable, though we'd recommend at least a mid-tower case for decent clearance between components.

It's handy that everything is self-contained and enclosed. Simply attach the usual 8+6-pin power connectors, screw in the card and radiator, and you are good to go. No faffing around with additional cables and splitters. This isn't some in-house-developed cooler, mind, as Inno3D makes no bones about teaming up with specialists Arctic for the iChiLL Black Edition cards. Most of the cooling know-how appears to come from the Liquid Freezer 240mm CPU model.
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Read the rest of the review here:
https://hexus.net/tech/reviews/graphics/135611-inno3d-geforce-rtx-2080-super-ichill-black/
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by Ian, Oct 15, 2019

AMD Ryzen 5 3400G APU

Think Computers review the AMD Ryzen 5 3400G APU, a budget CPU (with built in GPU) which would be very suited to entry level gaming machine:

On the gaming-side I was very surprised by the 3400G. In the past with integrated graphics they were there, but you really couldn’t play anything you actually wanted to play with them. With the 3400G I was playing many of the games I play on a daily basis like Apex Legends and it was very playable and enjoyable. It did take me a little bit to get used to playing at 1080p and lower frame rates (I normally game with a 2080 Ti and 144 Hz monitor), but after a few rounds I was doing just fine. If you look at our graphics results we were able to get between 40 and 65 FPS in most esports titles at 1080p and those numbers only go up if you move down to 720p.
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Read the rest here:
https://thinkcomputers.org/amd-ryzen-5-3400g-apu-review/
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by Ian, Oct 8, 2019

QSAN XCubeNAS XN7008RE NAS

NikkTech check out the QSAN XCubeNAS XN7008RE NAS, an 8-bay 2u rack device which utilises a Intel Core i3-7100 dual-core processor:

Even though the XCubeNAS XN7008RE is far from the top of the line model in the 2U rackmount line of NAS servers by QSAN still its specifications are nothing short of impressive so under the hood we find the 7th generation Intel Core i3-7100 dual-core processor (clocked at 3.9GHz / 3MB Smart Cache / 51W TDP) together with two 4GB DDR4-2133 memory modules (8GB - expandable to 64GB). The XN7008RE also features a total of 8 drive bays (up to 200 via expansion units) which can accommodate both 2.5"/3.5" drives and can be configured in RAID 0/RAID 1/RAID 5/RAID 5 + hot spare/RAID 6/RAID 10/RAID Z3/RAID 60/JBOD with support for up to 128TB of total storage (this is calculated based on the highest capacity models at the time of this review - 16TB / up to 3200TB with expansion units). Other features include a total of 5 USB ports (1xUSB 2.0 / 4xUSB 3.0), 4 RJ45 Ethernet ports, HDMI output (for service/debug purposes), two PCIe expansion slots (x4/x8), two SAS 12Gb/s ports and two 250W replaceable/redundant power supply units. Finally, just like with all NAS models by QSAN to date the XCubeNAS XN7008RE runs a 128-bit ZFS (Zeta-byte) file system via a custom Linux kernel (QSAN Storage Management v3) and is covered by a 3 year limited warranty.
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Read the rest here:
https://www.nikktech.com/main/artic...0324-qsan-xcubenas-xn7008re-nas-server-review
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Views: 1,103 / Likes: 1 / Replies: 0

by Ian, Sep 13, 2019

Biostar Racing X570GT8 Motherboard

TomsHardware review the Biostar Racing X570GT8 Motherboard, an X570 chipset based board with 3 x m.2. slots:

The Biostar X570GT8’s $230 MSRP places it in the lower range of all X570 boards. We had an overall positive experience in building and testing, although our overclocking results were just a tik lower than the other X570 motherboards we looked at so far.

Performance was where we expected it to be, trading blows with other X570 boards, so no complaints there. The BIOS is a little different than the other AIBs, with the tweaking section (O.N.E) at the far right instead of the left side where we normally see it. If you are using multiple PCIe NVMe drives, the three full speed slots and heatsinks are a welcome sight.
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Read the rest here:
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/biostar-x570gt8-atx-motherboard,6282.html
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by Ian, Aug 19, 2019

Gigabyte Aorus CV27F Monitor

Hot Hardware review the Gigabyte Aorus CV27F monitor, which supports FreeSync-2 and has a native resolution of 1920 x 1080 (Full HD):

Out of the box the CV27F has a premium feel. Both the stand and base are made of a powder-coated hefty metal, and assembly is a snap. The top and side bezels are relatively small, but there's just enough space at the top for us to comfortably mount our Logitech C525 webcam without overlapping the top few rows of pixels. The bottom bezel is a bit bigger, and has an Aorus logo emblazoned across the center. There's a tiny, low-power LED to indicate when the display is on, though it can be disabled is you don't like the distraction. We didn't feel the need to turn it off, however, since the output is pretty dim.
Read more at https://hothardware.com/reviews/aorus-cv27f-review-27-165-hz-curved-gaming-bliss#Fg6kHSPikQQFkJBW.99
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Read the rest here:
https://hothardware.com/reviews/aorus-cv27f-review-27-165-hz-curved-gaming-bliss
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by Ian, Aug 12, 2019

Palit GeForce RTX 2060 Super JS

Hexus review the Palit GeForce RTX 2060 Super JS graphics card, which retails for over £430, but is somewhat overshadowed by the 2070:

We're of the opinion that RTX 2060 Super cards need to be priced below, or as close to, £400 as possible, and Nvidia's partners have every right to feel aggrieved; when the elegant and well-engineered Founders Edition comes to market first at £375, a subsequent £430 Palit Super JS becomes a much harder sell. It's an unusual turn of events, we've personally bemoaned AMD's lack of innovation on its own RX 5700-series reference cards, however we imagine the red team's partners will be grateful.

Pricing aside, those who prioritise cooling performance can rest assured that Palit's design hits the right notes. The large 292mm shroud extends well beyond the underlying PCB, the dual 95mm 'Turbo Fan 2.0' fans tout six-pole motors, there are five copper heatpipes traversing the full-length aluminium heatsink, and the whole thing weighs almost 1.3kg. As you might have guessed, you'll need to set aside three expansion slots just to be able to fit it in.
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Read the rest here:
https://hexus.net/tech/reviews/graphics/132839-palit-geforce-rtx-2060-super-js/
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Views: 1,370 / Likes: 1 / Replies: 0

by Ian, Jul 25, 2019

AMD Ryzen 5 3600

TechPowerUp review the AMD Ryzen 5 3600 CPU, which looks like it will be one of the most popular processor choices we've seen in many years. The review is very detailed, so it's worth a read if you're considering an upgrade:

The Ryzen 5 3600 and 3600X are 6-core/12-thread processors designed to replace the 2600 and 2600X from the product stack. With the 3rd generation Ryzen processor family, AMD has taken the multi-chip module (MCM) approach to building these processors, which are both similar and dissimilar to the Ryzen Threadripper. They're similar in that the CPU cores are spread across two separate dies to achieve core counts of up to 16. They're dissimilar in that there's a second kind of die, the I/O controller.
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In this review, we have with us the Ryzen 5 3600, a 6-core/12-thread processor launched at the same $199 price as the 2600 and over $50 cheaper than the Core i5-9600K. Besides SMT and similar IPC to Intel, these processors offer the latest PCI-Express gen 4.0 bus, which doubles bandwidth for graphics cards and SSDs that support it. Unlike Core i5 parts at this price-point, such as the i5-9500, the Ryzen 5 3600 offers an unlocked base-clock multiplier making it capable of CPU overclocking. A big payoff from the switch to 7 nm is that the Ryzen 5 3600 can enjoy clock speeds as high as 3.60 GHz with 4.20 GHz boost without budging from its 65 W TDP. The 2600X, which comes with similar clock speeds, has its TDP rated at 95 W.
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Read the review here:
https://www.techpowerup.com/review/amd-ryzen-5-3600/
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by Ian, Jul 19, 2019

Logitech G MX518 (Legendary)

TechPowerUp review the Logitech G MX518 (Legendary) mouse, which earns an "editors choice" award:

The Logitech MX518 is a mouse that doesn't need an introduction if you have been an avid PC gamer for some time. If not, here's some trivia for you: The series first showed up in 2002 with the debuting MX500 model, which can be considered as the grandpa of this line of Logitech gaming mice. It was very successful, but only its third iteration, the MX518, became an absolute legend. I'm sure many readers still use their original MX518 to this day. It was made to last, and it did last for many years. It had two more direct successors in the G400 and G400s, but the latter was discontinued after the G402 first showed up. Needless to say, many people were upset since the G402 was way different in terms of ergonomics, which had it provide an entirely different feel. Logitech realized this—better late than never—and the G MX518 (or MX518 Legendary) was born. It features exactly the same shape as the original models, but uses Logitech's flagship HERO sensor, which is capable of 16,000 CPI resolution, a 1000 Hz refresh rate, and self-calibrating lift-off distance. The cable, mouse feet, and some surface materials also got updated, and the weight is a tad lower than on previous iterations.
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Read the review here.
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Views: 2,940 / Likes: 1 / Replies: 0

by Ian, Jun 24, 2019

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