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      Gigabyte BIOS update outs next-gen AMD Ryzen APUs with upgraded Radeon GPUs

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Monday, 13 November - 19:48 · 1 minute

    Promotional image of a Ryzen chip

    Enlarge (credit: AMD )

    The Ryzen 7000 desktop CPU series was AMD’s first to include a small integrated GPU by default to make the chips more appealing for budget and business desktops where a dedicated GPU would be overkill. These bare-bones GPUs won't play many games, as we found when we tested them , but they're a reliable way to light up a couple of monitors.

    AMD said at the time that it also planned to continue making desktop APUs, the company's longstanding terminology for a Ryzen CPU paired with a more powerful integrated Radeon GPU, but we haven't heard anything about a new Ryzen desktop APU since. That could be changing early next year, according to the release notes for a slew of BIOS updates for Gigabyte motherboards . According to Gigabyte, a new series of APUs for socket AM5 motherboards will be released starting in January 2024, and they'll be compatible with any current socket AM5 motherboard running version 1.1.0.0 or newer of AMD's AGESA firmware.

    Tom's Hardware has a breakdown of the Ryzen 8000G series, purportedly gleaned from this new AGESA version. According to this, the chips will be named the Ryzen 8000G series, and they'll use the same "Phoenix" silicon that AMD uses in its Ryzen 7040U laptop processors and the Ryzen Z1 series of chips for gaming handhelds.

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      AMD starts bringing its own tiny CPU cores to new Ryzen 7040 laptop chips

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Thursday, 2 November - 18:08 · 1 minute

    Unlike Intel's E-cores, AMD's Zen 4c supports all the same capabilities as Zen 4, just in a smaller package with lower clock speeds.

    Enlarge / Unlike Intel's E-cores, AMD's Zen 4c supports all the same capabilities as Zen 4, just in a smaller package with lower clock speeds. (credit: AMD)

    AMD sells a lot of 7000-series Ryzen processors for laptops, but the most advanced ones are in the 7040 family . These are the only chips that combine AMD's latest Zen 4 CPU architecture and its latest RDNA 3 graphics cores, whereas other 7000-series laptop chips mix and match various older CPU and GPU architectures.

    Today, the company is announcing two new Ryzen 7040U-series chips for thin and light laptops, but with a twist: They combine regular Zen 4 CPU cores with "Zen 4c" cores that are designed to save space rather than hit high clock speeds (via AnandTech ). AMD says that a Zen 4c CPU core has the same capabilities as a Zen 4 core but takes up 35 percent less space in a silicon die.

    These new chips are codenamed "Phoenix 2," denoting that they are similar to but distinct from the original Phoenix design used in earlier Ryzen 7040U chips. Phoenix 2 combines two high-performance Zen 4 cores, four high-efficiency Zen 4c cores, and a Radeon 740M integrated GPU with four RDNA3 graphics cores. They also lack the Ryzen AI neural processing unit that accelerates some AI and machine learning tasks in the regular Phoenix chips.

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      Review: Framework Laptop finally gets an AMD Ryzen config—and it’s pretty good

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Tuesday, 3 October - 14:48 · 1 minute

    Specs at a glance: Framework Laptop 13 (2023)
    OS Windows 11 22H2
    CPU AMD Ryzen 7 7840U (8-cores)
    RAM 32GB DDR5-5600 (upgradeable)
    GPU AMD Radeon 780M (integrated)
    SSD 1TB Western Digital Black SN770
    Battery 61 WHr
    Display 13.5-inch 2256x1504 non-touchscreen in glossy or matte
    Connectivity 4x recessed USB-C ports (2x USB 4, 2x USB 3.2) with customizable "Expansion Card" dongles, headphone jack
    Price as tested $1,679 pre-built, $1,523 DIY edition with no OS included

    The Framework Laptop 13 is back again.

    My third review of this laptop is probably the one that I (and many Framework-curious PC buyers) have been the most interested to test, as the company has finally added an AMD Ryzen option to the repair-friendly portable. Updates to the Intel version of the Framework Laptop have boosted CPU performance, but its graphics performance has been at a standstill since the Framework Laptop originally hit the scene in mid-2021.

    Even AMD's latest integrated graphics won't make a thin-and-light laptop a replacement for a gaming PC with dedicated graphics, but a bit more GPU power makes the Framework Laptop that much more versatile, making it easier to play games at reasonable resolutions and settings than it is on Intel's aging Iris Xe graphics hardware.

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      AMD Ryzen 7945X3D could be a fast, super-efficient choice for your new gaming laptop

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Friday, 28 July, 2023 - 01:00

    For a couple of years now, AMD has offered special versions of its desktop processors with an extra 64MB chunk of L3 cache included. This cache is layered over top of the existing CPU silicon, earning it the name "3D V-Cache," and it has proven especially successful for accelerating cache-sensitive software like games.

    Today, AMD is announcing the first 3D V-Cache processor for laptops, the Ryzen 9 7945X3D. It's a version of the regular 16-core Ryzen 9 7945HX with that same 64MB chunk of cache added in, giving it a total of 144MB of L3 cache.

    The 7945HX is essentially a version of the desktop Ryzen 9 7950X repackaged for use in laptops instead of high-end desktops; while chips like the similarly named 7940HS use one monolithic silicon die for everything from the CPU cores to the chipset to the integrated GPU, the 7950HX uses a pair of 8-core CPU chiplets and a separate I/O die.

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      Encryption-breaking, password-leaking bug in many AMD CPUs could take months to fix

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Tuesday, 25 July, 2023 - 16:31 · 1 minute

    Encryption-breaking, password-leaking bug in many AMD CPUs could take months to fix

    Enlarge (credit: AMD)

    A recently disclosed bug in many of AMD's recent consumer, workstation, and server processors can cause the chips to leak data at a rate of up to 30 kilobytes per core per second, writes Tavis Ormandy, a member of Google's Project Zero security team. Executed properly, the so-called "Zenbleed" vulnerability (CVE-2023-20593) could give attackers access to encryption keys and root and user passwords, along with other sensitive data from any system using a CPU based on AMD's Zen 2 architecture.

    The bug allows attackers to swipe data from a CPU's registers. Modern processors attempt to speed up operations by guessing what they'll be asked to do next, called "speculative execution." But sometimes the CPU guesses wrong; Zen 2 processors don't properly recover from certain kinds of mispredictions, which is the bug that Zenbleed exploits to do its thing.

    The bad news is that the exploit doesn't require physical hardware access and can be triggered by loading JavaScript on a malicious website. The good news is that, at least for now, there don't seem to be any cases of this bug being exploited in the wild yet, though this could change quickly now that the vulnerability has been disclosed, and the bug requires precise timing to exploit.

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      AMD says new Ryzen 7040 chips beat Intel (and Apple) in thin-and-light PCs

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Wednesday, 3 May, 2023 - 15:05 · 1 minute

    The 7040U series has four different CPUs, mostly separated by the number of CPU and GPU cores.

    Enlarge / The 7040U series has four different CPUs, mostly separated by the number of CPU and GPU cores. (credit: AMD)

    Today AMD announced additional details about its new Ryzen 7040U series of laptop chips, which bring the company's newest Zen 4 CPU architecture and RDNA 3 integrated graphics into thin-and-light laptops. Though just part of AMD's ( often-confusing ) Ryzen 7000 laptop lineup, the 7040U processors will be the ones to hold out for if you want to maximize performance without stepping up to a larger laptop with a dedicated GPU.

    AMD has delayed the announcement of these chips twice. AMD announced in mid-March that systems would begin shipping in April, and it's currently the beginning of May. One of the laptop makers offering a Ryzen 7040-series laptop, Framework , won't actually be shipping its preorders until sometime in Q3, though the larger PC companies will presumably be able to get things to market a bit sooner.

    For most apps and games, the most relevant thing about the Ryzen 7040 chips is the improved CPU and GPU performance. The top-end Ryzen 7 7840U combines 8 CPU cores running at speeds of up to 5.1 GHz and a Radeon 780M GPU with 12 RDNA 3 cores. The Ryzen 5 7640U has 6 CPU cores running at up to 4.9 GHz and a Radeon 760M GPU with 8 cores. The Ryzen 5 7540U has the same 6 CPU cores but with a lower-end Radeon 740M GPU with 4 cores, while the Ryzen 3 7440U combines the same Radeon 740M GPU with 4 CPU cores.

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      New BIOS updates attempt to keep Ryzen 7000X3D processors from frying themselves

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Monday, 24 April, 2023 - 15:27 · 1 minute

    One user's broken 7800X3D processor; the bulging spot on the bottom of the CPU also bent the pins in the motherboard socket.

    Enlarge / One user's broken 7800X3D processor; the bulging spot on the bottom of the CPU also bent the pins in the motherboard socket. (credit: Speedrookie/Reddit)

    Over the weekend, users on Reddit and YouTube began posting about problems with AMD's newest Ryzen 7000X3D processors . In some cases, the systems simply stopped booting. But in at least one instance , a Ryzen 7800X3D became physically deformed, bulging out underneath and bending the pins on the motherboard's processor socket.

    In a separate post, motherboard maker MSI indicated that the damage "may have been caused by abnormal voltage issues." Ryzen 7000X3D processors already impose limits on overclocking and power settings, but new BIOS updates from MSI specifically disallow any kind of "overvolting" features that could give the CPUs more power than they were built to handle. You can still undervolt your CPU to attempt to reduce temperatures and energy usage by giving the CPU a bit less power than it was designed for.

    The Ryzen 7000X3D processors are set to a lower voltage than regular Ryzen 7000 CPUs by default because the extra L3 cache layered on top of the processor die can raise temperatures and make the CPU more difficult to cool. This has also made the chips much more power-efficient than the standard Ryzen chips, but that efficiency comes at the cost of overclocking settings and other features that some enthusiasts use to squeeze more performance out of their PCs.

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      Review: AMD Ryzen 7800X3D is the cheapest way to get the most out of a $1,500 GPU

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Wednesday, 5 April, 2023 - 13:00

    The AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D.

    Enlarge / The AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D. (credit: Andrew Cunningham)

    If you were intrigued by AMD's Ryzen 9 7950X3D but didn't want to spend $700 on a processor, the $450 Ryzen 7 7800X3D might be the chip you've been waiting for.

    Like the more-expensive X3D chips, the 7800X3D is a regular Zen 4 processor with an extra 64MB of L3 cache stacked on top of it. That extra cache isn't always useful, but it does tend to boost game performance, and AMD has marketed the X3D series mostly to PC gamers looking for a processor to pair with high-end GPUs like the GeForce RTX 4090 and Radeon RX 7900 XTX.

    The X3D chips all come with compromises, mainly in the form of lower clock speeds and less-flexible overclocking support. But if you mainly care about games, the good news is that the 7800X3D runs them just as well as the more-expensive 7950X3D for less money, and it does so without generating too much heat or using too much power.

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      New chipset could finally make it easier to build budget Ryzen 7000 PCs

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Monday, 3 April, 2023 - 16:24 · 1 minute

    AMD's AM5 processor socket.

    Enlarge / AMD's AM5 processor socket. (credit: Andrew Cunningham)

    If you're trying to build a low-end to midrange gaming PC or workstation with inexpensive but modern parts, it's been hard to recommend AMD's Ryzen 7000-series processors. That's partly because Intel's CPUs have offered more cores for similar money, but motherboards with AMD's socket AM5 have remained stubbornly expensive, and their lack of support for DDR4 memory means you'll pay more to get DDR5 RAM.

    That may change somewhat thanks to the new entry-level AMD A620 chipset, which the company quietly announced last week. AMD says they should bring the prices of AM5-based motherboards down to around $85, not far north of what low-end Intel-based H610 and B660 motherboards cost, though they'll still require DDR5 (for the DDR5-6000 that AMD recommends for optimal Ryzen performance, the price premium is still not quite double what you'll pay for the same amount of DDR4-3200).

    How the A620 chipset stacks up to higher-end X670 and B650 options. Note the lack of CPU overclocking and PCIe 5.0 support.

    How the A620 chipset stacks up to higher-end X670 and B650 options. Note the lack of CPU overclocking and PCIe 5.0 support. (credit: AMD)

    Compared to X670 and B650-based motherboards, A620 chipsets will have more limited connectivity. There's no PCI Express 5.0 support at all for either graphics cards or SSDs—not a huge blow since no GPUs and few SSDs support PCIe 5.0 at this point anyway, but a step back for future-proofing. The processor will still provide enough PCIe 4.0 lanes for a GPU and a single SSD, but the chipset only supports PCIe 3.0 speeds for additional SSDs. The chipset also supports fewer USB ports overall and no 20Gbps USB ports.

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