Thread: Anandtech News

If you’re having a tough time following Intel’s new array of code names, don’t worry, you are not alone. The split between mainstream and U-series and Y-series has us all confused. There’s a Whiskey Lake, and Amber Lake, and at some point in the future a Tiger Lake. Comet Lake, believed to be a future desktop CPU (still on 14nm), looks like it is coming down into that 15W power envelope later this year in Q4.
In our discussions on the Computex show floor with a partner, they identified that upcoming mini-PC products that have previously been built on U-series processors will soon be updated to Comet Lake. Intel’s partner stated that they would be updating the product line with the new CPUs in November, however retail of those machines might not occur until a little bit later.
We did explicitly clarify with the partner that they were specifically talking about Comet Lake, and in the ~15W envelope, just in case we didn't hear correctly. They concurred.

This is an interesting development, because this means that Intel is likely to have two different U-series CPU lines in the market at the same time: the Ice Lake 9W-28W parts announced last week, presumably for the premium and high-end designs, and Comet Lake at 15W for the more budget oriented platforms. Given the rumors regarding Intel’s 10nm yields, and the known issues around the supply of Intel’s 14nm, this could be a way of bridging the gap between the high-cost and low-cost systems.
It will be interesting to see when Intel wants to talk about Comet Lake, either in a 15W form factor or something a little bit bigger. Just don’t ask what version of 14nm it is made on. Just for kicks, it might be called '10th Gen' too.

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A common marketing tool at trade show events is for companies to commission custom PC builds to showcase their hardware and products. Modding is an interesting aspect to our industry, with each one unique, but it has to be substantially different. Cue this build at the Alphacool booth.

In the size of a Ryzen Threadripper retail box, we have an Asrock A300M-STX motherboard, an AMD APU, two G.Skill Trident Royal SO-DIMMs, and a small mini-ITX Alphacool custom liquid cooling setup, all with RGB LEDs. The case is an adjusted mix of plastics and carbon fiber designed to imitate the retail box, along with additional motifs on the front for Alphacool and on the rear for Ryzen and ASRock. The rear also has a fan for the radiator to help cooling.

This. I want this. @AMDRyzen @ASRockInfo @alphacool #Computex2019 pic.twitter.com/rdRsOPH280
— Ian Cutress (@IanCutress) May 31, 2019

So it might not technically be in an original Threadripper retail box, but it's as close of a facsimile as you can get, and equal in size. I can't help think that if the system was scaled up and had one of ASRock's new mini-ITX boards with a Thunderbolt 3 port, that we could also equip a system with an eGPU box and go completely wild, pairing it with one of the new Ryzen 3000 65W CPUs. Yes please.

The modder who did the design is known as Mark's Fabrication (@Marks.Fab), who did a number of designs on the Computex show floor this year for a number of vendors.

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Gallery: Spotted at Computex: A Ryzen PC in a Threadripper RETAIL box

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Today Samsung and AMD announced a new multi-year strategic partnership between the two companies, where Samsung SLSI will license graphics IP from AMD for use in mobile GPUs.



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During Computex 2019, ASRock unveiled its latest flagship motherboard for AMD's AM4 socket, the X570 Aqua. Featured is a wide range of high-end components including 10 G LAN, Wi-Fi 6, Realtek's ALC1220, and a new custom-designed PCB covering making it one of the cleanest looking motherboards on the market.
We got a hands-on of the ASRock X570 Aqua and this thing is not a light tough. The first thing to notice other than its striking PCB armor covering the vast majority of the PCB and the large CPU water block, was the weight. The ASRock X570 Taichi is an E-ATX board which with the added weight of the CPU water block which also extends to cool the X570 chipset, the armor, and backplate on the rear, makes the board much heavier than other premium models. The Aqua moniker signifies the targeted consumer of this board, in that only users looking to run a custom water cooled system with high-end components, will likely consider this model.

The feature set underneath the aesthetics is equally premium with an Aquantia AQC107 10 G LAN port, with an additional Intel Gigabit port included. Its Wi-Fi 6 capabilities come due to a Killer AX1650 802.11ax interface which also adds support for BT 5. A Realtek ALC1220 HD audio codec provides the onboard audio, while the rear panel also uses two Thunderbolt 3 Type-C ports. This limits the boards other USB 3.1 G2 capabilities and as a result, the X570 Aqua has six rear-panel USB 3.1 G1 type-A ports, but users can add an additional four with two USB 3.1 G1 headers, and four USB 2.0 ports with a pairing of USB 2.0 headers.

One of the main features of X570 is PCIe 4.0, and the ASRock X570 Aqua makes use of three full-length PCIe 4.0 slots which run at x16 x8/x8 and x8/x8/x4; also present is three PCIe 4.0 x1 slots. Storage includes two PCIe 4.0 M.2 slots and a total of eight SATA ports. Another interesting thing to note is the memory support which is listed as DDR4-4666. This signifies that the IMC is better on Ryzen 3000 over the previous generations.

The ASRock X570 Aqua is currently ASRock's flagship X570 motherboard in terms of features, and aesthetics. As a result, the pricing is likely to be high, but no information is currently available. What we do know is that the X570 Aqua will be limited to just 999 pieces worldwide, making its exclusivity one of its attracting features. We expect this model to launch around 7/7.
(We were told that the board would be under $1000. It's something.)
Gallery: ASRock X570 Aqua Motherboard Gallery

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Infineon on Monday said that it had signed an agreement to take over Cypress Semiconductor, strengthening its portfolio of physical interface technologies. The move will add a set of technologies and expertise needed for numerous emerging sectors, including self-driving automotive, industrial, and Internet of Things. Infineon is set to pay $10 billion.
Known primarily for its vast set of offerings for automotive, wireless, security, power, and sensor industries, Infineon needs additional IP for modern applications, which include everything from watches to vehicles and aircrafts. Cypress appears to have this IP (and a lot more, which includes software/firmware) and this is where synergies between the two companies start to kick off. Meanwhile, it is necessary to note that there are many areas where two companies overlap, so expect optimizations here. Structurally, though, Infineon is going to get a lot stronger particularly on high-growth emerging markets.
Officially, Infineon mentions applications like electric drives, battery-powered devices, and power supplies as reasons for the takeover. Yet there is more than that. The combination of Infineon and Cypress looks to be significantly higher than the sum of all parts because it allows Infineon to build platforms for a variety of emerging platforms across many industries.
Under the terms of the contract, Infineon will offer $23.85 in cash for all outstanding shares of Cypress, which corresponds to an enterprise value for Cypress of €9.0 billion (over $10 billion), which represents a 46% premium to Cypress’s unaffected 30-day volume-weighted average price during a recent 30-date period.
The whole press release as well as quotes from executives follow below this coverage.

Infineon Technologies AG (FSE: IFX / OTCQX: IFNNY) and Cypress Semiconductor Corporation (NASDAQ: CY) today announced that the companies have signed a definitive agreement under which Infineon will acquire Cypress for US$23.85 per share in cash, corresponding to an enterprise value of €9.0 billion.
Reinhard Ploss, CEO of Infineon, said: “The planned acquisition of Cypress is a landmark step in Infineon’s strategic development. We will strengthen and accelerate our profitable growth and put our business on a broader basis. With this transaction, we will be able to offer our customers the most comprehensive portfolio for linking the real with the digital world. This will open up additional growth potential in the automotive, industrial and Internet of Things sectors. This transaction also makes our business model even more resilient. We look forward to welcoming our new colleagues from Cypress to Infineon. Together, we will continue our shared commitments to innovation and focused R&D investments to accelerate technology advancements.”
Hassane El-Khoury, President and CEO of Cypress, said: “The Cypress team is excited to join forces with Infineon to capitalize on the multi-billion dollar opportunities from the massive rise in connectivity and computing requirements of the next technology waves. This announcement is not only a testament to the strength of our team in delivering industry-leading solutions worldwide, but also to what can be realized from uniting our two great companies. Jointly, we will enable more secure, seamless connections, and provide more complete hardware and software sets to strengthen our customers’ products and technologies in their end markets. In addition, the strong fit of our two companies will bring enhanced opportunities for our customers and employees.”
Steve Albrecht, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Cypress, said: “For the past three years, our Cypress 3.0 strategy has delivered tremendous results and restructured the entire organization to focus on markets that matter. After receiving interest from several companies, we entered into a transaction that is a testament to our team’s strategy and hard work. For Cypress shareholders, the combination of continued dividends through closing plus the US$23.85 cash price represents significant value creation. This transaction will create product opportunities that are increasingly important in the competitive automotive, industrial, and consumer markets. As Board members, we are grateful for Cypress’s outstanding management team, led by Hassane El-Khoury.”
More robust positioning in high-growth markets
With the addition of Cypress, Infineon will consequently strengthen its focus on structural growth drivers and serve a broader range of applications. This will accelerate the company’s path of profitable growth of recent years. Cypress has a differentiated portfolio of microcontrollers as well as software and connectivity components that are highly complementary to Infineon’s leading power semiconductors, sensors and security solutions. Combining these technology assets will enable comprehensive advanced solutions for high-growth applications such as electric drives, battery-powered devices and power supplies. The combination of Infineon’s security expertise and Cypress’s connectivity know-how will accelerate entry into new IoT applications in the industrial and consumer segments. In automotive semiconductors, the expanded portfolio of microcontrollers and NOR flash memories will offer great potential, especially in light of their growing importance for advanced driver assistance systems and new electronic architectures in vehicles.
With the addition of Cypress’s strong R&D and geographical presence in the U.S, Infineon not only strengthens its capabilities for its major customers in North America, but also in other important geographical regions. The company adds to its R&D presence in Silicon Valley and gains presence, as well as market share, in the strategically important Japanese market. At the same time, Infineon aims to achieve significant economies of scale, making Infineon's business model even more resilient. Based on pro forma revenues of €10 billion in FY 2018, the transaction will make Infineon the number eight chip manufacturer in the world. In addition to its already leading position in power semiconductors and security controllers, Infineon will now also become the number one supplier of chips to the automotive market.
Improved financial strength following full integration
The acquisition will also improve Infineon’s financial strength and Infineon shareholders are expected to benefit from earnings accretion beginning in the first full fiscal year after closing. The capital intensity will decrease, resulting in an increasing free cash flow margin. Infineon has validated sales and cost synergies assumptions as part of due diligence. Expected economies of scale will create cost synergies of €180 million per annum by 2022. The complementary portfolios will enable the offering of further chip solutions with a revenue synergies potential of more than €1.5 billion per annum in the long term.
Upon successful integration, Infineon will adapt its target operating model accordingly. Then, the company targets through-cycle revenue growth of 9+ percent and a segment result margin of 19 percent. The investment-to-sales ratio is targeted to decrease to 13 percent.
Transaction details
Under the terms of the agreement, Infineon will offer US$23.85 in cash for all outstanding shares of Cypress. This corresponds to a fully diluted enterprise value for Cypress of €9.0 billion. The offer price represents a 46 percent premium to Cypress’s unaffected 30-day volume-weighted average price during the period from 15 April to 28 May 2019, the last trading day prior to media reports regarding a potential sale of Cypress.
Cypress expects to continue its quarterly cash dividend payments until the transaction closes. This includes Cypress’s previously announced quarterly cash dividend of US$0.11 per share, payable on July 18, 2019 to holders of record of Cypress’s common stock at the close of business on June 27, 2019.
The funding of the acquisition is fully underwritten by a consortium of banks. Infineon is committed to retaining a solid investment grade rating and, consequently, Infineon intends to ultimately finance approximately 30 percent of the total transaction value with equity and the remainder with debt as well as cash on hand. The financial policy to preserve a strategic cash reserve remains in place.
The acquisition is subject to approval by Cypress's shareholders and the relevant regulatory bodies as well as other customary conditions. The closing is expected by the end of calendar year 2019 or early 2020.
Credit Suisse and J.P. Morgan acted as lead financial advisors to Infineon. Bank of America Merrill Lynch also acted as financial advisor. All three banks acted as structuring banks in addition to providing committed financing for the transaction, Bank of America Merrill Lynch in the lead. Kirkland & Ellis LLP and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP are acting as legal advisors to Infineon.
Morgan Stanley is acting as exclusive financial advisor to Cypress, and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP is serving as legal counsel.

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Today Apple announced the new iOS13 operating system update for iPhones. Among the feature updates of the new OS which we’ll cover in a separate article, Apple is dropping support for several older generation devices.

For iOS13, it looks like Apple is dropping support for devices older than the iPhone 6S. In general it looks like any past generation device with 1GB of RAM will no longer be supported and will not receive the iOS13 update.

Apple has also announced that it’s forking the OS for tablet devices into a different OS: iPadOS. Here also Apple is dropping support for legacy devices, and similarly it is dropping support for devices with 1GB or less of RAM, only supporting models starting with the 5^th generation iPad, the iPad Mini 4 and the iPad Air 2, obviously also including all newer iPad Pros.
Related Reading:

• The Apple WWDC 2019 Keynote Live Blog (Starts at 10am PT/17:00 UTC)
• The Apple iPhone XR Review: A Different Display Leads To Brilliant Battery Life
• The iPhone XS & XS Max Review: Unveiling the Silicon Secrets

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Last year at Computex we did a round-up of some really crazy 3000W power supplies. These were essentially two PSUs in a single chassis, but the idea was to power multiple mining graphics cards. The quality of the units was questionable, and they didn’t adhere to any 80 PLUS specification. This year, we have a true high powered unit on show, however SuperFlower will not sell it to you.

The 2500W design is based on the company’s 2000W model, which is at retail, but with better binned components in order to keep the same rating efficiency. It’s large, and comes with a wide array of connectors. In order to achieve 2500W, the company is pushing 200+ amps through the main rail. Due to the power requirements, and the efficiency, this unit is only fit to work on 230V mains supply.

So why show it at all, if it’s not going to be on sale? The company representative told me that they wanted a unit that was the best of the best, to show off at events, but also the unit would be given to overclockers at a number of OEMs in order to help them try and break world records. In essence, they are giving these units away for free.

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Gallery: Super Flower Shows 2500W Platinum PSU: It’s Not For You

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At today’s WWDC event in San Jose, California, Apple unveiled the newest update to its iOS operating system, iOS 13, as well as its forking of iOS for tablet devices into a new dedicated OS: iPadOS. We’ll be quickly covering the most important updates this year and see what’s to expect of this year’s newest features introductions.
System-wide dark mode

Most interesting visual change for iOS 13 is the addition of a new dedicated dark mode that switches the UI to a darker colour scheme that is easy on the eyes. Apple’s implementation of the feature is similar to what we’ve seen by other mobile vendors: It’s able to be quickly switched on or off, and also has a schedule feature which automatically adapts the mode based on time of day.

Wallpapers have been optimised to also feature variants for both light and dark mode themes. While dark mode isn’t supported by third-party apps immediately, developers can update their apps with the new SDK and also integrate with the system-wide switch via an API.
Dark mode will best work on OLED devices and will such provide users with notable battery life improvements due to the lower power draw required to display darker content.
Advanced Photos Editing & Photo Arrangement

The new Photos app allows users to now more extensively edit photos with new advanced techniques. New controls include vibrance, white balance, sharpening, “definition” (clarity filter), noise reduction and vignette filters right from the photo app. Most importantly is the ability to now do advanced editing on video content as well, something that usually had to be done by editing on a dedicated device can now be done on your phone, and you can now crop, rotate, change exposure or apply filter right from your iOS device.

The album feature of the Photos app has also been massively updated. The device and iCloud will now sort your photos based on dates, being able to view group of pictures based on the day, month or even year they were taken, a feature that mimics the way Samsung’s Gallery app has worked for a few years now. Furthermore the new app will be able to sort photos by events, able to better rediscover the collections in the future.
Portrait mode will now allow users to change the intensity and position of the lightning, giving much better control over their portrait shots and allowing for more customised lighting results.
Privacy & Security

Apple made a big emphasis on new privacy and security features in today’s keynote event. At the heart of the new improvements for iOS13 is the new addition of a “Sign In with Apple” feature. The new feature, relatively self-explanatory in its name, is linked to your Apple ID instead of your traditional email account.

The cool thing about the new feature is that Apple enables a “Hide My Email” feature where it creates a unique alias for a given particular app or website. In Apple’s privacy settings later you can have the alias forward emails to your real email or simply block emails if the third-party becomes a nuisance.
Part of the goal of increasing privacy and security, application location permissions will now work differently in iOS 13. You can now give out more fine-grained controls, such as only granting access once instead of permanently. Furthermore Apple will now notify you when an app is using your location, giving you the option to deny access.
A nifty new feature is that sharing photos will now give the option to strip off the location EXIF data based on your preference.
Maps With More Detail

Apple has completely revamped the mapping data for its own Maps app. Using new LIDAR technology, satellite and mapping vehicles, the new Maps app delivers significantly more detail. New functionality includes collections of locations and favourites which gives you a better handle of your most common locations.

Apple also essentially introduces its own version of Google StreetView: The new 360° view of locations promises to offer a similar experience to what Google is able to achieve, but Apple’s implementation seems a lot more seamless and in the event demonstration traveling along a route looks a lot smoother and eye-catching than what Google’s implementation.
The big catch with the new mapping data is that it’s only targeted to cover most of the US by the end of 2019 with some very limited European countries later in the year.
Memoji and Messages

Devices with A9 chips or newer now support generation of your own Memoji stickers. Stickers are essentially static Animojis that you can send in Messages and integrate into the new keyboard.
Messages now also give the option for you to share your name or photo (or animoji or any other photo) when starting a conversation, so the receiver on the other end will immediately know who it is.
Swipe Keyboard

Existing for years on Android devices and third-party Android keyboards, Apple now finally introduces swipe to type on its default iOS keyboard with the adoption of QuickType. Frankly personally this is a huge deal as I haven’t used a regular tap to type keyboard on my daily devices in like 5 years, so it’s great to see Apple get on to the bandwagon for this feature.
Performance - 2x App Launch Speed

Last year’s iOS 12 saw a large performance increase in overall user experience and responsiveness due to Apple’s revamped scheduler and DVFS scaling speed. This year iOS 13 further enhances performance of devices, particularly application launch speeds.
Apple is now employing a new application packaging standard that vastly reduces the size of apps. New application downloads from the App Store are said to be 50% smaller, while application updates will be up to 60% smaller. The new app packaging also increases the application launch times by 2x, a significant upgrade over past generations.
Files - An Actual Filesystem??

Probably what is the single most significant update for iOS 13 was something that was covered in the iPadOS part of the presentation: Files support with full local storage.

The addition of a files browser with full generic access to the local storage is finally resolving one of iOS’s single biggest lackings since its inception over a decade ago. The new iOS 13 now supports showcasing of full file metadata, zipping and unzipping files, iCloud folder sharing and, crazy enough, a Downloads folder.
To blow your mind even further, iOS now will support external files on USB drives, SD cards or even hard drives. If this finally works as promised, it’s a gigantic step for the usability of iOS.
Enterprise

Enterprise users will enjoy a new data-separation feature: It fully separates a user’s usual data from corporate data, something that is targeted for “Bring Your Own Device” use-cases, and will be quite popular with a lot of enterprise users who sometimes will carry around two devices just because of enterprise usage restrictions.
Related Reading:

• The Apple WWDC 2019 Keynote Live Blog (Starts at 10am PT/17:00 UTC)
• The Apple iPhone XR Review: A Different Display Leads To Brilliant Battery Life
• The iPhone XS & XS Max Review: Unveiling the Silicon Secrets

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In the midst of all the current AMD announcements such as the Ryzen 3000 series of processors, and the announcement of the new X570 chipset, GIGABYTE has prepared a series of different X570 models. The GIGABYTE X570 I Aorus Pro WIFI features a mini-ITX frame with a Wi-Fi 6 wireless interface, and a Realtek ALC1220-VB audio codec.

The mini-ITX small factor is very popular on consumer desktop and it's normal for a motherboard vendor to launch at least one or sometimes two models onto the market. GIGABYTE introduces its X570 I Aorus Pro WIFI model into the mid-range segment with a nice variety of features. Firstly, there are two DDR4 memory slots that will likely support up to 64 GB of total memory capacity, but this hasn't been officially confirmed. Storage is provided by four SATA straight-angled ports, with two PCIe 4.0 M.2 slots, one of which includes a thermal guard which works in collaboration with the actively cooled X570 heatsink. The X570 I Aorus Pro WIFI has a single full-length PCIe 4.0 slot which has a coating of metal armor reinforcement.

For enthusiasts and performance junkies, the GIGABYTE X570 I Aorus Pro WIFI has an 8-phase power delivery using International Rectifier MOSFETs. Due to the design of the power delivery, it allows the heatsink to work more effectively at cooling the power delivery. The rear panel cover is also elegant with a metal finish further adding to the boards premium aspect. It's the controller set which makes this board a more mid-range offering with a single Intel-based Gigabit LAN port, a Wi-Fi 6 capable Intel AX200 802.11ax interface, as well as a Realtek ALC1220-VB HD audio codec. On the rear is dual HDMI outputs with a DisplayPort too, making this board suitable for multi-display capable for use with Ryzen based APUs. Aside from a single USB 3.1 G2 Type-A, and Type-C, the rest of the rear panel is using four USB 3.1 G1 Type-A ports.

The GIGABYTE X570 I Aorus Pro WIFI will be available from 7/7, with an expected MSRP of $219 at launch.
Gallery: GIGABYTE X570 I Aorus Pro WIFI Motherboard Gallery

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Seagate is launching their 16 TB CMR (conventional magnetic recording) helium drives today under two product lines - the Exos X for datacenter usage, and the IronWolf / IronWolf Pro for NAS units. The company has been actively shipping the Exos X drives to hyperscale customers, and today's launch is geared more towards the retail market. Similar to the currently available 14TB drives from Seagate, the new 16TB variants also use TDMR (two-dimensional magnetic recording) technology for the heads
The Exos X16 is a 3.5" 7200 RPM drive with SED (self-encrypting drive) options. It is currently the leading capacity point available across all HDD vendors, but, not the first 16 TB drive publicly announced - that credit goes to Toshiba's MG08 series launched in January 2019. Similar to Toshiba's MG08 series, the Seagate 16TB drives also use nine platters to achieve the capacity point.
Seagate claims that the new Exos X16 delivers 33% additional storage per rack compared to the 12 TB variants - thereby reducing the TCO for datacenter operators. The Exos X series is available in both SATA 6Gbps and SAS 12Gbps versions.
The 16 TB drives are also being made available under the IronWolf and IronWolf Pro branding - these drives carry a 300TB/yr workload rating, and deliver benefits typically required in SOHO / SMB NAS systems.
The Exos X16 16TB HDD SATA model (ST16000NM001G) has an MSRP of $629 and is available for purchase today. The dual-port SAS model (ST16000NM002G) is priced at $639. The detailed specifications of the various Exos X16 variants are reproduced in the table below.

The IronWolf Pro (ST16000NE000) has a MSRP of $665 and the IronWolf (ST16000VN001) is priced at $610. These models come with the Rescue Data Recovery Service. The detailed specifications are presented in the table below. The IronWolf 16TB drive is rated for 600K load/unload cycles. The corresponding figure for Exos X16 and the IronWolf Pro were not provided.

Seagate might not be the first to publicly announce a 16TB HDD. However, there is no sign of the previously announced Toshiba MG08 series in the retail market. Seagate's 16TB drives are available for purchase today.



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