Anandtech News

**FEED** · 10-09-19, 03:31 PM

G.Skill has now rolled out its 32 GB unbuffered DDR4 modules in dual-channel and quad-channel memory kits. The modules are offered with data transfer rates from 2666 MT/s to 4000 MT/s and various modules are compatible with AMD’s Ryzen 3000/X570 as well as Intel’s X299/Z390 platforms.
Based on pre-binned 16 Gb memory chips and proprietary PCBs, G.Skill’s hardware boils down to sets of 32 GB DDR4 unbuffered DIMMs. Lower-end modules are set to be available as single pieces as they can be used by PC makers that need to lower their BOM cost, whereas higher-end parts will be offered as dual-channel and quad-channel kits for high-end desktops and workstations. The UDIMMs feature an XMP 2.0 SPD for setting speeds beyond JEDEC.

G.Skill's 32 GB Trident Z UDIMMs and Kits
Speed	CL Timing	Voltage	Kit Config.	Kit Capacity
DDR4-2666	CL18 18-18-43	1.2 V	1×32 GB	32 GB
2×32 GB	64 GB
3×32 GB	128 GB
4×32 GB	256 GB
CL19 19-19-43	1×32 GB	32 GB
2×32 GB	64 GB
4×32 GB	128 GB
8×32 GB	256 GB
DDR4-3200	CL16 18-18-38	1.35 V	1×32 GB	32 GB
2×32 GB	64 GB
4×32 GB	128 GB
8×32 GB	256 GB
DDR4-3600	CL18 25-25-45	1.4 V	2×32 GB	32 GB
4×32 GB	64 GB
DDR4-3800	CL18 22-22-42	1.35 V	2×32 GB	64 GB
DDR4-4000	CL18 25-25-45	1.4 V	4×32 GB	128 GB

As there are several platforms used by enthusiasts today, G.Skill will offer two families of products:

Trident Z Neo for AMD Ryzen 3000/X570 platforms
rident Z Royal for Intel platforms.

For AMD Ryzen 3000-based PCs, the highest-performing kits will be 64 GB DDR4-3800 CL18 as well as 128 GB DDR4-3600 CL18 offerings. For the Intel platform, the highest end kits will be 128 GB DDR4-4000 CL18 as well as 256 GB DDR4-3200 CL16. Validation for AMD is done using the MSI MEG X570 Godlike motherboard, whereas validation for Intel is made on the ASUS ROG Rampage VI Extreme Encore motherboard. Other motherboards will be validated over time, and likely up to the motherboard manufacturers in their own QVL.

All enthusiast-class 32 GB unbuffered DIMMs from G.Skill will be equipped with aluminum heat spreaders with an RGB lightbar with multiple lighting zones. The Trident Z Royal will come with polished silver or gold heat spreaders as well as a crystalline RGB lightbar, whereas the Trident Z Neo will use matte heat spreaders and an RGB lightbar.

One thing to keep in mind about 32 GB UDIMMs is that they may require a BIOS update as not all motherboards support them out-of-box.
G.Skill will start sales of its 32 GB UDIMMs as well as dual-channel and quad-channel kits that use them later this quarter. Pricing will depend on capacity as well as rated performance levels, but since these products are designed for high-end PCs, they will be priced accordingly.

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Source: G.Skill

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**FEED** · 10-10-19, 09:33 AM

Today in China, top 5 smartphone company Oppo launched its latest flagship smartphone. The new Oppo Reno Ace goes above and beyond the Oppo Reno launched earlier in the year by jamming in some quite impressive specifications into a device that retails around USD $420.

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**FEED** · 10-10-19, 09:33 AM

Motherboard firmware is a fickle thing: in order to support as many CPUs as possible, especially in the multi-core and turbo era, each processor has to have its own entry in the support table in the BIOS. With luck, some processor variants can share entries, but ultimately the more processors a platform supports, the larger the BIOS firmware tends to be. As we have moved from basic BIOS implementations to complex UEFI interfaces, the amount of free space inside BIOS firmware has reduced drastically.
As a result, in recent generations, we’re seeing motherboards drop support for certain ranges of processors. Recently, a range of AMD AM4 motherboards have dropped support for the earliest A-series processors that were supported on the platform, mostly because these parts were not widely used at the end of the day. Now, Intel is doing the same thing: for users who invested in the X299 platform, in order to support the new Cascade Lake-X processors, that same BIOS version is unlikely so support the quad-core Kaby Lake-X processors.

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**FEED** · 10-10-19, 10:35 AM

HP has introduced its first business-oriented Chromebooks for Enterprise mobile PCs that support advanced security, management, and deployment features. The lineup consists of two machines featuring different configurations: Intel-based Chromebook Enterprise x360 14E G1 convertibles with 8th Generation processors, as well as AMD-powered Chromebook Enterprise 14A G5 laptops.
HP’s Chromebook Enterprise 14A G5: A Cheap Business Machine

HP’s entry-level Chrome OS-based machine for business users is the Chromebook Enterprise 14A G5 that is equipped with a 14-inch HD or Full-HD display and is based on AMD’s dual-core A4-9120C with Radeon R4 graphics or dual-core A6-9220C with Radeon R5 graphics. The system comes equipped with 8 GB of DDR4-1866 RAM as well as an eMMC 5.0 drive featuring capacity from 16 to 64 GB. The machine is 1.83 cm thick and weighs 1.57 kilograms, which is comparable to other 14-inch laptops.

Other features of the notebook include Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 4.2, two USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A ports, two USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-C connectors (with Power Delivery and DisplayPort support), a microSD card reader, a 3.5-mm audio connector for headsets, a 720p camera, stereo speakers, a microphone array, a spill resistant keyboard, a touchpad, and a 47.36 Wh battery that can last for up to 9 hours, according to HP.

Since we are dealing with a business-class machine, it comes with Google’s H1 security chip that enable security features supported (or to be supported) by Chrome OS, including verified boot, battery cutoff, and guaranteed reset.

HP’s Chromebook Enterprise x360 14E G1: A More Advanced Business Machine

Moving on to the Chromebook Enterprise x360 14E G1, which is a more advanced and presumably more expensive Chrome OS-powered laptop from HP. Being a premium convertible PC, the notebooks comes in a metallic chassis with a 14-inch Full-HD IPS-class monitor with thin side bezels as well as a 360° hinge that flips and folds the laptop into notebook, stand, tent, and tablet modes. The hybrid machine weighs 1.61 kilograms and features a 1.6 cm z-height.

Offering considerably higher performance than its counterparts mentioned above, the Chromebook Enterprise x360 14E G1 machines pack Intel’s 8^thGeneration Core (also Pentium or Celeron) processors with up to four cores as well as Intel UHD Graphics 610/620 that are accompanied by up to 16 GB of DDR4-2133 RAM as well as an eMMC 5.0 storage solution of up to 64 GB capacity. When it comes to connectivity, the PC features Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 4.2, one USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A port, two USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C connectors with DisplayPort as well as power delivery for docking, a microSD card reader, and a 3.5-mm connector for headsets.

Being aimed at users that demand something better than average, HP’s Chromebook Enterprise x360 14E G1 computers feature B&O-badged speakers as well as a 60.9 Wh battery that can last for up to 13 hours. The notebook also has a 720p webcam, a microphone array, Google's H1, and other essentials.

Sales & Availability

HP will start sales of its Chromebook Enterprise x360 14E G1 convertibles and Chromebook Enterprise 14A G5 laptops later this month. Pricing is unknown.
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Source: HP

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**FEED** · 10-10-19, 10:35 AM

In this industry, it’s very easy to fall into a lull that the North American market is blueprint from which every other commercial market is drawn up. In reality, each region and sub-region has its own foibles, from the types of customers in play, budgets customers can spend, and the requirements therein that might be unique to that region. Of course, within Europe there are several sizeable markets that aren’t like the North American market at all, and this year in the UK a lot of talk has been about how Brexit will affect business, supply, and revenue.
This week Intel UK held an open house for media and partners to demonstrate the latest range of Intel devices, mostly derived from Ice Lake notebooks, Project Athena devices, gaming laptops, and super desktop rigs that are sold in the market. Intel also paired that up with a number of presentations going over Intel’s strategy and how it plays out to the local consumer base. From my perspective, given that I’ve been to over a dozen equivalent events driven by the US PR teams, the presentations at this event approached a number of market issues in a very uniquely British way.
Based on my questions after the first few talks, the local PR team offered me some 1-on-1 interview time with one of the keynote speakers, Jeff Kilford. Jeff, having worked at Intel for 25 years, is a key spokesman on local client strategy. His background includes being the Director of Intel’s IT to managing the whole of the Client Computing Group in the UK. His work involves a lot of discussions with Intel’s place in the UK as it relates to consumers and commercial use cases, as well as retailers, OEMs, and local distribution and supply chain.

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**FEED** · 10-10-19, 12:37 PM

In what is being put down to an inadvertent leak by MSI, it could be that the currently unannounced chipset for AMD's new 3rd Gen Ryzen Threadripper series processors has been officially mentioned (not withstanding the unconfirmed leaks from various sources). With the new AMD Ryzen Threadripper third generation set to hit the shelves in November, a lot of discussion is circulating about potential motherboard chipsets names and monikers. On one end we're expecting compatibility with current X399 motherboards, and yet on the other new chipsets are expected to hit the market.
On MSI's promotional pages, in which users can redeem rewards for purchasing specific and eligible MSI products, an unknown motherboard was revealed which piqued interest among users. Under MSI's $25 Steam Gift Card promotion, an unreleased model named Creator TRX40 was listed which at present, hasn't been announced by MSI or AMD. We know that the Creator series is MSI's new content creator focused range with our announcement that MSI is refreshing some X299 models, notably the MSI Creator X299.

MSI has since removed the Creator TRX40 reference from its website

Little is known about what AMD intends to call the chipset for the new HEDT 3rd generation Threadripper processors, but it has been speculated that it might be called TRX80. With the accidental leak on the MSI website which has since been removed with much haste, it adds further speculation to the fire that AMD might release two chipsets instead of one. We have no confirmation as to what each of these chipset names mean, and some users have theorised that it could relate to consumer/commercial platforms or the memory channel count.

We know that AMD's new 3rd Gen Ryzen Threadripper series will start with an entry-level model with 24 cores, with a 64-core part speculated to be in the pipeline. AMD has kept its cards closely to its chest as we've seen from previous product launches, but it remains an exciting time for users looking to build a single-socket system that features high core and thread count based on Ryzen's Zen2 7nm architecture. We expect more information to become available closer to the next-gen Ryzen Threadripper series is set to launch in November.
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**FEED** · 10-10-19, 05:52 PM

Intel has announced End-of-Life plan for most of its desktop Kaby Lake and remaining Skylake processors. The boxed and tray versions of the chips will be available for interested parties for one more year and then will become history. The move will enable Intel to cut the number of product SKUs it offers to partners and reduce pressure on its factory network, which will help to increase supply of newer products made using various versions of Intel’s 14 nm process technology.
Introduced early in 2017, Intel’s desktop 7^th Generation Core processors (Kaby Lake) have been around for nearly three years now. The CPUs certainly served their purpose, but it is time for them to go and Intel recommends its partners to place their final orders on these products by April 24, 2020. The final shipments will be made by October 9, 2020. Some of Intel’s Kaby Lake and Skylake products will be moved to Internet of Things (IoT) status and will be available for a little longer to IoT customers and probably some PC makers as there are still previous-generation motherboards on the market that need to be sold.

Intel Kaby Lake S SKUs
	Status		Last Shipment Date for EOLed CPUs
Tray	Boxed
Core i7-7700K	EOL	EOL	October 9, 2020
Core i7-7700	IoT	EOL	October 9, 2020
Core i7-7700T	IoT	EOL	October 9, 2020
Core i5-7600K	EOL	EOL	October 9, 2020
Core i5-7600	EOL	EOL	October 9, 2020
Core i5-7600T	EOL	EOL	October 9, 2020
Core i5-7500	IoT	EOL	October 9, 2020
Core i5-7500T	IoT	EOL	October 9, 2020
Core i5-7400	EOL	EOL	October 9, 2020
Core i5-7400T	EOL	EOL	October 9, 2020
Core i3-7350K	EOL	EOL	October 9, 2020
Core i3-7320	EOL	EOL	October 9, 2020
Core i3-7300	EOL	EOL	October 9, 2020
Core i3-7300T	EOL	EOL	October 9, 2020
Core i3-7100	EOL	EOL	October 9, 2020
Core i3-7100T	EOL	EOL	October 9, 2020
Pentium G4620	EOL	EOL	October 9, 2020
Pentium G4600	EOL	EOL	October 9, 2020
Pentium G4560	EOL	EOL	October 9, 2020
Pentium G4560T	EOL	EOL	October 9, 2020
Celeron G3950	EOL	EOL	October 9, 2020
Celeron G3930	EOL	EOL	October 9, 2020
Celeron G3930E	Launched	Launched	-
Celeron G3930T	Launched	Launched	-
Celeron G3930TE	Launched	Launched	-

Intel’s desktop 6^th Generation Core CPUs were launched in 2016 and most of them have been in EOL status for a while. This week, Intel said it would stop taking orders on the remaining desktop Skylake products on April 24, 2020, and will cease their shipments by October 9, 2020.

Intel Skylake S SKUs
	Status		Last Shipment Date for EOLed CPUs
Tray	Boxed
Core i7-6700K	EOL	EOL	September 7, 2018
Core i7-6700	IoT	EOL	October 9, 2020
Core i7-6700T	EOL	EOL	March 6, 2020
Core i5-6600K	EOL	EOL	September 7, 2018
Core i5-6600	EOL	EOL	March 6, 2020
Core i5-6600T	EOL	EOL	March 6, 2020
Core i5-6500	IoT	EOL	October 9, 2020
Core i5-6500T	EOL	EOL	March 6, 2020
Core i5-6402P	EOL	EOL	September 7, 2018
Core i5-6400	EOL	EOL	March 6, 2020
Core i5-6400T	EOL	EOL	March 6, 2020
Core i3-6320	EOL	EOL	March 6, 2020
Core i3-6300	EOL	EOL	March 6, 2020
Core i3-6300T	EOL	EOL	March 6, 2020
Core i3-6100	EOL	EOL	March 6, 2020
Core i3-6100T	EOL	EOL	March 6, 2020
Core i3-6098P	EOL	EOL	September 7, 2018
Pentium G4520	EOL	EOL	March 6, 2020
Pentium G4500	EOL	EOL	March 6, 2020
Pentium G4500T	EOL	EOL	March 6, 2020
Pentium G4400	EOL	EOL	March 6, 2020
Pentium G4400T	EOL	EOL	March 6, 2020
Celeron G3920	EOL	EOL	March 6, 2020
Celeron G3900	EOL	EOL	March 6, 2020
Celeron G3900T	EOL	EOL	March 6, 2020

Winding down production of desktop Skylake and Kaby Lake processors in the next few months will free manufacturing capacities for newer Intel products and will enable the company to increase shipments of newer CPUs, such as 8^th and 9^th Generation Coffee Lake, that are also made using Intel’s 14 nm fabrication technology.
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Source: Intel

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**FEED** · 10-10-19, 05:52 PM

Arm, Synopsys, and Samsung Foundry have developed a set of optimized tools and IP that will enable chip designers to build next-generation SoCs based on Arm’s Hercules processor cores on Samsung’s 5LPE (5 nm, Low Power Early) node faster. The three companies expect the tools and IP to be used by designers of SoCs for a wide variety of applications.
The set of Synopsys tools are certified by Samsung Foundry for its 5LPE manufacturing technology, and now includes the Fusion Design Platform as well as QuickStart Implementation Kit that are enabled to optimize power, performance, and area for 5LPE designs. Meanwhile, Arm will provide Artisan Physical IP and POP IP tailored for Samsung’s 5LPE process. The IP packages will enable Arm’s partners to quickly develop 5LPE-optimized SoCs based on the Arm Hercules general-purpose CPU cores.
Samsung Foundry’s 5LPE fabrication process is the company’s 3^rd Generation refinement of its 7LPP node that uses more EUV layers and features other improvements. The new technology provides an up to 25% higher ‘logic efficiency’, it also allows chip designers to lower power consumption of their SoCs by 20% (at the same performance and complexity) or improve their performance by 10% (at the same power and complexity). While developers can reuse 7LPP IP on SoCs build for 5LPE while taking advantage of the benefits the latter provides, to extract the maximum value of the new technology, optimized tools and IP are needed.

Considering that Arm’s Hercules are the company’s next-generation advanced CPU cores and 5LPE is a leading-edge process technology, Samsung expects the new tools and IP to be used for SoCs aimed at HPC, automotive, 5G, and AI applications.
Samsung expected to tape out the first 5LPE chips in the second half of 2019 and plans to start volume production using the node in the first half of 2020.
An official statement of Jaehong Park, executive vice president of Foundry Design Platform Development at Samsung Electronics, reads as follows.

"Synopsys' Fusion Design Platform and QuickStart Implementation Kits provide a design-ready solution for next-generation Arm-based processors. This is a great example of how Samsung 5LPE technology can be utilized to give designers a competitive advantage in their high-performance CPU designs. Through our close partnership with Arm and Synopsys, customers will now be able to extract maximum value out of our 5-nanometer processes for design applications targeted at high-performance and low-power markets."

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Source: Synopsys

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**FEED** · 10-11-19, 10:28 AM

The high-tech industry loves milestones that are round numbers, be it frequency, number of cores, transistor count or something else. It is not that extra 100 MHz – 200 MHz or a couple of additional CPU cores radically improve performance or user experience these days, but because milestones symbolize an achievement, a new height from where we will go and hit the next ones. Today, the industry has reached a milestone as Corsair introduced the industry’s first commercial DDR4-5000 memory modules. We saw numerous companies 'promote' DDR4-5000 earlier this year at Computex, but none were seriously considering bringing them to retail. Corsair is the first.
Corsair’s dual-channel Vengeance LPX DDR4-5000 (CMK16GX4M2Z5000C18) memory kit comprises two 8 GB unbuffered modules featuring a CL18 26-26-46 latency and a 1.5V voltage. The memory modules use Micron’s cherry-picked memory ICs and use a custom 10-layer PCB from Corsair. The enthusiast grade modules are equipped with aluminum heat spreaders, and are compatible with Corsair’s Vengeance Airflow fan to maximize their cooling.

Corsair says that its Vengeance LPX DDR4-5000 (CMK16GX4M2Z5000C18) memory kit was tuned to hit the desired data transfer rate on high-end platforms based on AMD’s Ryzen 3000 processor and X570 chipset. To be more precise the modules were developed and validated on MSI’s X570 Godlike, MEG X570 Ace, MEG X570 Unify, and Prestige X570 Creation motherboards.

It is unclear how well the modules will work in DDR4-5000 mode when used with other platforms. In any case, keep in mind that modules require 1.5 Volts, which is a whopping 25% increase over standard DDR4 voltage, so they have to be installed in an enthusiast-grade mainboard with a quality and clean memory power supply. In order to reach the DDR4-5000 mode requires some user intervention beyond just setting the XMP profile: to set up the right settings Corsair recommends to check out its Ryzen 3000 memory overclocking guide.
Designed for die-hard performance enthusiasts, overclockers, and benchmarkers, Corsair’s dual-channel 16GB Vengeance LPX DDR4-5000 memory kit is certainly not cheap at all. The company sells it for a sizeable $1,224.99 in the USA ($76.56/GB) and for €1,334.99 in Europe.
Corsair says that there are limited review samples available - if we get one in to test, what would you like to see?
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Source: Corsair
Gallery: Corsair Launches DDR4-5000 Vengeance LPX Memory Kit for AMD Ryzen 3000

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**FEED** · 10-11-19, 10:28 AM

Synopsys, one of the leading developers of chip development tools and silicon IP, demonstrated its CXL over PCIe 5.0 as well as CCIX 1.1 over PCIe 5.0 solutions at ArmTechCon 2019. The showcase indicates that the company’s IP is up and running, and is ready to be licensed by interested parties.
CXL and CCIX are chip-to-chip interconnect protocols for connecting processors to various accelerators that maintains memory and cache coherency at low latencies. Both protocols are designed for heterogeneous systems that use traditional CPUs along with accelerators featuring scalar, vector, matrix, and spatial architectures. Both CXL 1.0/1.1 as well as CCIX 1.1 use PCIe Gen 5 PHY stack at 32 GT/s per lane and support different link width natively. Aiming the same market segment and using the same physical interface, the CXL and CCIX protocols have numerous differences both on hardware as well as firmware/software side of things and will therefore compete against each other. Meanwhile, providers of silicon IP are gearing up to support both CXL and CCIX as they have a broad range of customers.
Synopsys recently introduced its 16-lane DesignWare CXL IP solution for SoCs to be made using 16 nm, 10 nm, and 7 nm FinFET process technologies. The package comprises the company’s CXL 1.1-compliant controller (supporting CXL.io, CXL.cache, CXL.mem protocols), silicon-proven PCIe Gen 5 controller, silicon-proven 32 GT/s PHY (allowing >36 dB channel loss across power, voltage, and temperature variations for long reach connections), RAS capabilities, and VC Verification IP.

The company yet has to formally announce availability of its DesignWare CCIX 1.1 IP package that will enable implementation of a CCIX 1.1 over PCIe Gen 5 at 32 GT/s speed, but at ArmTechCon the company demonstrated that the solution is already functional.

Both showcases were carried out using an FPGA as well as special equipment, but not using actual chips, which is not particularly surprising. But even such demonstrations indicate that Synopsys is ready not only with competitive PCIe 5.0 PHY and IP, but also with CXL and CCIX implementations.
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Sources: David Schor/Twitter, Anshel Sag/Twitter, Synopsys
Images by Ryan Smith/AnandTech

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