AMD Announces Ryzen Pro 4000 for Mobile: 8 Cores/15 W/4.1 GHz
AMD launched its new range of commercial Ryzen Mobile 4000 CPU series today. The new processors have been built using the 7nm process node technology, have up to eight Zen 2 cores and can incorporate graphics hardware up to Vega 7 compute. Additionally, the platform includes AMD's Memory Guard, which will encrypt the entire system while the machine is hibernating. Other features have been built in collaboration with OEM partners, giving people access to Lenovo's Self-Healing BIOS and ThinkShield, HP's "Sure" suite of security, etc.
Faster Gaming Laptops Could Launch Very Soon
Laptop makers will start to incorporate next-gen CPUs and fresh generations of GPUs into their new line of products. AMD has already released its Ryzen 4000 series, while Intel plans to launch the new Comet Lake-H processors in April, utilizing the previously used 14nm technology. It is a bit disappointing, considering the fact that AMD uses the 7nm process for its newest line of products. The best Intel CPU will have a 45W TPD, eight cores and a nominal frequency of 2.4GHz, but it will reach up to 5.3GHz whenever more computing power is needed.
The Android Hardware Truth Google Won't Tell You
JR Raphael, Contributing Editor at Computerworld, has recently written an article which discusses Google's awkward position. The company needs to balance its own agenda and the goals of third-party phone manufacturers which create hardware that utilizes the Android OS. While Google's operating system was never meant to be a tablet-specific OS, so it has never been a phenomenal success, the Google Chrome platform thrived. Therefore, we should not be surprised to see Chromebooks replacing Android-based tablets in the near future.
Microsoft Upgrades its xCloud Servers to Xbox Series X
The company will launch the xCloud game streaming service as part of Xbox Game Pass. While xCloud will be powered by Xbox One S consoles which are placed in Microsoft's datacenters at first, the hardware will be upgraded to dedicated xCloud servers next year, boosting performance. Microsoft's next-generation CPUs, which will be used for those servers, will be able to run four Xbox One S game sessions concurrently, and will include a built-in video encoder which is supposed to bring a speed boost increase of 600%.
PS5 to Receive Terafloppy Disks, Proprietary Hardware
The Xbox Series X gaming console will reportedly provide 12 teraflops of GPU power, while PS5 will 'only' have 10.28 teraflops. However, Sony is working at a proprietary terafloppy disk which will boost teraflop count beyond the capabilities of the core hardware. Entry-level terafloppy disks are supposed to increase PS5's teraflops from 10.28 to 15.6. Though the details are few, I assume that these "disks" are similar with Intel's Optane memory, which combines storage capacity and intelligent system acceleration.
Open-Source Medical Hardware: What You Should Know
Many people try to help by filling the medical supply gap which has been caused by the pandemic. Some have created face shields by making use of 3D printers, others sew face masks, craft personal protection gowns, and so on. Engineers are designing open-source medical hardware, which has played a crucial role in the past as well. By making the hardware designs open source, anyone can replicate them, and then improve them, boosting innovation. Additionally, these medical devices are much more accessible to developing countries.
Bitcoin Mining War Is Heating Up Ahead of the Halving
MicroBT has rolled out three bitcoin miners: WhatsMiner M30S+, M30S++ and M31S+. The devices are already available, while the top competitor's Bitmain AntMiner S19 and S19 Pro will be available next month. MicroBT has sold 600K units of WhatsMiner M20 last year, driving approximately 35% of Bitcoin's total hash rate. The M30S+ is able to compute at 100 TH/s, with a 34 W/T efficiency. This is an essential feature, because the upcoming bitcoin halving will reduce the amount of bitcoin earned in a day from 1,800 to 900 units.
20 Programs to Analyze and Benchmark Your Hardware
People who use their computers for gaming and other CPU/GPU-intensive tasks are interested in finding out if their machines are able to run as fast as possible. If you fall into this category, you will be glad to find out that TechSpot has published an article which highlights some of the best benchmark applications. Read the article to find out more about CPU-Z, GPU-Z, HWinfo, Speccy, AIDA64, HWMonitor, Open Hardware Monitor, I-Nex, Sisoft Sandra, PCMark 10, 3DMark, Cinebench, Basemark GPU, OCCT, Geekbench, Novabench, and more.
