Following AMD’s announcement that it will launch new Ryzen processors on October 8, we’re now hearing leaks that the company’s next-generation Zen 3-based silicon could debut under the Ryzen 5000 branding.
This would be a departure from early rumors that suggested that the Ryzen 4000 family would include both Zen 2 and Zen 3 processors, and the new Ryzen 5000 branding could help eliminate consumer confusion in the market as it would help distinguish between the two microarchitectures.
Rumors of the Ryzen 5000 branding comes by way of Twitter user Patrick Shur, a software engineer, who tweeted that the Ryzen 9 5900X processor will ship with 12 cores while the Ryzen 7 5800X CPU will contain eight cores, Videocardz reported.
This means that AMD’s code-named Vermeer desktop processor will launch under the Ryzen 5000 branding. The new Ryzen 5000 family will then include Vermeer as well as Cezanne, the APU that will be headed into notebooks and desktops as the successor to Renoir (Ryzen 4000). At this point, it’s unclear if AMD will also launch a 10-core version, despite earlier rumors suggesting that the new Zen 3-based desktop lineup could include such a variant.
AMD’s Zen 3 architecture will be based on a 7nm+ node, the company had previously revealed, which will deliver 10% reduced power consumption and 20% more density when compared against Zen 2, according to Wikichips.
It’s going to be an exciting fall for gamers… time to start a new journey with @AMDRyzen Zen3 and @Radeon RDNA2 pic.twitter.com/O9SXvLo4y0
— Lisa Su (@LisaSu) September 9, 2020
Prior to AMD’s announcement, there were speculations that the company may be planning to delay the launch of its Zen 3 products to 2021 as part of an effort to get more return out of its investments in developing Zen 2, a claim that the company had refuted. With AMD’s planned announcement, it appears that those rumors were false.
The debut of Zen 3 and RDNA 2 will mark an exciting period for AMD. The Zen 3-based Ryzen 5000 processors will take on Intel’s 11th-gen processor series, while RDNA 2-based graphics will not only be headed into PCs to take on Nvidia’s new GeForce RTX 3000 series, but the architecture will also power next-generation Microsoft Xbox Series X and Sony PlayStation 5 consoles.
RDNA 2 is expected to arrive as the Radeon RX 6000 GPU for PC gamers.
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.
I've spent a good amount of time digging into the spec sheet of the new M6 MacBook Pro (14-inch), and for all intents and purposes, this is a classic Apple "chip and connectivity" refresh. It's not a full redesign. The chassis, Liquid Retina XDR panel, speakers, ports, and battery, all of them carry over unchanged.
However, the M6 brings more cores, stronger on-device AI, higher memory bandwidth on the larger configs, and modern wireless. Here’s the practical rundown of what actually improved, and whether those gains are worth your money.