I have not yet commented on the now ubiquitous investigations and explanations of the problems with Intel’s 13th and 14th generation K-CPUs, because pure speculation brings nothing but more speculation. As I also don’t use any special “OC features” from certain motherboard manufacturers in all launch reviews and also in my [...]
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CPU, Memory & Mainboard
Some things are accidental discoveries and are actually so trivial that nobody even bothers to question the current flows in the PC and, above all, to measure them. We only ever measure the 12-volt rails and are happy. But with connectors such as the 12VHPWR or 12V2x6 over 6+2 pin, the 8-pin EPS and the 24-pin mainboard connection, does exactly [...]
A test is always particularly exciting when you come across unexpected problems for which the test subject is not actually responsible. This was also the case here. A RAM test, even if it’s a rather high-priced kit, now runs according to the same pattern for me and isn’t witchcraft. But this time I found myself trapped in an almost [...]
Intel has taken a significant step in its development with the new “Meteor Lake” CPU platform, marketed as “Core Ultra”. These processors are the first from Intel to use the “Intel 4” process, which is based on EUV lithography, and the first Intel client CPUs where parts of the SoC are manufactured by TSMC [...]
Much helps much, my grandma used to say. And before you throw something away, it’s better to make something new out of it. So say my grandma and Intel. After Raptor Lake is before Arrow Lake, and so the Raptor refresh comes almost exactly one year later. Says Intel and my grandma is silent. And so, in addition to a bit more clock, at least [...]
What hasn't been the noise in the leaf and video forest in recent weeks. There was even talk of a VRM disaster or a TIM gate (heat paste instead of lot), but if you look at everything carefully and carefully, the G... Thermal p aste instead of solder One of the reasons for the whole cooling problem is Intel's use of inappropriate (but arguably [...]
There are always challenges that the company has to overcome in connection with AGESA (AMD Generic Encapsulated Software Architecture). The exact causes of the problems with AGESA 1.0.7.0 are difficult to determine, but are believed to be due to a combination of faulty or inadequately tested code changes and insufficient communication between AMD [...]
The process with the destroyed Ryzen 7000X3D CPUs has of course already interested me and I didn’t want to just cover a news and that was it. So I took the damage picture from Reddit and put the back of the CPU in the right position first. We can see the destroyed Ryzen 7 and the dent along with the scorched copper pads in the picture. The [...]
I’ve been testing the Maximus Z790 Hero motherboard from Asus for a while now and today I finally and officially have the review ready for you. In our baseline article about DDR5 RAM tests, the board was already mentioned very positively and has therefore established itself as the backbone for the test system. Not least the reliability and [...]
Technology website Hardware Times reports that a significant number of users have complained about slow boot times on their Ryzen 7000 systems, which are based on AMD’s new AM5 chipset for Zen 4. Even the technology website itself has experienced these delays. AMD has now released a new BIOS update (AGESA 1006) that significantly reduces [...]
First and foremost, a warning to everyone not to replicate this. You will inevitably cause irreparable damage to your valuable CPU. The current version of the MSI Center allows for voltage and clock increases for the X3D CPU. Unfortunately, for those who are fully committed to experimenting here, we have sacrificed a CPU for the sake of science [...]
First of all, I owe an apology to G.Skill, since the test sample was already sent to us last year, but the review is now online a few months later. The reason for this is that until recently we revised our test methodology for RAM kits in order to be able to test better and faster. However, the waiting time also benefits the Trident Z5’s [...]
Sure, the title sounds lurid at first, but it actually contains everything that really characterized this review of the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D, because this is where a highly efficient and in many areas really extremely fast CPU meets smaller, self-imposed hurdles. This may sound more dramatic at first than it really is in the end, and it [...]
Every day is a groundhog… er, Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB DDR5 kit day, of course. We have already presented the exterior of Corsair’s high-end RAM modules a fair few times, but, as with so many things, it is mainly the inner values that matter. I can therefore already tell you that today’s test subject relies on SK Hynix 16 [...]
Let’s first look back: Intel’s nevertheless very successful HEDT line ended in 2019 with the Core X series, almost 3 years ago. Since then, the company has launched three complete generations of mobile and desktop CPUs, but completely ignored the HEDT platform. In the meantime, the Core desktop chips of the 13th generation offer a high [...]
With DDR5-6600 CL32, the kit from today’s review is not only the fastest RAM kit in Corsair’s portfolio but even market-wide in Europe, at least at this point. The exterior is the familiar Dominator Platinum RGB design, which we had even looked at 2 times before in tests. Accordingly, we will focus especially on the inner values of the [...]
the Intel Alder Lake CPUs with their LGA1700 and Independent Loading Mechanism (ILM) including the bending problem have been around for 9 months now. The successor CPUs aka Raptor Lake might not be long away, but it has already been confirmed that they will use the same socket and thus most likely ILM as well. Existing motherboards with a 600 [...]
Intel Meteor Lake U, P and H – Exclusive block diagram and specs of the mobile 14. Generation | Leak
Intel’s Meteor Lake processors of the 14th generation are scheduled for launch in the second half of 2023, starting with the mobile product line. They will compete against AMD’s Ryzen 7000 family, namely Phoenix and Dragon Range in the notebook and Raphael in the desktop segment. Meteor Lake is already quite far, because there are [...]
Teamgroup has been offering some of the fastest memory modules for the platform with the T-Force DELTA DDR5 kits almost since the launch of Intel’s Alder Lake CPUs. At least on paper, other manufacturers have recently introduced even faster kits, but XMP specifications are not everything, as we know. Today, we will take another close look at [...]
So far you know me mainly from the forum as a helper with hardware problems. Since similar questions often come up, Andreas (ApolloX) asked me if we could create some tutorials. I’ll start here with an article about the possibilities Windows itself offers for troubleshooting. If you would like to create tutorials as well, please feel free to [...]
Today I want to talk about a guilty pleasure of mine, the overclocking of RAM, more precisely DDR5 and its timings. There is a strange difference between the specifications of JEDEC, the standard’s committee, and the Intel specifications of the Alder Lake CPUs of the 12th generation. And even though the exact functionality of the individual [...]
SK Hynix 16 Gbit M-Die is known to be the holy grail in terms of DDR5 overclocking, at least at time of writing. The prices for the fastest kits with clock rates in the XMP profile of over 6000 Mbps are still quite expensive. However, if you dare to work on the clock and timings of the RAM yourself anyway, cheaper kits with the same ICs are an [...]
There have been several Black Editions or Extreme Editions at Intel in the past, but Grey Editions? This marks the strict exclusivity for the Chinese market, at least in the case of the i5-12490F CPU. The grey sheep in Intel’s Alder Lake product family is thus a real rarity in the western market, and that alone is reason enough for me to do [...]
If it suddenly creaks under the backplate: Watch out for Mini-ITX, Socket AM4 and custom backplates!
The starting point of the misery was a mini-ITX build with custom water cooling. All of this is fully in line with the trend, and the fact that EKWB got it this time with the cooler used is just a coincidence. The manufacturer has included an extremely stable backplate in the scope of delivery, which is very praiseworthy in itself, and which is [...]
The Intel Core i9-12900KS has been on the market for a few weeks now and is, at least on paper, actually just an even more highly selected variant of the i9-12900K with a slightly higher clock and base power out of the box. Enthusiasts argue about whether this is a sensible expansion of the product portfolio. Overclockers are naturally keen on the [...]
Disclaimer: The following article is machine translated from the original German, and has not been edited or checked for errors. Thank you for understanding!
Today we continue with our Z690 motherboard reviews, with the Asus Maximus Z690 Apex. Not only the naming convention has changed compared to the predecessor models, because besides DDR5, PCIe 5.0 and the LGA1700 socket, there are unfortunately also a few teething troubles that I would like to address in advance, if not have to. Preface: Silicon [...]
We recently already tested the Dominator Platinum RGB modules from Corsair, but not yet in the SKU with 6200 Mbps and Hynix M-Die ICs. Today, that is changing. Besides the usual tests, a teardown and overclocking, we also compare the modules with the mentioned Samsung B-Die based variant and RAM sticks from other manufacturers, but with identical [...]
What do you do with two Core i9-12900K trays? That’s right, binning! Today we have a very special treat for you from the south of Germany. The system integrator MIFCOM has kindly provided us with a large amount of Alder Lake i9 CPUs so that we can put them through their paces and examine them for differences in clock speed. Originally, the [...]
The occasion is sad enough, but today I would like to let my friend Yuri speak, who despite the siege and large-scale destruction of his hometown Kharkiv by the fascist invaders under the orders of Putin has not lost his courage. He has taken the time, despite all adverse circumstances and dangers, to address to you, as readers of this site and [...]
Teamgroup is a known brand in the memory market and not only since DDR5. Today we’re looking at one of their more cost-effective product lines of the new RAM standard, in the form of a VULCAN DDR5-5200 2x 16 GB kit. In addition to testing in XMP, we will of course overclock the kit manually again and find out how close you can get to faster [...]
We already had all the relevant information about the Ryzen 6000 for mobile use at CES, but AMD has now added some more details. Zen3+ features the improved Zen 3 cores with up to 5 GHz clock and a new RDNA 2 graphics with a targeted doubling of performance. The whole thing is manufactured in TSMC’s N6 and also features a completely new [...]
Ever smaller manufacturing processes lead to ever higher thermal densities in CPUs and GPUs. This is one of the reasons why Intel’s new Alder Lake CPUs run so hot that every air cooler almost has no chance with a big i9, no matter how many watts of waste heat it is designed for. The often cited bottleneck lies further up the cooling chain [...]
As promised, today we cover part 2 of the “Washermod”, in which we want to evaluate a few more combinations of different motherboards, socket manufacturers and coolers in a before and after test with the modification. To briefly summarize what the washer mod is all about: washers are installed between the motherboard and the ILM [...]
Today I turn for the first time in detail to AMD’s upcoming Socket AM5 (version 2), as it will be used for the upcoming Raphael CPUs (Ryzen 7000). AMD consequently changes from the PGA (Pin Grid Array) with the contacts on the CPU to the much easier to handle LGA (Land Grid Array) because of the large number of required (1718) pins. After we [...]
Can you really work efficiently and productively with an Intel Core i5-12400? And will DDR4 suffice instead of the expensive and unavailable DDR5 memory? Even if some questions remain unanswered and a “It depends” would be the most diplomatic answer, Intel’s small Core i5 isn’t that bad either. But is that enough against an [...]
Today I want to test the Intel Core i5-12400 in gaming first, before there will of course be the follow up with real application benchmarks soon. I used two brand new B660 motherboards as a base this time and also compare the DDR4 with a DDR5 version of the MSI MAG B660M Mortar WiFi, because there are some really interesting differences with [...]
Intel is now set to disable “AVX-512” completely on all Alder Lake CPUs with an upcoming microcode update in new BIOS releases. Mainboard manufacturers were able to make the supposedly disabled instruction set available at launch, which resulted in a significant performance increase for the P-cores of the new CPUs. Now Intel is [...]
Disclaimer: The following article is machine translated from the original German, and has not been edited or checked for errors. Thank you for understanding!
Today we want to question where the upcoming Core i5-12400 can still score apart from colorful gaming worlds and whether it will remain just as frugal and efficient. Gaming is actually overrated when you take a closer look at the benchmarks from 1440p. Thus, the true strengths of the new architecture will hardly be seen while gaming, but I wonder [...]
Today we would like to anticipate one of the upcoming launches in January and test the really interesting Intel Core i5-12400 in gaming (for now). Of course, there will be a follow-up with real application benchmarks soon. Even though I’m not under NDA, I’ll be fair and deliberately use an emulated CPU and none of the available [...]
Right off the bat, a little warning to readers, because the following article is likely to have relevance only to a relatively limited readership. It’s all about the past 11th generation Intel Core CPUs and the Extreme Overclocking motherboards around the Z590 platform. Now Alder Lake is already on the market, but on the one hand older [...]
Disclaimer: The following article is machine translated from the original German, and has not been edited or checked for errors. Thank you for understanding!
Today it’s about non-existing coolers for unavailable RAM, so once again pure unicorn cinema for all who are only missing the RAM for the new Intel system with DDR5 modules. The fact that the parts want to be well cooled, and even have to be, is beyond question, especially when overclocking. Because what is quite often installed ex works is [...]
Good CPU cooling has always been important, but with Intel’s new, very heat-sensitive Alder Lake CPUs even more so. Especially if you turn the clock dial yourself, a few degrees Celsius more or less can mean several hundred megahertz more or less stable clock speed in return. All the more important is a good cooler with the right contact [...]
The basic changes to the new DDR5 memory standard have already been discussed around the launch of the Intel Alder Lake CPUs, even if sometimes not completely correct. So today we’re going to revisit the topic and delve deeper into the matter together with Kingston, who were kind enough to provide us with a written interview. It’s no [...]
The race for ever faster CPUs and above all GPUs is now producing such blossoms that even existing standards have to be softened or modified for the new energy waste offensive that soon every end consumer will have to save up for a portable nuclear power plant if they don’t want to be in debt with the energy supplier well into old age. To [...]
What actually happens when you let the two fastest CPUs compete with the GeForce RTX 3090 instead of the Radeon RX 6900XT? We noticed some amazing things and therefore we measured and cross-tested several times. The result is reproducible, but that does not make it any more comprehensible. But it at least explains why the power consumption [...]
The new memory controller with DDR5 support is known to be one of the biggest changes in the 12th generation Intel Core CPUs. But DDR4 is also still supported – assuming an appropriate motherboard – and there have been some changes under the hood here as well. Perfect conditions to let Comet Lake, Rocket Lake and Alder Lake compete [...]
So today I’ll get serious and show you where Alder Lake S can really score aside from colorful gaming pixels. Gaming what? Completely overrated if you look at at least some of today’s results. Because the true strengths of the new architecture will hardly be seen while playing games, because today it’s getting faster in a [...]
