AMD

MSI & ASUS AGESA 1.2.0.0 BIOS Availability

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ASUS has started to roll our AGESA v1.2.0.0 compatible beta BIOS’, and MSI is not far behind. This drop add support for further CPU models, and per Patrick Schur and 1USMUS, possibly additional bug fixes, and updated SMU and improvements to Curve Optimizer. I’ve already loaded the latest Beta BIOS for the TUF GAMING X570-PRO (WI-FI), but haven’t seen any noticeable changes. I had already hit a stable 1900MHz FCLK, and that remains stable with this release. Front panel USB 3.0 ports are now running capped at USB 2.0 theoretical max (480Mb / 60MB), but that’s another story. Head over to MSI or ASUS to check for a BIOS update. X570, B550, A520 are generally rolling out first, with X470 and others to follow next month.

Threadripper Pro, 8-Channel Motherboards Coming

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AMD will bring its eight-channel Threadripper Pro systems to the retail market, opening up the segment. Previously, the eight-channel Threadripper Pro variant was only available to OEMs (we’ve got a review coming on one of these Lenovo systems, with comparison against the 3990X).

AMD’s Threadripper and Threadripper Pro platforms are both designed for professionals who need more horsepower than a typical desktop platform can provide. Where AMD’s top-end Ryzen 9 5950X offers 16 cores, a TR or TR Pro system can pack as many as 64. Additionally, Threadripper Pro uses the WRX80 chipset, which packs up to eight memory channels

Read more @ ExtremeTech

New Article: GIGABYTE A520 AORUS ELITE – A Preview

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AMD’s A520 chipset occupies what could be seen as a crowded space. Now that Ryzen 5000 series CPUs are supported on the 400-Series chipsets, is there really room for the A520? Most would simply look at it and say, no, B450 boards only cost a bit more and you have the overclocking support. It’s a no brainer. Or, is it? After all, if you’re using your rig for work as well as play, do you really need cost up features like 2.5GbE? What about integrated Wi-Fi if you’re parked near your modem or router? Are you one to shy away from overclocking to retain that warranty, or simply don’t want to invest in an expensive cooler? These factors and more make A520, especially the “premium” A520 boards, more enticing.

Today, we have a quick preview of an enthusiast level A520 motherboard, the GIGABYTE A520 AORUS ELITE.

GIGABYTE X570 AORUS MASTER OC Pictured

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Courtesy of HXL on Twitter, we have our first pictures of the upcoming GIGABYTE X570 AORUS MASTER OC. This X570 based motherboard could be GIGABYTE’s answer to some recently announced competitive products like the MSI UNIFY X. The board appears to be stripped of the cosmetics like the rear I/O cover and shield, as well as featuring densely finned VRM heatsinks. The VRM itself appears to be a 12+2 setup judging solely from the photo. Only two DDR4 DIMMs are provided here, along with 2 8-pin CPU power headers. Clearly, this is a board aimed at the overclocking crowd. We’ll see what comes of this board when it is announced.

MSI MEG X570 GODLIKE

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Focusing on performance, the Godlike did well in our benchmarking suite, running most tests on the faster side of average. Even in the PCMark 10 MS Office/Application testing, where we often see anomalies, we saw consistent results across the full gamut of testing. The board allowed the 5950X to reach its full 5 GHz boost, so we’re getting all we paid for at default settings. As expected, overclocking on this motherboard went without a hiccup, easily handling our 16-core/32-thread CPU. VRM temperatures at load were some of the lowest we’ve seen as well. 

Read more @ Tom’s Hardware

New Review: ASUS TUF GAMING X570-PRO (WI-FI)

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With the recent launch of the AMD’s Ryzen 5000 “Zen 3” chips, we’ve seen a series of revised or upgraded X570 motherboards hitting the market. Today, we’re taking a look at the successor to the popular TUF GAMING X570-PLUS (WI-FI), the TUF GAMING X570-PRO (WI-FI). This motherboard rolls in with a current retail price tag of $219.99. The X570-PLUS (WI-FI) though can be had for $189.99. Are the upgrades between motherboards worth that $30?

Read the complete review to find out.

AMD AGESA 1.1.9.0 Update – Infinity Fabric OC Improved?

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AMD announced a new update to 1.1.9.0 AGESA code for Ryzen 5000 platforms that offers improved fabric overclocking stability and supports Windows 10’s s0i3 sleep state. The update also adds support for passively-cooled X570 motherboards. The new AGESA code will come as future BIOS/UEFI updates for Ryzen 5000 series motherboards. 

AMD has enhanced fabric overclocking support to improve stability with 1800-2000 MHz fabric clocks. That’s a nice jump over the typical limit of 1600 MHz. This expanded support will allow users to run their higher-clocked memory, like DDR4-3800 and DDR4-4000, in the 1:1:1 mode that offers the lowest latency (and thus best performance in most apps). 

Read more @ Tom’s Hardware

MSI MAG B550 TOMAHAWK

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As with the MSI MPG B550 Gaming Carbon WiFi, the MSI MAG B550 Tomahawk was also compared with its predecessor in the following. The first obvious difference is a thicker power supply and support for faster RAM. There are also differences in the slots – there are now two M.2 slots in particular. There are further upgrades to report on the network, the sound processing and the USB ports, albeit only minimally in the latter. 

Read more @ Hardware Journal (German)

Review Roundup: 1/5/21

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Cases: DeepCool Macube 110 @ Modders Inc

Memory: Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB White DDR4-3200 32GB @ ThinkComputers, Patriot Viper Steel DDR4 16GB 2666MHz 2x16GB CL18 SODIMM @ [M]adShrimps

Storage: TerraMaster F5-221 NAS @ Guru3D, WD Blue SN550 @ Hot Hardware, Silicon Power US70 2TB M.2 NVMe SSD @ NikKTech, addlink S92 2TB QLC M.2 PCIe SSD @ TweakTown, WD My Passport SSD @ ThinkComputers

GPU: Sapphire Radeon RX 6800 NITRO+ @ Guru3D, MSI Radeon RX 6800 XT Gaming X TRIO @ Guru3D, MSI GeForce RTX 3080 SUPRIM X @ Hot Hardware, ASUS GeForce RTX 3060 Ti TUF Gaming OC @ Hexus, EVGA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti FTW3 Ultra Gaming @ Hexus

Cooling: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo V2 @ OCInside, DEEPCOOL AS500 @ TweakTown