The NVIDIA GeForce Project Beyond and GTC Fall 2022 Keynote Live Blog (Starts at 8am PT/15:00 UTC)

Kicking off a bit later this morning will be NVIDIA’s GTC 2022 fall keynote, which should prove to be a very interesting event.

Besides NVIDIA’s usual run-through of business announcements, the first part of this GTC’s keynote will be focused on NVIDIA’s GeForce products, making for a very rare appearance at NVIDIA’s increasingly enterprise-focused event. NVIDIA has been teasing the GeForce portion of the event as “Project Beyond” for about the past month, and in traditional secretive NVIDIA fashion, that’s all we officially know ahead of the show.

Given the timing of this event, the announcement of NVIDIA’s next-generation of consumer video cards (GeForce RTX 40 series?) and associated GPUs is a very safe bet. The GeForce RTX 30 series premiered just over two years ago, which is right in line with NVIDIA’s usual bi-yearly architecture cadence.

Significant performance improvements are (hopefully) in the cards, but it will be interesting to see what NVIDIA does in light of the current cypto hangover, which hit a fevered pitch last week with the long-awaited completion of the Ethereum Merge – eliminating the need for video cards to mine the popular cryptocoin. The market for video cards is almost certain to be saturated for the next several months, especially as the performance levels covered by the current RTX 30 series cards. Which means it’s cards that would be faster than the RTX 3090 and its ilk that are the most likely to succeed in the current climate.

At the same time, from a graphics feature standpoint NVIDIA has been relatively stagnant since the release of the Turing architecture (RTX 20 series) in 2018, when NVIDIA first added DirectX 12 Ultimate (FL 12_2) support. As a result, a more feature-focused release would not be unusual for NVIDIA, but at the same time we’re not immediately aware of any new features under development for DirectX.

Following CEO Jensen Huang’s GeForce presentation, we’re expecting the GTC keynote to then dovetail into a more traditional enterprise presentation. NVIDIA’s H100 Hopper accelerator will no doubt be a big focus, as it’s slated to ship soon. As well, NVIDIA has been ever-increasingly focused on robotics, medical, automotive, and of course their omniverse simulation environment. So there should be no shortage of other things to talk about – even if we’re here first and foremost for the gaming cards.

NVIDIA’s keynote starts at 8am Pacific (15:00 UTC), so please join us for our live blog coverage of the green machine’s latest announcements.

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Intel to Drop Celeron and Pentium Branding From Laptop Parts In 2023

While we’re still over a quarter out from the end of 2022, Intel already has its eyes aimed at 2023 and its eventual refresh of its mobile processors. To that end, today the company has announced that they are making some branding changes for the low-end.

Starting in 2023, Intel will be retiring the Pentium and Celeron brands for laptop processors. In its place, Intel will have a singular “Intel Processor” brand for the low end of the market, while the Core branding (with its multiple tiers) will remain in place for the rest of Intel’s mobile product stack.

“Whether for work or play, the importance of the PC has only become more apparent as the torrid pace of technological development continues to shape the world. Intel is committed to driving innovation to benefit users, and our entry-level processor families have been crucial for raising the PC standard across all price points. The new Intel Processor branding will simplify our offerings so users can focus on choosing the right processor for their needs.”

-Josh Newman, Intel vice president and interim general manager of Mobile Client Platforms

Notably, this change only applies to future laptop parts. At this point Intel is not announcing a change for desktop parts or embedded parts. But with that said, I would not be the least bit surprised if these change ultimately came to desktops as well, as mobile is effectively Intel’s leading consumer market segment these days. So technology and names tend to percolate up to the desktop segment, keeping the two in sync.

Intel’s current generation Pentium and Celeron offerings are both based on Alder Lake-U processors with a single performance core and four (one block of) efficiency cores. The only differences between these SKUs, besides price, is clockspeeds – specifically, that the Celeron parts lack turbo. So if Intel is going to pursue a similar strategy in future generations, then it’s not outlandish to fold two similar products under a single brand. Though the decision to forgo any kind of specific branding is an unusual one for Intel.

With that said, there’s also been a notable absence of “pure” Atom parts in this segment in this generation. Intel has yet to produce a true entry-level part using its Gracemont Atom cores; so everything below the Alder Lake Pentiums/Celerons has been the last-generation Tremont Atoms. So larger changes may be afoot for Intel’s cheapest laptop product segment.

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EVGA and NVIDIA To Split: EVGA Won’t Make Next-Gen NVIDIA Cards

In a move that will have significant repercussions for the video card industry in North America and Europe, EVGA today has announced that the company is parting ways from NVIDIA. As a result, the company will not be producing video cards based on NVIDIA’s next-generation of GPUs – and won’t be immediately switching allegiance to AMD or Intel, either. Consequently, NVIDIA is losing their largest add-in board (AIB) in North America, and the broader North American video card market is losing one of its biggest and best-known vendors.

In a brief announcement posted on EVGA’s forums, the company outlined their parting from NVIDIA, while underscoring that this affects the next-generation of video cards, and that EVGA will continue to provide current-gen products and support existing customers.

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Micron Breaks Ground on Its $15 Billion EUV DRAM Fab in the U.S.

Micron this week broke ground on its leading-edge memory production facility near Boise, Idaho. The company will invest $15 billion in its new fab as a part of its ambitious plan to invest $40 billion in its U.S.-based manufacturing capacities by the end of this decade as well as spend $150 billion on new fabs by 2030 globally.

Micron’s upcoming leading-edge fab will produce DRAM and will be a rather colossal manufacturing facility. At build-out, when the fab is fully equipped with tools, its cleanroom space will reach 600,000 feet2 (55,700 meters2), which is about two times larger compared to cleanroom space at GlobalFoundries’ Fab 8 and which is comparable to cleanroom space at giant fabs operated by Micron’s rivals Samsung and SK Hynix is South Korea. Essentially, Micron will operate one of the largest semiconductor production facilities in the U.S.

The new fab will be located adjacent to Micron’s R&D center and headquarters near Boise, Idaho, which will bring together scientists, process technology developers, and manufacturing engineers in one location, something that promises to speed up time-to-yield and time-to-market for advanced DRAMs. 

“With this facility, Micron will closely couple R&D and manufacturing, providing synergies that will enable us to accelerate the production ramp of advanced memory technology,” said Sanjay Mehrotra, president and CEO of Micron.

Micron is currently prepping the site for the new fab and plans to begin construction in early 2023 in a bid to start bringing cleanroom space online gradually starting in 2025. The facility will be equipped with modern deep ultraviolet (DUV) and extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography tools and will make memory using one of Micron’s advanced EUV-enabled production nodes. The company intends to start fabbing DRAMs at its new facility sometimes in 2025 and then ramp up production to the full capacity in the following years. 

At present it is hard to guess which fabrication process will be adopted at the new fab. Considering the fact that Micron is expected to start DRAM production using its first EUV-enabled manufacturing technology (1γ) sometimes in mid-2023 – early-2024, it is likely that the fab near Boise, Idaho, will adopt the company’s second EUV-enabled process (1δ). Yet, this is an educated guess (based on habitual introduction of new DRAM nodes every 18 months or so) at this point.

Micron intends to make 40% of its global DRAM output in America in 2030s, a rebalance that the company has not done in decades. Therefore, in addition to Micron’s new fab near Boise, Idaho, the company plans to build a yet another DRAM facility in the U.S. Currently the company is in the final stages of its selection process for another site in America. 

Micron will invest $15 billion in the new manufacturing facility near Boise, Idaho. The company also plans to get incentives from the local and state authorities and support from the federal government enabled by the CHIPS and Science act signed into law last month.

“The investment, made possible by the anticipated grants and credits provided by the CHIPS and Science Act, also enhances Micron’s supply chain resilience and will establish a new strategic capability for the U.S.,” said the head of Micron.

It is noteworthy that Micron is not the only DRAM maker to start building new memory fabs when demand for both 3D NAND and DRAM is down. Last week SK Hynix began to expand its M15 site with its new M15X building as the company is preparing for increased DRAM demand starting in 2025.

Source: Micron

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ASRock Announces New AM5 BIOS Design, Promises Faster Booting Times

In preparation for AMD’s Ryzen 7000 series processors, which will launch on September 27th, ASRock has announced that it has developed a new BIOS for its AM5 motherboards. ASRock states that its new firmware has been built to decrease booting times on its motherboards.

With every new platform, chipset, and processor launch, firmware is one of the focal points surrounding motherboards. Over the last couple of years, leading vendors such as ASUS, GIGABYTE, and MSI have kept their firmware consistent, regardless of whether the board is designed for AMD or Intel. ASRock has announced that it has developed a new BIOS specifically for its AM5 motherboards, which are designed to support the upcoming AMD Ryzen 7000 series Zen 4 processors based on TSMC’s 5 nm process node.


ASRock X570S PG Riptide motherboard firmware

ASRock claims that their new BIOS for AM5 will provide better compatibility, although it doesn’t expressly state what, as well as quicker booting or POST times into Windows. As it stands, ASRock has announced five X670E models currently, including the X670E Taichi and Taichi Carrara models, the X670E Steel Legend, the X670E Pro RS, and the X670E PG Lightning. ASRock also hasn’t stated whether or not the layout or core GUI has changed compared with previous generations such as X570 or B550.

Another thing ASRock has announced is that all of its X670E and X670 models will support BIOS Flashback (a feature now native to the AM5 platform), with users able to update their motherboard to the latest firmware with just a USB flash drive and 24-pin power connected to the power supply. 

ASRock’s new firmware for its X670E and X670 motherboards will be available to download from the appropriate product pages on the ASRock website after September 27th. At the time of writing, it hasn’t confirmed any information regarding the pricing of its new AM5 motherboards.

Source: ASRock

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MSI Unveils X670 Pricing Ahead of AMD Ryzen 7000 Launch, Starting at $290

Ahead of the launch of AMD’s latest Ryzen 7000 processors, which will hit retail shelves on September 27th, MSI unveiled pricing on four of its X670/X670E motherboards. Given the world’s current financial climate and features such as PCIe 5.0 connectivity to M.2 storage drives and at least one PCIe x16 slot, the writing has been on the wall for a while regarding pricing.

Currently listed in their US store, MSI has two premium (MEG), one mid-range (MPG), and one entry-level regular X670 (Pro) model, with prices ranging from $290 (Pro X670-P WIFI) up to $1300 (MEG X670E Godlike). 


MSI MPG X670E Carbon WIFI ($480) ATX motherboard

As we’ve seen with previous generations on both Intel and AMD platforms, MSI’s flagship for Ryzen 7000 is the MEG X670E Godlike ($1300). MSI is advertising a 24+2+1 power delivery, with up to six M.2 slots, 10 GbE, 2.5 GbE, Wi-Fi 6E, and a touchscreen 4.5″ M-Vision dashboard panel.

Sitting just behind the Godlike is the MSI MEG X670E Ace ($700), with support for up to six M.2 drives, an advertised 22+2+1 power delivery, and 10 GbE/Wi-Fi 6E networking to sweeten the deal. Both models benefit from PCIe 5.0 PEG slots and one PCIe 5.0 x4 M.2 slot for the latest PCIe Gen 5 SSDs due sometime in November.

X670E Mid-Range Model for $480, X670 Entry-Level at $290

The MPG X670E Carbon ($480) represents MSI’s mid-range MPG offerings with advertised 18+2+1-phase power delivery, an 8-layer PCB, and Wi-Fi 6E connectivity. Despite costing nearly $500, MSI offers a 2.5 GbE NIC considering this has been offering this on entry-level models for the last couple of generations. Importantly, however, this is the cheapest MSI X670E motherboard – meaning it’s the cheapest board MSI will be offering at launch with PCIe 5.0 slots.

Coincidentally, we just reviewed MSI’s MPG Z690 Carbon WIFI, which is MSI’s equivalent motherboard for the Intel LGA1700/Z690 market.That board has an MSRP of $400 and a current selling price of $350 on Amazon. So there is a significant premium right now for the AM5 board, on top of what’s already a relatively high price for a mid-range Intel motherboard.

Finally, the entry-level MSI Pro X670-P WIFI (non-E) model has 2.5 GbE, an advertised 14+2+1-phase power delivery, and supports up to four M.2 slots. Despite dropping PCIe 5.0 in favor of PCIe 4.0, the MSRP is sitting at $290, which is very surreal pricing for an entry-level model.

Despite not agreeing with MSI’s current X670E/X670 MSRP pricing, things could change over the coming weeks and months as more vendors announce its offerings to the market. The introduction of B650/B650E boards should also offer a cheaper alternative, though those boards won’t be arriving for at least another month. As it stands, the MSI MEG X670E Godlike will cost $1300, the MEG X670E Ace will cost $700, the MPG X670E Carbon WIFI has a price tag of $480, and the Pro X670-P WIFI will cost $290.

All four models are expected to launch on September 27th, along with AMD’s Ryzen 7000 series processors.

Source: MSI

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SK Hynix Starts Prepping for Next Semiconductor Boom with $11 Billion Memory Fab

When a major South Korean memory firm invests over $11 billion in a fab, that raises a couple of eyebrows. But when it comes within a major $100+ billion capital expenditure (CapEx) package, it certainly warrants some attention.

Semiconductor business in general and memory business in particular are very cyclical in their nature. Just a year ago almost all chips were in short supply and prices of commodities like memory or display drivers were high, but now that sales of PCs are declining, memory prices are declining too. But several years down the road demand for PCs and other client devices will rise once again, and so will demand for memory. Which is why SK Hynix is already preparing for this with its Fab M15X expansion plan.

SK Hynix’s Fab M15X will be a two-story building occupying 60,000 m2 of land and will be located adjacent to existing Fab M15 in the Cheongju Technopolis industrial complex. The fab will produce 3D NAND (which means more chemical vapor deposition and etching tools in the cleanroom) and/or DRAM (which is more lithography-intensive, so more DUV and EUV equipment in the cleanroom) memory chips, depending on demand by the time it comes online sometimes in 2025. Since at present it is unclear/undecided what the fab will produce, the company cannot disclose planned production capacity of the upcoming manufacturing facility.

At a planned size roughly equal to combined space of SK Hynix’s existing Fab M11 and Fab M12, the company’s Fab M15X expansion looks more like an entirely new fab built adjacent to existing Fab M15 than an expansion project of the existing fab. Yet since the two manufacturing facilities share infrastructure and various facilities, the maker prefers to call it Fab M15X. 

“Looking back on the past 10 years, SK hynix could grow into a global company as it boldly carried out investment during crisis,” said Park Jung-ho, vice chairman and co-chief executive of SK Hynix. “As we look to prepare for the next 10 years now, I believe starting the M15X will be a first step to lay foundation for a solid future growth.”

Source: SK Hynix

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AMD Updates Ryzen Mobile CPU Numbering System Ahead of Mendocino APU Launch

While all eyes are on the impending launch of AMD’s new Ryzen 7000 desktop processors, the chipmaker also has its wheels in motion for the future of its mobile product lineup. And while we’re still quite a bit away from the first Zen 4 mobile parts, more immediate on AMD’s roadmap is their Zen 2-based Mendocino SoC, which is aimed at mainstream laptops. Mendocino APUs are set to launch next quarter, and to prepare for that launch, AMD today is updating their mobile processor numbering scheme to accommodate those future products.

The short version of matters is that while the new numbering system is quite similar to AMD’s previous system (e.g. Ryzen Mobile 6000), the company is now dedicating a digit to represent the version of the Zen architecture used. With AMD set to have Zen 2 (Mendocino), Zen 3 (Rembrandt), and eventually Zen 4 (Phoenix) mobile APUs all on the market at the same time, AMD has decided that they need to better disclose the architecture used underneath – a “necessary evil”, as former AnandTech CPU editor Dr. Ian Cutress put it, to avoid any improprieties (perceived or otherwise) that AMD is misleading customers by offering multiple versions of the Zen architecture.

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Qualcomm Unveils Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 and 4 Gen 1 SoCs: Updating Mid-Range and Entry-Level Phones

Qualcomm this morning is taking the wraps off a pair of new SoCs for the mid-range and entry-level smartphone markets. Refreshing the company’s longstanding 600 and 400 series of chips, Qualcomm is announcing the Snapdragon 6 Gen 1 and Snapdragon 4 Gen 1. Both SoCs are receiving similar spec bumps, incorporating newer and faster IP blocks from Qualcomm – such as Arm Cortex-A78 derived CPU cores – as well as moving to newer, more contemporary manufacturing processes.

The Snapdragon 600/400 lineups were last updated in mid and early 2021 respectively, so as Qualcomm is already preparing for 2023, the time has finally come to update the bottom half of their product stack. Following Qualcomm’s broad cascading IP strategy, this generation of parts sees both SoC lineups migrate to Cortax-A78 CPUs for their main CPU cores, and in the case of the 6 Gen 1, doubling the number of high-performance CPU cores. Both SoCs also come with faster Adreno GPUs, though in traditional Qualcomm fashion, the company isn’t offering much in the way of details on the underlying hardware there.

Notably, however, Qualcomm’s 2023 mid-range/low-end parts aren’t making the jump to the Armv9 architecture. Unlike the 8 Gen 1 and 7 Gen 1, which incorporated Arm’s new Armv9 cores, Qualcomm’s cascading development strategy means that the 6 and 4 series will remain a bit farther behind the curve. For end users this should have little significance for the moment, but for smartphone vendors and software developers, it does mean Qualcomm won’t complete the Armv9 transition for at least another generation.

Meanwhile, coming up on nearly a year since Qualcomm announced their initial Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC, today’s announcement from Qualcomm brings their remaining smartphone SoC families in alignment with their new product branding strategy. The 6 and 4 series pick up from where the 600 and 400 series left off, respectively, resetting the counted with the inaugural Gen 1 parts. Like the rest of simplified “Gen” series, this also means that Qualcomm is doing away with individual model numbers for its Kyro/Hexagon/Adreno/Spectra blocks, obfuscating a bit what generation of IP Qualcomm is using there.

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The MSI Titan GT77 Review: Desktop-Class Core i9-12900HX Tested

MSI is synonymous with gaming notebooks and the company’s Raider lineup is one of the top gaming platforms on the market. But, MSI has always kept a tiny bit back, reserving their most interesting ideas and most powerful configurations for their Titan lineup.

MSI’s Titan series always offers something special. Something different. Something unique. Look back to the insane MSI GT80 Titan from 2015 which featured a full desktop keyboard melded onto an 18.4-inch notebook computer. The MSI GT76 Titan packed in a full desktop Core i9-9900K processor into a more traditional 17-inch form factor.

Today we are looking at the latest iteration from MSI; the Titan GT77. Featuring a desktop-inspired Core i9-12900HX processor and an NVIDIA RTX 3080 Ti Laptop GPU, the GT77 is one of the most powerful notebooks on the market today.

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