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Thursday Random Stuff…

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You can go here and see how to manually enable Retpoline in Win10:
Mitigating Spectre variant 2 with Retpoline on Windows
I did this and the only change I see is I can no longer complete a PCMark10 benchmark. Could be related to this:
Microsoft confirms latest Windows 10 update causes issues with certain games

AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.3.1 Optional (06MAR2019)
Download | Release Notes

New Intel drivers:
Intel PROSet/Wireless Software and Drivers for Windows 7
Intel PROSet/Wireless Software and Drivers for Windows 8.1
Windows 10 Wi-Fi Drivers for Intel Wireless Adapters
Intel Wireless Bluetooth for Windows 7
Intel Wireless Bluetooth for Windows 8.1

Samsung 970 EVO Plus Pre-order

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***UPDATE – AS of 0840hrs EST, 03FEB2019 These items have disappeared from Amazon. Will update when they return.

“This item will be released on February 10, 2019”

Samsung 970 EVO Plus Series – 1TB PCIe NVMe – M.2 Internal SSD (MZ-V7S1T0B/AM)
Price: $249.99

Samsung 970 EVO Plus Series – 500GB PCIe NVMe – M.2 Internal SSD (MZ-V7S500B/AM)
Price: $129.99

Samsung 970 EVO Plus Series – 250GB PCIe NVMe – M.2 Internal SSD (MZ-V7S250B/AM)
Price: $89.99

New AMD Drivers

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AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.1.2 Optional (24JAN2019)
Support for Resident Evil 2, Tropico 6, Anthem Early Access
Download | Release Notes
Released earlier this week: AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 Edition 19.1.2 (21JAN2019)
Support for Fortnight
Release Notes

SanDisk 128GB Extreme microSD
List Price: $68.99
Price: $29.48
You Save: $39.51 (57%)

Friday Morning News

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AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition Optional 18.11.1
Support For: Hitman 2, Battlefield V, Fallout 76
Download | Release Notes

Nvidia GeForce Game Ready Driver 416.81 WHQL
“Provides the optimal gaming experience for Battlefield V”
Download | Release Notes

Intel SSD Toolbox 3.5.7
Download | Release Notes

Intel SSD Firmware Update Tool 3.0.5
Download | Release Notes

Intel 9th Generation Benchmarks

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The NDA was lifted yesterday. The 9900k is the fastest, the most expensive, and has a poor price to performance ratio.
IMHO, nothing surprising here.

Anandtech -The Intel 9th Gen Review: Core i9-9900K, Core i7-9700K and Core i5-9600K Tested
“At $488 SEP, plus a bit more for ‘on-shelf price’, plus add $80-$120 for a decent cooler or $200 for a custom loop, it’s going to be out of the range for almost all builds south of $1500 where GPU matters the most. When Intel’s own i5-9600K is under half the cost with only two fewer cores, or AMD’s R7 2700X is very competitive in almost every test, while they might not be the best, they’re more cost-effective.”

[H]ardOCP – Intel Core i9-9900K 9th Generation CPU Review
“For desktop content creators, the 9900k is the hands down winner over the 2700X. Albeit yet again, for a price. On the average, the 9900K delivered 16% better content creation performance, but represents a ~74% price increase. Does the performance delta justify the price you will have to pay?
The Intel Core i9-9900K has simply the dethroned the AMD Ryzen 7 2700X across the entire desktop performance landscape. The 9900K is the best desktop CPU that Intel has ever produced. It also happens to be tremendously expensive compared to AMD’s 2700X.”

HotHardWare – Intel Core i9-9900K CPU Review: 8-Core 9th Gen Coffee Lake Benchmarks
“The Core i9-9900K is a blisteringly-fast processor, but it is also priced as such. The Core i9-9900K is priced at $488 in 1KU quantities, but is currently priced at about $530 on Amazon. That makes it about $185 – $225 pricier than the Ryzen 7 2700X, which is currently selling for about $304 (give or take a few bucks depending on the retailer). Based on its performance, a higher price for the Core i9-9900K is justifiable, but Intel is definitely shooting for the stars a bit here…In the end though, the Core i9-9900K is a killer processor. It has more cores, more cache, higher frequencies, solder TIM, compatibility with existing motherboards and, of course, its strong real-world performance will make it very attractive to enthusiasts who want the best of the best.“