Computer stuff...
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
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.“
AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition Optional 18.8.2
Download | Release Notes
Nvidia Geforce Game Ready 399.07 WHQL Drivers
Download | Release Notes
Nvidia just unveiled the RTX 2000 line.
“At Nvidia’s event, the company is unveiling the RTX 2070, RTX 2080, and RTX 2080 Ti. Nvidia is promising “up to 6X the performance of previous-generation graphics cards,” and real-time ray-tracing for these cards.”
The RTX 2000’s are priced from $600-$1,200.
Samsung 860 EVO 1TB 2.5 Inch SATA III Internal SSD
List Price: $299.99
Price: $198.99
You Save: $101.00 (34%)
Lowest price I’ve ever seen.
Samsung 860 Evo 500GB 2.5 inch SATA III Internal SSD
List Price: $134.99
Price: $99.99
You Save: $35.00 (26%)
2nd Gen Ryzen
“2nd generation AMD Ryzen processor lineup offers world’s highest multithreaded performance desktop processors in its class; immediate pre-order availability from more than 150 retailers and boutique PC manufacturers”
Full specs and release info from the AMD PR Department.
It’s gonna be a great weekend. I’ll be out there pedaling somewhere. Hope y’all have a great weekend!
WD Black 512GB Performance M.2 2280 PCIe NVMe SSD
Price: $169.99 Free Shipping for Prime Members
You Save: $30.00 (15%)
Samsung 960 EVO Series – 500GB NVMe – M.2 Internal SSD
Price: $199.99 Free Shipping for Prime Members
You Save: $50.00 (20%)
“Today, AMD is providing updates regarding our recommended mitigations for Google Project Zero (GPZ) Variant 2 (Spectre) for Microsoft Windows users. These mitigations require a combination of processor microcode updates from our OEM and motherboard partners, as well as running the current and fully up-to-date version of Windows. For Linux users, AMD recommended mitigations for GPZ Variant 2 were made available to our Linux partners and have been released to distribution earlier this year…
Microsoft is releasing an operating system update containing Variant 2 (Spectre) mitigations for AMD users running Windows 10 (version 1709) today. Support for these mitigations for AMD processors in Windows Server 2016 is expected to be available following final validation and testing.
In addition, microcode updates with our recommended mitigations addressing Variant 2 (Spectre) have been released to our customers and ecosystem partners for AMD processors dating back to the first “Bulldozer” core products introduced in 2011.
AMD customers will be able to install the microcode by downloading BIOS updates provided by PC and server manufacturers and motherboard providers. Please check with your provider for the latest updates.”
Spectre Mitigation Update – Mark Papermaster, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer
Intel has microcode patches available for newer CPUs.
They are not going to patch: Bloomfield, Clarksfield, Gulftown, Penryn, Wolfdale, Yorkfield…
AFAICS this is basically Intel Core 2 through the early i5/7 and the Xeons from those eras.
Intel – Microcode Revision Guidance, April 2, 2018 (PDF)
So this is a thing: https://amdflaws.com/
Slashdot links to this article: AMD has a Spectre/Meltdown-like security flaw of its own
They say, “13 Critical Security Vulnerabilities and Manufacturer Backdoors discovered throughout AMD Ryzen & EPYC product lines.” Apparently they only gave AMD a 24 hour heads up.
Just you break out the popcorn, sit back, put your feet up and watch what comes of this.
