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COUNTERATTACK! AMD RYZEN9 5950X UNBOX & REVIEW

ADMIN — Wed, 16 Dec 2020 14:09:24 +0000

AMD has already made good on its promise to release the new generation of desktop processors based on the Zen 3 architecture in 2020, with four different models ranging from 6 to 16 cores in the debut lineup to suit different budgets. But when we mention the Zen3 architecture, we have to talk about the previous Zen2 architecture.

AMD’s Zen 2 architecture launched last year basically tied or even slightly exceeding Intel’s Core desktop processors in terms of IPC, and the gap between the two’s gaming performance is actually very small. This year Intel launched the 10th generation Core desktop processor Comet Lake to fight back, but everyone’s reaction after seeing Comet Lake is probably the same as mine: this is it? Simply put, Comet Lake is the product of adding two cores to the previous generation of Coffee Lake processors, then increasing the power limit upwards and improving the heat dissipation to push up the frequency, but the CPU core is still the same as Skylake five years ago, in short, the IPC has not been upgraded for five years. With Intel stagnant for a few years, AMD is catching up, official sources say the new Zen 3 compared to the previous generation has a 19% IPC increase, gaming performance is a great improvement.

Regarding the changes in ZEN3 compared to ZEN2, simply put, a series of architectural and structural changes, combined with the merging of two 4-core CCXs into one 8-core CCX, have doubled the available cache per core and reduced latency, resulting in an average 19% increase in co-channel performance/IPC for the ZEN3 architecture compared to the ZEN2 architecture. In addition, although this is still TSMC’s 7nm DUV process, after more than a year of polishing, the process has gone up a level, the XT series launched in front is a test run, this time the frequency of ZEN3 has gone up a level, the actual test has broken through the threshold of 5G, Intel’s CPUs have no frequency advantage compared to it, plus the IPC is far worse, this year Intel should not be able to return.

We received the high-end level of the Ryzen 5950X, so let’s dig in how the Zen3 series processors will shine after a year of polishing.
CPU Specifications

CPU Package Appearance
The outside packaging
The packaging of the Ryzen 5950X is not particularly different from its predecessor, following the same design concept and containing essentially the same graphics and colour scheme

The box contains the CPU and Ryzen sticker. This time AMD didn’t offer their classic Wraith Prism CPU cooler

The main CPU

The motherboard that we are using for our tests will be the ROG Crosshair VIII Dark Hero from ASUS

Please refer to our previous ASUS ROG CROSSHAIR VIII DARK HERO article for the unboxing of the motherboard

ENHANCE THE POWER! THE ROG CROSSHAIR VIII DARK HERO UNBOX

CPU-Z details

CPU-Z Cache details

CPU-Z Benchmark, compare with i7-10850K’s reference, single-core speed is better, but falls behind in the multi-core score

Cinebench R15 single and multi-core result. The results are significantly ahead of the Intel 1185G7, but since the 1185G7 is a mobile CPU, the figures are for reference only

Cinebench R23 single and multi-core result
The R23 single/Multicore was incorrectly displayed during the test
The actual score should be Single-core: 1689 | Multi-core: 28723

X264 Benchmark

PCIe Gen4 SSD Benchmark

7-Zip Benchmark

Blender Benchmark

Gaming tests
Gaming tests are the main focus of the Ryzen 5000 series processors, and the fundamental reason why AMD is called a “productivity tool” rather than a gaming CPU is the lack of single-core performance. But that curse has finally been broken, as the 5950X easily beat its rival i9-10900K in many games we tested, and sometimes was significant.

This is not only due to AMD’s Zen3 architecture, but also a more direct boost from TSMC’s 7nm technology, while Intel is keeping focused on 14nm with so many ‘+’s technologies on top of the 11th Gen Core, trying to compete with AMD by neutering the core count to disguise the increase in main frequency, we can foresee that the heat and power consumption of the 11th Gen desktop CPUs will definitely not be average any more. We don’t know if anyone has a sense of immediacy, this situation is like when ATI released the Radeon 9000 Series in September 2002, performance crushed Nvidia’s NV20, while Nvidia released the NV30 Series graphics card in November of the same year but for some reason it was delayed until January of the following year, and performance? The FX5800 Ultra is really a black history for Nvidia.

we also tested the CPU temperature when under full load by using AIDA64, the average temperature of the 5950X is around 83°C, and thanks to the Zen3 architecture, the overall power consumption of the 5950X is only around 150W, far better than the 250W of the Intel i9-10900K.

Summary
History is always strikingly similar. Since the last time AMD CPUs outperformed Intel in absolute single-core performance, we have to go back more than a decade to the Athlon 64/X2 and were then left behind in Intel’s Core series. We also watched as the highest cores of the mainstream platform were firmly limited to 4 cores starting with the Core 2 Quad in 2008, and Intel, which had no competition, began a long career of toothpaste squeezing, but in the short three years since Ryzen appeared, Intel has been forced to release the multi-core i9 and the number of cores has risen from 4 to 10 cores.

Today, the last piece of Intel’s shame, single-core performance has been torn off, and AMD has regained the crown of absolute single-core performance, these Zen 3 processors will easily win against the rival Comet Lake, but the real enemy is Intel’s Rocket Lake, which will be launched in the first quarter of next year, and it is estimated that the gaming performance will be improved due to the change of the architecture. However, AMD is almost certain to win in multi-core performance, after all, Rocket Lake has only 8 cores at most, so 16 cores against 8 cores should be a no-brainer. So, how will Intel come back from its total defeat? We’ll see.

EPIC PC RATE SCORE: CPU 93/100

EPIC REWARD: EPIC RECOMMENDED, EDITOR’S CHOICE & EXTREME POWER

AMD Ryzen 9 5950X OFFICIAL WEBSITE: HERE

ENHANCE THE ROG POWER! THE NEW ROG MAXIMUS XII HERO WIFI UNBOX

ADMIN — Mon, 08 Jun 2020 05:50:04 +0000

Recently, Asus has sent us their new ROG MAXIMUS XII HERO WIFI motherboard based on the new Intel Z490 chipset. According to Intel, there are a few benefits that differentiate Z390 from Z490. Unfortunately, the old LGA 1151 CPUs will not be compatible with the new Z490, because of the new platform shift to LGA 1200 for the new Comet Lake-S CPUs. So what surprise will ASUS bring this time? Let’s open the box and enjoy the new features!

Package appearance
The whole package design of MAXIMUS XII HERO WIFI is nearly the same as their previous version MAXIMUS XI HERO WIFI
Package Front

Package Back

Package Side

Opening the box

The ROG Sticker, Manual book and instruction guide

The Driver CD and ROG metal sticker

The ROG greeting card

The accessories box – including SATA cable packs, RGB extension cable, MOSFET cooling fan pack, M.2 screw packs, WIFI and Bluetooth antenna and a new ROG band

Product Analysis
The main body of the HERO WIFI motherboard

The front and back look

The side I/O

The bottom I/O

The top I/O, includes RGB headers (12v 4pin & 5v 3pin addressable) and 8+6 pin CPU powe

The rear I/O :
1 x Marvell® AQtion AQC111C 5Gb Ethernet
1 x Intel® I219-V 1Gb Ethernet
1 x HDMI
4 x USB 3.2 Gen 2
4 x USB 3.2 Gen 1
2 x USB 2.0
1 x Optical S/PDIF out
1 x Clear CMOS button(s)
1 x USB BIOS FlashBack™ Button(s)
1 x ASUS Wi-Fi Module
5 x Gold-plated audio jacks

This motherboard includes 3 M.2 SSD slots (M.2_1 and M.2_3 supports SATA & PCIe 3.0 x 4)

The SATA M.2 SSD won’t work on M.2_2 slot, it only supports PCIe 3.0 x 4

The M.2 SSD heat sinks

The 24-pin power and USB Gen2 Type E socket, and POWER button, FLEX Key (Reset), Debug Code indicator and RGB sockets

The CPU VRM and PCH heat sinks

The rear I/O cover and PCH cover with RGB lights

The look after we removed all heatsink and covers

The Memory slots – supports up to 128G DDR4 4700+(OC). The slot does not come with armour

In terms of PCIe slots, the 1st and 2nd armour protected slots are PCIe 3.0 x16(single x16 or dual x8) and they are directly from the CPU. The 3rd PCIe 3.0 x16 (x4 mode when three cards) and the rest 3 of PCIe 3.0 x1 are controlled by the chipset

The processor power supply adopts the design of 14-phase CPU core power supply + 2-phase integrated graphics power supply

The MOSFET TDA21462 from Infineon
According to the product sheet from Infineon, this MOSFET has a 60A of its single maximum current, and it’s also used in the ROG Matrix RTX 2080 Ti

The Wifi 6 and Bluetooth card – Intel AX201NGW

The northbridge chipset

The ASUS SupremeFX supported sound card is ALC1220 from Realtek, it also uses the famous golden capacitors from Nichicon

The ASUS DIGI+ EPU Chipset – ASP1405I customised from the Infineon IR35201

The Marvell AQtion AQC111C 5G LAN Chipset

The BIOS flashback controller chip

The Onboard TPU chip

The Onboard I/O controller chip Nuvoton NCT6798D

The Asmedia ASM1442K chip is the next-generation high-speed TMDS level shift ICs for HDMI & DVI video application

The ASUS AURA 50QA0 RGB controller chip

The ASUS Pro Clock II R77775PY timing controller chip

The new LGA 1200 slot of Intel’s 10th gen Core desktop processor

The foolproof designed gaps are moved to the downside compared to the 1151 socket

Overall
As a mid-range in the ROG Maximus family, the ROG Maximus XII HERO features several changes both from the aesthetics and the internal designs. More armour protection is added compared to the previous Maximus XI Hero and the RGB elements are slightly increased. Due to the 10th gen CPU eating more power, the on-board power supply has been strengthened thoroughly.

For enthusiastic gamers, the ROG Maximus series motherboards have always been their first choice. The Maximus XII Hero still easily handles the 240W i9-10900k, the powerful power supply support not only brings stable performance but also will effectively relieve the pressure caused by overclocking, thereby further increasing the FPS in-game.

At the same time, ROG Maximus XII HERO has two new technologies: AI smart heat dissipation and AI smart network. AI smart heat dissipation can automatically manage and control the fans connected to the motherboard and adjust the settings according to the current system load and temperature conditions to ensure efficient and stable operation. As the name implies, the AI Intelligent Network uses GameFirst VI game low-latency features to automatically optimise the game network environment, thereby bringing a smooth, non-stop gaming experience.

At AU$829, it is not a very competitive price, as the ROG Z490-E is only $599, it also has the same CPU power supply plus an additional onboard Display Port 1.4, and a 2.5Gb LAN port is absolutely sufficient for gamers. If you haven’t got a firm belief in ROG and pursuit of absolute high-end products, the ROG Maximus series has no advantage in terms of cost to performance ratio.

EPIC PC RATE SCORE: 91.5/100

EPIC REWARD: DESIGN AWARD

ASUS ROG MAXIMUS XII HERO WIFI OFFICIAL WEBSITE: HERE