Processors

As previously reported, AMD is bringing back the undisputed AM4 gaming champion, the Ryzen 7 5800X3D 10th Anniversary Edition, on June 25, starting at $349. But Team Red didn't simply flip a switch to restart production of the iconic processor. Instead, the chip had to be re-engineered from the ground up for a newer 3D V-Cache stacking process after the original production method was no longer available.

In an interview with Tom's Hardware, AMD Senior VP and GM of Ryzen, David McAfee, explained that the original Ryzen 7 5800X3D used an early version of TSMC's SoIC hybrid bonding process, which enabled AMD to stack the additional cache die directly on top of the CPU compute die. Since then, TSMC has moved on to newer generations of its 3D stacking technology, and that older process was simply no longer available.

McAfee described reworking the chip for the second-generation stacking process as a "labor of love" for the company's engineers. That work included building samples, testing reliability, and validating the bonding process all over again. This also explains why the CPU disappeared from normal retail channels for so long, even as AM4 users kept demanding it.

Intel's upcoming LGA1954 platform may finally give desktop users the upgrade longevity they have been asking for. According to prominent hardware leaker Jaykihn, LGA1954 motherboards equipped with a 64MB SPI ROM will be able to support CPU generations beyond Razor Lake, with all Z-series boards expected to meet that requirement.

That is a big deal. Intel sockets have traditionally served only one or two CPU generations. The current LGA1851, for example, supports Arrow Lake and a handful of Meteor Lake variants released in 2024 and 2025. As a reminder, LGA1954 is the socket expected to release with the upcoming Core Ultra 400S desktop CPUs, codenamed Nova Lake.

The new claim suggests that BIOS flash capacity may be a key requirement for extended CPU support, though Intel has not officially confirmed any such plan for LGA1954. On the chipset side, Intel is recommending but not requiring B960 board makers to use 64MB BIOS chips, which means the extended compatibility window may not be uniform across all board tiers. Budget buyers on B-series boards could end up with a shorter upgrade path depending on what their motherboard vendor ships.

Intel has officially pulled back the curtain on its Xeon 7 "Diamond Rapids" server CPU lineup at Computex 2026, confirming a 2027 launch window alongside a handful of key specs. The announcement came alongside Intel's reveal of the Xeon 6+ "Clearwater Forest" chips. These two reveals give us a clearer picture of where the company's data center roadmap is headed.

Diamond Rapids is an all-P-core design, making it the natural successor to Granite Rapids in Intel's data center lineup. In terms of specs, Intel confirmed a roughly 50% increase in core count over Xeon 6, which puts the top-end configuration at around 192 cores. Memory bandwidth doubles over Granite Rapids, backed by a 16-channel configuration and support for second-generation MRDIMMs, with theoretical peak bandwidth potentially exceeding 1.2 TB/s per socket. PCIe 6.0 is also on the list.

Intel scrapped the previously planned 8-channel variant of Diamond Rapids, consolidating around the higher-bandwidth 16-channel design exclusively. The chip architecture itself uses a scalable SoC design with uniform memory latency. Intel's die shot shown at Computex revealed four CPU chiplets flanking two large I/O dies in the center, an approach structurally similar to what AMD is doing with EPYC Venice.

Intel has officially launched its Xeon 6+ "Clearwater Forest" processor family at Computex 2026, and it's a landmark moment for the company. These are Intel's first data center CPUs with compute tiles built on the Intel 18A process node, putting the current-gen node firmly in production and shipping through enterprise server vendors on day one.

The lineup spans four SKUs across six configurations, starting at 144 cores with the Xeon 6960E+ and topping out at 288 cores on the flagship Xeon 6990E+. All models support single- and dual-socket configurations, with dual-socket setups pushing the total core count to 576. Every SKU comes with support for 12-channel DDR5-8000 memory, 96 PCIe Gen 5 lanes, 64 CXL 2.0 lanes, six UPI 2.0 links, and Intel's new Application Energy Telemetry (AET). TDPs range from 300W to 450W across the lineup.

Architecturally, Clearwater Forest is one of Intel's most complex chiplet designs to date. Each package stacks 12 compute tiles on Intel 18A, each carrying 24 Darkmont E-cores, for a total of 288 cores per socket. These sit atop three active base tiles on Intel 3 and two I/O tiles on Intel 7, all connected using Foveros Direct 3D and EMIB packaging. The result is 576 MB of L3 cache alongside 288 MB of L2 cache.

ASUS has unveiled a new collaboration with iconic esports brand T1, best known for its team, which has won multiple League of Legends World Championships, and home to arguably the Michael Jordan of professional gaming and esports, Faker.

At Computex 2026, ASUS announced it has collaborated with T1 on limited-edition RTX 50-series GPUs specifically built around the T1 branding rather than ASUS's, such as TUF or ROG. ASUS announced the collaboration on May 15, but showcased the designs of the two new RTX 50-series GPUs on the showroom floor at Computex.

Notably, the cards aren't aimed at the high end of the market; instead, they're appealing to esports gamers, particularly those who play League of Legends given the T1 design, as the selected GPUs are a GeForce RTX 5060 Ti and a GeForce RTX 5070.

Intel's 'Wildcat Lake' Core 300 series of processors is built for the entry-level PC segment, balancing CPU, GPU, and NPU power in low-power systems. Powered by the company's cutting-edge 18A process node, similar to what's found in Panther Lake, the big thing here is the introduction of the RibbonFET architecture, which dramatically improves efficiency compared to more traditional FinFET designs.

Recently, we've begun to see benchmarks for unreleased products pop up online, which has led to some significant buzz surrounding the lineup. For example, a PassMark benchmark result for the entry-level Core 3 305 from the Wildcat Lake series, which features 6 CPU cores and a single Xe3 graphics core, delivered multi-threaded performance that beats the Apple A18 Pro found in the MacBook Neo.

It even managed to edge out the Core 5 315, which is encouraging. Today, while exploring the various tech-based sights and sounds at Computex 2026, we noticed an Intel engineering board for a Wildcat Lake system with an Intel Core Processor 360, Xe3 graphics, 16GB of LPDDR5 memory, and Phison's aiDAPTIV AI20EH storage built for local AI. The SSD sports 768GB of storage with an impressive 85GB of cache. Basically, this is a low-power, efficient look at a laptop that could be a game-changer for efficient local AI workloads.

"It's about long-term value, platform stability, and giving builders confidence in their investment, a platform that grows with you over time," AMD tells us during its Computex 2026 pre-brief. "Today, we are announcing continuous support through 2029 on Socket AM5. Our commitment to longevity when choosing AMD."

Previously, AMD said that it would support AM5 through 2027 when it debuted the new socket back in 2022, so adding a couple of years makes sense when you factor in that the upcoming, and still mostly rumored, Zen 6 Ryzen architecture will arrive sometime later this year or potentially early 2027.

Although AMD didn't give us any official confirmation on what support through 2029 means regarding specific next-gen Ryzen products outside of a catch-all "new product and architectures," it would include AMD's next-generation desktop Zen 6 processors (codenamed "Olympic Ridge"), rumored to be built on TSMC's 2nm process. And with that, pushing support through to 2029 could even extend to Zen 7.

There's no denying that AMD's Ryzen processors with X3D technology, or 3D V-Cache, have been a game-changer for the PC gaming community. Having that stacked and increased cache capacity translates to notable improvements in gaming performance, and for gamers on the AM5 platform, the company is set to launch the new AMD Ryzen 7 7700X3D processor on July 16, 2026, with an MSRP or SEP of $329 USD.

Formally announced at Computex 2026, AMD notes that this CPU is purpose-built for gamers looking to "step into the AM5 platform" with the promise of long-term longevity thanks to AM5 socket support extending through 2029, covering next-gen Ryzen CPUs and motherboards.

The Ryzen 7 7700X3D is an 8-core, 16-thread processor with a 4.5 GHz Boost Clock, 105 MB of 3D V-Cache, and a 120W TDP. Powered by AMD's Zen 4 architecture, it can be viewed as a slightly cut-down version of the popular Ryzen 7 7800X3D, which was the successor to the very first X3D gaming CPU, the iconic Ryzen 7 5800 X3D.

AMD's AM4 socket is celebrating 10 years, during which it has supported five generations of Ryzen CPUs, covering over 125 processors and over 500 motherboards. And even though AM5 is well and truly here with the same long-term commitment, the appetite for AM4 is currently seeing a resurgence due to the affordability that comes from upgrading older hardware and the fact that DDR4 memory and AM4 motherboards present a more value-focused option for PC gamers looking to upgrade their gaming performance or put together a new rig on a budget.

And with that, AMD has formally announced that it is re-releasing the undisputed AM4 gaming champ, the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D 10th Anniversary Edition, on June 25, starting at $349 USD. "One of the defining strengths of AM4 has always been its ability to deliver meaningful performance gains without requiring a full system rebuild," AMD told us during a Computex 2026 pre-brief. "The 5800X3D drops into supported AM4 motherboards so gamers can unlock a new level of performance while keeping their existing system."

For a lot of gamers, this will open the door to picking up a modern high-end GPU and ensure their CPU doesn't bottleneck its performance. To add a little context, gamers upgrading from an existing AM4-compatible CPU like the Ryzen 7 2700X will see performance increase by more than 2X, while Ryzen 7 3700X owners will see their games run more than 40% faster. And compared to its flagship competition from that era, such as the Intel Core i9 14900K, it is around 10% faster.

NVIDIA's upcoming N1 and N1X chips have been the subject of speculation for quite some time now, and we are getting closer and closer to a full reveal. The N1X, in particular, is expected to be NVIDIA's flagship Arm-based SoC for Windows laptops, combining Arm CPU cores with a Blackwell-generation integrated GPU. The standard N1 is a more affordable, cut-down version of the same chip.

Recently, NVIDIA and Microsoft both posted identical "new era of PC" teasers on their social media channels, with Arm following suit shortly after. The coordinated campaign all but confirmed that a major Windows on Arm announcement was imminent. The official reveal is expected on June 1 at Computex 2026, where NVIDIA is widely anticipated to take the wraps off the N1 family in full.

Now, retailer listings spotted by German tech outlet WinFuture have revealed that the Lenovo Yoga Pro 7 is being prepared in two N1X-based configurations: one with a chip called the N1X 650, and another with the N1X 675. The two variants are thought to differ primarily in clock speeds rather than core configuration. It is worth noting that the standard N1 will also reportedly feature in a lower-priced Yoga Pro 7 variant, sitting below the N1X models in the lineup.

Intel's Core 300 "Wildcat Lake" series has been making its way onto PassMark over the past few weeks, and now the entry-level Core 3 305 has joined the party. Wildcat Lake was officially launched by Intel earlier this year as the Core Series 3 family, a budget-focused mobile platform sitting below the Core Ultra 300 "Panther Lake" chips in Intel's lineup. Built on the Intel 18A node, it targets thin-and-light laptops and edge AI devices.

The Core 3 305 is one of the lower-end SKUs in the Wildcat Lake family. It is a 6-core, 6-thread chip with 2 "Cougar Cove" P-cores and 4 "Darkmont" LPE cores, no traditional E-cores, and a single Xe3 graphics core. The higher-end Core 5 and Core 7 SKUs instead get two Xe3 cores. It has 6 MB of L3 cache and operates within the same 15W/35W power envelope as the rest of the Wildcat Lake lineup.

On PassMark, the Core 3 305 posted a multi-threaded CPU Mark score of 15154 and a single-threaded score of 4011, based on a single submitted baseline from May 27, 2026. Keep in mind that with only one sample, the margin for error is high, so these numbers should be taken with a grain of salt for now.

A report from hardware insider, Moore's Law Is Dead, states that AMD's next-generation Zen 6 desktop silicon is much closer to mass production. The Zen 6 desktop Core Complex Die (CCD) and its X3D counterpart, codenamed "Powderhorn", have officially taped out in their B0 silicon stepping. This could mean a holiday 2026 launch or a formal debut at CES 2027.

AMD's next-generation Zen 6 desktop CPUs represent a massive design overhaul rather than a minor refresh. The new architecture is expected to deliver a 50% increase in both core counts and L3 cache per Core Complex Die (CCD).

Instead of the traditional 8 cores per CCD, Zen 6 increases this density to 12 standard cores per die. Simultaneously, the L3 cache pool per CCD grows from 32 MB to 48 MB. More importantly, Zen 6 CPUs are also expected to be compatible with existing AM5 motherboards.

Intel's "Bartlett Lake" CPUs have been in the news cycle recently, as the 12-core Core 9 273PQE was recently benchmarked, with some less-than-stellar results. Bartlett Lake is one of the more interesting Intel CPU lineups in recent memory, as it features solely P-cores. The Core 9 273PQE has 12 P-cores and 0 E-cores, a departure from Intel's hybrid architecture, which they have adopted for a few years now.

It looks like Bartlett Lake is getting more additions, even beyond regular Core CPUs. As spotted by Videocardz, Intel has recently expanded the Bartlett Lake lineup by officially listing the Xeon 6377P, an enterprise-grade processor built for server deployments. This means the P-core-only lineup extends beyond embedded and edge systems and now includes enterprise products as well.

Upholding the spirit of Bartlett Lake, the Intel Xeon 6377P is also a P-core-only SKU, hosting 12 performance cores just like the aforementioned Core 9 273PQE. Moreover, the CPU is compatible with the FCLGA1700 socket, which hosts the 12th, 13th, and 14th-Generation Core processors, as well as other Bartlett Lake entries.

Intel has officially introduced the Arc G-Series processor family, its first lineup of chips designed from the ground up specifically for gaming handheld PCs. The series launched on May 28 with two SKUs: the Arc G3 and the Arc G3 Extreme, both built on the Panther Lake architecture (Intel Core Ultra Series 3) and manufactured on Intel's 18A process node.

Both chips share the same 14-core CPU layout, with 2 Cougar Cove P-Cores, 8 Darkmont E-Cores, and 4 Darkmont LP E-Cores. The Arc G3 boosts up to 4.6 GHz on the P-Cores with a configurable TDP of 8W to 30W, while the Arc G3 Extreme tops out at 4.7 GHz with a slightly wider 8W to 35W envelope. Both share base frequencies of 1.9 GHz on P-Cores and 1.5 GHz on E-Cores and LP E-Cores, and support LPDDR5X-8533 memory.

The main differentiator between the two SKUs is the integrated graphics. The Arc G3 comes with the Arc B370 iGPU, a 10-core Xe3 configuration clocked at 2.2 GHz. The Arc G3 Extreme steps it up with the Arc B390 iGPU, a 12-core Xe3 design running at 2.3 GHz. For connectivity, both chips pack integrated Wi-Fi 7 R2, dual Bluetooth 6, and Thunderbolt 4 with up to 40 Gbps of bandwidth.

NVIDIA's Vera CPU has been making headlines ever since it was announced at GTC 2026, and Phoronix has finally put some real numbers behind the hype. The publication was given early access to pre-production Vera hardware and ran it through a permitted subset of workloads, including code compilation, STREAM memory benchmarks, video encoding, database performance, and Python and Java tasks.

Under the hood, Vera is built around 88 custom Armv9.2 "Olympus" cores on a unified monolithic die, delivering 176 threads through physical resource partitioning. The chip supports native FP8 processing for AI workloads, pairs with up to 1.5 TB of LPDDR5X memory in the SOCAMM2 form factor, and hits 1.2 TB/s of memory bandwidth. A second-generation Scalable Coherency Fabric provides 3.4 TB/s of bisection bandwidth, which helps sidestep the latency issues that typically come with chiplet-based designs.

The benchmark results are impressive. Across the geometric mean of all tested workloads, Vera came out nearly 11% ahead of AMD's top EPYC offerings and around 55% ahead of the best single-socket Intel Xeon. From generation to generation, Vera clocked in at roughly 1.63 times the performance of NVIDIA's previous Grace CPU. Phoronix concluded that this is the most capable ARM-based Linux server processor it has ever tested, which is a statement worth sitting with for a moment.

The buzz around the upcoming Ryzen 7 7700X3D is ramping up, suggesting the launch is imminent. CPUID recently released CPU-Z version 2.20.1, and the changelog includes the AMD Ryzen 7 7700X3D, listed under the Raphael codename. This is the same platform codename as the rest of AMD's Ryzen 7000 desktop family.

It is worth noting that CPUID does not typically add processors to CPU-Z's detection database unless a launch is right around the corner. The same update also added support for a wide range of other processors, including the Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 Dual Edition (Granite Ridge), several new Ryzen AI Max+ and Ryzen AI Max SKUs under the Gorgon Halo codename, a number of new PRO-tier Granite Ridge chips, Intel's new Wildcat Lake and Bartlett Lake families, and new Intel Arc Pro graphics solutions.

According to earlier leaks that have since been corroborated by multiple sources, the Ryzen 7 7700X3D will pack 8 cores and 16 threads on the Zen 4 architecture, with a total of 96MB of L3 cache. That breaks down to 32MB of native L3 on the CCD with an additional 64MB stacked on top via 3D V-Cache technology, which is identical to the 7800X3D's cache configuration.

Intel's Bartlett Lake lineup is one of the more interesting CPU families to come out of Intel in recent years. The chips are not available on consumer platforms and are instead targeted at embedded and edge computing applications. What makes them stand out is their pure P-core design, with no E-cores in sight. The flagship of the lineup is the Core 9 273PQE, which packs 12 P-cores running at up to 5.9 GHz, 36MB of cache, and a 125W TDP, all based on the same Raptor Cove architecture found in Raptor Lake.

Since Bartlett Lake chips are not supported on consumer motherboards, enthusiasts have had to get creative. We previously covered how a modder successfully booted the Core 9 273PQE into Windows on a standard Z790 motherboard, an impressive feat given the platform's limitations. Shortly after, we also covered benchmarks from German reviewer Zed Up Gaming, which showed the 273PQE outpacing the Core i9-14900K by up to 10% in gaming. That was a genuinely exciting result for a chip that Intel never intended for consumer desktops.

Now, PC Games Hardware has published a much more thorough set of gaming benchmarks, and the results tell a very different story. Using a proper Bartlett Lake-compatible workstation board, the ASRock IMB-X1714 with a W680 chipset, and DDR5-5600 C46 memory, the 273PQE was tested across roughly 15 games. Across those tests, the chip failed to pull ahead of the Core i9-13900K, a processor that is now over four years old.

More information has surfaced regarding Intel's next-generation Core Ultra 400 "Nova Lake" processors. We know that Nova Lake is in advanced stages of production, as engineering samples have already started shipping. Now, we have more information about what the lineup might look like, at least on the embedded side.

According to a report by leaker Golden Pig Upgrade Pack on Weibo, corroborated by Videocardz, Intel is preparing a Nova Lake processor with an unusual 8E+12Xe configuration. This means the CPU lacks any performance cores and relies solely on the computing power of its "Arctic Wolf" E-cores. This CPU is apparently meant for Edge applications only.

We have known Intel CPUs to have a hybrid P-core + E-core configuration for a few years now, but this is the first rumored SKU we have seen with such a bizarre layout. Instead of going for P-cores, Intel is pairing the CPU cores with a large integrated GPU that has 12Xe units. This sort of configuration would not be very effective in normal computing, but it makes sense for Edge applications where the CPU takes a back seat to the GPU.

New information has surfaced about AMD's future Zen 7 architecture, and it is coming straight from Taiwanese supply chain sources. According to Commercial Times Taiwan, AMD has proactively begun preparations for its next-generation Zen 7 platform well ahead of schedule, and the process-node picture is now quite clear.

The Zen 7 Core Complex Die (CCD), internally codenamed "Grimlock," is reportedly set to be manufactured on TSMC's A14 process node, which represents the foundry's 1.4nm-class technology. As a refresher, AMD is currently ramping up production of its Zen 6 EPYC "Venice" processors on TSMC's 2nm node, meaning Zen 7 would be skipping over several intermediate nodes, including N2P, N2X, and A16, going straight to A14.

The production timeline also aligns with TSMC's plans for its Fab 25 P1 facility in Taichung, which is expected to enter trial production in 2027 before scaling to mass production in 2028. That puts Zen 7 on track for a late 2028 launch window, which also happens to be when Intel's own 14A node is expected to reach volume production. Intel's 14A node has been gaining traction recently, with Tesla and Apple already confirmed as customers. This makes the 2028 period a particularly competitive battleground for both companies.

Intel recently expanded its Arrow Lake-HX lineup by quietly launching the Core Ultra 7 251HX. This uniquely-named CPU was first spotted in some gaming laptop listings before Intel made its product page available on ARK. The CPU sits between the Core Ultra 5 245HX and the Ultra 7 255HX, so it is a mid-range Arrow Lake-HX chip for performance-focused mobile devices.

Under the hood, the 251HX packs 18 cores in a 6P+12E configuration, two fewer than its bigger sibling, the 255HX. As far as performance goes, a recent leak showed the Core Ultra 7 251HX going up against the Core i9 14900HX and the Core Ultra 7 255HX in a Cinebench R23 run. The results are rather interesting and require some interpretation.

Per the leak from @realVictor_M on X (formerly Twitter), the Core Ultra 7 251HX delivered nearly 30,000 points in the multi-threaded Cinebench R23 test, almost matching the result of the Core i9-14900HX. The latter is a 24-core CPU with an 8P+16E configuration and hyperthreading, bringing the thread count to 32. The fact that the Core Ultra 7 251HX can match the multi-threaded Cinebench R23 score of the 14900HX while having 6 fewer cores is astonishing.