The Falcon, Author at Logical Increments Blog

AMD Conquers the High-end CPU Tiers

It has been a while, but here we are with AMD’s Ryzen 9000 series launched and ready for purchase!

AMD’s new CPU series starts with a serious set of excellent high-end CPUs. We are not going to analyze all of them individually in this post, but as a quick summary:

- Ryzen 5 9600X: 6 cores and 12 threads for $250.
- Ryzen 7 9700X: 8 cores and 16 threads for $320.
- Ryzen 7 9800X3D: Also 8 cores and 16 threads, but with extra cache for $480.
- Ryzen 9 9900X: 12 cores and 24 threads for $380.
- Ryzen 9 9950X: 16 cores (!) and 32 threads (!!) for $550.

So, how do these new CPUs measure up? Do they belong in our chart?

Updating CPU Performance Comparisons Nov. 18-19

Greetings.

We are updating the CPU performance information shown. Our current CPU descriptions compare performance to the old Ryzen 9 3900X. We are updating the performance numbers to be compiled from newer benchmarks, and showing performance relative to the new Ryzen 9 9900X.

As we update the CPU descriptions, you may see errors in the performance numbers, where some of the CPUs are still being compared to the older 3900X, making them look out of place. We are working on making sure that all CPU description are updated and standardized within a day or two of this post.

Thank you!

Where are the Ryzen 9000 CPUs?

A month ago, AMD launched its new Ryzen 9000 series CPUs. The R9 9900X and R9 9950X led the charge, with the R7 9700X and R5 9600X appearing as more budget-friendly options.

So, why aren’t they in our chart?

The nVidia 40XX High-end Refresh

nVidia has recently released three refreshed cards, the RTX 4070 Super, RTX 4070 Ti Super, and the RTX 4080 Super.

That is a lot of Supers! Let us take a look at each, in brief.

The Raptor Lake (is Barely a) Refresh

I am always excited by hardware launches! The feeling of fresh, new, unexpected hardware! Progressing technology, things getting faster, or cooler, or cheaper, or all three at the same time. It is wonderful, and it is a feeling I look forward to with each launch…

Intel just launched its Raptor Lake refresh CPUs, adding a (hopefully) fresh coat of paint and renewing its Raptor Lake lineup from last year.

The “A580 and Other Intel Graphics Cards” Update

One year ago (almost to the day) Intel presented its A770 and A750 cards to the world. These were reasonably priced cards with reasonable performance, but were not added to our build chart then because—in addition to other minor issues with them—they suffered from two major flaws:

1. The performance in old titles was poor.
2. The performance on old systems (without Resizable BAR) was poor.

It has been a year, and you still need a system that has Resizable BAR, but that is available on all modern platforms launched in the last ~3 years, so it is less of an issue. More importantly, Intel’s latest drivers have dramatically improved performance in older games, between 20%-40%! That is a huge improvement.

Today, Intel launched the A580, prompting a second look into Intel’s previous cards. Since all three are based on the same silicon, we will look at them together.

The “HDD Era is Almost Over” Update

We all know that HDDs are essentially obsolete as a technology, as SSDs now do everything better. But HDDs have continued to be manufactured and recommended, as they have one very desirable advantage: A lower price.

SSDs have been getting cheaper though, and have overtaken HDDs in some price segments…

The RX 7700 XT and RX 7800 XT Update

AMD has released two new graphics cards, the RX 7800 XT ($500) and the RX 7700 XT ($450). One is decently good, and the other is… standard for AMD launches.

The “A Hit and Three Misses” Update

There have not been that many major releases recently, so this will be a small update that mostly includes items we are not adding to our chart.

And before we get to those items: All three non-added items are due to bad pricing. They are great items if they were cheaper, but we at Logical Increments would probably not recommend $100 cups of coffee either.

PC Parts are Headed in the Wrong Direction

The Falcon
13th Jun 2023
PC Hardware

Fig. 1: Our prediction of the only graphics card nVidia will release in the year 2026 (projected MSRP: $20,000)

Greetings. This article was painful to write. Every section hurt, and every section gets progressively more painful. But the truth can hurt, so read on.

The consumer PC world is headed down a bad path:

There is a major focus by PC part manufacturers to produce extremely expensive and overpowered products, with the mid-tiers and the low-end being neglected. There might be no annihilation and havoc in the personal computer sector immediately, but most consumers are unhappy. If things continue as they are, normal PC buyers may choose to opt out, shrinking the market significantly. With fewer and fewer customers in the long-term, some component manufacturers may find themselves facing their own end-of-life.

Come walk with me, friendly reader, down memory lane, and I will show you how we ended up here… and where we might be going next.

The Falcon' Post