Assemble that Passes # 282
The main protagonists of CES 2021 were the new gaming laptops equipped with GeForce RTX 3000 that many manufacturers have married with the new Ryzen 5000 mobile consecrating the success of the Zen 3 architecture. The presence of Intel was still felt with models still equipped with Comet Lake, but designed to make the leap with the arrival of Rocket Lake, and with ultraportable equipped with Tiger Lake CPUs, thanks to the new integrated Intel Xe graphics that guarantee excellent performance.
In addition, Intel has announced the Tiger Lake-H series that by pushing consumption from 15 to 45W promises significant performance increases both from the graphic point of view and in terms of power, promising 70fps in 1080p in titles such as Valorant and Destiny 2. Obviously we are not talking about Cyberpunk 2077, but in any case of clear steps forward for gaming and graphics applications even in the ultraportable field, with a consequent increase in the appeal of devices that are much more comfortable to carry and to use on the move.
But they are still a long way from the desktops that will soon welcome the new Rocket Lake-S processors, now officially arriving by the end of the first quarter of 2021. It is no coincidence that several manufacturers have used the CES to present the new ones Z590 motherboards that although not necessary, given the compatibility of the new Intel CPUs with the 400 series, lead to improvements in dissipation and full support for all the features of the new processors. These, in fact, while bound to 14 nanometers and the legacy of outdated architectures, enjoy optimizations taken from 10 nanometer transistors, PCIe 4.0 with 20 available lanes and native support for 3200 MHz memory. All with an increase sensitive in terms of raw power, with an increase of 19% in terms of IPC.
However, two cores disappear compared to 10900K and the peak frequency remains unchanged which in the case of the Core i9-11900K, the only model to date confirmed, should reach 5.3 GHz with Thermal Velocity Boost, confirming that the 14 nanometers, despite the optimizations, are now at the end of the stroke. It is no coincidence that the Rocket Lake series will have a short life, serving as a filler in anticipation of the new generation processors that made a first appearance on the occasion of CES 2021.
Unfortunately Intel has not unbuttoned the specifications of the prototype Alder Lake, but we'll know more soon, given the launch scheduled for the second half of 2021 of a series that undoubtedly looks to the future. In fact, it relies on the interesting big.LITTLE formula that supports a series of high-performance cores, in this case Golden Cove, with cores without Hyper-Threading and designed for efficiency. All seasoned with second generation 10-nanometer transistors, Intel XE 12.2, DDR 5 memories and, perhaps, even a PCIe 5.0 interface, a possible icing on the cake for very versatile and central processors in Intel's plans, both in terms of desktop and laptop.
Among the other desktop novelties of CES 2021 we find the GeForce RTX 3060 on which we return briefly given the complaints related to the possibility that it is even more difficult to find than the new generation GPUs already placed on the market. This is because of the 12 GB of equipped memory that are superfluous in 1080p gaming, the declared target of this GPU that aims at 60fps with active ray tracing, but they are useful in the professional field and could please cryptocurrency miners a lot given the 170W TPD. of the card. And this is where the fear arises that the RTX 3060s are destined to remain a dream for many, at least until the market settles down both in terms of demand, in this particularly high juncture, and in terms of production, even braking. from the pandemic. It is no coincidence that the hardware famine also involves Radeon cards, consoles and processors, making it very complicated, and more expensive than expected, to move to the long-awaited new generation. Waiting, though, might make sense.
We already know the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti is in the pipeline and we also know that AMD is working on its AI-based upscaling, a technology that should make it more palatable the new Radeons, with the recovery of at least part of the disadvantage compared to NVIDIA in games with support for DLSS 2.0. We are also getting closer to the arrival of desktop gaming graphics cards based on Intel Xe graphics architecture. The rumors tell us this and the appearance in the Intel drivers of an Xe-HPG GPU called DG2 that should count on 512 Execution Unit, promising at least at least 5 times the performance of the current integrated Xe solutions that reach a maximum of 96 EU with Iris Xe Max. But we expect a little more from a 4,096 programmable shader card that could match a mid-range option.
Budget configuration
The budget configuration is the budget-oriented one. savings but it is not certain that there is no room for an upgrade where interesting prospects arise. The proposals in this range include solutions designed for low-tech gaming and 1080p-oriented builds.We're also limited in options this week, but we are faced with a great price for the Core i3-10100F which, available for just over 90 euros, guarantees good gaming performance and rises above the Core i3-9100F also thanks to the implementation of Hyper-Threading.
Between price increases and low availability it remains difficult to find even the old low-end cards, suddenly sold for gold in large-scale distribution. But there are also some models of the GTX 1650 that resist excessive price rises, despite the price being higher than a few weeks ago, or have returned to inflated but still sustainable prices.
BUDGET Component Price PROCESSOR Intel Core i3-10100F 3.6-4.3 GHz 90,00 € MOTHERBOARD Gigabyte GA-H410M S2H 70,00 € VIDEO CARD MSI GeForce GTX 1650 D6 VENTUS 4GB 185 , 00 € RAM G.Skill Aegis 2x8GB 3200MHz CL16 70,00 € POWER SUPPLY EVGA 450 BR 80+ Bronze 45,00 € HARD DISK Kingston A400 480GB SATA III 50,00 € CASE Kolink Nimbus RGB Mid Tower 55,00 € TOTAL 565, 00 €
Gaming configuration
In the gaming segment there are usually those components that allow you to face the game on PC without fear and to hold on for some time. The frame rate showdown is just around the corner but, with a good base, it's always possible to sell the old GPU before it devalues too much so you can buy a new one just in time to take on the next hardware-smashing blockbuster.The inflated price of the Ryzen 5 5600X and the still high price increase of the Ryzen 5 3600 still play a role in the Core i5-10400F which is very attractive with a price below 160 euros. Not bad for a CPU with frozen frequencies, but still offering 6 cores with Hyper-Threading and can count on good performance in the game.
In a normal situation we would recommend waiting for the arrival of the GeForce RTX 3060, a new generation card with a price undoubtedly more suitable for this range than those of the RTX 3060 Ti or the RTX 6800. But we are expecting few pieces and a very high demand that will force us to wait a long time. In the meantime, therefore, avoiding to turn to outdated and in any case overpriced solutions, we turn once again to the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, available but with difficulty and at an inevitably inflated price.
GAMING Component Price PROCESSOR Intel Core i5-10400F 2.9-4.3GHz 160,00 € MOTHERBOARD MSI MAG B460 125,00 € VIDEO CARD GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Eagle OC 8GB 560,00 € RAM Corsair Vengeance LPX 2x8GB 3000MHz CL15 90,00 € FSP POWER SUPPLY Hydro PRO 600W 80+ Bronze 65,00 € HARD DISK Samsung 860 Evo 500GB SATA III 85,00 € CASE Thermaltake Core G21 Tempered Glass Edition Airflow Mid Tower 80.00 € TOTAL 1165.00 €
The push configuration makes sense only for those who aim for high resolutions, aware that luxury often does not go hand in hand with rationality. On the other hand, let's face it, who doesn't like having a nice engine under the hood even if you have to respect the speed limit?
Despite the inflated and inflated price, the Ryzen 7 5800X remains our favorite choice thanks to very high single core performance and thanks to multi-core performance that in some cases see it getting very close to the 10900K, equipped with two cores more and more difficult to tame.
Difficult but no longer impossible to find, the GeForce RTX 3080 returns in a configuration undoubtedly suitable for 1440p at very high framerate but also for 4K, in some cases reachable even with maximum ray tracing thanks to the DLSS of second generation.
EXTRA Component Price PROCESSOR Ryzen R9 5800X 3.8-4.7GHz 530,00 € DISSIPATORE ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 240 80,00 € MOTHERBOARD Gigabyte X570 AORUS ELITE 185,00 € VIDEO CARD ZOTAC GeForce RTX 3080 Trinity 10 GB 850,00 € RAM G.Skill Trident Z RGB 2x16GB DDR4 3600MHz CL16 220,00 € ANTEC POWER SUPPLY HCG-850 80+ Gold 130,00 € HARD DISK Sabrent Rocket 1TB M.2 PCIe 4.0 € 170.00 CASE In Win 805C Mid Tower € 160.00 TOTAL € 2325.00
