Maximum PC October 2020

THERE’S NOTHING WE like more at Maximum PC than being presented with a challenge—a concept, a build idea, something grand that requires us to think a little more outside of the box than usual, and over the last few weeks we’ve received two interesting queries from the likes of Vincent Thompson and Tali Kadosh with exactly that. Just how do you go about building a good system for a data scientist or someone interested in statistical analysis? Well this issue I set Christian to task to build exactly that, looking at the parts and process required to build the perfect number-crunching rig for all of your at-home, stat-based desires. We originally set out to build this PC for a price point of around $3,000 to $4,000, but we’ve overshot that…

AMD CONTINUES its quest to reach every segment of the PC market with the Ryzen Zen 2 by releasing a new set of processors aimed at one of the few remaining targets: OEM desktops with integrated graphics. AMD’s current crop of 3000-series chips don’t carry graphics, putting them at a disadvantage against Intel’s. The 4000-series offerings are essentially desktop versions of the 4000-series laptop parts, complete with the integrated Radeon GPUs, code-name Renoir. This means it doesn’t follow the 3000-series Chiplet design: It’s a single slice of silicon, and it lacks PCIe 4.0. AMD claims them as the world‘s first and most advanced 7nm x86 desktop processors with integrated graphics. It also boasts of enthusiast-level performance for gaming, with smooth 1080p gaming “right out of the box.” The main consumer version…

THERE’S NOTHING WE like more at Maximum PC than being presented with a challenge—a concept, a build idea, something grand that requires us to think a little more outside of the box than usual, and over the last few weeks we’ve received two interesting queries from the likes of Vincent Thompson and Tali Kadosh with exactly that. Just how do you go about building a good system for a data scientist or someone interested in statistical analysis? Well this issue I set Christian to task to build exactly that, looking at the parts and process required to build the perfect number-crunching rig for all of your at-home, stat-based desires. We originally set out to build this PC for a price point of around $3,000 to $4,000, but we’ve overshot that…

JEDEC, the Joint Electron Device Engineering Council, has finalized the specifications for DDR5 memory. This 5th generation of DDR was originally scheduled for 2018, and Hynix built the first SIMMs that year, and we’ve have a number of “preliminary” DDR5 modules since. Now it’s all official. The maximum die density has jumped from 16Gbit to 64Gbit, and the maximum capacity to 128GB. Each DIMM has two 32-bit memory channels, instead of one 64-bit one, increasing the burst length. Memory voltage has dropped to 1.1V from 1.2V. A big change is the use of on-board voltage regulators; the module takes a straight 5V power supply from the mobo. Each module gets a VRM tuned to its requirements, rather than having a mobo set of VRMs that have to handle every eventuality. DDR5…

IN AN EMBARRASSING security breach for Twitter, around 130 high-profile accounts were hacked, and tweets from these accounts promised to double any Bitcoin you sent them. The scam managed to net about $115,000 of Bitcoin from the credulous before Twitter closed it down. The company called the scam a “coordinated social engineering attack.” The number of targeted accounts hit has led to speculation that the perpetrators had help. A phishing trip may break into one account, but to gain access to so many at once isn’t easy without someone on the inside. One anonymous source who contacted the press claiming to be part of the attack said that the hackers had paid a Twitter employee for account access. Along with the fairly crude attempt to solicit money, some compromised accounts have…

AMD CONTINUES its quest to reach every segment of the PC market with the Ryzen Zen 2 by releasing a new set of processors aimed at one of the few remaining targets: OEM desktops with integrated graphics. AMD’s current crop of 3000-series chips don’t carry graphics, putting them at a disadvantage against Intel’s. The 4000-series offerings are essentially desktop versions of the 4000-series laptop parts, complete with the integrated Radeon GPUs, code-name Renoir. This means it doesn’t follow the 3000-series Chiplet design: It’s a single slice of silicon, and it lacks PCIe 4.0. AMD claims them as the world‘s first and most advanced 7nm x86 desktop processors with integrated graphics. It also boasts of enthusiast-level performance for gaming, with smooth 1080p gaming “right out of the box.” The main consumer…