Maximum PC

IN THIS ISSUE OF MAXIMUM PC, we make a return to building a PC that’s more in keeping with our title, going all-out with a top-of-the-line AMD gaming CPU and Nvidia’s fastest GPU. Yes, while it’s a fun challenge to build a sub-$1,000 gaming PC like we did last issue, as our title suggests, we’re most at home when we’re pushing the extremes of what PC tech can do, which is why we were keen to incorporate AMD’s latest top-end 3D V-Cache chip, the Ryzen 9 7950X3D. Can AMD’s extra vertically stacked cache help unlock best-ever gaming performance when paired with an RTX 4090? Or does Intel’s Core i9-13900K, $150 cheaper but now six months old, still hold the crown? Sam’s cover build on page 16 holds all the answers.…

WE WERE PROMISED AMD’s 7040-series Phoenix chips for April back when AMD revealed its new Zen 4 APUs. Then there were delays, and it’s only now that we are actually getting to see what they can do. The wait has been worth it, as these mobile chips can rival desktop processors in performance. They are the first mobile Ryzens with Zen 4 architecture, coupled to Radeon RDNA 3 graphics. They also sport a dedicated AI block, the first in any Ryzen chip. There are U versions for low-power applications on a 4nm process, and 5nm HS versions for more chunky laptops. The most powerful is the Ryzen 9 7940HS, with eight cores, a base clock of 4.0GHz, maximum boost of 5.2GHz, and an integrated 780M GPU with 12 computer cores running…

TSMC HAS REVEALED A FURTHER YEAR of its production roadmap at the North American Technology Symposium. N2 is on schedule for production in 2025, with two further iterations after. It brings a 10-15 percent speed improvement at the same power level, and a 25-30 percent power reduction at the same speed. Despite what the numbers suggest, chip density is 1.15 times. That metric doesn’t equate directly to the size of the transistor gates, although each manufacturer measures things differently. The second-generation N2P is due in 2026, reaching customers in 2027. This uses backside power delivery (don’t laugh), splitting signal and power between the front and back interconnects. This enables sizable bumps in transistor density, plus power savings. Intel is working on this too, and plans to get it running by…

IT MAY SPORT the latest GPU technology, but Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 4070 isn’t selling well. The Founders Edition sold out in eight hours, but after the initial rush, stock remained available, and you can now buy pretty much any other edition. According to various sources, the company is to pause production for a month to let things settle. Nvidia is also said to be considering offering card builders a $50 rebate. This lackluster demand has pushed prices down to below the recommended retail price of $599 in many places. The card is as fast as the 3080, but $100 cheaper. However, it is more expensive than the 3070 was, and customers were expecting a comparable price. It’s not a bad card, but the bang-per-buck isn’t balanced, especially if you’re upgrading.…

TRIUMPHS SOFT ROBOTS Engineers at Carnegie Mellon University have developed a lowdensity polymer gel. SAME KEY, NEW FUNCTION Win11 is to make the Print Screen key act as a snipping tool by default. MSI’S AFTERBURNER RETURNS We’ve finally got a new version to play with after the employment of a Russian engineer on the GPU tweaking tool was suspended. TRAGEDIES HARDWARE DESTRUCTION Cisco destroyed $23.5 million of unsold equipment deemed likely to fall into Russian hands. CHATGPT EXPOSES SECRETS Engineers at Samsung fed the AI bot confidential data to solve a coding problem, exposing the data to third parties. STARSHIP GROUNDED A test of SpaceX’s Super Heavy booster produced debris, some of which may be hazardous.…

NEW TECHNOLOGIES bring dissenting voices. The explosion of AI-powered systems has brought more than its fair share of people sounding alarms. However, many of these voices belong to engineers and scientists who were involved in AI development at the highest levels, and know what they are talking about. Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai (pictured above), has delivered a sobering warning about the effects of AI-powered systems in a recent interview. It will, he says, affect “every product across every company”. His biggest concern is that it can all too easily be used to spread convincing misinformation. Google has had a series of internal guidelines for AI since 2018. “We have to be very thoughtful” he warns. A recent Netflix drama included an AI-powered ‘enhanced interrogation’ robot developed by the CIA. It…