AMD’s X399 is an unsubtle chipset for its unsubtle Threadripper CPUs. Luckily, AMD’s OEM partners are up to the challenge to design motherboards up to this standard. The initial batch are extremely high end, loaded with every feature imaginable. The one thing they all lack? Tasteful design. We’ve ranked the X399 launch motherboards by sheet tackiness, so you don’t have to.
AMD Attempts Epyc Return to the Data Center
AMD Epyc sounds pretty epic, with epoch-defining memory, I/O, and even cores of a dual-socket server in a single socket. And that’s something to get excited about, especially considering that the Zen cores inside these chips are almost at IPC parity with Intel’s latest, and can handle dual threads like Intel, too.
The High-End Desktop Heats Up: Intel i9 and AMD Threadripper
The race for desktop CPU dominance has proceeded in fits and starts for three decades, with improvements in architecture, manufacturing process, and clock speed ratcheting up performance. Now Intel is announcing high-end desktop CPU’s with many, many cores, including the long-awaited Core i9 series.
AMD Proves Names Are Hard
In the last few months, I’ve had to name quite a few thing. I’ve named a child, a podcast, and a car (a Honda CR-V dubbed “Cool Runnings”). Coming up with a name can be very difficult. The name needs to simultaneously catchy, evocative, memorable, and unique. Add in a corporate setting with commitees and marketing getting involved, and it’s a wonder that anything gets named at all.
That being said, AMD has had a tough go of it with their new CPU naming conventions.