- Led Wayline
CES 2022: Next-Gen Hardware Round-Up – Nvidia & AMD
With many PC brands already hyping up their various next-gen laptops and desktop systems for all to swoon over, three things have been on repeat since their respective Consumer Electronics Show pre-events (CES 2022) took place.
Besides Intel’s expanded Alder Lake processors line-up, there is also Nvidia fulfilling its promise to bring out new GeForce RTX 30 GPUs this year and AMD breaking new innovation ground with its next-gen Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) and new additions to its CPU range and desktop and mobile GPU lines. This also includes updates for its recently launched AMD Ryzen 6000 Series GPUs.
For those keen on getting a quick rundown, check out the Tech360.tv CES 2022 round-up below:
Nvidia
Top-End GeForce RTX 30-series Ti GPUs Will Appear on Mobile
For Nvidia, the official introduction of its GeForce RTX 3070 Ti and RTX 3080 Ti for laptops has been a long time coming.
To ensure it can be considered as a real option to its desktop counterparts, both top-end RTX 30 Ti options for laptops will run on GDDR6 VRAM and the 4th Generation Max-Q Technologies. This includes CPU Optimizer, Rapid Core Scaling and Battery Boost 2.0.
Laptops equipped with the new RTX 3070 Ti and RTX 3080 Ti will deliver up to 3x performance increase, while promising 70% more battery life.
Those keen on getting a GeForce RTX 3080 Ti laptop should be ready to splash at least US$2,499 (S$3,400/RM10,500) or more, while users who can prefer bang-for-their buck can get a GeForce RTX 3070 Ti laptop starting from US$1,499 (S$2,000/RM6,300).
Both high-performance mobile graphics will be available in over 160 new GeForce RTX equipped and Studio certified laptops.
GeForce RTX 3050 Launch Date Confirmed
As demand for discrete graphics stay at record highs, compounded with the fact that there are shortages of various electrical components, Nvidia believes it can address these pertaining issues with the launch of an affordably priced GeForce RTX 3050 GPU.
While it is only targeting a max visual output of 1080p, arguably still the most popular resolution for gaming, this next-gen graphics for desktops can run raytracing with the help of DLSS and achieve over 60fps.
This is thanks to the 2nd Gen RT Cores and 3rd Gen Tensor Cores that it uses, with the latter meant to improve Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) and artificial intelligence (AI) processing.
As for availability and pricing, the new GeForce RTX 2050 be ordered from 27 January 2022 onwards at the recommended retail price of US$249 (S$340/RM1,050).
Monster GPU Teased
Facing multiple leaks over the last few weeks, NVIDIA decided to drop a half-expected reveal of its massively rumoured GeForce RTX 3090 Ti – "A Monster GPU!" as Jeff Fisher, Senior Vice President, Nvidia puts it.
Here is a summary of performance specs from the poorly-done teaser:
40 shader TFlops
78 RT TFlops
320 Tensor TFlops
24GB 21Gbps GDDR6X VRAM
Additional Optimisations for Games
For Nvidia, these major announcements are timely as the GeForce RTX team also expanded the RTX roster of games, which includes The Day Before, Rainbow Six Extraction and Dying Light 2 - Stay Human.
To further complement these next-gen GPUs, NVIDIA also dropped the world’s first dedicated line of Esports Displays.
Using a 27-inch form factor, these next-gen G-SYNC screens come with Esports Vibrance and Reflex Latency Analyzer functions. Both features work in conjunction with other performance optimisations with these next-gen monitors to ensure they consistently produce 1440p visual outputs at 360Hz refresh rates.
More details about these RTX 3070 Ti and 3080 Ti-powered next-gen laptops and Esports Displays are expected to come out in the coming weeks and at other major events like Game Developers Conference 2022.
AMD
Powering Next-Gen Innovations
Not to be outshined and with the goal of holding fast to its newly minted lead position, AMD had all its pistons firing as it dropped multiple announcements for both its CPU and GPU families.
As the other Santa Clara player was forced to hustle up its game, Team Red made sure to stay on the offensive with AMD President and CEO, Dr. Lisa Su, opening the AMD pre-event at CES 2022 with a new tagline: “AMD Everywhere”.
“It all starts in the cloud, where AMD connects us all and make us more productive – from anywhere and at any time,” Dr. Su said.
Next-Gen 6nm Zen 3+ Powered Ryzen 6000 Series APU
With expectations from consumers – be it power users or the mobile warrior, and various ecosystem partners now focused on wanting to see what’s next from AMD – it is obvious Team Red needed to show up at CES 2022 with some ground-breaking reveals.
Dr. Su addressed this directly when she quickly introduced the all-new AMD Ryzen 6000 Series Mobile.
“We have so much new technologies in the 6000 Series!” she shared. The quick breakdown includes:
Updated Zen 3+ Core with mobile operability optimisation, featuring up to 8-cores and 16-threads
RDNA 2 graphics next-gen APUs
Using TSMC 6nm microprocessor technology
Supports current and next-gen mobile hardware, including LPDDR5 RAM, USB 4 and Wi-Fi 6E
Co-developed for native integration with Microsoft Pluton security processor
For onboard graphics, the RDNA 2 add-on offers hardware-enabled raytracing capabilities, thanks in part to the 12 Compute Units that come paired with larger L2 Memory Cache and Render Backends.
All of that promises clocked speeds of up to 5GHz with up to 1.3x faster processing and up to 2.1x faster graphics performance, compared to AMD Ryzen 5000 Mobile systems. This is applicable across all 13 AMD Ryzen 6000 laptops – from the HX-Series at the top of the stack, all the way to the power-efficient U-Series.
Unlike the competition, AMD – as always – prefers to compare with its own merits. Against current-gen Ryzen 5000 Mobile, the next-gen APUs promise 69% faster video encoding, a 125% boost for 3D rendering and a 100% increase in gaming performance. According to Dr. Su, the next-gen APUs can deliver all that and still promise up to 24-hours of battery use.
The first laptops to rock the new AMD APUs are expected to ship in February 2022. The business-focus Ryzen PRO 6000 Series, which will be on mobile workstations, will be launching as well when the Lenovo ThinkPad Z officially goes on sale.
Radeon Amps Up Gaming GPUs with All-New Entries
Continuing its home-run streak, AMD also revealed new additions to the AMD Radeon RX line-up. For next-gen laptops, they will sport the Radeon RX 6000S Series discrete graphics. Sharing the limelight are the updated Radeon RX 6000M GPUs for laptops.
For the all-new RX 6000S, it is AMD’s response to the growing demands for ultra-thin gaming systems. Built specifically for super-slim laptops, this mobile GPU is optimised for power efficiency and offers new Performance-to-Watt capabilities. The new line-up includes the RX 6800S, RX 6700S and RX 6600S.
New additions to the Radeon RX 6000M range, which promise faster performance and affordably priced entries, are now running on 6nm technology and low-power designs. Every next-gen gaming laptop can be loaded out with the following next-gen mobile GPU:
RX 6850M XT – Offering 7% faster performance than current-gen GPUs
RX 6650M and RX 6650M XT – Both promise to be 20% faster than their counterparts
RX 6500M and RX 6300M – They offer 200% faster performance against current mobile GPUs
For those who are more desktop-oriented but want the best bang for the buck with your GPU, AMD will be rolling out its next-gen GPU to deliver an even higher level of gaming performance at a very attractive price point – the Radeon RX 6500 XT.
Using the same new 6nm microprocessor architecture, this next-gen desktop GPU packs in 16 Compute Units and Ray Accelerators that come paired with 4GB GDDR6 RAM and 16MB Infinity Cache. Performance-wise, on paper, it can deliver up to 2.6GHz clock-speed with a boost rate of 2.8GHz, the highest ever on a Radeon GPU yet.
As for pricing and availability – the Radeon RX 6500 XT will be available from 19 January 2022 with a starting price of US$199 (S$270/RM840).
In the press release, the more affordable Radeon RX 6400 made its quiet debut as well. This 2GHz graphics system comes packed with 12 Compute Units and Ray Accelerators with 4GB GDDR6 RAM.
Next Step for AMD Zen
Beyond next-gen APUs and GPUs, Dr. Su also revealed that AMD’s updated roadmap while confirming that its 3D electronics research and development have produced a new desktop CPU – the 3D V-Cache powered Ryzen 7 5800X3D.
As the world’s first CPU to use 3D V-Cache, its specs are up-to-spec as a flagship CPU: with an 8-core and 16-thread configuration that runs on a 64MB 3D V-Cache + 32MB 2D Cache configuration. Running on 105W TDP, it has a base clock speed of 3.4GHz that can ramp up to 4.5GHz with boost turned on.
The most important detail – the Ryzen 7 5800X3D can work with existing AM4 motherboards.
Dr. Su then shared AMD's roadmap update and confirmed that the Zen 4 platform is on its way.
“Built on 5nm tech, Zen 4 will extend our leadership in desktop and laptop PCs. The all-new Ryzen 7000 desktop processor is currently running in our labs and the performance looks incredible,” added Dr. Su as she showed off the sample chip. To match the new Ryzen 7000 CPUs, a new chipset will be launched alongside it – the AMD Ryzen 7000 Series Platform with AMD Socket AM5.
While details are scant, Dr. Su confirmed that the Ryzen 7 5800X3D will be out in Spring 2022, while both the Ryzen 7000 and the AM5 chipset will be available after mid-2022.
Can this be a game-changer for PC hardware? More details are likely to come out at COMPUTEX TAIPEI 2022.
For the latest announcements from Las Vegas, head on over to the CES 2022 special coverage page.