Assemble that Passes you # 293
The arrival of a game of Radeon RX 6800 XT in Midnight Black version has no doubt satisfied some, but it has not changed by a comma the bad situation of the GPU market, distorted by a very high demand, by scalpers, by the lack of production lines, by official price increases and by very high surcharges, in some cases even exceeding double the official price. by official dealers. A widespread discontent is therefore inevitable, even towards those who try to sell used cards at very inflated prices, trying to take advantage of the situation. But although certain behaviors may be unpleasant, especially for those looking for a card at a reasonable price, they are consistent with a poorly regulated market that suffers the effects of the difference in level between demand and response even in the case of low-end cards and in professional environment, where some more constraints would be welcome.
The prototype of the top-of-the-range Intel Xe HPG board On the other hand we are talking about a good that may be necessary, perhaps not in the case of high-end gaming cards, but certainly for professional models or for Budget GPUs that still guarantee a 360-degree use of studio PCs and work PCs, both of which are also necessary outside pandemic emergencies. However, it is not possible to circumvent the limits of the two major foundries which, as we have already said several times, also have to deal with essential chips for the modern world such as those of smartphones, cars, household appliances, hospital equipment and so on. It is no coincidence that Samsung and TSMC are in the process of spending $ 100 billion each to increase transistor production. In addition, Intel spent another 20 billion, starting the construction of two new foundries in Arizona, which suggest possible second thoughts about the company's outsourcing plans.
Intel doesn't necessarily rely on TSMC, considering that Intel XE-HPG GPUs were made with Taiwanese foundry 6 nanometer transistors in mind, but it may also have changed its plans to shirk the crowding of the production lines which is putting all the main foundries in difficulty. Even if this were the case, it is not certain that the company will be able to produce large volumes of GPUs, but we have a pinch of hope, just so as not to despair. Among other things, there is talk of a discrete power according to what has emerged from new rumors that include some alleged photographs of the most powerful model of the Intel Xe-HPG series.
For the top of the range of the Xe-HPG series we are talking about a 512 Execution Unit card divided into 128 Execution Unit chiplets that will also be used by the entry level model, consisting of a single chiplet, and by that of mid-range, consisting of two chiplets for 256 Execution Units and designed to be sold at a price between 200 and 300 dollars. Both models, however, should come out after the flagship one which, according to new rumors, mounts 16 GB of GDDR6, on a 256-bit bus, and goes up to a frequency of 2.2 GHz, guaranteeing performance similar to those, presumed, of the anchor. not presented GeForce RTX 3070 Ti. The performance of the samples still wobbles, with the Time Spy scores reportedly traveling from 2080 to 3090, but according to what we read the internal forecasts match the tests that indicate performance halfway between the RTX 3070 and 3080. Sufficient therefore both for the 1440p at high framerate, both for some excursions in 4K, at least without ray tracing. Physics-based lighting, it must be said, does not appear among the new rumors, but has already been confirmed by the support for Vulkan Ray-Tracing introduced in version 20.3 of the Mesa 3D libraries.
The Midnight Black version of the RX 6800 XT compared to the standard reference version The mention of XeSS technology, an internal name of the technology apparently destined to clash with the DLSS of NVIDIA and with the future Super Resolution by AMD. So let's talk about upscaling based on artificial intelligence, in one of its forms, with the promise of important performance boosts also in the perspective of heavy ray tracing. But these are guesses. We don't know anything about how these technologies work or are supported, and it's likely we won't know much about it for a while. In fact, for the launch we are talking about the fourth quarter of the year and delays are not excluded. In fact, it seems that video card manufacturers still don't know much about Xe-HPG cards that might surprise us, let's hope for the positive.
On the other hand, Intel needs to make its voice heard in the desktop PC sector, has a research and development department among the best, has built a dream team for the Xe architecture and seems to believe in it. , so much so that it seems to be already working on the next series with a planned launch for 2023. We therefore expect competitive products, even if it seems that Intel has already faced a small obstacle by raising the consumption of the flagship model of the series from the 225-250W initially planned at 275W. But it could be design changes, a transistor change, or simply reaching higher frequencies. The photo of the alleged sample, however, does not reveal any particular temperature problems. In fact, it is satisfied with two fans, a thickness of 2 slots and a radiator of reasonable size, albeit also open on the upper edge, in a custom card style. Even in this case, however, we are talking about elements destined to change. In fact, for the final version we read that we are talking about the color white, an atypical choice for a reference but which for this reason makes us very curious.
Budget configuration
The budget configuration is the one oriented to saving 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 games and 1080p-oriented builds.The Core i3-11100F is still hard to find while the Core i5-11400F still costs a few dollars too much for the low end. We therefore remain on the Core i5-10400F, however more than valid for the ratio between overall performance, in-game performance and price.
The GeForce RT 1030 is once again one of the few affordable choices, despite the price increases and the scarce availability of higher-end GPUs have also influenced the prices of the low-end one. But this week, against all odds, the price of the Palit model has dropped slightly.
BUDGET Component Price PROCESSOR Intel Core i5-10400F 2.9-4.3GHz € 135.00 ASRock MOTHERBOARD H410M-HDV 80,00 € VIDEO CARD PALIT NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 2GB 120,00 € RAM Crucial Ballistix 2x8GB 2666MHz CL16 80,00 € POWER SUPPLY EVGA 450 BR 80+ Bronze 45,00 € HARD DISK Kingston A400 480GB SATA III 50, 00 € CASE Sharkoon Pure Steel Mid Tower 55,00 € TOTAL 565,00 €
Gaming configuration
In the gaming range there are usually those components that allow you to face the game on PC without fear and 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 Core i5-11600K, equipped with PCIe 4.0 lanes and significantly higher frequencies than its direct predecessor, remains in the field for the second week in a row thanks to an effective price lower than that of the Ryzen 5 5600X, an excellent processor but still overpriced by forty euros.
Exhausted the initial stocks also the Radeon RX 6700 XT took off towards excessive prices, bringing us back to the Radeon RX 3060, less powerful in pure rendering and in any case sold at inflated prices even waiting and looking for the best opportunities, but strong of DLSS which in supported games makes a big difference, compensating also for the massive weight of ray tracing.
GAMING Component Price PROCESSOR Intel Core i5-11600K 3.9-4.9GHz 300,00 € CARD MOTHER ASRock B560 Steel Legend 155,00 € VIDEO CARD GeForce RTX 3060 Twin X2 OC 12 GB 690,00 € RAM Corsair Vengeance RGB PRO 2x8GB 3200MHz CL16 110,00 € POWER SUPPLY FSP Hydro PRO 600W 80+ Bronze 60,00 € HARD DISK Crucial MX500 1 TB SATA III 95,00 € CASE EMPIRE GAMING Diamond ARGB Mid Tower 75.00 € TOTAL 1485.00 €
Extra configuration
The push configuration makes sense only for those aiming 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?Unlike the lower-end models, the Core i9-11900K and the Core i9-11900KF are still sold at a heavy premium, once again leaving the flashlight in the hands of the Ryzen 7 5800X, less powerful than the 5900X and the 5950X but closer to the recommended price than all the possible next-generation alternatives.
We continue to strongly advise against the purchase of a high-end GPU at this juncture. Even the best offers offer almost double prices and not just for the top models. In the meantime, as a placeholder, we focus once again on the GeForce RTX 3070, cheaper than the RTX 3080 as long as we can talk about covenience in front of a medium-high-end card available, in the best case, for over 1000 euros. br>
EXTRA Component Price PROCESSOR Ryzen R9 5800X 3.8-4.7GHz 450,00 € DISSIPATORE ARCTIC Liquid Freezer II 240 90,00 € MOTHERBOARD ASUS TUF X570-PLUS Wi-Fi 225,00 € VIDEO CARD ASUS GeForce RTX 3070 Dual 8 GB 1050,00 € RAM G.Skill Trident Z RGB 2x16GB DDR4 3600MHz CL16 245,00 € POWER SUPPLY be quiet! Straight Power 11 80+ Gold € 180.00 HARD DISK Sabrent Rocket 1TB M.2 PCIe 4.0 € 170.00 CASE Lian Li O11 DYNAMIC Mid Tower € 170.00 TOTAL € 2580.00
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