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Intel has stopped its plans for the second-generation Omni-Path Architecture fabric for high-performance computing (HPC), known as the OPA200 series, which the company announced last year. The company will continue to support OPA100, although its availability has reportedly changed to build-to-order, but the future of Omni-Path looks bleak. Intel told this to CRN on Wednesday after CRN received comments from two solution providers that Intel had informed some partners of its cancellation. Jennifer Huffstetler, vice president of data center product management and storage, confirmed the news to CRN with the following statement: “We see connectivity as a critical pillar in delivering the performance and scalability for a modern data center. We're continuing our investment there while we will no longer support the Omni-Path 200 series. We are continuing to see uptake in the HPC portfolio for OPA100.” If you wanna read more, please visit : click ! Article created by „tomshardware”.

There are basically three ways to get a gaming desktop: buying a pre-configured system, customizing a system based on pre-selected components, and building a totally custom system from scratch. Maingear revealed its new Vybe product line today with options meant to appeal to people who fit into any of those categories. The pre-configured Vybe systems are broken up into four stages: "Esports" at the bottom, 1080p, 1440p, and the combined "4K & Creators" at the top. Prices start at $699 for the Esports option and jump all the way up to $2,499 for the 4K & Creators option. Here's how the core components of each "stage" of Vybe compare. If you wanna read more please visit the following link : click. Article created by „tomshardware”.

Noctua today introduced the latest rendition of its venerable U12 cooler, a series which goes back to the company’s roots in 2005. Compared to the venerable U12S that preceded it, the U12A has more fans (two) and more heat pipes (seven, up from the previous five). The fin pack is also deeper (58mm, up from 45mm) to provide 37% more surface area, with those deeper fins offset rearward to provide similar memory clearance to the classic version when installed on LGA 115x and AM4 motherboards. Noctua’s classic combination of aluminum fins over copper heat pipes on a copper base remains, as do the solder unions and nickel plating covering those copper parts. Rated at 102.1 cubic meters per hour, the newer NF-A12x25 PWM fans are specified to produce a mere 22.6 dBA (each) as these spin at up to 2000 RPM. If you don’t find this combination of beige, brown, and nickel-plated quality alluring, Noctua’s video has a soundtrack that may help. Article created by „tomshardware”.

Core i9-9900KF marks a shift in Intel's strategy as the company begins selling processors with disabled graphics engines for the first time. The -9900KF isn't really new at all, though. Rather, it features the same 8C/16T configuration as Intel's celebrated Core i9-9900K. Aside from the lack of on-die graphics, both chips should be otherwise identical. That's good news for the -9900KF because Core i9-9900K is a winner. It barreled onto the scene last year to become Intel's highest core count model for mainstream platforms. Armed with eight cores and 16 threads, Core i9-9900K established itself as the fastest desktop processor we've ever tested. But despite impressive performance, Intel can't keep its most po[CENSORED]r CPUs on store shelves. The company is grappling with a production shortage of 14nm parts due to record demand and painful setbacks delaying its 10nm process. As a result, many models are marked up severely or simply unavailable. Surprisingly, Intel decided to boost output by selling new F-series processors with disabled on-die graphics engines. These CPUs suffered defects during manufacturing that would have rendered their graphics subsystems unusable. In the face of a severe shortage, however, Intel figured out how to boost production by resurrecting chips that would have otherwise been considered defective. Now, you'd expect to pay less for a CPU with fewer features. But Intel assigns its F-series models the same MSRP as existing processors with functional graphics. This gives vendors the green light to charge premium prices for handicapped chips, which is exactly what's going on. The Core i9-9900KF isn't widely available on Newegg or Amazon. However, when you do find it available for preorder on sites like B&H Photo, the processor oddly commands a ~$55 premium over Intel's standard -9900K. Intel isn't sampling the Core i9-9900KF to press. Fortunately, we were able to borrow one from extreme overclocker Allen "Splave" Golibersuch for review. Splave lapped the chip, meaning he thinned the integrated heat spreader by sanding it down, to improve thermal transfer efficiency. Otherwise, as you can see in the picture above, both models are physically identical. As far as we can tell, the only reason to buy a -9900KF is immediate availability when you see it in stock. Otherwise, the chip offers nearly the same performance as Intel's graphics-equipped Core i9-9900K, meaning it serves up the best performance you can get on a mainstream desktop. Just be ready to pay an exorbitant price tag for the CPU, a beefy motherboard, high-end cooling, and a capable PSU. If you wanna read more please visit the following link : click. Article created by „tomshardware”.

The idea of taking your PC to a LAN party certainly isn't new, but taking your entire desk setup (PC included) to one just might be. A Finland-based company named unEvn takes bringing your desktop with you to a whole other level with its "portable" gaming desk called "ONE". The ONE portable gaming desk has the ability to not only store a full PC system inside, but it will also hold your monitor and peripherals, and can fold up to be carried on your back, or with a travel bag. UnEvn dubs the ONE as the world's, "first fully-portable gaming desk w/built-in computer chassis and integrated monitor and mount." When opened, the ONE measures 48 x 31.5 x 32 inches (WxDxH) and features matte-black polycarbonate sheet with a texture the company says is good for optimal mouse use. The desk material itself is made from a Glass-Aramid (Kevlar) hybrid composite for the desk parts. The surface has electronically adjustable height controls from 24-32 inches, as well as an included gas-spring monitor arm able to support up to a 32-inch monitor. The front panel has a curved area where a user will sit (or stand) with the IO panel flanking left and a 5.25-inch drive space on the right. To the right of the front panel is where a keyboard, mouse, and peripherals can be stored for travel. With the aluminum legs folded down and the desk folded in half in transport mode, the ONE becomes about half its size at 32 x 8 x 24 inches. With the included straps, you can then sling your desk, PC, Monitor (up to 25-inch stored internally), Keyboard and Mouse (tucked into the drawer) over your shoulder or on your back and head off to your next LAN party or esports battle, arguably more prepared than anyone. UnEvn says the entire setup will weigh 55 to 66 lbs, depending on the monitor and PC components inside. To put that into perspective, you may feel more like a soldier with a full pack and armor lugging that much weight around. Inside, the gaming desk has space for an ITX size motherboard, a dual-slot graphics card (single card only), SFX sized PSU (up to 130 mm), and space for four 2.5" drives (up to 10.5 mm height). Keeping the PC bits cool is an included 140mm fan, along with two additional 140 mm fan slots with dust filters for the CPU, GPU, and PSU. The internal chassis can also support coolers up to 60 mm tall and looks to be space for a radiator where the dual 140 mm fans are located. The front panel is on the left-front side of the desk and includes power/reset buttons, two USB 3.1 ports, and two audio jacks. If you wanna read more please visit the following link : click. Article created by „tomshardware”.

Graphics enthusiasts are salivating for news around AMD's pending Navi graphics cards, and new Credit: CompuBenchtest results from a mysterious AMD GPU listed in the CompuBenchdatabase have spurred a new round of speculation. Several media outlets have reported that the GPU is an AMD Navi engineering sample, but after closer inspection, it appears this sample likely isn't of the Navi variety. The new graphics card has poor compute results compared to Vega 64 and Vega 56, but its graphics performance isn't too far behind the Vega 64. It even beats the Vega 56 in some tests. As Navi is expected to be a low-end or mid-range GPU, on the surface, this seems like a good sign the GPU is indeed Navi. Eagle-eyed Redditors noticed that the Vega 56 fell far behind both the alleged Navi GPU and Vega 64 in CompuBench's ocean surface simulation benchmark. This ocean simulation benchmark, for example, is very memory bandwidth heavy; Vega 56 only has about 85 percent of the bandwidth of Vega 64, and not even half that of the Vega VII. The alleged Navi GPU's performance may come down to memory bandwidth and not graphical prowess, which is the first indication that this may not be a Navi GPU at all, but a Vega 20 GPU instead. The "66AF" GPU, thought to have been Navi, is actually registered under Linux AMD GPU drivers as "Vega 20," making the Navi conclusion even more suspect. Also, comparing this 66AF:F1 GPU to Radeon VII on CompuBench, nearly everything in the OpenGL information is identical. A notable difference is that Vega VII has an additional tag under "GL_EXTENSIONS" called "GL_AMD_gpu_shader_half_float2," which may be the tag that specifies Vega VII's reduced floating point performance compared to other Vega 20 GPUs, like the Radeon Instinct MI60. While it is hard to tell what exactly this GPU is, if Linux's driver IDs can be trusted, it doesn't appear to be Navi. Even if the GPU is from the Navi lineup, it's hard to glean useful performance data and GPU specifications due to the nature of the CompuBench benchmark. For now, it appears more likely this is just another Vega 20 GPU, perhaps even a new WX Pro series model. Article created by „tomshardware”.

Reuters, via financial news outlet Calcalist, reports that Nvidia has outbid Intel in an attempt to buy the networking behemoth Mellanox. Previous unconfirmed reports claimed that Intel had offered $6 billion for Mellanox, but Nvidia has reportedly outbid the company by more than 10 percent. These offers come after Mellanox essentially offered itself for sale in October 2018, which reportedly also garnered attention from Microsoft and Xilinx. Mellanox specializes in Ethernet and InfiniBand networking products for the data center. The company currently has a market cap of $5.93 billion and a commanding market presence, but Intel's purported acquisition attempt could run afoul of regulators. Intel already has a heavy presence in the InfiniBand market through its line of products that come as the fruit of its $125 million acquisition of QLogic's IP back in 2012, while Mellanox is the only large-scale InfiniBand competitor. Nvidia's play at Mellanox would help the company diversify into networking, thus reducing its heavy reliance upon graphics cards sales that has seen the company suffer at the whims of the cryptocurrency market. The Mellanox IP could also tie in well with Nvidia's strategy to increase its penetration into the data center, and Reuters predicts the company wouldn't face the same regulatory concerns as Intel. Mellanox would also fold into Intel's portfolio nicely. Intel has spent several years transitioning away from being a PC-centric business to other profitable climes, such as data storage, memory, IoT, and 5G. Intel's overall goal is to leverage its commanding presence in the data center, estimated at ~95% of the worlds server sockets, to expand into these new adjacencies quickly. Networking is the glue that ties many of these critical components together, making the Mellanox portfolio a natural fit. InfinBand networking is a critical component in the high performance computing (HPC) space that could afford Intel an advantage with tightly-integrated systems-level products as it fends off the rising po[CENSORED]rity of AMD's Zen-based data center processors. Only time will tell if Intel will dig into its significantly deeper pockets to push Nvidia out of the running, or if another large player, like Microsoft, can steal the networking show. As expected, Nvidia, Intel, and Mellanox have not commented on the bids. Article created by „tomshardware”.