Expected in mid- to late-2020, news, rumors and leaks surrounding the AMD Zen 3 architecture have been stacking up. For example, AMD has already confirmed that AMD Zen 3-based processors in the Ryzen 4000 lineup will officially support X570 and B550 motherboards. So, even though Zen 2 is still going strong, it’s time to start looking at what AMD has in store with its successor.

AMD simply crushed it in 2019. By moving to its 7nm Zen 2 architecture for its processors, Team Read has gotten a big boost in performance, earning it major market share. Naturally, people have high expectations from its improved 7nm+ CPU architecture – specifically, a potential 20% increase in transistor density and higher clock speeds while a 10% dip in power consumption.

Of course, there isn’t a lot of information out there just yet, but we should get more details as we inch closer to the release date. Though when that will be is still up in the air. AMD announced its Zen 2 architecture at CES 2019 last January, and then unveiled the Ryzen 3000 processors, which are built on the Zen 2 design, at Computex 2019 the following May. If AMD is going to follow a similar timeline for Zen 3 this year, then we’ve got to get ready right away.

Here’s everything we know about the AMD Zen 3 architecture so far. Keep this page bookmarked as we’ll update it as soon as new information reaches our desks.

Cut to the chase

•  What is it? AMD’s improved 7nm+ CPU architecture 
•  When is it out? Likely in mid- or late-2020 
•  How much is it? Prices will likely stay in line with Zen 2, starting at $99 (£94, AU$144) 

 AMD Zen 3 release date 

We’ve seen a recent leak suggesting Dr. Lisa Su, AMD’s CEO, could talk about Ryzen 4000 processors at CES 2020 in a move that would keep the pressure on Intel. It seems a bit early for AMD to go deep into details on next-generation Ryzen processors, but any details Su may provide on Zen 3 will tell us plenty about the Ryzen 4000 processors to come.

Given we’re expecting a 2020 release for Zen 3, it would only be fitting that AMD more or less repeat the same debut as it did for Zen 2 in 2019. So, at the very least, we’re expecting more details on Zen 3 and what it brings to the table at CES in the coming days.

We’ve heard rumors suggesting Zen 4 would arrive in 2021, which would all but demand that Zen 3 come out in 2020, helping dispel any doubts about that timeline. But that rumor conflicts with other details suggesting Zen 4 would arrive in 2022. A 2020 launch for Zen 3 still seems likely, but AMD could aim to bridge the gap between Zen 2 and Zen 4 by releasing Zen 3 toward the end of 2020. 

If we mapped out a launch trajectory based on previous Ryzen launches, it would make sense for Zen 3-based processors to come later into 2020. The first batch of Ryzen processors came out in March 2017, with Ryzen 2000 following in April 2018 and Ryzen 3000 in July 2019. That gives each generation a little over a year on the market before, and points to a Zen 3 launch with Ryzen 4000 processors toward August 2020. 

AMD Zen 3 price 

We don’t have any reason to expect that processors built on the Zen 3 architecture will be priced any differently than their Zen 2 counterparts. Given that expectation, it is useful to consider the prices of AMD’s Zen 2 processors. These were the prices of AMD’s first run of Zen 2-based Ryzen processors:

•  AMD Ryzen 9 3950X: $749 (about £590, AU$1,080) 
•  AMD Ryzen 9 3900X: $499 (about £390, AU$720) 
•  AMD Ryzen 7 3800X: $399 (about £310, AU$580) 
•  AMD Ryzen 7 3700X: $329 (about £260, AU$480) 
•  AMD Ryzen 5 3600X: $249 (about £200, AU$360) 
•  AMD Ryzen 5 3600: $199 (about £160, AU$290) 
•  AMD Ryzen 5 3400G: $149 (£139, AU$240) 
•  AMD Ryzen 3 3300G: $99 (£94, AU$144) 

If the process used to manufacture Zen 3 processors proves to have higher yield or better efficiency, it’s possible AMD could even lower its prices. That would keep the competition with Intel fierce, but AMD already has a strong price advantage against Intel and may not need to go lower. 

 AMD Zen 3 specs 

We learned in mid-2019 that AMD had already finished the Zen 3 design, which is expected to be based on a 7nm+ process, offering some slight improvements on the existing 7nm process found in Zen 2 hardware. This new design is expected to be the product of a shift to 7nm EUV (extreme ultraviolet) lithography. That should allow for a potential 20% increase in transistor density while lowering power consumption by 10%.

The improved 7nm+ process would also offer new chips higher clock speeds while maintaining lower power consumption. The new process may also come with an 8% to 10% increase in IPC (instructions-per-clock). Topping that off, rumors have suggested that AMD will introduce a new level of simultaneous multithreading in Zen 3 chips that would allow a single core to handle four threads (e.g., a 4-core/16-thread CPU or a 16-core/64-thread CPU).

Even more cache is another potential upgrade we could see in Zen 3-based processors. AMD packed Ryzen 3000 processors with cache, and that abundance of extra fast memory may have played a part in the excellent gaming performance across the board for Ryzen 3000 processors. 

While we may be looking at upgrades to DDR5 RAM and PCIe 5.0 support further down the line with Zen 4, we have no indications that Zen 3 will move away from DDR4 and the only recently introduced PCIe 4.0 standard.

Altogether, we should be looking at Zen 3-based processors with boosted clock speeds paired with increased IPC for a decent performance boost (especially in multithreaded workloads) over their Zen 2 counterparts all while staying within or below the power budgets of their predecessors. The potential to keep high performance while lowering the power budget could be especially promising for mobile applications.

Deciding when to upgrade your PC is as tough a decision as any. There is a constant flow of new PC components coming to the market, each leapfrogging the last, and computer upgrades aren’t always easy to afford.

But now is a pretty good time to give upgrading a shot. There are a lot of great parts on the market, with good prices on some of the best items, and there isn’t too much reason to hold out.

Let’s take a look at some of the particularly strong reasons for you to make sure your gaming PC is up to speed.  

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 The competitiveness of Ryzen 

We’re not just going to say that the latest Ryzen 3000-Series are reason enough to upgrade your computer. But, they’ve introduced a killer new platform and have helped bring down the prices on Intel’s products as well.

From AMD’s highest-end Zen 2 chips down to the lower end, like the Ryzen 5 3600, the new ecosystem offers incredible performance that scales up well with the number of cores. It’s even better for gamers, who can get great game performance even from the cheaper Ryzen 5 chips.

AMD’s new X570 chipset also works with the new CPUs to enable PCIe 4.0. This can double the data bandwidth for add-in cards, enabling much faster storage.

Best of all, many of AMD’s great, consumer-targeted Ryzen 3000-series chips have been on the market long enough that they’re starting to get great discounts. A perfect example is this Ryzen 5 3600X deal that doesn’t seem to have an end in sight.

Though AMD’s processors have been bad news for Intel, they’re good news for shoppers who want to buy Intel parts. We’ve seen some of the latest Intel chips get lower prices than their predecessors as Intel has real competition once again.

Intel’s Coffee Lake Refresh chips are offering plenty of power, especially when it comes to individual cores. We’ve even seen Intel drop the prices of its HEDT chips, as the Intel Core i9-10980XE launched at half the price of its predecessor. 

So, if you’re looking to pick up a new CPU and motherboard, you’ll find great options from both Team Red and Team Blue right now.

 RAM and storage prices are fairly low 

We’ve come a long way from the flash shortages of 2018. Now, it’s about as affordable as ever to load your computer up with memory and solid state storage. We’ve even seen 1TB of PCIe SSD storage cost little over the price of a new video game.

If your computer is running on a hard drive and has 8GB of RAM, now is a great time to make the upgrade.

You can find some cheap RAM to load up your computer, giving you plenty of memory for games or for Chrome to hog. Or you can go with the best RAM, giving your PC faster memory to work with.

The best upgrade would be to get your operating system and favorite programs running on an SSD. And no, we’re not even talking about an old 2.5-inch SSD. While those can offer a good boost in performance over a hard drive, a PCIe NVMe SSD offers even more throughput by skipping past the dated SATA interface used by hard drives and older SSDs.

You can find the best SSD at surprisingly reasonable prices. So, if you held out on adding an SSD (or three) to your computer because the price had always seemed too high, check again. 

 The affordability of performance monitors 

When you’re using your computer, you’re looking at your monitor. So, it’ll be a service to your eyes to make sure you’ve got a good one. This is especially true if you’re doing a lot of working from home or gaming to maintain social distance. 

While just a couple years ago 4K and high-refresh monitors were expensive and niche, they’re starting to become much more commonplace. And that means they’re also getting much more affordable.

Gamers can find many gaming monitors offering 1440p and higher resolutions while also smooth crisp 144Hz refresh rates. There are even affordable 240Hz monitors showing up. 

High-end monitors are also starting to push the limits with 4K and HDR. You can be sure you’re getting a brilliant monitor by looking out for certifications like G-Sync Ultimate, FreeSync Premium Pro or VESA’s DisplayHDR 1000, though VESA also has some lower level certifications that indicate a reduced level of quality.

With all of these upgrades you’ll be looking at a high-performance work-from-home machine or a modern gaming rig that’s ready to carry you through all of the exciting PC games coming out in 2020. 

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The iPhone 12 may still be half a year away, but we're already hearing rumblings of what's to come. The latest comes from noted analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who suggests Apple has new camera technology slated for its highest-end iPhone 12 model this year, MacRumors reports.

The new feature centers around a new technique for image stabilization called sensor-shift technology. As the name suggests, this would allow the actual image sensor itself to move slightly, helping it handle movement and vibrations in a similar way to how optical image stabilization allows a camera's lenses to move. 

Kuo suggests this feature will come exclusively to a 6.7-inch iPhone model this year, which leaves out any other models of the iPhone. A 6.7-inch model would be Apple's largest iPhone screen, and this could be the first instance of Apple further delineating between phone models with special features.

For the 2018 and 2019 iPhone, Apple kept the camera features the same between the iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max as well as between the iPhone XS and XS Max. So, it would appear that Kuo is suggesting that a presumed iPhone 12 Pro would lack this sensor-shift technology while an iPhone 12 Pro Max would have it.

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Zooming into 2022

The sensor-shift technology may be coming this year, but Kuo has also suggested that Apple may jump onto a growing industry trend of extra zoom capabilities. This would come in the form of a periscope lens like that found on the latest Samsung Galaxy S20 devices or the Huawei P30 family. A periscope lens can offer extra optical zoom power for a smartphone by orienting the lens vertically in the phone and using a mirror to angle it out the back of the phone, which allows a longer focal length without needing to increase the thickness of the device.

This would potentially give the iPhone substantially more zoom power than its current 2x limit - other phones without periscope lenses max out at 3x optical, like the Galaxy S20 and the Samsung Galaxy S20 Plus. But, Kuo doesn't believe this feature will be coming until 2022, meaning we may be waiting for an iPhone 14 to bring it. 

Fortunately, there may be some other upgrades coming to the iPhone 12, as we've previously heard a leak suggesting the iPhone 12 will get a 48MP camera.

• See the upgrade the iPhone 12 may get for portrait mode

We only just learned that Sony has a special announcement planned for the PS5 coming tomorrow, but renowned games journalist Jason Schreier has given us a hint of the hype to come, as he explains in a Tweet.

Responding to the announcement of a PS5 reveal tomorrow, Schreier explained that some of his contacts are excited about the new hardware and one even described it as "the most exciting hardware in 20 years." Schreier went on to elaborate that much of the emphasis was on the CPU and SSD, but that the comment was about the whole console.

• See how the PS5 and Xbox Series X compare
• Here are the PS5 games coming up
• PS5 price and pre-order: everything we know so far

The question of teraflops may still linger for some, as it's one of the big details Microsoft has touted for its Xbox Series X specs. But, teraflops are only a small part of the equation.

Microsoft showed off its storage technology for the Xbox Series X, but Sony has already explained how it's going to offer virtually instantaneous loading for games. We also know the PS5 and Xbox Series X will be using similar AMD tech, just as the PS4 and Xbox One did. 

It's possible the Xbox Series X may still be the more powerful of the two, as there's some speculation that Project Lockhart will be a lower-power, mainstream version of the new Xbox. The new PS5, as a mainstream model, would then likely not compete directly with the Series X, just like the PS4 doesn't compete with the Xbox One X, leaving that to the PS4 Pro.

All the same, there is something that has Schreier's industry contacts particularly excited about the PS5, and it's probably something we don't know about yet.

Fortunately, we don't have to wait long to find out. Tomorrow, PS5 lead system architect Mark Cerny will take us all on a deep exploration of the PS5's hardware. Maybe we'll even get a look at a finalized design.

You can tune in for Sony's live stream at 4pm GMT / 12pm ET / 9am PT on March 18 on the PlayStation Blog.

• Here's what we know about the new Xbox Series X controller

We may not have to wait much longer for AMD's Ryzen 4000 mobile processors. The much-anticipated 7nm mobile processors have shown up in product listings on Amazon for multiple Asus gaming laptops in China and Canada.

The early product listings were spotted by Tom's Hardware and include two versions of the Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 seen earlier this year at CES. There was also a product listing for an Asus TUF gaming laptop. While that third model is listed as having the AMD Ryzen 7 4800H processor that we've already learned about from AMD, the two Zephyrus G14 models show their processors as a Ryzen 7 4800HS.

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The Ryzen 7 4800H is a known commodity, with an 8-core/16-thread design and a 2.9GHz base clock that can boost up to 4.2GHz. We've seen it in early Ryzen 4000 benchmarks that show it blasting past competing Intel chips and even topping the Ryzen 5 3600 in one benchmark.

The Ryzen 7 4800HS, however, is not so well known. It will presumably be much the same as that 4800H, but may have different on-board graphics or offer lower thermals to better fit into thin-and-light laptops. Tom's Hardware suggests it may be the latter.

A March release date?

The product listings on Amazon China suggest the three laptops will release on March 31. That may feel soon enough, but Tom's Hardware had also spotted similar listings on Newegg Canada that had an even earlier release date: March 16.

So, we could be seeing AMD's new laptop processors in the wild in a matter of days. at which point it may be time for Intel to start sweating.

In most of the leaked benchmarks we've seen, AMD Ryzen 4000 laptop processors trounced Intel's competing offerings in terms of both raw CPU performance as well as integrated graphics performance. 

AMD already appears to be pushing Intel out of the way in the desktop space with its Ryzen processors, based on the sales figures we've learned from one retailer. But, Intel is a little better entrenched in the mobile PC marketplace. Close relationships with laptop manufacturers have helped ensure that, but AMD has started finding some inroads. 

Last year, we saw Microsoft embrace AMD in the Surface Laptop 3, albeit only in one model. That model didn't use a Zen 2 processor, though. AMD's latest chips may have far more appeal thanks to the efficiency improvements offered by the shift to a 7nm process, which comes alongside increased power and impressive core counts. 

• Here are the best processors available right now 

It's almost hard to believe Intel hasn't officially, publicly announced its Comet Lake desktop CPUs when they've been available in laptops for a while, and as AMD continues to gain ground. 

But, rumors and leaks have suggested what Intel has coming, and the latest shows off a desktop Intel Core i5-10400 as well as an NDA that suggests a release date, according to a report from Kitguru.

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The pictures of the chip look authentic enough. They show both the lid, labeled with the chip's name and a 2.9GHz base speed, as well as the underside of the processor. The 2.9GHz base clock lines up with earlier leaks that suggested the Intel Core i5-10400 would be a 6-core/12-thread processor with a 4.3GHz Turbo frequency. 

Comparing the chip design to a 9th-Gen chip, we can see a few differences in contacts and alignment cutouts that further suggest Intel will move to a new socket for the Comet Lake-S desktop processors. Intel is expected to use the yet-announced LGA 1200 socket for the chips.

Timing and pricing

The NDA included in this leak suggests the new Intel processors will launch sometime between April 13 and June 26. This could mean the next generation of Intel desktop chips isn't all that far off.

But that window of time is fairly big. If Intel waits until the latter half of that window, it will already have been a year since AMD announced its Zen 2 family of processors, and shoppers may be included to hold off on new Intel chips until they hear what AMD has in store for Zen 3.

Given AMD has supported its AM4 socket on all chips from Ryzen 1000-series to Ryzen 3000-series, budget-minded shoppers currently running a Ryzen processor would have a lot of gain by waiting to see if Zen 3 will continue to support the AM4 socket. If AMD doesn't change sockets, any existing customers will face the paywall of a new motherboard by switching to Intel. Meanwhile, it seems more and more likely that all existing Intel users will face the price of a new motherboard to get the LGA 1200 socket.

The Intel Core i5-10400 may not be the chip that converts AMD users, though that may be a job better left to the rumored Intel Core i9-10900K.

• Check out the best gaming PCs of 2020

There's no doubt that AMD is going strong with some of the best processors on the market. And right now, there's a hefty discount that cuts 16% off the Ryzen 9 3900X. That might seem like a small percentage, but given the processor's $499 starting price, the discount saves you close to $100.

The Ryzen 9 3900X a perfect little monster, scoring top marks in our review thanks to its masterful performance levels, PCIe 4.0 supports, and its ability to knock out Intel at the price. It's 3.8GHz base clock and 4.6GHz boost even bring single-core performance a long way forward. 

This processor features 12 cores and 24 threads, making it an absolute beast when it comes to performance in creative workloads. It comes in well the below the price of a similar 12-core chip from Intel, like the $1,189 Intel Core i9-9920X.

To take the most advantage of the Ryzen 9 3900X, you'll want to pair it with a new X570 motherboard. These motherboards will be able to offer support for the latest PCIe 4.0 standard, which doubles the bandwidth of PCIe 3.0. This enables things like exceedingly fast storage from new PCIe SSDs or powerful cards like Gigabyte's Aorus Gen4 AIC.

If you're into high-end cooling solutions, you may even be able to push the Ryzen 9 3900X loads further than its factory settings. Back in December, overclockers set world records on this chip using liquid nitrogen to keep it cool. 

Given that the Ryzen 9 3900X has seen inflated prices and limited availability, it's great to see it available at a price below retail. Of course, this deal may just ensure stock is once again limited.

Don't need that much power?

We learned just yesterday that Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Edition could be coming soon to the PC version of Halo: The Master Chief Collection. But we didn't expect 'soon' would mean 'a day later.' Yet, in a surprise launch, the remaster of the original Halo is now available on Steam, the Microsoft Store, and Xbox Game Pass.

Xbox Game Pass subscribers and owners of Halo: The Master Chief Collection now have access to the game. You can also buy it as a standalone title for $10, the same price as Halo: Reach, which was the first remastered game in the Collection to become available in December 2019.

The PC edition of the Halo: The Master Chief Collection had consisted solely of Reach since then, and players have been eagerly awaiting the remaining games, which will be added piecemeal. Halo 2: Anniversary, Halo 3, Halo 3: ODST, and Halo 4 are still to come for the collection.

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Old Master Chief, modern conveniences

Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Edition is the first time since 2003 that the Master Chief's inaugural adventure has come to PC gaming. This release brings the original Halo campaign up to speed with performance expected of modern desktop gaming. 

It supports high frame rates (60+) as well as variable frame rates. If your computer can handle it, it will also run at  4K Ultra HD resolution and ultra-wide aspect ratios. It's topped off with updated textures and shadows.

The game also has native keyboard and mouse support and a customizable field-of-view. These will help PC players feel right at home with their controls as they dive into the original campaign or hop online to compete with other players in the many classic PvP maps.

You can see the game on Steam here and on the Microsoft Store here.

Now it's time to wait for Halo 2: Anniversary to hit the collection.

• See how easy it is to run Halo: Reach at high fps

Apple has done away with the 15-inch MacBook Pro in favor of the bigger MacBook Pro 16-inch, and now it seems likely Apple will do the same screen stretching for its smaller model by introducing a 14.1-inch MacBook Pro. This prediction comes from Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, 9to5Mac reports.

Apple's MacBook Pro 16-inch wasn't a fundamental redesign of the 15-inch model, but did bring the design into the modern era of thin-bezels. It's natural that Apple would make the same move with its smaller model, and Kuo anticiaptes the update to come out this year. 

The 14-inch MacBook Pro may still be waiting, though, as earlier rumors have suggested a revised 13-inch MacBook Pro is still on its way. That model would get the scissor switch keyboard of the 16-inch model and put Apple's troubled butterfly key switches to rest. Presumably, the ensuing 14-inch MacBook Pro would then get the same, improved keyboard. That would be great news for MacBook Pro users, as the keyboard on the 16-inch MacBook Pro is the best we've experienced on the family of laptops.

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Other improvements and family

Kuo didn't mention a specific release window for the new MacBook Pro, but he doesn't believe it will be the only product launching. Rather, the 14-inch MacBook Pro will be part of a suite of new Apple products that will feature mini-LED dispay technology.

In addition to 14-inch MacBook Pro, Kuo suggests a revised 16-inch MacBook Pro, a new iMac Pro, and three new iPad from Pro to Mini. All six devices are expected to have mini-LED displays.

The new display technology has the potential to increase the color gamut, contrast ratio, dynamic range, and power efficiency of Apple's displays. For portable devices, that's a valuable improvement, and it could come alongside thinner panels.

It's not just visuals that are expected to improve with the next iterations of the MacBook Pro. Leaked benchmarks have also shown the 13-inch MacBook Pro with 10th-Gen Intel Ice Lake processors. Those benchmarks came from a leaker who also spotted the MacBook Pro 16-inch in advance of its release. And, if the next revision of the 13-inch MacBook Pro gets Ice Lake processors, it's a solid bet any 14-inch version would as well. That is, unless Apple Macs switch to AMD.

Kuo doesn't expect the recent outbreak of the Corona Virus will impact Apple's ability to deliver these new products in 2020, either.

• Check out the best laptops of 2020

We learned late last year that Riot Games was working on new projects, with some focus on expanding the League of Legends universe. One of those games - codenamed Project A - would be a team-based, tactical shooter, and falls into Riot Games's push to challenge Blizzard, per PCGamer. Now, Riot Games has given the world a first look at the game, which is officially named Valorant.

While an official Valorant tweet lists a suggestive date of 'Summer 2020,' The game will get a Q2 or Q3 2020 release, depending on how things go in the beta, PCGamer reports. That's surprisingly soon considering how little information was previously known about the mysterious Project A, including its actual name.

Riot Games is already stressing the serious competitive nature of the game. On the official Valorant website, Riot Games details how it plans to use 128-tick servers spread out globally to achieve latency below 35ms in major cities around the world. The company has also focused on optimization to offer low-spec computers an attainable 30fps and high-spec rigs a consistent 60-144fps.

Of course, that all matters only if there's an actual competitive scene for the game. That's where the game design comes in. From the gameplay reveal, we can see that Valorant borrows plenty from other popular, competitive shooters. Have a look:

 

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The video shows an Alpha playtest that starts off with players buying their weapons and even purchasing them for one another. The feel is much like CS:GO, as are the semi-realistic weapons themselves. The playtesters even regularly switch over to their knives as the move around, something frequently seen in CS:GO.

But, the game features more cartoonish textures and special character abilities that Overwatch players are sure to find familiar. One character can be seen channeling an ability that lets them jump extra-high. Another character pulls out a bow to fire off a sensor arrow that reveals enemy positions in true Hanzo fashion. Yet another character is seen surrounded by floating knives that presumably fire out like Zenyatta's orbs. 

The goal the players are seen fighting for is more like CS:GO in nature: 5v5, no respawning, with an objective the offensive team is trying to accomplish. At the end of the video, a player on defense defuses a bomb planted by the enemy team.

Of course, the look and feel of the game does have time to change between now and its launch. It is still in Alpha after all. 

Riot Games plans to slowly reveal more over various social media platforms. A closed beta for the game is also coming, but no date has been provided.

• These are the best PC games of 2020

We learned late last year that Death Stranding was officially coming to PC, and now a proper release date has been offered that lines up with the earlier window we'd learned. There are still some months to wait, but Death Stranding will arrive on PC on June 2 this year, and it will come to both Steam and the Epic Games Store.

The release on both stores will surely assuage many gamers, as the divide between game stores has been felt ever more prominently whenever blockbuster titles come out with store-front exclusivity.

Curiously, Death Stranding for PC will launch with some special Valve content, as it's pulling parts of the Half-Life world. In the trailer, we can see the protagonist, Sam Bridges, with a Valve stem coming out the back of his head as he readies himself with a pair of the Gravity Gloves that will feature in Half-Life: Alyx. The trailer also ends with Sam trying on one of the iconic head crabs as a hat.

You can see the trailer here:

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(Sam) Bridging the gap to PC

Curiously enough, the Valve crossover content doesn't appear to be a Steam exclusive. The product listing for Death Stranding on the Epic Game Store also mentions the Half-Life content.

Beyond the crossover content, Death Stranding for PC will bring a number of other improvements. It will support high frame rates and ultra-wide monitors, letting PC players enjoy games as they prefer. It also incldues an advanced Photo Mode for snapping shots of your gameplay moments.

It's impressive to see the PC port of this game coming so quickly, as Death Stranding originally launched on November 8, 2019, as a PS4 exclusive. By comparison, Red Dead Redemption 2 and Grand Theft Auto V took much longer to make the leap from console to PC.

Of course, there is still time for the PC release of Death Stranding to run into delays. In the meantime, you can see and pre-order Death Standing on Steam or from the Epic Games Store starting now.

Via: Android Central

• These are the best PC games of 2020

With Microsoft announcing the Xbox Series X's specs and placing emphasis on its 12 teraflops performance, it seems like everyone is paying attention to teraflops. And now we've seen a leaked benchmark that may hint towards what the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 may look like.  

This benchmark was spotted by PCGamesN, and shows an Nvidia GPU with a whopping 33 teraflops of theoretical floating point performance. However, since teraflops aren't necessarily the most useful metric, it's lucky that the benchmarks for these unidentified graphics cards come with quite a bit more info. 

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The two graphics cards showed up in Geekbench with 118 Streaming Mulitprocessors in one and 108 in the other. Following past Nvidia conventions, that would translate to 7,552 CUDA Cores in the former and 6,912 CUDA Cores in the latter.

That quantity of CUDA Cores would certainly set these new graphics cards up for high performance, well beyond what's seen in the current lineup for Nvidia chips. The larger chip packed some 24GB of memory, ran at 1.11GHz and pulled off an OpenCL score of 184,096 in Geekbench. That's a tidy lead over both the Nvidia Quadro RTX 8000 and Titan RTX, which both manage around 130,000. 

Even the smaller chip, even though it has a whopping 48GB of  VRAM and a lower 1.01GHz clock, managed a score of 141,654.

Not the cards you're looking for

There's quite a bit going on with these benchmarks, the reported specs, and what that means for the potential performance. For one, their measurement of FP32 performance is based on an assumption Nvidia may be doubling its floating points units in the next generation of GPUs, which would have the effect of doubling its performance in teraflops. 

But, if Nvidia doesn't double those floating point units, there will be no doubling of the teraflops, and we'll actually be looking at a big card delivering a little under 17 TFLOPs  and a smaller card delivering a hair under 14 TFLOPs. 

Those aren't figures to scoff at, though, considering they're calculated from clock speeds that could still ramp up dramatically before these graphics cards ever hit the streets. Even if the bigger card is just at 17 TFLOPs right now, increasing its 1.11GHz clock speed to match the Titan RTX's 1.77GHz would boost its floating point performance to over 26 TFLOPs.

As spicy as that is, the specs and performance of these chips don't have that familiar scent of a consumer-oriented, gaming graphics card. In particular, the 24GB and 48GB of VRAM stand out. The Nvidia RTX 2080 Ti only offers 11GB of VRAM – the same amount as the GeForce 1080 Ti. So, there's little room to expect Nvidia to suddenly make such a massive boost to VRAM capacity. 

It's more likely we're seeing professional cards that will just give us more hints at what will come down to the consumer level. With any luck, Nvidia won't keep us waiting too much longer, as an announcement of the Nvidia's next-gen GPUs at GTC is expected later this month.

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AMD is making big strides with its hardware, as CPU sales have dominated and even its GPUs marketshare has grown, with AMD even beating Nvidia for market share in Q4 2019. But, that increased prevalance put some of AMD's Radeon graphics cards' bugs in front of more users. Now, AMD has released updated drivers to address the biggest problems.

A number of stuttering and black screen bugs are covered by the Radeon Software Adrenalin 20202 Edition 20.2.2 update. These black screen bugs would be an especially big issue on computers running an AMD CPU, as it would more than likely not have an iGPU to help users troubleshoot. 

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Task switching with certain features on or applications running hardware acceleration could cause black screens. Launching games and programs could also cause a black screen if Instant Replay was enabled, as could toggling on HDR in Battlefield V, specifically. Playing Battlefield V for too long could also cause graphics cards to hang. 

Problems extended to other games as well, such as Grand Theft Auto V, Monster Hunter World, and Metro Exodus. And the cause of the issues could come down to having an app with an on-screen overlay or even just choosing a particular dialogue option. Outside of gaming, even Chrome could suffer from the black screens, or partial black outs, when using hardware acceleration. 

Even users who performed a factory reset on their computer to address the problems may have run into another issue where Instant Replay could not be enabled if it had been enabled prior to the reset.

Not quite done yet

All the bugs we've mentioned are fairly common and thankfully are addressed by the 20.2.2 update to AMD's drivers. The update also addresses graphics card fan speeds lagging behind changes in CPU temperature. 

But all of the problems users have experienced aren't guaranteed to be fixed, as AMD notes, “Although Radeon Software Adrenalin 2020 Edition 20.2.2 resolves many black screen issues, AMD is aware that some users may still experience black screen or system hang issues during extended periods of gameplay,”

In certain situations Enhanced Sync may still lead to black screens. Some games and video capture software may also run into stuttering still. Even Doom, the perfect test case for Radeon to show its chops running the Vulkan API, is still susceptible to random hangs and crashes during gameplay.

Hopefully, AMD can get a handle on all of these issues, especially the overarching issue related to simply playing for too long. If AMD tackles all that in time of the anticipated “Nvidia killer” Radeon RX 5950 XT, it could be a smash hit.

Via PCWorld

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We've been keeping our eyes peels since AMD announced its Ryzen 4000 mobile processors at CES 2020. Leaks have continued to show off compelling performance levels, and the latest leak shows AMD's high-end options beating Intels in benchmarks shared by Twitter leaker @_rogame.

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The benchmarks are from 3DMark 11 and focus on both physics and graphics. We've previously seen the Ryzen 4000 processors perform near desktop levels in this benchmark, and this latest batch shows them holding up. 

While we'd previously seen the Ryzen 7 4800U hit a physics score just short of 12,000 in 3DMark 11, the latest benchmark sees it go even further with a score 12,490. That's a tidy lead over the Intel Core i7-10710U's benchmark of 11,194 and well beyond the Intel Core i7-1065G7's 9,640. All the more impressive given that the AMD chip runs at a 15W TDP while both Intel chips were benchmarked at a 25W TDP.

Then there's the consideration for integrated graphics. The benchmarks show that even the integrated graphics of AMD's Ryzen 3 4300U stomp on the Intel UHD Graphics seen in the Core i7-10710U, and the iGPUs in both Ryzen 7 models have a considerable lead over the Intel Iris Plus Graphics of the Intel Core i7-1065G7.

Not coming from behind anymore

If these leaked benchmarks are truly indicative of the type of real-world performance AMD's next batch of mobile processors can offer, it could complete AMD's shakeup of the CPU marketplace.

AMD has already turn the tides on Intel in the desktop market, with its Ryzen processors surging in sales. We saw AMD leave Intel behind with high sales late last year, and that doesn't seem likely to stop with the strength of its processors. The move to Zen 2 mobile processors could help AMD gain a stronger foothold in the laptop market, where Intel has maintained a stronger foothold.

Given that AMD's Ryzen 4000-series mobile processors appear ready to compete with even some of the best processors for desktop, it doesn't seem like a stretch to expect them to garner many consumers interest, especially when it comes to powering the thinnest and lightest laptops. 

We still have to wait and see how well the chips perform in the wild, and consider how many laptop manufacturers actually go with AMD on their popular laptop models. And, of course, we're still waiting to see how AMD shakes up the GPU market with Big Navi.

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We're still waiting on an official announcement of the PS5, but that doesn't mean there aren't already massive expectations for the future console. Many of those predictions are centered around the design, the performance, and the price, but some are on sales figures. One analyst from Japanese research firm Ace Research Institute suggests Sony could sell six million units by March 2021, reports Tom's Guide.

That six million unit figure isn't just for the PS5, though. It also takes into account sales of Sony's PS4. Given that the PS5 isn't available yet, it makes sense to continue including the current model in the year-long sales estimate. Though, as PS4 sales are expected to continue winding down, the majority of those sales are expected from the PS5. The analyst's report also suggests Sony will sell 15 million more PS5 units in the subsequent year.

It's not so unfair to have huge PS5 sales expectations given the PS4 has been so popular that it became the second bestselling console of all time. By the numbers, the PS4 has sold over 108 million units since its launch in late 2013, and it managed 7.5 million sales in its first two fiscal quarters on the market. If the PS5 launches late into 2020, the predicted sales figures would line up well with what the PS4 managed. 

The expectation of 15 million PS5 sales in Sony's following fiscal year from March 2021 to March 2022 would also line up with the 14.8 million units the PS4 sold during its first full fiscal year on the market.

High expectations

Those are some high expectations for a product that is still shrowding in mystery and a certain level of uncertainty. The recent coronavirus outbreak is expected to have some impact on the tech market given that plenty of the manufacturing and supplying of chips and other components happens in China. The PS5 and Xbox Series X are both expected to need chunk of the flash storage and DRAM market, which could be squeezed by the virus outbreak.

Any shortages might also drive up the price of the PS5, and we've recently learned that many gamers will prioritize next-gen console price above all else. A sky-high price could flatten those sales expectations. If the consoles start inching high enough, it's possible they could even start to drive more gamers to gaming PCs that can outperform consoles.

We'll hopefully start to get a better idea of the way things will go for the PS5 when Sony officially announces the product and its price.

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