If you want to see the power of competition in action, just look at the race between Intel and AMD to deliver the fastest PC CPU. While Intel was plagued with production delays and design issues over the past decade, AMD doubled-down on its Zen architecture to create an impressive family of Ryzen chips suited to performance-hungry enthusiasts. Today, AMD’s chips power some of our favorite gaming laptops, like the ASUS Zephyrus G14.

Just when we were about to give up on Intel, though, it finally delivered on its long-awaited hybrid chips with the 12th-gen Core CPUs. Thanks to a combination of performance cores (P-cores) and efficient cores (E-cores), they trounced AMD in most multi-threaded benchmarks while using less power than the previous 11th-gen chips.

Now, it’s time for the follow-up: Intel’s 13th-gen Core chips, AKA Raptor Lake. And it sure looks like Intel isn’t slumming it. The company’s new top-end chip, the Core i9-13900K, sports 24 cores (8 P-cores and 16 E-cores) and can reach up to a 5.8GHz Max Turbo frequency. In comparison, last year’s 12900K offered 16 cores (8P and 8E), and a maximum speed of 5.2 GHz. Intel claims the new 13900K is 15 percent faster than its predecessor in single-threaded tasks and 41 percent better for multi-threaded work like video encoding or 3D rendering.

The 13th-gen chips are built on an upgraded version of the Intel 7 process, which features the company’s third-generation SuperFin transistor. When that 3D transistor technology was first announced in 2020, it sounded like a way for Intel to eke out more performance from its 10nm designs as it struggled to hit 7nm. (The Intel 7 process is still 10nm, following its rebranding last year.) For the most part, it seems like that was the case. AMD was able to reach 6nm with this year’s Ryzen 6000 and 7000 chips, but Intel proved with its 12th-gen chips that it could still leap ahead with a larger fabrication process.

Based on the initial specifications, the 13th-gen chips look like a massive improvement across the entire lineup. The Core i5-13600K adds four cores and an initial 200Mhz of Turbo speed, hitting 14 cores and up to 5.1 GHz, compared to its predecessor. The i7-13700K now offers up to 16 cores and 5.4GHz, whereas last year’s equivalent i7 was 12 cores.

The big takeaway? If you skipped last year’s chips, and are running older Intel hardware, the 13th-gen CPUs look like the update you’ve been waiting for. Intel claims the 13900K is 27 percent faster than the 12900K when it comes to content creation multitasking, using apps like Adobe Media Encoder and Photoshop. And it’s reportedly 34 percent faster for media creation apps like Blender and Unreal Engine.

While Intel doesn’t have comparisons against AMD’s upcoming Ryzen 7000 chips (they’re not available yet, after all), the company says the 13900K is 58 percent faster than the Ryzen 9 5950X in Spider-Man: Remastered. That’s to be expected, though, since the AMD chip is almost two years old at this point.

It’s tough to tell how this latest battle between Intel and AMD will go, though we plan to test as much of the hardware as we can. If anything, though, it’s certainly an exciting time to be in the market for new CPUs.

Source: Engadget – Intel’s 13th-gen CPUs offer up to 24 cores and 5.8GHz speeds

With the latest GPUs and CPUs from NVIDIA and Intel making their way to consumers, Alienware is updating its Aurora desktop to take advantage of those components. The new Aurora R15 is one of the first pre-built systems to come with a GeForce RTX 4090 option, but even if you don’t go for NVIDIA’s new flagship, the R15 looks to address one of the main flaws of its predecessor.

Building on the Legend 2.0 case design the company introduced last year, Alienware claims the Aurora R15 delivers improved cooling performance thanks to a few tweaks. If you configure the desktop for liquid cooling, it will come with a 240mm radiator instead of a 120mm one as was the case with previous Aurora PCs. Additionally, with the move to Intel’s latest 13th-generation CPUs, any system with a K-series chip will feature five 120mm chassis fans. According to Alienware, those changes make for a system that allows it to push more power to the CPU, translating into a double-digit uplift in performance. At the same time, the processor stays up to 5 degrees Celsius cooler. For context, the Aurora R13 was notorious for featuring inadequate cooling, making it not a good buy for the price Dell was asking for it.   

Alienware has also tweaked its custom Z790 motherboard, adopting a layout that moves the PCIe 16x slot to its usual position closest to the CPU socket. According to the company, it’s a design that will allow the Aurora R15 to accommodate bigger GPUs. As mentioned above, you can configure the computer with NVIDIA’s new $1,600 RTX 4090. For the time being, Alienware won’t offer the more affordable RTX 4080 in either its 12GB or 16GB configurations. Instead, if you want a less expensive GPU, you can go with a previous generation RTX 30 series model or an AMD Radeon RX 6000 series card.

Critically, Alienware will also offer a more powerful PSU option alongside GPUs like the 4090. You can configure the R15 with either a 750-watt or 1,350-watt power supply. Previously, the most powerful PSU Alienware offered was a 1,000-watt model. You’ll definitely need the 1,350-watt PSU if you plan to run the R15 with a 4090.

Alongside the Aurora R15, Alienware is introducing a tenkeyless gaming keyboard. The AW420K features plate-mounted Cherry MX Red linear switches, double-shot PBT keycaps and per-key RGB. It’s interesting that Alienware has gone with a tenkeyless layout for its first non full-sized keyboard. The market is saturated with TKL options and in recent years 60 and 65 percent layout keyboards like the Razer Huntsman Mini and GMMK 2 have become more popular among gaming enthusiasts. Still, it’s nice to see Alienware expand beyond 100 percent layouts. The AW420K will cost $130 when it arrives this fall. Alienware plans to share pricing information related to the Aurora R15 closer to availability later in the year.

Source: Engadget – Alienware’s Aurora R15 offers improved cooling and the latest Intel and NVIDIA components

New Intel PCs will soon have a feature that Macs have offered for years: the ability to text, take calls and send files to their iPhones. That’s all thanks to Intel’s Unison app, which aims to keep Windows user in their workflow without being distracted by their phones. And yes, it also works with Android devices.

After acquiring the Israeli company Screenovate last year, Intel revamped its phone integration tool to suit more demanding users. With Unison, there’s support for VPNs, firewalls and IT manageability. Intel also paid special attention to battery efficiency, as well as juggling wireless connections across Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and cellular. The result is something that could be more useful than Microsoft’s Your Phone app for Windows, which looks very polished but only works with Android phones.

According to Josh Newman, Intel’s VP of mobile innovation, Unison will offer fast file transfers between phones and computers. (We’re still waiting for more details on the actual connection speeds.) For example, you’d be able to quickly take a photo or video on your phone and throw it over to your Windows computer for additional editing. The app will also let you push files from your PC to your phone.

As a lifelong Windows user who can’t help but covet the integration between Macs and iOS devices, Unison could be exactly what many PC users have been waiting for. Still, we’ll need to see it in action before we make any final judgements, and its limited support could be an issue.

To start, Intel will only offer Unison a few 12th-gen Evo PCs from HP, Acer and Lenovo this fall. Newman says it’ll head to future 13th-gen Evo systems next year. When asked if it could ever support earlier Intel hardware, Newman didn’t rule it out, but he noted that the company wanted to see how Unison performed on a select group of systems first. There’s also nothing stopping Unison from supporting AMD chips eventually, he said, but the companies would have to collaborate to make it happen.

Source: Engadget – Intel’s Unison app will let PCs text, call and share files from iPhones and Android devices

Alienware’s existing QD-OLED monitor is a spectacular display, but its size and $1,300 price can make it difficult to justify even if you’re a well-heeled enthusiast. Dell is tackling both of those problems with a revamped Alienware 34 Curved QD-OLED Gaming Monitor, the AW3423DWF. The new version is thinner, making it easier to mount on a wall, but also carries a lower $1,100 sticker. It’s not exactly cheap, then, but you can at least roll some of the savings into an RTX 4080 or other PC components.

The technical capabilities are largely similar, although that isn’t really a bad thing. This latest Alienware monitor still outputs atn ultra-wide 3,440 x 1,440 with QD-OLED’s signature color quality, high contrast and quick pixel response times (0.1ms gray-to-gray). The AW3423DWF packs a native 165Hz refresh rate with FreeSync Premium Pro and VESA AdaptiveSync Display support, but also offers 120Hz variable refresh rate compatibility to work nicely with your PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X/S. There’s a new on-screen settings joystick to quickly access mode presets, including a new Creator mode for gamers who also need to edit photos and videos.

The Alienware 34 QD-OLED Gaming Monitor ships sometime this fall. If anything, its main competition may come from its panel manufacturer. Samsung will release the Odyssey OLED G8 with a subtler design and slightly improved 175Hz refresh rate before the end of 2022. While its pricing isn’t yet available, you may have a difficult choice if you’re shopping for a stretched gaming display in the near future.

Source: Engadget – Alienware’s revamped QD-OLED gaming monitor is slimmer and cheaper