• AMD's Threadripper 2990WX Ultimate Sewing Silk And Satin Edition is 53% faster than Intel's competing Core i9 7980XE Waffling Whiffenpoof.  On Cinebench, specifically, but that's a solid use case for this chip.  (WCCFTech)
  
  The Threadripper WX range is not for everyone due to price and memory latency; unless you really need all those cores and your application isn't latency-sensitive, you'd be better off with the Threadripper X or just a Ryzen 2700X.  But for those who need what it delivers, it does seem to deliver.
  
  Threadripper 2 embargo lifts today, so expect a flood of reviews shortly.
  
  
• AMD's rumoured 2600H and 2800H 45W mobile APUs just got leaked by HP.  PDF  (Via Reddit)
  
  As noted previously, this is all the same APU chip; it's just configured at anything from 12W to 65W depending on the application.  And it's a good choice for an all-in-one like this - though I'll stick with my Dell Inspirons and their eight-core Ryzen 1700s thanks.
  
  
• Well, actually...  Apple is only the first company to reach a $1 trillion value if you don't adjust for inflation.  And ignore state-owned groups like Saudi Aramco and PetroChina.
  
  The Dutch East India Company ($7.4T), Mississippi Company ($6.3T), and South Sea Company ($4.2T) all dwarf the maker of overpriced digital fashion accessories.  (Motley Fool)
  
  True, all three of those companies peaked during bubbles, the South Sea Company infamously so.  But then, the iPhone X starts at A$1579 and doesn't even have a headphone jack, so don't talk to me about bubbles.
  
  

Picture of the Day

• For a trillion-dollar company Apple sure ships some garbage products.  (TechCrunch, who are not getting an invite to the next developer conference.)
  
  
• An office building in Seattle without air conditioning.  Of course, Seattle is practically in the Arctic, and even so this office is hot and sweaty and workers leave early to avoid the late afternoon heat and it's generally fucking retarded.*
  
  
• Apparently 25GBaseT and 40GBaseT are a thing.  They use Cat8 cables, which are also a thing.  And autonegotiate all the way back down to 10BaseT (old 10 megabit Ethernet) if needed.  Cable runs at 25/40 Gbps are limited to 30 metres, so this is for wiring racks and not office buildings.
  
  
  
  There's also a new standard for running gigabit Ethernet over a single wire pair, which is very interesting for wiring office buildings.  If you already have Cat5 everywhere you can run four times as many ports.
  
  
• Server migration and database updates are done.  Which means I don't need to renew that server for another year.  Which means I get to spend the money on toys instead!  I'm thinking a couple of 1TB Intel 760p SSDs for Tohru and Rally...  For Tohru, at least.  And since NBN hasn't arrived, I need a new router, because my old one is old.  And one of those nice LaCie 8TB drives.  And there goes all the money I just saved...
  
  Planning to get the Asus DSL-AC52U router, which in theory supports the VDSL config I'll need for NBN, but in practice locks your connection so you have to call tech support and get them to unlock it and wait for your verified NBN modem to show up.  But it also has a WAN port that I can plug the official modem into so I can blame my ISP when it goes wrong.

Picture of the Day

Posted by: Kayle at Monday, August 06 2018 06:20 AM (TtvMc)

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Posted by: cxt217 at Sunday, August 05 2018 06:27 AM (BcQU4)

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Posted by: cxt217 at Monday, August 06 2018 05:44 AM (BcQU4)

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• AMD has a new APU: 4 Zen cores, 24 Vega compute units, and supporting 8GB of GDDR5 memory.  (AnandTech)
  
  Where the existing Ryzen 2400G trails behind the original Playstation 4, this new chip has almost exactly the graphics performance of the Playstation 4 Pro.
  
  The downside: You can't have one.  It's a semi-custom design for a Chinese PC and console manufacturer.  We're not likely to see these as a regular PC component, because without the GDDR5 memory the fast graphics cores would starve.
  
  As a minor note, despite the dozens of Ryzen processors across two generations now, covering desktops, laptops, workstations, servers from 8 to 64 cores, embedded systems, and now game consoles, this is only the fourth Ryzen chip.  Everything else has been put together from one CPU chip (in 2017 or 2018 version) and one APU chip.
  
  
• AMD has a new range of high-end desktop chips that you will be able to buy, if you have the cash.  They range from the 12 core 2920X Tiny Tadpole for $649 to the 32 core 2990WX Robot Zombie Ninja Pirate for $1799.  (VideoCardz)
  
  The 12 and 16 core models use 180W; the 24 and 32 core models use a hefty 250W.  That's a lot of power and heat, but it's right in line with my Ryzen 1700, which uses 65W for 8 cores.
  
  Fittingly, the new chips come packaged in a small toaster oven.  (Fudzilla)
  
  
• Microsemi (who?) are launching PCIe 4.0 products - SSD controller chips and PCIe switches.  PCIe 4.0 should start to enter general availability next year, with new CPUs and chipsets and motherboards and video cards and so on.  Yes, you will need to buy everything again.  And in 2020 DDR5 memory will be coming out, so you'll need to buy everything again.  (AnandTech)
  
  Or don't; things are mostly fine anyway.
  
  
• NUKE EVERYONE.  THIS WILL NOT STAND.

Posted by: Rick C at Sunday, August 05 2018 04:13 AM (ITnFO)

Posted by: Pixy Misa at Sunday, August 05 2018 03:03 PM (PiXy!)

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• ASRock's X470 Taichi Ultimate Raptortronic Incineriffic Edition brings 10G Ethernet to Ryzen.  (AnandTech)
  
  
• Samsung's Galaxy Tab S4 is a very expensive 10.5" tablet without a headphone jack.  (AnandTech)
  
  
• Intel are planning to release a QLC NVMe SSD, the 660p.  No, I don't know why either.  (Tom's Hardware)
  
  
• Apple is worth one treeelion dollars.  (TechCrunch)
  
  
• Intel's 10nm process is a day late and a dollar short.  Or more precisely, four years late and 2nm short.  Long.  Whatever.  (SemiAccurate)
  
  

Picture of the Day

Posted by: cxt217 at Saturday, August 04 2018 09:26 AM (BcQU4)

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Posted by: Rick C at Friday, August 03 2018 04:46 AM (ITnFO)

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Posted by: Rick C at Saturday, August 04 2018 07:18 AM (ITnFO)

Posted by: Mauser at Saturday, August 04 2018 10:08 AM (Ix1l6)

Posted by: Pixy Misa at Sunday, August 05 2018 03:21 PM (PiXy!)

Posted by: J Greely at Monday, August 06 2018 06:01 AM (tgyIO)

Posted by: Pixy Misa at Monday, August 06 2018 10:17 AM (PiXy!)

Posted by: Rick C at Monday, August 06 2018 10:55 AM (ITnFO)

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• Google's new motto: "It's not evil if it turns a profit."  (Tom's Hardware)
  
  
• Never bet against Mario.  (WCCFTech)
  
  
• The problem with autoscaling: Everything scales automatically except your wallet.  (Hackernoon)
  
  
• GitLab is producing a data science tool to complement their core platform.  GitLab's core platform being, um, GitLab.
  
  The goal is to be for data scientists what GitLab is for developers.  Since my job spans these fields, and I like GitLab a lot, and the project is open source, I'm on board with this effort, except...  "Meltano"?  (GitLab)
  
  
• That Lenovo ThinkPad E485 that was available at a really good price and then went up $300 without notice is now available again for A$999 only now with 16GB of  RAM instead of 8GB.  Also, Ryzen 2700U models are available for an extra $100.  If you're interested in a general-purpose notebook and don't need a 4K screen or dedicated GPU, this looks like a very nice all-rounder for a great price.  Some of the time.

• Kairosoft's Thrift Store Story is out in English.  This is approximately their 347th mobile game.  Most of them are good.  (Not you, Fish Pond Park.)
  
  So is Wild Park Manager. When did that happen? Hmm. April. Didn't notice. And yet, it's already installed on my tablet. How did that happen?
  
  If you're new to Kairosoft and want to give them a try, I suggest Game Dev Story or Beastie Bay, which is free.  Dungeon Village, Mega Mall Story, and Grand Prix Story are also great fun. 
  
  
• Apple has many dollars.  Not a lot of unit growth though - just 1% year on year - so expect them to keep increasing prices, and me to keep not buying them.  (AnandTech)
  
  
• Apple stops supporting industry standards, industry stops supporting Apple.  (PC Perspective)
  
  Apple's decision to deprecate OpenGL and OpenCL was and remains shortsighted.
  
  
• AMD's new Threadripper 2990WX Ultimate Warrior Phoenix Deathclaw Niobium Ludicrous Edition Pro can hit 4GHz on all 32 cores, air cooled.  Maybe.  (WCCFTech)
  
  
• The bullshit web is where every page contains 5KB of text and 50MB of crap you not only don't want, but would pay to avoid.  (PixelEnvy via Hacker News)
  
  
• A game of snake.  Encoded on a bootable CD image.  Packed into a single tweet.
  
  
• Kid kills quantum.  An 18-year-old university student has come up with what looks like a classical algorithm for recommendation systems that works as well as the recently discovered quantum version, but doesn't require a time rotor to run.
  
  
• EPYC servers really want four memory channels populated to work well.  This is good news, because they have eight memory channels.  So with the coming doubling of core counts expected next year, we should see a doubling of performance on many tasks, and not find servers constrained by memory bandwidth.
  
  Also, 32GB modules are cheaper than 2 x 16GB modules, and leave more room for upgrading later.
  
  Same goes on a smaller scale for Ryzen CPUs - but not the APUs, which are already bandwidth constrained.  (ServeTheHome)
  
  So, does this mean I'd be okay buying one memory kit and upgrading both my machines to a lopsided 24GB while I wait for DRAM prices to finally come down?  Maybe it does.
  
  
• Tom's Hardware lists the best productivity (i.e. non-gaming) CPU in each of five categories, from ultra-budget to high-end professional.  All AMD.
  
  This may change when Intel's 8-core chips are released (end of the year?) but even then will likely change back in AMD's favour in the first half of 2019.  (Tom's Hardware)
  
  
• Lightning and financial systems don't mix.  Or rather, when they do mix, you're unlikely to enjoy the results.  When preparing DR strategies, make sure to include angry thunder gods in your calculations.

Posted by: Mauser at Thursday, August 02 2018 10:42 AM (Ix1l6)

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• AnandTech reviews Intel's Xeon W.  Spoiler, the final page is titled "Conclusion: Is Intel Serious About Xeon W?"  (AnandTech)
  
  
• New York has kicked out Charter Communications for failing to meet agreements and this writer at Tom's Hardware is terrified that he may need to use Verizon Fios or [shudder] DSL.  Because he has so few choices.  And the government should do something about that.  (Tom's Hardware)
  
  Listen, bub: I live somewhere where the government did something about that.  Result: I have been waiting nine years for them to upgrade my connection from DSL.  I can't get cable, because they're going to run fiber - eventually.  I can't get fixed 4G, because they're going to run fiber - eventually.  My options are DSL or [cough] satellite - in a city of five million people. 
  
  And the DSL infrastructure hasn't been upgraded at all during that time.  Because they're going to run fiber - eventually.
  
  The only worse thing than a monopoly is a government-run monopoly.
  
  
• It's just a scratch.
  
  

Posted by: Rick C at Tuesday, July 31 2018 12:54 PM (ITnFO)

Posted by: Rick C at Tuesday, July 31 2018 12:55 PM (ITnFO)

Posted by: StargazerA5 at Tuesday, July 31 2018 01:20 PM (0oc59)

Posted by: Pixy Misa at Wednesday, August 01 2018 12:47 AM (PiXy!)

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