The AnandTech Podcast - M4A Feed

Wrapping up Computex 2018 with discussions about AMD's Threadripper 2 with 32 cores, Intel's new limited edition Core i7-8086K, and that really odd 28-core 5 GHz demo where Intel forgot to mention it was overclocked. Also some discussion on the best of the rest of the show, including G.Skill's Royal memory, gaming smartphones, ASUS' dual screen technologies, Intel's QLC NAND, and hardware for miners.

Today at Intel’s Data Center Memory Summit, the new ‘Apache Pass’ Optane memory DIMMs were announced, with capacities from 128 GB to 512 GB. This new 3D XPoint type of memory is focused on allowing persistent memory support on servers, and will be avaialble with the next generation of Xeon Scalable processors (which Intel has not announced yet). Also on the docket from Intel was some information on their high-density QLC 3D NAND solid state drives, and we have details on when they should be coming to market. Samsung also announced 32 GB SO-DIMM modules for high-end gaming laptops.

The recent discussions at AnandTech have been about the latest updates in desktop computing. We recently went live with our Ryzen 2000-series review of all four processors, and our subsequent follow up with regards how operating systems like Windows rely on timers of different accuracy to account for time passing. In this podcast we cover the details of both topics, and then discuss how Intel's 'Core with Radeon RX Vega' is not a true Vega chip, but is actually built on AMD's Polaris architecture. Finally, we comment on Intel's recent hires from AMD's staff, as well as a new generation of power supply components.

In early February, GlobalFoundries did something completely unexpected: for the second time in ten years, they invited a few select press and analysts to visit one of their fabrication plants (‘fabs’), where they make AMD processors, IBM silicon, and ASICs from a variety of companies. We were invited to Fab 8 in upstate New York, GF’s leading edge fab, which will be the site of the company’s 7nm and EUV offerings that will propel the fastest processors over the next three-to-five years. To get into the factory floor clean room requires a ‘bunny suit’ such that no particulates can enter the air, which could potentially cause defects or manufacturing processes to fail. To be invited is a rare thing indeed, and so here is our tale, in podcast form!

It’s hard to talk about gaming in 2017 without mentioning PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. Joining me on the Podcast today is Chris Dring, a veteran of games journalism, writer for almost 20 years, and an old high-school friend. This is a podcast I’ve wanted to do for a while: Chris has a unique insight into the gaming industry, having published a literal shed load of magazines covering the industry and events such as E3, as well as interviewing most of the high-profile and indie elements of the UK games industry, so I wanted to pick his brain on the current state of a main driver of computing technology. In this podcast we talk about PUBG and the other gaming highlights of 2017, as well as a look towards what is in store for gaming in 2018, from both a hardware and software perspective.

LAS VEGAS, NV – The annual CES show is biggest of AnandTech’s main six shows of the year, and with it comes a wall-to-wall meeting schedule with press events starting two days before the show is supposed to start. After clocking up the miles and calling many taxis, we managed to get an hour before flying home to discuss the headlines and highlights from the show. Key topics included the Intel, AMD, and NVIDIA keynotes, and we go through a number of prominent show announcements that might have passed you by.

Every so often, the technology industry goes crazy. To get three events along those lines in the same week just blows the mind. On this podcast, Ian and Ryan discuss the critical stories: Intel buying custom GPUs from AMD, Raja Koduri leaving AMD, Raja Koduri joining Intel, Intel to create custom GPUs, and Qualcomm announcing Centriq 2400. Recorded on November 10th 2017.

While in San Francisco for AMD’s Zen Tech Day, I had a chance to catch up with a good friend by the name of Patrick Kennedy, who runs the tech news website ServeTheHome. We frequently battle STH here at AnandTech to be the first to break news on new server platforms, but it is a friendly rivalry where often we end up picking each other’s brains for information or to bounce ideas off of each other. To that end I managed to convince Patrick to be a guest on our podcast, to talk about the recent issue with Avoton and Rangeley C2000 CPUs as well as the launch of C3000 and discuss what the upcoming Naples platform can do for AMD.

The annual CES show is always a mélange of announcements and sneak peeks for what is to come through the year. At the show we had most of our regular editors on foot, meeting with manufacturers to find out what exactly is going on under the hood. Despite some technical hiccups trying to record the podcast on site, I was able to track down some of our editors for a short burst into their main highlights from CES and thoughts on the year ahead.

Here’s the second part of AnandTech’s smartphone podcast, post the Apple event where the iPhone 7 was launched. On the Podcast are Ian, Josh and Matt (apologies for his microphone) discussing a number of other devices and reviews that were launched around the same time as the iPhone. First up is a recap of Josh’s review of the Samsung Galaxy Note7, which has since been recalled due to issues with the battery - the team discuss some of the other features of the Note7 as well. Next is a discussion on the launch event of the Honor 8, a step up from previous Honor devices and uses HiSilicon’s top smartphone SoC, the Kirin 950, and also comes with dual cameras. Finally the team covers the LG V20 smartphone launch, with the Josh having a good hands on with the dual display technology as well as some time on the new Android 7/N.