Apple’s supply chain has seen a number of the audacious attempt of theft over the years. Around 6 years ago, Apple lost a truckload of iPhone 5c casings from its top supplies, Jabil. Over the years, Apple has introduced many measures to ensure components don’t leak.
While the situation is better now but it also means employees willing to steal have become more creative, kind of. At least they are audacious if not creative.
According to a report from The Information, Apple caught employees dig secrets tunnels and even a woman who stuffed her bra with a dozen iPhone screens. Apple has been on a crusade to counter the never-ending leaks of unreleased products.
The company created a security team called New Production Security aka NPS. It monitors its most sensitive suppliers in China. The leak managed to successfully block many device leaks but in the process discovered some interesting ways employees used.
There were factory workers who built a tunnel to transport Apple device components outside the factory
One of the factory workers was caught hiding parts in his belt buckle
One time a woman hid a dozen iPhone screens in her bra. She was caught when security guards noticed her odd walking style
These are just some of the examples we know, I’m sure there are a ton of others. The good news is that Apple’s NPS team managed to perform and minimize leaks. However, it is a constant battle against people determined to steal and make money. Apple won’t win every time and we will hear more stories like this in the future.
News about the new iPhone is leaked all the time. The iPhone XI or whatever it is going to be called has been leaked multiple times over the past couple of weeks. If past experience is anything to go by then the leaks are most likely true.
The Nintendo Switch Lite has been announced and has got mixed reactions. It turns out that the rumors of the Nintendo Switch Mini were indeed true. That was not the only rumor that we heard of. We also got word about a premium Nintendo Switch version that could run games at a higher resolution. This Nintendo Switch refresh is not coming out this year.
Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser has confirmed that the Nintendo Switch Lite is the only hardware that is going to release this year. This means that at the earliest the Nintendo Switch refresh will release in 2020. That does not seem like a coincidence keeping in mind that the Xbox Scarlett and PS5 are going to release in the Fall of 2020.
The Nintendo Switch does not directly compete with the Xbox One or the PS4. Nintendo Switch focuses on portability while the PS4 and Xbox One provide better graphics. But all three are in the same gaming space. So, indirectly the Nintendo Switch does compete with the other consoles.
The same is going to be the case with the upcoming Xbox Scarlett and PS5. Not only will they be facing off against one another but the Nintendo Switch, the Nintendo Switch refresh and other platforms such as Google Stadia.
The Nintendo Switch Refresh should be able to deliver better graphics and performance in both handheld mode and when docked. While you should not expect much of an upgrade something will still be better than nothing at the end of the day. It has been a while since the Nintendo Switch releases and it has sold millions of units. So there is a demand for such a hybrid console.
Now we have to wait and see what the new hardware is going to offer. One of the major complaints with the Nintendo Switch Lite is that it has the same hardware. People pointing out that if it was able to run games at 1080p then it would have been a no brainer but the removal of some features does not make it worth it.
We also talked about the full Nintendo Switch Lite experience costing the same as the Nintendo Switch, so it might not make sense to everyone. Plus if you are interested in getting the joycons then you need to get the grip to charge those controllers as well. These are all things that you need to consider.
Nintendo has just announced its new version of Switch, Nintendo Switch Lite, a cheaper option for those who only want the handheld experience. But, Nintendo isn’t ignoring the original Nintendo Switch as it also getting a facelift. According to filings, Nintendo is updating original Switch hardware with a new CPU and storage.
Nintendo has filed to FCC (Federal Communications Commission) to upgrade original Nintendo Switch with a new SOC and storage. The filing is to ensure that the original product is being updated instead of having it re-certified for sale in the US.
Nintendo intends to update the SOC(system on the ship) which is the custom Nvidia Tegra processor. This could be to ensure that the upgraded version of Nintendo Switch is patched against the exploits in the original version.
For those who don’t know, the original Nintendo Switch has future-proof hack due to an exploit present in Nvidia Tegra. The only way to rectify this exploit is to update the Switch with a new SOC and seems like Nintendo and Nvidia are doing just that.
Also, there is a possibility that instead of launching the Nintendo Switch Pro, Nintendo is just upgrading the original Switch. It remains to be seen if the original Nintendo Switch actually gets updated and if it makes any difference in terms of performance.
Nintendo is getting superb third-party party support, unlike the Wii U. One of the main third-party publishers and developers for Nintendo Switch is Bethesda.
Bethesda has launched Skyrim, DOOM, Wolfenstein: The New Colossus and more to come including DOOM Eternal and Wolfenstein: Youngblood. Bethesda is also proud of its lineup being launched for Nintendo Switch. According to Bethesda, it’s games are one of the reasons that are selling more Nintendo Switch units.
The first-party titles have also been extremely successful for Nintendo. Games like Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odyssey have been very successful. Now Nintendo is developing a sequel to Breath of the Wild and Luigi Mansion 3 is also coming to Switch.
Intel boasted its Corei9-9900K as the world’s fastest gaming CPU. At the time it might have been the fastest gaming CPU but, with the launch of Ryzen 3000 desktop CPUs, that’s not the case at all. Even the mid-range AMD Ryzen 5 3600 and 3600X beat Intel Core i9-9900K in 1440p and 4K gaming.
For those who fail to grasp the situation, Ryzen 5 3600 and 3600X cost $233 and $249 respectively. On the other hand, Intel Corei9-9900K is way more expensive and costs $449. A $233 CPU beating or keeping up with a $449 CPU, that’s what I call performance.
Even in some instances, the Ryzen 5 3600 is ahead of the Ryzen 5 3600X in 4K and 1440p gaming benchmarks. Aide from the prices, both Ryzen 5 3600 and 3600X feature 6-Cores and 12 threads while the Intel Core i9-9900K features 8-Cores and 16 threads.
Specs
Intel Core i9-9900K
AMD Ryzen 5 3600
AMD Ryzen 5 3600X
Cores/threads
8/16
6/12
6/12
Processor Base Frequency
3.6GHz
3.6 GHz
3.8 GHz
Boost Frequency
5.0 GHz
4.2 GHz
4.4GHz
Cache
16 MB
32 MB
32 MB
Price
$449
$233
$249
In terms of specs, these Ryzen CPUs might be behind the Intel CPU but in 4K gaming performance, they take the lead. These gaming benchmarks were done by YouTuber Gear Seekers. You can check out these benchmarks in the video below.
These benchmarks were done with both Radeon VII and Nvidia RTX 2080 Ti. The following table will give you a better idea of the results.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 1440p/4K
Final Fantasy XV 1440p/4K
AMD Ryzen 5 3600/ Radeon VII
93 FPS/52 FPS
7030 Points/4205 Points
AMD Ryzen 5 3600X/ Radeon VII
94 FPS/58 FPS
7418 Points/ 4300 Points
Intel Core i9-9900K/ Radeon VII
93 FPS/53 FPS
7150 Points/ 4183 Points
AMD Ryzen 5 3600/ RTX 2080 Ti
117 FPS/81 FPS
10447 Points/ 6219 Points
AMD Ryzen 5 3600/ RTX 2080 Ti
117 FPS/81 FPS
10221 Points/6171 Points
Intel Core i9-9900K/ RTX 2080 Ti
116 FPS/ 76 FPS
10304 Points/6139 Points
Also, this isn’t the only time the AMD Ryzen 5 3600 has beaten a high-end Intel CPU. We previously covered gaming performance for both Ryzen 5 3600 and Intel Core i7-8700K. The results are the same as with the Intel Core i9-9900K vs Ryzen 5 3600 CPU benchmarks. Ryzen 3600 has a significant lead over i7-8700K in gaming performance.
With Ryzen CPUs beating Intel desktop CPUs in every aspect, I wonder if Intel has something in its sleeves to counter AMD. If things keep going like this, AMD Ryzen will eventually overtake the CPU market and Intel will be left behind to catch up.
We have heard that PS5 dev kits are already with some developers. Microsoft confirmed Xbox Scarlett at E3 2019 and confirmed that it is working on sending out dev kits. It seems that Microsoft Game Studios already have access to Xbox Scarlett hardware.
Xbox Game Studios boss Matt Booty confirmed that Halo Infinite developer 343 Industries is the first to get access to Xbox Scarlett hardware. Halo Infinite is going to be one of the launch titles for the upcoming next-generation Xbox so there is no surprise there. Here is what Booty had to say regarding the matter:
our first-party studios have direct access to the team working on Project Scarlett, and the Halo team gets first access to what’s running on the hardware. So they are in prime position to take advantage of the things Scarlett will offer, but as you pointed out we also want to make sure people who own an Xbox One get a game which runs well up and down the Xbox family. But it plays best on Scarlett.
We have already talked about why we think the Xbox Scarlett is going to be more powerful than the PS5. Booty talked about the limitations of hardware and how the Xbox Scarlett is not going to be affected by them. The next generation console will open doors to new experiences and on the Xbox Scarlett side, all that starts with Halo Infinite. Booty went on to mention the following:
Start to think about things like bringing a bigger density of life to a world. We know the kind of game Halo is, the kind of detail in there. Think about bringing more density and variety to the light inside its world. Think about not having to create artificial design things to mask some of the limitations of the hardware and just bring things off of the SSD as fast as they’re needed on screen.
Booty did not reveal much but all this is very interesting indeed. No matter what the case is, it is safe to say that the jump from Xbox One to Xbox Scarlett is going to be a major one and Microsoft Game Studios will have plenty of games for the upcoming console.
While we are talking about Xbox Scarlett and Microsoft Game Studios it is worth mentioning that Microsoft could be working on a streaming-only console. Microsoft’s Partner Director of Program Management Jason Ronald talked about the pricing of the upcoming Xbox Scarlett and mentioned that it is going to be reasonable.
Reviews for Ryzen 3000 desktop CPUs have started to pour in as the CPUs are now available in the market. These AMD CPUs offer performance gains not only compared to previous Ryzen CPUs but, also on latest Intel CPUs including the Core i9-9900K. Despite the performance leap, Ryzen 3000 CPUs, for some reason, aren’t running Destiny 2.
This means that CPUs like Ryzen 7 3700X and Ryzen 7 3950X, despite having increased core/thread count compared to Intel, aren’t able to run Destiny 2.
Players report that as they launch the game, it just shows up briefly in the Task Manager and then just vanishes. Also, the issue isn’t just with one or two CPUs from the line-up but is consistent with all AMD Ryzen 3000 CPUs.
Most of the Ryzen CPUs would have probably been bought by gamers. It’s ironic that many of them aren’t currently able to play their favorite game.
This doesn’t mean the CPUs are faulty, it’s probably just a matter of compatibility. Hopefully, this will be fixed with a patch. Also, Bungie has noted that it’s investigating why the Destiny 2 isn’t running on Ryzen 3000 CPUs.
AMD latest lineup of Ryzen CPUs is based on its 7nm Zen 2 architecture. But, that isn’t the only product powered by Zen 2. We know that both PlayStation 5 and Xbox Scarlett feature a custom AMD APU based on a variant of Zen 2 architecture.
If the performance gains are any indicators then PS5 and Xbox Scarlett will be powerful consoles and won’t be bottlenecked by a weak CPU. Furthermore, both consoles also feature Navi graphics with support for real-time Ray Tracing.
While AMD is making progress in the CPU market by leaps and bounds, the story is a bit different in the GPU sector. Nvidia is currently the king of the GPU market and AMD is lagging behind.
However, AMD is the first among the two to introduce 7nm GPUs but, Nvidia still claims that its 12nm Turing architecture is still the most efficient GPU. Nvidia claims Turing architecture’s performance per watt advantage is quite evident over its competitor.
If you are interested in checking out the benchmarks of the AMD Ryzen 5 3600 then be sure to check out our numbers.
The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 has just been released and it is similar in specifications to the Intel 8700K. Here we are going to look at the performance benchmarks of the AMD Ryzen 5 3600 vs the Intel i7 8700K and see which CPU performs better.
While the AMD and Intel CPUs have similar specifications the AMD chip has more cache supports PCIe Gen 4 and is priced lower. Before we get into the benchmarks, check out the specifications of the AMD Ryzen 5 3600 vs I7 8700K below:
CPU
AMD Ryzen 5 3600
Intel Core i7 8700K
Socket
AM4
LGA 1151
Cores/Threads
6 Cores / 12 Threads
6 Cores / 12 Threads
Base Clock
3.6 GHz
3.7 GHz
Boost Clock
4.2 GHz
4.7 GHz
Fabrication
7nm FinFET TSMC
12nm FinFET TSMC
Cache
32 MB
12 MB
PCIe
PCIe 4.0
PCIe 3.0
Memory
DDR4 3200 MHz
DDR4 2666 MHz
TDP
65W
95W
Price
$199
$329
AMD Ryzen 5 3600 vs I7 8700K Benchmarks
For these tests, the AMD Ryzen 5 3600 and I7 8700K were paired with an RTX 2080 Ti and 16 GB of RAM. The games that we have tested were running at 1080p. You can check out the benchmarks in different games below.
Assassins Creed Odyssey
Let’s start off with the latest Assassin’s Creed game. Here we see that the AMD Ryzen 5 3600 is able to pull ahead. This difference might be a minor one but keep in mind that the AMD Ryzen 5 3600 is a much cheaper CPU.
Crysis 3
But can it run Crysis? Sure it can. The performance of the AMD chip is much better than that of the Intel 8700. Hence the AMD Ryzen 5 3600 is great value for money.
Dirt Rally
Here we have another CPU intensive game and the AMD Ryzen 3 3600 is not only able to keep up with the 8700K but is able to outperform it by a few FPS as well. The difference is small but as mentioned above, this is a very cheaper CPU.
The Division
If you have played this game then you know how much stress it can put in the CPU. The numbers speak for themselves. The AMD chip is able to beat the Intel CPU in this game as well.
Doom
Doom is a very fast-paced game and to have the ideal experience you need a CPU that can handle all those FPS and keep up with the graphics card. In this game, it is a tie between the AMD Ryzen 5 3600 and the Intel 8700 CPUs.
Final Fantasy XV
FF XV is a tie as well. This is still in favor of AMD because the Intel CPU is more than $100 higher in price.
For Honor
Intel does take the lead here but the AMD CPU is not far behind.
Deus Ex Mankind Divided
Moving on to Mankind Divided. We can see that team Red pulls back into the lead.
Project Cars 2
Intel claims the lead in Project Cars 2.
PUBG
Moving on to PUBG. The AMD Ryzen 3600 simply blows the 8700K out of the water.
Rainbow Six Siege
Team Red manages to keep in front in this title as well.
Rise of the Tomb Raider
Intel is on AMD’s tail here but the AMD Ryzen 3600 is not giving up without a fight.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider
Moving on the latest installment in the franchise. AMD strengthens its lead here and moves further ahead in the race.
The Witcher 3
This is a classic and I am sure that some people are still interested in knowing how well modern CPUs can run the Witcher 3. The performance is pretty similar but the AMD Ryzen CPU does have a small edge over the Intel 8700.
Overall Performance
In these benchmarks, we have already seen that the AMD Ryzen 5 3600 pulls ahead even though it is a much cheaper CPU. If you are still interested in overall performance numbers then you can check out the figure below:
Price To Performance
The difference might not seem like much but once you add price into the mix you see the real difference. You can check out the price to performance numbers below:
Verdict
There you have it folks. The new AMD Ryzen 5 3600 is a great CPU and the benchmarks show that it can easily take on the Intel 8700K. The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 benchmarks also reveal that overall it is a better chip when it comes to gaming and that it is exceptionally great value for money when compared to the 8700K.
All this is great and we know that AMD is also powering the upcoming PS5 and Xbox Scarlett, so it is going to be a great year for the company.
Playdate is a new handheld console developed by Panic Inc. Concepts of the console were revealed a while back but it is not available right now. Playdate scams are taking over Facebook and users are seeing ads for the handheld console that claim that you can buy one for $50.
Officially the console is not on sale and the pricing is set at USD $149. Like everything else in life, if something seems too good to be true, then it most probably is. The same is the case here. The guys that are developing Playdate are already on the case and are actively trying to spread awareness of the scam so that people do not lose their money.
The Playdate handheld console is supposed to release early in 2020. So you will have to wait another few months if you are interested in getting one.
Scam alert: if you see a Facebook ad like this, please beware! You can’t buy Playdate yet, and you can’t buy it for $55*. This ad will make your money wave goodbye to you forever. What a world
What we do know is that the team behind the Playdate handheld console are working with game designers such as Keita Takahashi and Zach Gage and Bennett Foddy and Shaun Inman to make games for the console. Here is how the team describes the Playdate:
It’s yellow. It fits in your pocket. It’s got a beautiful black and white screen. It’s not super cheap, but not super expensive. It includes brand new games from some amazing creators. Plus it has a crank.
Panic has been making software of Android and iOS for a long time now. 20 years to be exact. This is the company experimenting with something new. The concept is cool and the device could be very impressive indeed. We will let you know more when the developers are ready to talk about it.
AMD has made a major comeback with Ryzen CPUs. Intel has been in the market for a long time now and has not delivered on performance gains over the years. This created a space for AMD to get in on the action. By offering great value and performance AMD Ryzen CPU sales have now overtaken Intel in Japan.
Intel has been having issues with the 10nm process but the company seems confident that it has the roadmap and the strategy to take on AMD Ryzen CPU sales. The 10nm CPUs have been delayed time and time again. AMD on the other side is ready to release the 3rd generation of Ryzen CPUs that are based on the 7nm process and Zen 2 architecture.
AMD came back with the first generation of Ryzen and while the sales were not as high as Intel, it slowly took market share from Intel. Now AMD Ryzen CPU sales have overtaken Intel in Japan. You can check out the graph below for specifics.
This is not a small feat keeping in mind that AMD is the underdog here. Intel is a major company with all the resources and funds in the world. Not to mention an unlimited pool of talent which becomes bigger with the passage of time. Intel has even gone to admit that AMD Ryzen 3000 series is a threat that can beat the 9th generation of CPUs from Intel.
If AMD Ryzen CPU sales are higher than Intel in Japan, then it is safe to say that the same is the case in other parts of the world. We just do not know yet. I am sure that when the numbers come out we will see a similar story in other parts of the work. This is very impressive keeping in mind that around 3 years ago, AMD was not active in the CPU market.
AMD Ryzen 3000 series is around the corner and it should help boost AMD sales even further. It is also worth mentioning that not only is AMD powering the next generation of consoles, but it is also powering Google Stadia.
The PS5 has been rumored to beat the Xbox Scarlett and we talked about how that is not going to be the case. A new rumor suggests that the upcoming PS5 will deliver 14.2 TFLOPs of performance and will come with a 2 TB SSD.
We know that Sony is working on making loading screens as short as possible. We have already seen a demo in with Spider-man loads in under a second on the PS5. We also found a Dynamic Loading patent that should cut down loading times from the software side.
PS5 Leaked Specifications
We know that the SSD that Sony is using in the PS5 used proprietary technology and we speculated that it could be some sort of custom SSD that uses the PCIe 4.0 interface. All in all, it seems that Sony is tackling loading times at the software and hardware levels.
Keeping all that in mind and the fact that games are getting larger each day it would not shock me if the next generation PS5 came with a 2 TB SSD out of the box. Currently played games such as Destiny 2 are around 90 GB and upcoming games such as Cyberpunk 2077 are supposed to be more than 80 GB.
If you have a 500 GB HDD that means that you can only have around 7-10 games. So, a 2 TB SSD does make sense. It will give you the speed that the current generation lacks and should give you ample room to store a decent amount of games.
CPU And GPU
We already know that the PS5 will be powered by the AMD Ryzen CPU that is based on AMD Zen 2 and the 7nm process. New information reveals that the CPU part will be running at 3.2 GHz. This is much higher than the current generation of consoles. Even the Xbox One X and PS4 Pro. Zen 2 is more efficient and is able to clock higher so it is possible.
We already know that on the graphics side, the PS5 will use an AMD Navi based solution. It will also be based on the 7nm process. New information claims that the PS5 graphics solution will have 72 CUs, 64 shaders, a clock speed of 1.55 GHz and will deliver 14.2 TFLOPs of performance.
This insider information should be taken with a grain of salt. The RX Vega 64 is capable of delivering around 12.5 TFLOPs. AMD Navi is not expected to deliver around the same level of performance as well. This is a console and a custom design so Sony might work with AMD in order to get additional performance out of the Navi graphics part.
AMD CEO Lisa Su has confirmed that both Sony and Microsoft have similar specifications but both have their own secret sauce. So it is possible that the PS5 actually delivers 14.2 TFLOPs but I would not bet on it.
Other Specifications
The source mentioned that the console will offer 16 GB or 14 GB of RAM. It is possible that the consumer version will ship with 16 GB while the dev kits will feature 24 GB of RAM. Seeing how the console is supposed to deliver 4K resolution in all games that support it, this amount of RAM is not surprising. Support for up to 8K has already been confirmed. We are not sure how many games will run at such a high resolution. Only time will tell.
The source also mentioned ray tracing hardware. This is something that Sony has not confirmed. It has talked about ray tracing but has not mentioned whether it is hardware accelerated. At least not to my knowledge. This source seems to confirm that the PS5 will indeed support hardware accelerated ray tracing. This is a feature which has already been confirmed for the Xbox Scarlett so it is not surprising that the PS5 is taking the same route.
Release Window
Sony has not talked about when the PS5 will be released. The company has not even confirmed that it is called the PS5. The source mentioned that the PS5 will release around the end of 2020. Which is in line with the Xbox Scarlett release which has been confirmed to be Fall of 2020.
These are specifications from an insider. The product is supposed to release 18 months from now so the hardware can vary. Keep that in mind. 14.2 TFLOPs of performance does not seem unreasonable for the next-generation PS5 but you have to wonder what the price will be like with all that performance packed into the box. BastianTech also got reports that are similar to ours.
