The regulator has reportedly told China Mobile and China Telecom, along with all other state-owned carriers, to check their networks for any semiconductors that weren’t manufactured locally. It then asked them to determine a timeline to replace them. The Journal’s sources said that it’s now possible to switch to domestic chips, thanks to improvements in their quality and performance over the past few years. Chinese companies like Huawei were forced to design their own semiconductors after getting hit by trade sanctions, in order to be self-sufficient and in case they’re no longer able to import chips from the US and its allies. The Chinese government, in turn, is supporting their efforts and is raising $40 billion in funds to help the domestic semiconductor industry.

This latest move by China follows its ban on the use of Intel and AMD processors in government computers. Prior to that, China also prohibited the use of US-made tech in all government institutions and public bodies and banned local firms from buying chips made by US memory manufacturer Micron Technology. Intel and AMD will most likely suffer heavy losses from this latest development, since they provide most of the chips used for mobile networks around the world. China was also Intel’s largest market in 2023 and accounted for 27 percent of its revenue. In addition to losing some of their biggest customers, the companies will now have to face competition from Chinese manufacturers, as well.

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Alienware notes that the monitor's AMD FreeSync Premium and VESA AdaptiveSync certification can enable tear- and stutter-free gaming. The AW2524HF has a low latency response time of 0.5ms which, according to Alienware, eliminates motion blur and ghosting effects.

The monitor is HDR10-compatible and it has 99 percent sRGB color coverage. The Fast IPS panel is said to enable consistent visuals from any viewing angle. Alienware also claims the TUV-certified ComfortView Plus hardware feature reduces harmful low blue light while still ensuring the display delivers true-to-life colors.

The monitor has a built-in retractable hanger for your headset and a height-adjustable hexagonal base that's designed to take up less space on your desk. As for connectivity, there are two DisplayPort 1.4 slots, one HDMI 2.1 port and five spaces for USB 3.2 cables.

You can snap up the AW2524HF from Dell's website starting on September 12th. The monitor costs $650. Alienware will reveal UK pricing and availability later.

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Hardware

Given Framework’s emphasis on building a stable platform for its modular laptops, there are no changes here. Pop the hood and you’ll only notice a few differences, like a plastic retainer on the WiFi module rather than a metal one, but that’s it. At this point, I feel confident enough that I could swap out a mainboard without having to consult a manual.

Framework’s adopted the “Good, Better, Best” mode with its specs, with the base model packing a Ryzen 5, 7640U with a Radeon 760M iGPU, 8GB RAM and a 256GB SSD. The middle-tier unit I’m testing has a Ryzen 7, 7840U with Radeon 7840U, 16GB RAM and a 512GB SSD. Fancier types who opt for the flagship get the same Ryzen 7 7840U as the middle tier, albeit with 32GB RAM and a 1TB SSD.

The only other difference is with batteries: The base model will ship with the older, 55Wh battery while the other two get the newer 61Wh model. That said, the company has also wheeled out new HDMI and DisplayPort expansion cards for more power-efficient video outputs. Those will be coming to all new laptop orders in the near future, but make their debut here with the AMD editions.

Upgrades and Compromises

Naturally, the point of Framework’s platform is that if you already have one of its notebooks, you can just swap in the AMD mainboard. Although that process isn’t as simple as it is when you’re swapping out an Intel model for one of its successors. Your existing RAM and WiFi modules will not work with the AMD board, so you’ll need to get new DDR5 DIMMs and an AMD-made WiFi module like the RZ616, which is what Framework bundles in its prebuilt editions.

Much as the laptop’s design remains the same, there are more differences on the inside, which is where it counts. If you don’t know, each mainboard has a quartet of USB-C ports that stick out of the laptop’s deck. Each one corresponds to an Expansion Card slot, letting you slide in a specific port depending on your needs for that day. So you can pop out your second USB-C port in favor of a HDMI or DisplayPort-out the day you have a presentation to give.

On Intel’s side of the fence, this is a stress free experience because all four ports are the same. Since the 12th generation board, all four support Thunderbolt (and USB) 4, each one with 40 Gbps bandwidth, up to 100W power draw and support for two 60Hz 4K displays. Not to mention the standard enables you to add an eGPU to your setup for extra graphics muscle.

But things aren’t as elegant on the AMD side because a) Thunderbolt is an Intel standard and b) AMD’s portable silicon has some, uh, limitations. Only the rear port on either side supports USB 4, with the front two a mish-mash of competing standards. As you can see from the graphic, the front left port supports charging, USB 3.2 and USB-A, while the front right offers USB 3.2 and video out.

To make things worse, there are no visible clues to remind you what each port can and cannot do for obvious design and uniformity reasons. I don’t blame Framework for having to deal with AMD’s mess, and it has been brave enough to foreground these compromises from day one. But it’s one of those issues where you’ll either need to keep a mental record, or face an error pop-up when you’ve plugged the wrong port into the wrong socket.

But then I doubt there are too many people who are looking to buy this laptop who will need regular access to a quartet of 40 Gbps connections. I suspect there won’t be too many times AMD users are cursing the skies for the minor annoyance of swapping cards over. It’s just one of those situations where you wish users weren’t left dealing with the consequences of two chip giants who won’t play nicely.

Performance

Much as AMD may not have the silky uniformity and consistency of its rival chip giant, it does have an ace up its sleeve. Those integrated GPUs are far ahead of Intel’s, giving it enough grunt to push halfway-demanding games without too much sweat. It’s worth saying, as usual, that this is, first and foremost, a productivity machine, but with AMD on board, it’ll play just as hard as it works.

In the time I had with the hardware, I played Grand Theft Auto V on high settings and got 55 fps out of this machine. Similarly, Fortnite will crank out an average of 50 fps with the settings on high, easily enough to keep you amused on work trips or in your dorm room. Synthetic tests aren’t everything, but suggest the AMD version comes out ahead in both single (by a little) and multi-core performance (by a lot) compared to the equivalent Intel model.

The issue, really, isn’t with the performance you can wring out of this machine, but how much noise it’ll make while doing it. A common complaint, from the earliest version of the Framework 13, is the excessive fan noise when it’s put under heavy load. The mainboard fan really wasn’t designed to cope with the high loads you might expect to want to put it under, making a sound I will describe as “persistent” and “noticeable” and often “quite loud.”

Pricing

When announcing the AMD boards, Framework committed to price parity between Intel and AMD editions whenever possible. The Base and Performance models, on the entry and mid tiers, cost $1,049 and $1,469 whatever chip you choose. At the high end, however, there is a fairly big delta between the $1,669 you’ll pay for the AMD version and the $2,069 asking price for the Intel edition.

Wrap-Up

In the short time I’ve had with the AMD edition, I’ve been impressed with what is now possible in this chassis. The silicon out-performs its Intel equivalent, but it’s all taking place in the same body with the same, user-serviceable design. That’s a big achievement, and there are plenty of folks chomping at the bit to get one of these in their lives – the first seven production batches are already sold out, with an eighth on the way. It remains, undeniably, a Framework 13, so you will get the same flexibility and longevity that you’ve come to expect, but with a little bit more oomph.

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The problem lies in Anti-Lag+ intercepting and redirecting Dynamic Link Library (DLL) functions. VAC views DLL reroutes as cheats (in other cases, they often are), which could lead to getting booted from Counter-Strike 2.

A Reddit thread about the issue claims “many players” have reported receiving VAC bans from using the latest AMD driver (23.10.1). “It seems that VAC is banning everyone BUT the cheaters,” quipped u/Volfong in the thread. “Can confirm I got banned today and Anti-Lag+ was turned on,” wrote u/trkemrasr. “They better reverse this shit quickly.”

Valve plans to do just that. “Once AMD ships an update we can do the work of identifying affected users and reversing their ban,” the publisher posted on X (formerly Twitter).

Until the problem is resolved, Valve recommends turning off Anti-Lag+ in the graphics card settings. If you haven’t changed the default, you can disable Anti-Lag+ with the hotkey of Alt+L. You can double-check the shortcut’s setting by opening AMD Radeon Software, clicking on the gear icon and choosing Hotkeys from the sub-menu. Selecting the existing hotkey for Anti-Lag+ allows you to customize it.

Engadget has contacted AMD for comment and will update this article if we hear back.

Counter-Strike 2 launched in September after months of hype. The update, which replaced Counter-Strike: Global Offensive on Steam, adds upgraded graphics and maps alongside more realistic smoke. The game uses Valve’s Source 2 engine for improved lighting, clearer textures and updated geometry. You’ll need a somewhat modern Windows machine to play it as Valve says it has no plans to bring the sequel to macOS or older PCs.

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As a flagship chip, the RX 7900M comes with 72 compute units (compared to 32 for the RX 7700S) and features 16GB of GDDR6 RAM, while consuming up to 180 watts — well beyond the 110 watt TDP of NVIDIA's RTX 4080 mobile chip. AMD claims it can outperform the latter by 7 percent on average in terms of frame rates, while offering an additional 4GB of GDDR6 RAM.

In one example, AMD claimed it could beat a laptop with an RTX 4080 mobile chip by 27 percent on Starfield with a 62 fps frame rate (FSR 2, Ultra 1440p). In another, it said that Forspoken could run at 201 fps with FSR 3 turned on, compared to 63 fps with the setting disabled. It also listed higher frame rates for a number of rasterized games, though it was beaten by a majority ray-traced games run on NVIDIA RTX 4080 GPU-equipped laptops. This is an issue we flagged after reviewing the Radeon RX 7900 XTX and 7900 XT desktop processors last year.

Along with the mobile GPU, AMD announced a partnership with Alienware, integrating its RX 7900M and Ryzen 9 7945HX processor into the m18 laptop. Along with those chips, that model comes with an 18-inch QHD+ (2,560 x 1,600) display, up to 64GB of RAM, 8.5GB of storage max, and more. That model, along with the RX 7900M, is set to arrive in Q4 2023, when we can hopefully put AMD's claims to the test.

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The term AMD Advantage is marketing speak for a computer that’s built from the ground up for gaming via various AMD chipsets and technologies. To that end, the m18 is the first computer to feature the all-new AMD Radeon RX 7900M laptop graphics chip. These laptops also come equipped with the well-regarded AMD Ryzen 7945HX CPU. So, yeah, this thing’s a beast, with Alienware calling it a “performance juggernaut.”

The Radeon RX 7900M has been engineered to deliver “desktop-class” visuals even when playing power-hungry AAA titles. The GPU is filled with techy features, like second-gen raytracing accelerators, 16GB of GDDR6 VRAM and other “advanced capabilities to push the limits of gaming and content creation on the go.”

The Ryzen 9 7945 CPU helps everything move along thanks to 16 performance cores, 32 processing threads and AMD’s proprietary Zen 4 chiplet technology. The CPU was manufactured using the new 5nm design, the first for gaming laptops, which promises better power efficiency and faster performance.

These laptops ship with AMD’s Adrenaline Edition software suite, so you can access the SmartShift tool to shift power between the GPU and CPU in real-time to boost performance. Additionally, the company’s proprietary SmartAccess graphics tech automatically prioritizes game performance and reduced latency when using FreeSync.

Laptops are more than just numbers on a spreadsheet, however, and the m18 has some other perks worth mentioning. These computers come equipped with Alienware’s Cryo-tech thermal regulation technology. This thermal interface material extends to both the CPU and GPU, with an expanded vapor chamber covering each component, helping to dissipate heat across the entire system. Four thin fans finish this process by pulling heated air through eight heat pipes and out via five vents.

You also get an 18-inch display panel equipped with both Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, with a 16:10 aspect ratio, QHD+ resolution and a maximum refresh rate of 165Hz. You can overclock this refresh rate all the way to 480Hz at the expense of resolution for competitive gaming scenarios. An FHD webcam and an IR camera for facial recognition are also on board.

As for RAM and storage, there’s user-replaceable dual-channel DDR5 memory and you can shop options with up to three M.2 SSDs for a combined total of 8.5TB of storage. The laptop boasts some aesthetic flourishes, like an aluminum lid and bottom cover, an aluminum die-cast inner frame and an embossed “18” on the exterior. The m18 is available today with a starting price of $2,800.

Alienware m18

$2,800 at Dell

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The Ryzen 8040 chips, spearheaded by the 8-core Ryzen 9 8945HS, are up to 1.4 times faster than its predecessors when its comes to Llama 2 and AI vision model performance, according to AMD. They're also reportedly up to 1.8 times faster than Intel's high-end 13900H chip when it comes to gaming, and 1.4 times faster for content creation. Of course, the real test will be comparing them to Intel's new Core Ultra chips, which weren't available for AMD to benchmark.

AMD's NPU will be available on all of the Ryzen 8040 chips except for the two low-end models, the six-core Ryzen 5 8540U and the quad-core Ryzen 3 8440U. The company says the Ryzen 7040's NPU, AMD XDNA, is capable of reaching 10 TOPS (tera operations per second), while the 8040's NPU can hit 16 TOPS. Looking further into 2024, AMD also teased its next NPU architecture, codenamed "Strix Point," which will offer "more than 3x generative AI NPU performance." Basically, don't expect AMD to slow down its AI ambitions anytime soon.

It's worth remembering that both AMD and Intel are lagging behind Qualcomm when it comes to bringing NPUs to Windows PCs. Its SQ3 powered the ill-fated Surface Pro 9 5G. That was just a minor win for the Snapdragon maker, though: the Windows-on-Arm experience is still a mess, especially when it comes to running older apps that require x86 emulation.

The far more compelling competitor for Intel and AMD is Apple, which has been integrating Neural Engines in its hardware since the A11 Bionic debuted in 2017, and has made them a core component in the Apple Silicon chips for Macs. Apple's Neural Engine speeds up AI tasks, just like AMD and Intel's NPUs, and it helps tackle things like Face ID and photo processing. On PCs, NPUs enable features like Windows 11's Studio Effects in video chats, which can blur your background or help maintain eye contact.

Just like Intel, AMD is also pushing developers to build NPU features into their apps. Today, it's also unveiling the Ryzen AI Software platform, which will allow developers to take pre-trained AI models and optimize them to run on Ryzen AI hardware. AMD's platform will also help those models run on Intel's NPUs, similar to how Intel's AI development tools will ultimately help Ryzen systems. We're still in the early days of seeing how devs will take advantage of NPUs, but hopefully AMD and Intel's competitive streak will help deliver genuinely helpful AI-powered apps soon.

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The Radeon RX 7600 XT features the same basic specs as its predecessor: 32 compute units and ray accelerators; 64 AI accelerators; and 2,048 stream processors. But its clock speeds now range from 2.47GHz to 2.76GHz (in boost mode), instead of 2.25GHz to 2.66GHz. Having 16GB of VRAM will also give it more headroom for handling larger textures in 1440p, content creation and larger AI workloads.

According to AMD’s benchmarks, the Radeon RX 7600 XT performs slightly better than the RX 7600 in most titles: It averages 71 fps in Starfield while playing in 1080p with maxed-out settings, compared to 61fps on the 7600. But the improvements are more dramatic in AMD-optimized titles like Forza Horizon 5: the new GPU averages 94 fps in 1080p with FSR 2 and RT Extreme flipped on, compared to 67 fps on the RX 7600.

In 1440p, the RX 7600 XT averages 60 fps with maxed out graphics settings in Starfield and Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Its predecessor average 53 fps and 54 fps, in comparison. Forza Horizon 5 also shines in 1440p: It averages 81fps on the new GPU compared to 56 fps on last year’s model. AMD is also lording its scores over the NVIDIA RTX 4060 8GB: the RX 7600 XT averages 245 fps in Modern Warfare III in 1080p with FSR and frame generation turned on. The 4060 8GB, meanwhile, reaches 146 fps with DLSS3 and its own frame generation.

Of course, the better comparison would be the RX 7600 XT against 16GB RTX 4060 GPUs, but those scores were conspicuously absent from AMD’s press materials. The big takeaway, though, is that the 7600 XT should be a solidly more capable GPU than the 7600.

The Radeon RX 7600 XT will be available on January 24 from its AMD’s board partners (ASUS, Acer and the like) for $329.

We’re reporting live from CES 2024 in Las Vegas from January 6-12. Keep up with all the latest news from the show here.

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While the Ryzen 8000G chips aren’t AMD’s most powerful desktop offerings — the Ryzen 7700X and above all offer higher clock speeds, core counts and onboard cache — AMD says the new processors could be compelling options for gamers trying to build capable systems on a budget. The fastest model, the $329 Ryzen 7 8700G, is an eight-core chip running between 4.2GHz and 5.1GHz, sporting Radeon 780M graphics.

According to AMD, that processor averages 90 fps in Baldur’s Gate 3 in 1080p with low detail settings and the company’s Hyper-RX and Fluid Motion Frames features turned on. (The latter is a bit controversial, since it can make gameplay look smoother and deliver higher fps counts, but it’s also early technology and it’s interpolating even more frames than AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution 3.0.) Without any of those extra features, the 8700G still hits a respectable 58 fps in Baldur’s Gate 3.

Of course, not many people, especially self-proclaimed gamers, would actually want to play with the lowest graphics settings. But if you’re on a budget and building a system piece-by-piece, the 8700G and the rest of the 8000G family could at least let you play something before buying a dedicated GPU. AMD also claims its built-in graphics are significantly faster than Intel’s latest offerings. According to the company’s benchmarks, the 8700G is four times as fast in Hitman 3 in 1080p compared to the Intel i7-17400K’s UHD 770 graphics.

Even if you’re not intrigued by the Ryzen 8000G Series’ graphics potential, its NPU still makes it a unique desktop chip. Much like the NPU’s we’ve seen on AMD’s recent mobile chips, as well as Intel’s new Core Ultra hardware, it’ll let you speed up AI tasks without hitting your CPU or GPU. At the moment, NPUs enable features like Windows Studio Effects, which can blur your background during video chats, as well as media editing in Adobe and DaVinci software. NPUs are more compelling on laptops now, as they can help systems be more efficient and potentially save battery life. But having an NPU on your desktop chip today could be a smart way to future-proof your build.

Speaking of those AI accelerators, AMD also teased the performance of its new Ryzen 8040 mobile chips at CES — specifically, by putting them head-to-head with Intel’s Core Ultra hardware. AMD says the Ryzen 7 8840U is almost 80 percent faster than the Core Ultra 7 155H while running the Deeplabv3 neural architecture, and it’s 43 percent faster while running Yolov8. More useful to consumers, though, are AMD’s claims about content creation: the company says the 8840U is 85 percent faster than the Ultra 7 155H while running DaVinci Resolve’s HD to UHD enhancement.

But AMD didn’t just stop there: It also says that new Ryzen chip is 60 percent faster than Intel’s while playing Far Cry 6 in 1080p with low graphics settings. Similarly, AMD says the Ryzen 8840U is 52 percent faster than Intel’s hardware in both Handbrake and LAME. We’ll have to take these numbers with a huge grain of salt, but if they’re accurate it means Intel could end up lagging behind AMD for another year.

To round things out for entry-level and mid-range buyers, AMD also announced a new batch of Ryzen 5000 chips for its older AM4 architecture. They’re spearheaded bv the $249 Ryzen 7 5700X3D, an eight-core chip featuring 100MB of 3D V-Cache, running between 3GHz and 4.1GHz. The most affordable new option is the $125 Ryzen 5 5500GT, a six-core chip that can reach up to 4.4GHz.

Update 1/8/24 10:56PM: Updated to reflect that the Ryzen 5 5500GT is a six-core CPU, not a quad-core chip as originally stated in AMD’s press materials.

We’re reporting live from CES 2024 in Las Vegas from January 6-12. Keep up with all the latest news from the show here.

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The other big news is AI acceleration for the company’s Ryzen 8000G desktop processors. Those chips are aimed at folks trying to build capable systems on a budget, with the fastest Ryzen 7 $329 8700G model running eight cores between 4.2GHz and 5.1Ghz, while carrying Radeon 780M graphics.

The new NPU (neural processing unit) will speed up AI tasks without hitting your CPU or GPU, enabling features like Windows Studio Effects which can blur your background during video chats, or media editing in Adobe and Blackmagic’s DaVinci software.

There’s a fair bit of information, but we’ve made it easier by trimming the announcement down to just 7 minutes, while leaving out filler and extra details — so you should be able to catch up over a cup of coffee.

We’re reporting live from CES 2024 in Las Vegas from January 6-12. Keep up with all the latest news from the show here.

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