PCPer Mailbag #55 – Under Negative Pressure

6 Comments

1. 

   Leon on August 17, 2018 at 1:53 pm

   At some point you mentioned
   At some point you mentioned adding the Mailbags to the RSS to listen to as podcasts. IS that going to happen still?

   Reply
2. 

   InTheDataSheetNotHidden on August 17, 2018 at 3:38 pm

   The console games developers
   The console games developers will optimize for Zen/Vega graphics starting with that Chinese Semi-Custom console APU. But the XBONE and PS4 are currently not even using Zen CPUs or Vega graphics. So Console games developers can not target Vega’s Rapid Packed Math or even Explicit Primitive Shaders just yet for MS’s and Sony’s current console generation.

   Now with that Semi-Custom APU based Chinese console being the first generation console that makes use of Zen/Vega things will change. That new Console will have console games developers itching to get at Vega’s Rapid Packed Math and Explicit Primitive Shader/Other New Vega IP in order to eak every little bit of performance out of what Vega has to offer given the limited Vega nCU counts on that new semi-custom console APU, and consoles are limited on graphics/graphics hadrware upgrades more than in the PC space.

   Even for XBONE/PS4 games Developers that may want to target any possible future MS/Sony Zen-Vega/Navi gaming console offeings so they are probably wanting to get ahold of that new Chinese Semi-Custom Zen/Vega APU to develop for that in hopes that they will be ahead once MS/Sony switch over to using Zen/Vega-Navi with the next generation consoles.

   So Vega graphics will be targeted more once all of the x86 based cosnole market makes the switch fully over to using Zen/Vega or Zen/Navi. And Navi will probably have all of Vega’s features and more in order to be backwards compatable with Vega based Console/PC games. That Semi-Custom Chinese Console, if it becomes popular, will probable force MS/Sony to accelerate the introduction of their next generation offerings in order to have Vega’s Rapid Packed Math, or even Explicit Primitive Shaders if that IP can offer an advantage for console gaming.

   The Zen/Vega Console gaming arms race has just started and it looks like there will even be PC’s for the Chinese/Maybe World markets based on that same Semi-Custom AMD APU.

   The majority of PC games developers/games companies appear content to just let the GPU makers provide ever more powerful GPU hardware instead of the PC games developers/games companies having to spend money on optimizing their PC gaming Titles for PC gaming hardware. Hardware is cheaper than software development costs over the long run for PC games whereas for Consoles the hardware update cycle in longer. And the PC games developers are not paying for the hardware anyways that cost is on the PC’s user.

   The Console makers make more from their closed ecosystem services fees and game sales percentages than the hardware sales anyways so they can afford to spend more to optimize games for their consoles’ hardware. Zen/Vega, or Navi, once it’s used across XBONE/Next Generation and PS#/Next Generation in addition to that Chinese Zen/Vega Semi-Custom console APU will get Vega graphics some serious attention and that will probably make for better gaming on PCs also over the next 5 years if any console gaming optimizations can port over for PC gaming on discrete Vega/Navi GPUs.

   Nvidia’s billions will probably keep most of the discrete Laptop/PC gaming market but AMD’s Vega graphics ships inside of every AMD Mobile/Desktop based Raven Ridge Zen/Vega Graphics based SKU. So like Intel’s graphics Vega Graphics will be making inoads even if the Raven Ridge based PC/Laptop makes use of discrete Nvidia offerings. Vega’s installed base via Raven Ridge based Laptops/PCs will continue to get larger, look at Intel’s graphics installed base on PC/Laptop devices and that’s the largest number out there currently.

   Reply
3. 

   PSL 2 C on August 19, 2018 at 5:09 pm

   Why do you think did AMD used
   Why do you think did AMD used two dual-channel memory from two dies in the ThreadRipper 2990WX instead of one channel from each die?

   Can I underclock a Ryzen 2700X to 3.0 GHz and expect it to dissipate 65W like the 2700, or will it dissipate the same heat anyway? Will the XFR/Precision Boost get disabled if I underclock it? (I want the 65W tdp cpu but the cooler in 2700X seems better at a few extra dollars.)

   Reply
4. 

   sircod on August 21, 2018 at 6:57 am

   Why didn’t Nvidia include
   Why didn’t Nvidia include HDMI 2.1 support in the 20 series cards? With gaming related features like low-latency and VRR along with the huge bandwidth increase it seems like it would make sense for a next-gen product. Is there any chance of support being added in later via firmware or a hardware refresh in the next year?

   Reply
5. 

   brisa117 on August 26, 2018 at 1:41 pm

   Network question. If I’m on
   Network question. If I’m on PC-A and through Windows explorer move a file from PC-B to PC-C, does that file first come to PC-A and then to PC-C, or is it a direct connection between PC-B and PC-C? What happens if I shut down PC-A during the transfer? Does this change if PC-C is running a non-Windows OS, like FreeNAS? Or use a 3rd party transfer application like TeraCopy?

   Reply
6. 

   Shawn on August 30, 2018 at 4:46 am

   I recently ran Samsung
   I recently ran Samsung Magician on two of my SSDs. The Samsung 830 (SATA) had written 26.0TB and the 850 Evo (M.2 SATA) had written 67.4TB. These are both exclusively OS drives — file storage is typically on a NAS or HDD. Any reason the 850 Evo drive (which is newer) would be approaching triple the 830’s writes?

   The 830 has been in my gaming/home PC and the 850 has been in an Intel NUC.

   Reply

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