CPU
Processor announcements, architecture deep dives, and performance analysis.
CPU AMD Ryzen 7 7700X3D Lands Today at $329: Budget 3D V-Cache for the RAM Crisis Era
AMD launches the Ryzen 7 7700X3D today at $329, slotting a cheaper 8-core Zen 4 X3D part into a market where DDR5 prices have doubled. Same 96MB L3 3D V-Cache as the 7800X3D, just 500 MHz less boost, and it's aimed straight at gamers priced out by the memory crisis.
CPU AMD Zen 6 EPYC Venice Launches July 22: 256 Cores on TSMC 2nm, 70% Perf Uplift
AMD CTO Mark Papermaster has confirmed the Zen 6 launch for July 22-23 in San Francisco, kicking off with EPYC Venice, a 256-core monster built on TSMC's 2nm node, packing 16-channel memory, PCIe Gen 6, and a claimed 70% CPU performance uplift over Zen 5 Turin.
CPU AMD Extends AM5 Through 2029, Teases EXPO ULL Memory Boost
AMD has officially extended AM5 socket support through 2029, turning the Ryzen 7000-era platform into a seven-year upgrade path. The company also teased EXPO Ultra Low Latency, a new memory tuning profile promising up to 13% better performance versus JEDEC DDR5.
CPU Apple Signs With Intel Foundry: iPhone Chips on 18A and Foveros Are Real
Apple has struck a preliminary manufacturing deal with Intel Foundry to produce iPhone and iPad chips on Intel's 18A process with Foveros 3D packaging, the most significant external validation that Intel's foundry ambitions are no longer vapor.
CPU ARM Crosses the Rubicon: 136-Core AGI CPU on TSMC 3nm Takes Aim at x86 Data Centers
ARM has launched its first ever production CPU chip, a 136-core Neoverse V3 AGI CPU on TSMC 3nm, with Meta as lead customer and OpenAI, Cerebras, and Cloudflare in line. This isn't a reference design. ARM is now a chip company.
CPU Intel's Nova Lake Breaks Cover at Computex: 52 Cores, LGA 1954, and a TSMC Confession
Intel officially unveiled Nova Lake at Computex 2026, a 52-core desktop monster on a brand-new LGA 1954 socket targeting late 2026. The bombshell: over 90% of its compute tiles will be fabbed by TSMC on N2, not on Intel's own 18A process.
SPEC CPU 2026 Lands After 9 Years: 52 Benchmarks, 64GB RAM, and the End of CPU 2017
The Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation has released SPEC CPU 2026, the first refresh of the industry's most-cited CPU benchmark suite in nearly a decade. It expands to 52 workloads, quadruples memory pressure to 64GB, and CPU 2017 is officially retired on November 3.
CPU Intel Nova Lake: 288 MB bLLC Cache, 52 Cores, and the Death of AMD's Gaming CPU Monopoly
Intel's upcoming Nova Lake platform packs up to 288 MB of on-die bLLC cache, 52 cores, and DDR5-8000 support, and leaked performance figures suggest it could finally end AMD's X3D V-Cache stranglehold on gaming CPUs.
CPU Intel's 16-Core Nova Lake-S Leak: 12 Xe3P iGPU Cores Aim Straight at AMD's APU Throne
A new leak reveals an Intel Nova Lake-S SKU pairing 16 cores with a 12 Xe3P-core iGPU, six times the graphics resources of the rest of the lineup, and a direct shot at AMD's Ryzen G-series. Every nanometer counts when you're trying to make discrete entry-level GPUs obsolete.
CPU AMD Resurrects the 5800X3D as 'AM4 10th Anniversary Edition': The Upgrade Cycle Is Officially Broken
AMD is reportedly bringing the legendary Ryzen 7 5800X3D back from retirement as a limited 'AM4 10th Anniversary Edition' in H2 2026. With DDR5 prices spiraling and AM5 motherboards still expensive, a four-year-old 7nm gaming chip has become the most pragmatic CPU upgrade of 2026.
CPU AMD Zen 6 'Medusa Point' Leak: 10 Cores at 2GHz Matching Zen 5 at 5GHz
An engineering sample of AMD's Zen 6 'Medusa Point' APU has surfaced on Geekbench running at barely 2GHz, and it's already matching a 5GHz Ryzen AI 9 365 in multi-thread. If these numbers hold, the IPC uplift is staggering.
CPU Intel Arrow Lake Refresh Launches: 15% Gaming Uplift, More Cores, Lower Prices
Intel's Core Ultra 7 270K Plus and Core Ultra 5 250K Plus bring extra E-cores, higher clocks, DDR5-7200 support, and a claimed 15% gaming performance boost, all while undercutting AMD on price.