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The Radeon RX 590 GME features Polaris 20 XTX GPU, not Polaris 30 as the original RX 590. This is without a doubt a continuation of misleading product naming by AMD and this is likely why we won’t see this model on different markets. AMD’s Polaris 20 is a 14nm processor, while Polaris 30 is 12nm. The latter offers more headroom for higher clocks and there is no logical reason to call the new model an RX 590. Yet, here we are.

In both new exploits, collectively called "Take A Way" flaws, attacking software begins by picking an address corresponding with the target data’s address. The attacker then accesses the data stored in their version of the address, but that creates a link based on the address within the cache and the way predictor. The route the processor will take to access that address next time is guaranteed to be quite quick. But if the address is triggered a third time, then the processor will get to it slowly.

All the attacker has to do, then, is bring up that address at regular intervals. If it comes up quick then the victim hadn’t accessed it during the interval, but if it takes a while, it was accessed. This allows the attacker to monitor when the victim accesses data stored within the processor, without knowing where that data is, and without the requirement of sharing memory with the victim.

We are aware of a new white paper that claims potential security exploits in AMD CPUs, whereby a malicious actor could manipulate a cache-related feature to potentially transmit user data in an unintended way. The researchers then pair this data path with known and mitigated software or speculative execution side channel vulnerabilities. AMD believes these are not new speculation-based attacks.

AMD continues to recommend the following best practices to help mitigate against side-channel issues:

Keeping your operating system up-to-date by operating at the latest version revisions of platform software and firmware, which include existing mitigations for speculation-based vulnerabilities

Following secure coding methodologies

Implementing the latest patched versions of critical libraries, including those susceptible to side channel attacks

Utilizing safe computer practices and running antivirus software

I have been curious about data compression and the Zip file format in particular for a long time. At some point I decided to address that by learning how it works and writing my own Zip program. The implementation turned into an exciting programming exercise; there is great pleasure to be had from creating a well oiled machine that takes data apart, jumbles its bits into a more efficient representation, and puts it all back together again. Hopefully it is interesting to read about too..

The non-K series is 65W TDP, while the K and KF models will officially go up to 125W. This value is obviously not equal to actual power consumption, as that is expected to go higher.

It has also been speculated that Alder Lake S will require a new socket (LGA1700), meaning that the upcoming LGA1200 socket will only be used for Comet Lake S (10th Gen Core) and possibly for Rocket Lake S (11th Gen Core?).

The 12th Gen core series would be the first Intel series to support PCI-Express 4.0. There is no confirmation on DDR5 support. These series are expected to use a 10nm node, although it was never fully confirmed.

“Per publisher request, please be advised 2K Games titles will be removed from GeForce NOW today. We are working with 2K Games to re-enable their games in the future,” said Nvidia community manager Cory Banks in a post on Nvidia’s forums.

It’s the most developer-friendly and publisher-friendly of the major streaming services, with zero tax on game revenue. Game companies who want to move the game industry towards a healthier state for everyone should be supporting this kind of service!

— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) March 7, 2020

Cloud streaming services will also be key players in ending the iOS and Google Play payment monopolies and their 30% taxes. Apple has decreed that these services aren’t allowed to exist on iOS, and therefore aren’t allowed to compete, which is megalomaniacal and won’t stand.

— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) March 7, 2020

Just waiting till later this year when Google is lobbying against Apple for blocking Stadia from iOS, while Google blocks GeForce NOW, xCloud, and Fortnite from Google Play, and this whole rotten structure begins collapsing in on itself.

— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) March 7, 2020

However, this does not mean that all future Radeon cards will not use blower designs as Scott only spoke about ‘next-gen’. We are not yet sure if next-gen is just the Big Navi or if AMD is preparing more GPUs based on this architecture. Rumors have already proved that AMD is working on at last three Navi GPUs: 21, 21 and 23. The next-gen Radeon RX is shown in roadmaps as Navi 2X.

Today at its Financial Analyst Day, AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) detailed plans for its next phase of growth driven by multi-generational high-performance CPU and GPU roadmaps and aggressive technology investments designed to deliver leadership products and disruptive solutions.

“Our multi-generational computing and graphics roadmaps are designed to significantly accelerate revenue growth and deliver strong shareholder returns,” said Dr. Lisa Su, AMD president and CEO. “We are focused on relentlessly executing our leadership IP roadmaps and aggressively introducing advanced technologies to drive sustained market share gains across the large and growing high-performance PC, gaming and data center markets.”

Technology Updates
Having shipped more than 260 million “Zen” x86 cores in our AMD Ryzen™ and AMD EPYC™ processors, AMD shared plans to build on this success with next-generation CPU core, packaging and interconnect innovations:

AMD plans to introduce the first processors based on its next-generation “Zen 3” core in late 2020. The “Zen 4” core is currently in design and is targeted to use advanced 5nm process technology.

AMD unveiled plans to expand its chiplet and die stacking leadership, including new “X3D” packaging that combines chiplets and hybrid 2.5D and 3D die stacking to deliver more than a 10x increase in bandwidth density.

AMD announced its upcoming 3rd Generation AMD Infinity Architecture with optimized CPU and GPU memory coherency that can enable significant performance improvements and simplify the software programming required for accelerated computing solutions by allowing the CPU and GPU to seamlessly and coherently share the same memory.

AMD is building on its strong product security portfolio with expanded features. AMD announced it joined the Confidential Computing Consortium, a group of leading hardware and software companies working to close gaps to protect data through its entire lifecycle.

To address the growing number and diversity of GPU workloads, AMD announced a multi-generational roadmap to deliver two optimized graphics architectures for gaming and data center compute markets:

The AMD Radeon™ DNA (AMD RDNA) architecture was designed for gaming and is currently powering the award-winning AMD Radeon™ RX 5000 series GPUs. The next-generation AMD RDNA 2 architecture is planned to deliver a 50% performance-per-watt improvement over the first-generation AMD RDNA architecture. It will support hardware-accelerated ray tracing, variable rate shading (VRS) and other advanced features. The first AMD RDNA 2-based products are expected to launch in late 2020.

AMD unveiled its new AMD Compute DNA (AMD CDNA) architecture, designed to accelerate data center compute workloads. The first-generation AMD CDNA architecture, planned to launch later this year, includes 2nd Generation AMD Infinity Architecture to enhance GPU to GPU connectivity and is optimized for machine learning and high-performance computing applications. The follow-up AMD CDNA 2 architecture will support 3rd Generation AMD Infinity Architecture to enable next generation exascale-class supercomputers.

Expanding on previous generations of the ROCm open source software platform for the data center, AMD plans to introduce ROCm 4.0 later this year as a complete software solution for high-performance computing exascale systems and machine learning workloads.

Data Center Market Updates
Since 2017, AMD has delivered significant innovation to the data center market. AMD outlined an aggressive roadmap of leadership products, building on the execution of its first and second generation AMD EPYC server processors, and detailed its plans to drive continuous innovation across a wide range of growing markets within the data center:

AMD is powering the future of exascale computing with its CPU, GPU, interconnects and software products, including the recently announced El Capitan supercomputer at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Expected to come online in 2023, El Capitan is expected to deliver more than 2 exaFLOPs of double-precision performance, making it more powerful than today’s 200 fastest supercomputers combined.

AMD is continuing to gain traction with its 2nd Generation AMD EPYC™ processors in enterprise, cloud and HPC markets based on delivering performance leadership and TCO advantages across the most important enterprise and cloud workloads. In 2020 we expect more than 150 AMD EPYC processor-powered cloud instances and 140 server platforms to be available.

AMD is unlocking accelerated computing with new technologies including AMD CDNA architecture, 3rd Generation Infinity Architecture and the ROCm 4.0 software platform, all of which will support the AMD-powered Frontier and El Capitan supercomputers.

Computing and Graphics Market Updates
AMD is well positioned to drive sustained growth in the PC and gaming markets with its leadership AMD Ryzen™ processors, AMD Radeon™ graphics and semi-custom products. Since 2017, AMD has nearly doubled both client unit shipments and market share, built off a broad portfolio of performance-leading desktop, high-end desktop (HEDT) and notebook processors. In the gaming segment, AMD partners with world-class brands to bring AMD Radeon graphics to more than 500 million gamers on the most popular devices, with the opportunity to address 2.5 billion gamers worldwide. With Microsoft and Sony, AMD has established long-term relationships to continue market leadership as the number one silicon provider for game consoles.

In 2020 and beyond, AMD sees significant opportunities to drive continued growth across its computing and graphics portfolio:

AMD expects to grow its performance leadership with the ramp of its 7nm “Zen 2”-based 3rd Generation AMD Ryzen™ processors designed specifically for desktops and notebooks across the consumer and commercial segments. Built to optimize the user experience in these markets, the newest AMD Ryzen processors deliver outstanding performance, responsiveness, battery-life and security features for the most demanding workloads. AMD is on track to bring increased performance to the gaming, content creation and productivity markets when it delivers the first “Zen 3”-based AMD Ryzen™ product in 2020.

AMD plans to deliver a full stack of high-performance, AMD RDNA architecture-powered graphics products to further expand the AMD Radeon install base. Extending the outstanding performance of the Radeon RX 5000 series, AMD RDNA 2-based “Navi 2X” GPUs will bring uncompromised 4K gaming, new features including hardware-based ray tracing support and a significant performance uplift.

Statement on COVID-19
As the outbreak of COVID-19 continues to evolve, the health and wellbeing of AMD employees, customers, partners and the members of the communities in which we operate are of the utmost importance. AMD greatly appreciates the commitment of the individuals and organizations working tirelessly to address this public health situation globally.

At its 2020 Financial Analyst Day, AMD reiterated its first quarter 2020 financial guidance. AMD expects the impact from COVID-19 in the first quarter to be modest, potentially resulting in revenue coming in at the lower end of the guidance of approximately $1.8 billion, plus or minus $50 million. Full year 2020 financial guidance remains unchanged.