AMD's first CPU release of the new year holds a couple of small surprises: The re-introduction of the Phenom II x4 800-series and its pricing. Of course a new top-end quad core has been released as well. Benchmarking ensues.
A six-core, 12-thread processor with a $299 price tag, the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X is a great choice for midrange gaming CPUs. Out of the new Zen 3-based processors the business is offering, it has the best core count and price ratio. The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X stands out when compared to the typical Intel Core i5-10600K, offering Intel serious competition (even though it comes with a little higher price tag than we're used to from Ryzens).
Since the middle of February, customers of AMD graphics cards have been reporting situations in which Windows installations were entirely bricked after installing new drivers.
The ALPHACOOL Eisbaer Pro HPE Aurora 360 CPU AIO is listed at €219.98 at the time of this writing. This is a steep price but given the extensive features, wide socket compatibility with a powerful thermal paste, and 3-year warranty, one can put a hole in the wallet. I would love to see a 5-year warranty on these flagship coolers.
