Kamala Harris Attended A Punk Show ▉

Eddie Fu at Consequence of Sound:

Vice President Kamala Harris is known for being a hip-hop, soul, and jazz fan, but now we know she has dabbled in punk rock on at least one occasion. In a recent interview with EFE, Harris’ younger cousin Sharada Balachandran Orihuela recalled the two of them attending a Bad Religion show in the early 2000s.

Orihuela’s father, Gopalan Balachandran, is Harris’ uncle on her mother’s side, meaning they share the same Indian grandparents. While growing up between Mexico and India, Orihuela became a big fan of Bad Religion but never went to one of their concerts.

This all changed when Orihuela moved to Oakland, California in 2001 to attend college. Orihuela went to live with her aunt (and Harris’ mother) Shyamala, allowing her to bond with her older cousin.

At the time, Harris was an assistant district attorney in San Francisco, but the future Democratic presidential nominee still put forth the effort to make Orihuela feel at home. “She was like a big sister to me,” Orihuela told EFE.

I’d be very curious to hear what she thought of the band. Bad Religion is a band that you can appreciate on the surface but being well read in things like philosophy and political philosophy gives their lyrics so much more depth when you understand what’s being said underneath. I’d suspect that, since she was assistant district attorney at the time, she was very well read in at least some of these areas.

This also speaks to her character. The fact that she took her niece to a show that was completely out of her depth tells me that she actually is a caring person and someone who cares more about others than herself. Contrast that to the asshole she’s running against.

I hope she ends up using one of their songs at a campaign event. Unlikely but you never know.

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Godspeed And Fare Thee Well AnandTech ▉

Ryan Smith breaking the news:

It is with great sadness that I find myself penning the hardest news post I’ve ever needed to write here at AnandTech. After over 27 years of covering the wide – and wild – word of computing hardware, today is AnandTech’s final day of publication.

For better or worse, we’ve reached the end of a long journey – one that started with a review of an AMD processor, and has ended with the review of an AMD processor. It’s fittingly poetic, but it is also a testament to the fact that we’ve spent the last 27 years doing what we love, covering the chips that are the lifeblood of the computing industry.

A lot of things have changed in the last quarter-century – in 1997 NVIDIA had yet to even coin the term “GPU” – and we’ve been fortunate to watch the world of hardware continue to evolve over the time period. We’ve gone from boxy desktop computers and laptops that today we’d charitably classify as portable desktops, to pocket computers where even the cheapest budget device puts the fastest PC of 1997 to shame.

The years have also brought some monumental changes to the world of publishing. AnandTech was hardly the first hardware enthusiast website, nor will we be the last. But we were fortunate to thrive in the past couple of decades, when so many of our peers did not, thanks to a combination of hard work, strategic investments in people and products, even more hard work, and the support of our many friends, colleagues, and readers.

Still, few things last forever, and the market for written tech journalism is not what it once was – nor will it ever be again. So, the time has come for AnandTech to wrap up its work, and let the next generation of tech journalists take their place within the zeitgeist.

I remember reading AnandTech back when I first started building PCs. AnandTech shutting down is a huge blow to the PC hardware community. Their reviews were always top notch and got tot he depths of places other reviews just don’t seem to have the stomach to go. AnandTech was one of the first places I checked for reviews of the 9950x.

My first PC was a Gateway 2000 machine sporting a Pentium 2 and, if memory serves, a whopping 64 MEGABYTES of RAM. It ran Windows 95 in a plain beige box. The best thing about it hardware wise was that it was sporting a Riva 128 “graphics accelerator” from a little known company called Nvidia. I was ordering what a friend of mine had essentially told me to get and when I mentioned the graphics the sales rep on the phone when ordering said “no you don’t want that, you want this” and it was the best upsell I think I’ve ever had. My grandparents bought that machine for me in late 1996, though it didn’t arrive until January of 97 but that machine was my gateway (no pun intended) into the world of PC Gaming and, little did I know, all the PC building, troubleshooting, and curiosity that comes with that.

I started reading them shortly after deciding it was time to replace that machine a few years later when I was building a machine around the upcoming Quake 3 Arena in the winter of 1999.

It’s hard to believe it’s been 27 years. In a way, I feel like I grew up with them even though I was 20 or so when I started this journey.

But Ryan also leaves us with a warning:

Finally, I’d like to end this piece with a comment on the Cable TV-ification of the web. A core belief that Anand and I have held dear for years, and is still on our About page to this day, is AnandTech’s rebuke of sensationalism, link baiting, and the path to shallow 10-o’clock-news reporting. It has been our mission over the past 27 years to inform and educate our readers by providing high-quality content – and while we’re no longer going to be able to fulfill that role, the need for quality, in-depth reporting has not changed. If anything, the need has increased as social media and changing advertising landscapes have made shallow, sensationalistic reporting all the more lucrative.

For all the tech journalists out there right now – or tech journalists to be – I implore you to remain true to yourself, and to your readers’ needs. In-depth reporting isn’t always as sexy or as exciting as other avenues, but now, more than ever, it’s necessary to counter sensationalism and cynicism with high-quality reporting and testing that is used to support thoughtful conclusions. To quote Anand: “I don’t believe the web needs to be academic reporting or sensationalist garbage – as long as there’s a balance, I’m happy.”

Yes, times have changed. YouTube has grabbed people’s attention and while there are great YouTube channels for tech out there, there is also a lot of sensationalism on there as well as people make click bait titles and thumbnails for low value videos. Social Media makes it even worse as people argue for engagement.

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Great White Singer Jack Russell Dies At 63 ▉

TOMÁS MIER for Rolling Stone:

JACK RUSSELL, ONE of the founding members of Eighties band Great White, has died. He was 63. In a social media post Thursday, Russell’s family announced that the glam metal singer died “peacefully” surrounded by his family and friends. Russell died of Lewy body dementia and multiple system atrophy, his memoir co-author K.L. Doty confirmed to Rolling Stone.

“Jack is loved and remembered for his sense of humor, exceptional zest for life, and unshakeable contribution to rock and roll where his legacy will forever thrive,” read the statement. “His family asks for privacy at this time.”

The singer announced in July that he would be stepping away from touring due to his dementia and MSA diagnosis. “I am unable to perform at the level I desire and at the level you deserve,” Russell said at the time. “Words cannot express my gratitude for the many years of memories, love, and support.”

Yet another reminder of just how short and fragile life can be. One minute you’re fine and the next you aren’t. It’s also a reminder to not take everything so seriously and just enjoy what you can while you’re here.

Russell was born in Montebello, California, and was once the lead vocalist for the rock band Great White, which had its biggest hits “Once Bitten, Twice Shy” (a cover of the Ian Hunter song) and “The Angel Song” in the late Eighties. He co-founded the band in 1982 with Mark Kendall, and dropped several LPs, including 1987’s Once Bitten and 1989’s Twice Shy.

Great White was one of those 80’s bands that came along at the very end of the Hair Metal days. I had no idea that “Once Bitten” was a cover until just now. To me it was always one of those songs that renforces that Rock N’ Roll comes from the blues. It’s a hell of a cover to be sure and like all good covers takes the foundation of the original and adds to it in the band’s own way. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel but it makes the wheel better.

It’s also a great reminder that the 80’s really were a ton of fun even if you were just a kid.

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AMD Learns From Past Mistakes And Pushes Back Launch Of Ryzen 9000 Series CPUs ▉

AMD SVP and GM of Computing and Graphics, Jack Huynh on Twitter X:

We appreciate the excitement around Ryzen 9000 series processors. During final checks, we found the initial production units that were shipped to our channel partners did not meet our full quality expectations. Out of an abundance of caution and to maintain the highest quality experiences for every Ryzen user, we are working with our channel partners to replace the initial production units with fresh units. As a result, there will be a short delay in retail availability. The Ryzen 7 9700X and Ryzen 5 9600X processors will now go on sale on August 8th, and the Ryzen 9 9950X and Ryzen 9 9900X processors will go on-sale on August 15th. Apologies for the delay. We pride ourselves in providing a high quality experience for every Ryzen user, and we look forward to our fans having a great experience with the new Ryzen 9000 series.

AMD is doing the right thing even if you want to be cynical about it. They’ve learned their lesson from the vapor chamber issues that were found during the launch of the Radeon 7900 XTX graphics cards and are not letting potential issues with the Ryzen 9000 series of CPUs.

As this article from AnandTech clarifies, this only affects only the desktop processors.

Importantly, however, this announcement is only for the Ryzen 9000 desktop processors, and not the Ryzen AI 300 mobile processors (Strix Point), which are still slated to launch next week. A mobile chip recall would be a much bigger issue (they’re in finished devices that would need significant labor to rework), but also, both the new desktop and mobile Ryzen processors are being made on the same TSMC N4 process node, and have significant overlap due to their shared use of the Zen 5 architecture. To be sure, mobile and desktop are very different dies, but it does strongly imply that whatever the issue is, it’s not a design flaw or a fabrication flaw in the silicon itself.

While it’s good to know it’s not a design flaw, which I still think is the case with Intel’s situation involving the 13th and 14th series i9 and i7 CPUs, we may never actually know the reason this happened. Hopefully we do once this situation gets sorted out though.

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Assassin’s Creed At The Paris 2024 Olympics ▉

Who’s the mysterious hooded figure carrying the Olympic torch throughout Paris?

As the 2024 Paris Olympics kicks off with the opening ceremony, spectators notice a resemblance between the torchbearer and a video game character from Assassin’s Creed — and they seem to be loving the similarity of the unknown figures traveling through the city using parkour moves.

While we can’t confirm whether there’s actually a connection between the game and the torchbearer video game creator Ubisoft, a French video game publisher, tweeted a photo from “Assassin’s Creed Unity” during the Olympics opening ceremony. The game just so happens to be set in Paris during the French Revolution.

As soon as I saw it I was like “Wait, is that an Assassin’s Creed reference?” and apparently it was. Nobody is outright saying it, but this tweet from Ubisoft pretty much confirms it for me. I also keep forgetting that Ubisoft is French.

Generally speaking I thought the opening ceremony was long but one of my favorites over the years. I loved how they incorporated the entire city into the show and didn’t really do much that, to me, was terribly fancy or smacked of over the top tech¹ like drones. It was also unapologetically French and driven by French history and blended with modern France. I mean who else has the balls to incorporate Les Miserables, a French Revolution song, and have it performed by a French metal band with a French opera singer.

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Intel Says It Finally Found The Root Cause Of The 13th and 14th Gen Instability ▉

Based on extensive analysis of Intel Core 13th/14th Gen desktop processors returned to us due to instability issues, we have determined that elevated operating voltage is causing instability issues in some 13th/14th Gen desktop processors. Our analysis of returned processors confirms that the elevated operating voltage is stemming from a microcode algorithm resulting in incorrect voltage requests to the processor.

Intel is delivering a microcode patch which addresses the root cause of exposure to elevated voltages. We are continuing validation to ensure that scenarios of instability reported to Intel regarding its Core 13th/14th Gen desktop processors are addressed. Intel is currently targeting mid-August for patch release to partners following full validation.

Intel is committed to making this right with our customers, and we continue asking any customers currently experiencing instability issues on their Intel Core 13th/14th Gen desktop processors reach out to Intel Customer Support for further assistance.

The key phrase here is “elevated operating voltage”. Higher voltages mean more clocks sure but it can also degrade silicon faster. Hopefully this is the fix but I wouldn’t be surprised if there is still more to this.

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Wonderful Explanation By Former Microsoft Engineer On What Happened On Friday With Crowdstrike ▉

This is a great explanation in layman’s terms about kernels and what’s technically allowed to happen in them. It’s why people freak out about things like kernel level anti cheat in games: it’s completely unnecessary.

At this point the only real question I have is why does Windows allow this? I know Macs don’t and I’m not sure about Linux since I don’t use it on a daily basis but I’m pretty sure this would’t fly there either.

The fact that so much of the computer systems that we depend on for critical things runs on Windows genuinely scares me.

UPDATE: Apparently not only does CrowdStrike exist on Linux but it’s also been causing issues there too.

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Zen 5 Architecture is the “tock” to Zen 4’s “tick” ▉

Gavin Bonshor, Anantech:

The key features under the hood of the Zen 5 microarchitecture include a dual-pipe fetch, which is coupled with what AMD is calling advanced branch prediction. This is designed to reduce the latency and increase the accuracy and throughput. Enhanced instruction cache latency and bandwidth optimizations further the flow of data and the speed of the data processing without sacrificing accuracy.

The Zen 5 integer execution capabilities have been upgraded over Zen 4, with Zen 5 featuring an 8-wide dispatch/retire system. Part of the overhaul under the hood for Zen 5 includes six Arithmetic Logic Units (ALUs) and three multipliers, which are controlled through an ALU scheduler, and AMD is claiming Zen 5 uses a larger execution window. These improvements should theoretically be better with more complex computational workloads.

Other key enhancements that Zen 5 comes with include more data bandwidth than Zen 4, with a 48 KB 12-way L1 data cache that can cater to a 4-cycle load. AMD has doubled the maximum bandwidth available to the L1 cache, and the Floating-Point Unit has been doubled over Zen 4. AMD also claims it has improved the data prefetcher, which ensures faster and more reliable data access and processing.

More pipelines means more instructions. More instructions means more gets done faster.

For CPUs, cache is king. Having wider pipelines allows it to do more tasks or just simply have more data ready without having to reach out to system memory. While it may not seem like a bog deal, in computers, reaching out to system memory is costly in terms of time. Time that may not seem that much to us but is forever in computer terms. It’s most noticeable to a user when, say, a game or application stalls or takes a while to start.

Something else AMD is claiming is that they have improved the overall thermal resistance of the CPUs and managed to reduce the operating temperatures with the Ryzen 9000 processors (Zen 5) over the previous Ryzen 7000 (Zen 4) series. In terms of thermal resistance, AMD claims a 15% improvement over Ryzen 7000. At the same time, they also claim they have managed to reduce operating temperatures by 7°C when operating at a like-for-like TDP. Unfortunately, when asked at the Tech Day in LA last week, AMD wouldn’t divulge how they managed these improvements, but that’s not a surprise.

Despite operating with a lower TDP, comparing performance like-for-like, the Zen 5 cores perform up to 22% higher on the Ryzen 9 9950X vs. the Ryzen 9 7950X, while even the Ryzen 9 9900X with a 120 W TDP against the previous Ryzen 9 7900X (170 W), performs up to 16% higher. One thing AMD’s Zen microarchitecture is known for is its power efficiency, as well as how much performance is retained when operating at a lower wattage than TDP. We did some power scaling testing with the Ryzen 9 7950X against the Intel Core i9-13900K, and we were impressed with how much performance the Zen 4 cores managed to retain despite operating at much lower than stock in relation to TDP.

This is really great to hear. One of my concerns was the trend, even with AMD, of higher and higher thermals due to more and more power draw in an effort to reach higher clock speeds. While speeds are up, the TDP is either the same or lower than Zen 4. This is probably how AMD is making their efficiency clam. Lower temps mean the chip can work longer at the same temps which means it can maintain it’s higher clock speeds in more burdensome workloads. Like gaming or compiling code.

AMD has really taken on Intel’s old “tick tock” cycle. Release a CPU that has some pretty good gains one cycle and then refine that CPU the next cycle. That’s exactly what they did here with Zen 4 to Zen 5.

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Intel Is Still Having Raptor Lake Crashes And Now Its Affecting Server Customers Too ▉

Wendell’s reporting here is just devastating and the follow up conversation with Steve From Gamers Nexus makes it sound like this is even worse than anyone thought.

The fact that Intel still hasn’t gotten to the bottom of this makes me think there’s a serious flaw in the architecture. Either that or there’s some serious silicon degradation happening. What makes it even worse is that it’s affecting server customers. It’s one thing when part makers like Asus or Gigabyte push the power profile or something too high and it causes an issue. We saw that when the 7800X3D launched. That’s easily fixed. If a user overclocks the CPU and causes a problem, that’s on them. Sucks, but also easily identified.

The fact that they can’t pin it down between power profiles (which they let get completely out of hand on the consumer side) and something else makes me think there’s a serious flaw in the architecture itself. The issues aren’t even consistent with the Raptor Cove (performance) cores or the Gracemont (efficiency) cores.

What’s curious is that this is also affecting server boards that are essentially just the basics and not overclocked in any way. Their power profiles are also way lower and basically at spec. The only difference is that the servers run twenty four hours a day seven days a week as opposed to end user systems that run for a period of time and then get shut down. As a result the silicon gets degraded faster than it would on some random gaming PC.

Intel better get it together with Zen 5 launching at the end of the month. They also better pray that Arrow Lake doesn’t embarrass them too.

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GSK or GSK? ▉

From Today’s XDefiant Patch Notes:

Factions

• After coming to an agreement with pharmaceutical company GSK, the Team Rainbow faction will hereafter be known as GS-Kommando. Feel free to continue calling them Grenzschutzkommando as a handy time saver.

I would love to know who was confusing a fictional German special forces group based on the Kommando Spezialkräfte (KSK) with the London based pharmaceutical company. I’m not sure these are two worlds that cross often enough that this was an actual problem.

• Fixed an issue where DedSec’s Spiderbots were ignoring victims previously targeted by the deploying player. Now they’ll spiderhug faces new and old with equal enthusiasm.

• Players can once again shoot DedSec Spiderbots off their own faces. Not sure why; everybody loves Spiderbots.

• Tuned the functionality of Echelon’s Intel Suit. Now it pulses every four seconds instead of every three. Enemies remain highlighted for 1 second instead of 2.7 seconds, so everybody pay attention.

• Some abilities such as Firebomb, the Digital Ghillie Suit, and BioVida Boost weren’t always activating or occasionally stopped working. That’s fixed.

Whoever writes these patch notes definitely has fun with them where they can. This is one of the less sarcastic sets I’ve seen.

Anyway, if you haven’t checked out XDefiant yet you absolutely should. It’s free and only has Skill Based Match Making in the appropriate places: the intro playlist and Ranked. Oh yeah, and cheaters actually get banned too.

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