AMD Ryzen 5 CPUs shipments started in spring, however recently the network saw messages of people, reporting they’d got sudden surprise in the shape of their recently acquired AMD Ryzen 5 1600 and Ryzen 5 1600X processors, possessing eight (instead of six) active cores!



System builders detected this peculiarity at the first boot. Base clock, as it is expected, equals to 3.6 GHz, boost clock – to 4.0 GHz. In the meantime, there are eight cores and sixteen threads in action. One may say, lucky customers purchased 1800X models at a discount. Other buyers were also happy to obtain cheaper Ryzen 5 1600 samples.


All these unlocked processing units are produced during the 36th week of the year 2017 in Malaysia. The place and date of release can be easily defined after looking through the marking decryption instruction.


Performance tests demonstrated, that these purchases are real AMD Ryzen 5 1800X CPUs veiled under another marking. What is the reason for that? Some …

Despite the fact that Intel Z97 chipset appeared in the market long ago, mainboards on this platform have not lost their vitality till nowadays. The MSI Z97 Gaming 9 AC is an acknowledgement of this. Being a representative of top-tier segment, this product is supposed to be an ideal match for gamers and enthusiast overclockers who look for stability and unbelievable facilities. Let’s see what kind of benefits this model can offer to the army of sophisticated users.



Stepwise Overview


The full-format ATX MSI Z97 Gaming 9 AC motherboard is based on Intel Z97 chipset that supports Intel Core Haswell/Haswell Refresh CPUs with LGA1150 socket. Wisely-elaborated printed circuit board (PCB) accommodates four DIMM slots for DDR3 modules of 32 GB overall capacity (with XMP profiles). The integration of expansion and graphics cards becomes possible due to three PCI Express 3.0 x16 slots & the same amount of PCI Express 2.0 x1 slots. If equipped with two videocards, the board …

The Swiftech company presented a new revolutionary water unit of the Apogee SKF series. It’s called Apogee SKF-TR4 and is designed for AMD Ryzen Threadripper processors.



The specialty features an innovative cooling engine (its surface area is enlarged by 30%) and customisation adjustments that are able to satisfy all users’ needs. This water unit is produced out of copper. In the place of base-processor contact the water block’s inner surface is covered with pinholes, extending the heat exchange space. Besides, in-and-out openings are located in front of active crystals in the multichip Threadripper module.


The waterblock mountings fit only system boards with the TR4 (SP3r2) CPU connectors. The novelty supports the Addressable RGB Iris tech and is provided with the Swiftech Iris-Eco controller. Two strips of RGB LEDs allow Apogee SKF comply with any colour scheme.


Apogee SKF-TR4 will hit the market at the end of October 2017. It will cost approximately $108.