At CES 2022, chip giants Intel, AMD, and NVIDIA have launched some of the most anticipated computing hardware to meet every user’s needs, be it a high-end user or a budget gamer. Here’s a look at their latest wares unveiled at the year’s first technology show.
The annual consumer electronics trade show, CES, has begun with much fanfare at Las Vegas, its usual venue for twenty-five years. Initially slated to be an in-person electronics trade show, CES hosts many virtual announcements and demonstrations thanks to a recent upsurge in COVID-19 cases. Those who canceled their physical presence at the expo include Microsoft, Meta, Intel, Twitter, AMD, NVIDIA, Amazon, Google and multiple other bigwigs.
Like in the past, tech companies from across the globe are exhibiting the latest innovations to meet the changing expectations of the average consumer. Going by the presentations by chipmakers Intel, AMD, and NVIDIA at CES 2022, it looks like the average consumer will be spoilt for options in terms of gaming, workflows, design and editing, or simply for day-to-day activities.
Of late, Apple’s internally-designed M1 chip has turned many heads, considering it is impressive in both performance and efficiency. Released in November 2020, M1-powered devices hit the shelves in 2021, so competitors knew they had a lot of catching up to do. And we haven’t been disappointed by Intel, AMD, or NVIDIA, all of whom have introduced a host of products to chew away at Apple’s recent gains.
Let’s start with what Intel has in store.
Intel at CES 2022
Intel debuted its 12th gen Alder Lake desktop CPUs last year. At CES 2022, Intel’s most significant response to the M1 is going a step further and extending the performance with the 12th gen Alder Lake KS series. It has a hybrid design that streamlines performance and efficiency, clocking a record 5.5 GHz. The 12th gen KS series will be available by March 2022.
Next up is Intel’s Alder Lake H-series for laptops with 14 cores and up to 5 GHz frequency. In total, eight H-series processors were announced by the Santa Clara, CA-based company, currently looking to reclaim its crown in the computing space.
“We tested it in our lab, we said that our systems got 49% higher frame rates [compared to rivals like AMD],†said Gregory Bryant, EVP and general manager of the Client Computing Group. The 49% higher performance was delivered while playing Hitman 3. “We have Riftbreaker at 27% higher FPS, Mountain Blade and Banner Lord at 23%, and Total War: Three Kingdoms at 47%.â€
H-series chips are 40% faster than Intel’s Tiger Lake processors that debuted last year. The chips will power at least 100 laptop designs from Dell, Asus, HP, and Lenovo, among others.
Intel also introduced newer P-series chips on the 3rd gen Evo platform (also new) specifically to address efficiency or battery-intensive computing. The 12th gen P series has six new processors that deliver up to 2x of the performance over Intel’s 11th gen systems. It also enables Wi-Fi 6E. Intel also showcased U, H series products, which have 22 different stock-keeping units (SKUs).
Combined, the P, U, and H series have 28 different SKUs used across 350 different computer designs. Intel also has a unique tech feature addition in store for the 3rd gen Evo platform. Screenovate enables interoperability between multiple devices such as laptops, phones, tablets, watches, etc. Users have multi-screen scaling across numerous devices.
Bryant said, “We intend to enable new interactions with full flexibility across ecosystems, operating systems, and form factors. And most importantly, it’ll be built on top of that Intel EVO promise I just talked about.â€
Finally, Intel announced Intel Arc, a discrete GPU, to compete with NVIDIA and AMD directly in the GPU space. Intel Arc features Deep Licked technology that allows power transfer between the GPU and the CPU, generating greater performance/efficiency.
Even though Intel is technically a newbie in discrete graphics, its Intel Arc GPU will soon be shipped in multiple machines, first in Acer Swift X. However, Intel showcased the new GPU in an Alienware X17 at CES 2022. Intel Arc will power computers from Alienware, Samsung, HP, Lenovo, Dell, and others in the coming days.
AMD at CES 2022
First up is the AMD Ryzen 6000 CPUs for laptops. Ryzen 6000 is based on the Zen 3+ architecture, which is a notch above the Zen 3 but not as advanced as the upcoming Zen 4. It features a newer RDNA 2 to deliver better-integrated graphics. Ryzen 6000 and Ryzen 5000 chips will power 200+ high-end laptops this year.Â
The complete list of the new Ryzen 6000 and 5000 series SKUs are as below:
| CPU | GPU | Cores/Threads | Base Clock/Max Boost | Architecture |
| Ryzen 9 6980HS | 12/RDNA 2 | 8/16 | 3.3/5 GHz | 6nm Zen 3+ |
| Ryzen 9 6980HX | 12/RDNA 2 | 8/16 | 3.3/5 GHz | 6nm Zen 3+ |
| Ryzen 9 6900HX | 12/RDNA 2 | 8/16 | 3.3/4.9 GHz | 6nm Zen 3+ |
| Ryzen 7 6800HS | 12/RDNA 2 | 8/16 | 3.3/4.5 GHz | 6nm Zen 3+ |
| Ryzen 7 6800H | 12/RDNA 2 | 8/16 | 3.2/4.7 GHz | 6nm Zen 3+ |
| Ryzen 5 6600HS | 6/RDNA 2 | 6/12 | 3.3/4.5 GHz | 6nm Zen 3+ |
| Ryzen 5 6600H | 6/RDNA 2 | 6/12 | 3.3/4.5 GHz | 6nm Zen 3+ |
| Ryzen 7 6800U | 12/RDNA 2 | 8/16 | 2.7/4.7 GHz | 6nm Zen 3+ |
| Ryzen 5 6600U | 6/RDNA 2 | 6/12 | 2.9/4.5 GHz | 6nm Zen 3+ |
| Ryzen 7 5825U | 8/Vega | 8/16 | 2/4.5 GHz | 7nm Zen 3 |
| Ryzen 5 5625U | 7/Vega | 6/12 | 2/4.5 GHz | 7nm Zen 3 |
| Ryzen 3 5425U | 6/Vega | 4/8 | 2.7/4.1 GHz | 7nm Zen 3 |
When compared, Ryzen 7 6800U is twice as powerful as previous year’s Ryzen 7 5800U in gaming, while content creation and 3D renderings are 69% and 25% faster, respectively. The company didn’t compare its performance with Intel’s Tiger Lake processors.
But a noticeable difference between Ryzen 6000 series and the 12th gen Alder Lake is the core count (8 vs. 14). However, six of Alder Lake’s 14 cores are high-performing ones, with the rest focusing on efficiency. AMD touted its integrated graphics to be significantly better than Intel’s Xe integrated graphics and said the Ryzen 6000 series also features Zen 3+ and 6 nm process, which can boost power management capabilities with up to 24 hours playback.
AMD also announced a new generation of mobile processors called Ryzen 7000 in the second half of 2022. All of these processors will hit the 5Â GHz mark. Naturally, these will be based on the Zen 4 architecture and a 5 nm process. As we mentioned earlier, Zen 4 will no longer feature DDR4 and will shift to DDR5. Zen 4 will also have PCIe 5.0.
AMD announced ten new discrete GPUs, eight for laptops and two for desktops. The company’s lineup of Radeon RX 6000 GPUs now includes Radeon RX 6850M XT, Radeon RX 6650M XT, Radeon RX 6650M, Radeon RX 6500M, and Radeon RX 6300M (entry-level).
Radeon RX 6000SÂ is for ultra-thin laptops for efficiency. The Radeon RX 6000S series includes the Radeon RX 6700S. For desktops, AMD introduced the Radeon RX 6500 XT and the Radeon RX 6400. These GPUs have a significant gain anywhere between 7% to 20% over previous-generation GPUs from Intel and AMD.
AMD’s answer to Intel’s 3rd gen Evo platform is the AMD Advantage, along with SmartShift Max. As Evo adds newer features, SmartShift Max focuses on gaming and allows approximately 13% gains over SmartShift. This is enabled by shifting power between paired Ryzen CPUs and Radeon GPUs. SmartShift Eco by AMD is yet another feature that can make a laptop more efficient in power consumption as long as it has any of the AMD Ryzen 6900H Series CPUs and Radeon RX 6850M XT GPU.
NVIDIA at CES 2022
The third major U.S-based chipmaker also made a mark at CES 2022, announcing its most potent GPU yet, the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti, as well as a surprise for budget gamers: the GeForce RTX 3050.
Besides the RTX 3090 Ti, The company also introduced fresh products to its 30-series line of GPUs. These are RTX 3080 Ti, and RTX 3070 Ti. Toolbox laid out the specifications and their comparison with previous generations here.Â
RTX 3090 Ti should accommodate even the most demanding gamers given it has a 21 Gbps memory clock, 40 teraflops, and a 1 TB/s memory bandwidth, making it capable of a 7.7% performance boost over the RTX 3090.Â
However, budget gaming can receive a boost with the RTX 3050, priced at $249. The next budget GPU by NVIDIA is RTX 3060 at $329. Still, both are pricier than AMD’s Radeon RX 6500 XT ($199). Maybe this is why gamers are increasingly getting frustrated with NVIDIA, as evidenced by a deluge of replies to social media posts.
Which of these products launched at CES 2022 are you planning to purchase? Let us know on LinkedInOpens a new window , TwitterOpens a new window , or FacebookOpens a new window . We would love to hear from you!