Computex 2016 will be held from May 31 to June 4 in Taipei, Taiwan. The main exhibition will happen at the Taipei World Trade Center Exhibition Center Hall 1 (+Hall 3) and the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center. Check the official Computex 2016 site.
Over the years, Computex when from being PC-centric to a place where more and more diverse products are being presented, including phones, tablets and IoT. With Computex 2016 just around the corner, let’s go over the pre-show expectations. What should you be looking for, and what’s coming? Here’s a list of things that we will probably see there.
Intel’s updated “Kaby Lake” CPUs
Slated for a Q3 2016 arrival on the market, Intel’s new processor core codenamed Kaby Lake is the successor of the much acclaimed Skylake architecture. Il will be built using a 14 nanometer (nm) semiconductor process. Improvements include better 3D graphics performance and better 4K video playback (with HEVC and VP9 10-bit hardware decoding). The platform will also offer USB 3.1 natively, along with HDCP 2.2 for digital rights (it means that movie studios will be happy).
We also know from previous leaks that Intel will launch a 10-core chip based on the “Broadwell” architecture (140W TDP). With two threads per core, it should boast a very high performance for highly parallel tasks. From memory, I think that this is the first 10-core i7 processor Intel ever made. Its product name is Intel Core i7 6950X.
Intel will release three more processors with 8 and 6 cores, respectively. They mostly differ by internal L3 cache size (25MB – 15MB). All four CPUs are supported by the X99 chipset which has an LGA-2011-3 socket. Prices will go from $1000 down to $450.
NVIDIA-powered products based on the Pascal Architecture
3rd party GeForce GTX 1080 + GTX 1070 cards
With the recent launch of the GeForce GTX 1080 and GTX 1070 chips, it is only a matter of time before OEMs start announcing their cards. Computex might be a great venue for that although I’m guessing that everyone is frantically trying to sell their stocks of last-gen Geforce GTX 980 and even Geforce GTX 980 Ti.
As we have said in our GTX 1080 coverage, the new chips offer a pretty amazing performance in relation to the power consumption, or the price.
NVIDIA “Pascal” Laptops
The performance/power ratio makes laptop an obvious battleground for NVIDIA’s Pascal architecture. Just like previous ones, the core technology must have been designed with low-power in mind, but at Computex, it’s more likely that NVIDIA will present high-end, powerful gaming laptops along with key OEM partners. Gaming laptops are one of the high-margin products in the PC space, and the recent rise in popularity for this category would make it a priority for both NVIDIA and PC-makers.
AMD Polaris 10, VEGA 10 and Polaris 11 GPUs
NVIDIA may have stolen most of the graphics thunder recently, but AMD is set to present its new Polaris GPU architecture. The AMD event will happen on June 1st in Taiwan. There’s a possibility that the new architecture itself will be launched right before Computex while the actual graphics cards will show up during Computex.
The recent AMD leaks show that AMD will have three GPUs, with VEGA 10 being an enormous chip slated for a 2017 appearance while Polaris 10 would be scheduled for launch next month. Polaris 11 isn’t a next-gen Polaris, but rather a lower-cost version of the chip since the leak shows a smaller die size.
Polaris 10 and we know that all will be using FinFET (3D transistors), although the exact semiconductor process width isn’t official yet on AMD’s official material. Most observers speculate on a 14nm process at the moment.
Overall, the strategy of AMD is to beat NVIDIA at either a “performance per watt” game, or a “performance per dollar” contest, preferably both. On paper, things look pretty good for AMD, but we will know more when the product is revealed and when independent benchmarks will start coming out.
Lenovo/Motorola: See Lenovo’s Tech World in SF
There were some rumors concerning possible Lenovo/Motorola devices launched at Computex, but it would make more sense if such a launch was to happen during Lenovo’s Tech World Conference in San Francisco.
It’s possible that Lenovo/Motorola would have other products to announce at Computex (maybe that 18.5″ tablet), but more likely, it will keep all its announcement for its SF event. Don’t expect much from Lenovo at Computex.
ASUS: Zenvolution coming!
ASUS has already invited the press to its “Zenvolution” event on May 30, 2016, 2pm (Taiwan time). The thing is: “Zen” is a very large line of products for ASUS, so you can expect to see many things, ranging from smartphones to tablets, to PCs.
The Zenfone 3 has already been rumored to be launched at Computex, but I’ve never seen ASUS launch less than three products, so we know that there will be much more. A “Deluxe” edition of the Zenphone 3 is said to be coming as well, although images have not surfaced yet.
The ASUS Zenbook UX330 has been leaked by Red Dot Design too. It’s a 0.54-inch laptop (13.3” supposedly) which is said to last for up to 10 hours (in theory) even though it uses a Core ix processor and not the wimpier Core M.
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