The 2022 edition of CES has thus far been quite peculiar, so writing any kind of breakdown is a fairly challenging task as well. Fortunately, there are a few key takeaways for us to talk about, even though most of them are nowhere near as exciting as we had hoped.
Be that as it may, they’re all pointing towards a very specific status quo, and are therefore more than worthy of our undivided attention.
NVIDIA Is Slowly Losing Relevancy…
You’d expect a company as capable and venerable as NVIDIA to have a much more impressive showing at one of the world’s biggest tech events but that, unfortunately, wasn’t the case. Far from it, in fact.
They had a long, drawn-out presentation that had no substance whatsoever. It was obviously aimed more towards their stakeholders than the regular public — a perplexing choice, no doubt. But the biggest surprise of them all was the fashion in which they talked about their upcoming products; they were as superficial and vague as humanly possible.
And it’s easy to understand why: they’re trying to stay afloat, and there’s very little innovation to speak of (if any at all). The RTX 3050 is not a good deal at $250 (MSRP). The RTX 3090 Ti — the one they talked about for basically fifteen seconds — is only going to get a paper launch. The two mobile RTX SKUs, while undeniably powerful, are just “more of the same.”
NVIDIA is trying to impress us through the most simplistic of means: the brute force method. Unfortunately for “team green,” it’s become quite obvious that they’re losing the battle to AMD and even Intel — a company that has yet to release a full-fledged gaming GPU — seems like an actual threat.
Upping TDPs and increasing clock speeds will no longer cut it.
AMD Has The Efficiency Crown
Contrary to their perennial adversaries, AMD has shown off a metric ton of exciting new stuff at this year’s CES: new GPUs, CPUs, mobile APUs, AM5, 3D V-Cache, and everything in between!
They’re the only company other than Intel that will utilize TSMC’s advanced 6nm node going forward, so we can expect better performance and higher efficiency across their entire product line-up! All in all, if you’re an AMD fan, you have a ton to look forward to!
And, better yet, most of these things will be hitting the market in Q1 or Q2 so we won’t have to wait long to get our hands on AMD’s latest and greatest offerings! The end of the year, however, will be an especially fascinating treat as AMD plans to release its long-awaited AM5 platform and once again upend the market in huge, sweeping ways.
Intel Has Everyone’s Attention
Credit where credit is due: Intel seems to have pulled off a comeback for the ages! Not only are their Alder Lake CPUs mighty powerful (and surprisingly efficient), but their upcoming GPUs have piqued everyone’s interest as well.
Moreover, Intel seems to be firing on all cylinders: they’re investing in as advanced a manufacturing process as they can, while also developing their own bespoke software solutions like XeSS. All in all, it’s a wholly comprehensive undertaking and, knock on wood, it could yield some truly spectacular results.
Gaming Laptops Are Getting Better
A ton of new gaming laptops (or revisions, rather) have been shown off and nearly all of them are sporting key upgrades: faster screens, higher brightness levels, better panels with faster response times, 16:10 aspect ratios, improved cooling, faster LPDDR5 RAM, and so on.
There’s something for everyone, as they say. Now, granted, none of these will come cheap, but at least the industry as a whole is moving towards a positive direction.
Entry-Level Gaming Will Once Again Become Possible
Last but certainly not least, we have some truly stellar news for the budget-conscious among us. AMD’s entry-level GPUs — the RX 6500 XT and RX 6400 — will make entry-level gaming a reality once more. And, better yet, “Rembrandt” 6000 series APUs will deliver GTX 1650 levels of performance within a meagre power envelope so you won’t even need a dedicated GPU to game comfortably.
Well, at least not if you can live with lowered settings and 1080p. It’s not only a great stopgap solution until the semiconductor shortages blow over, but a wholly satisfying option altogether. Exciting times, no doubt!
We’ll have a lot more to talk about in just a few weeks’ time, so stay tuned!