Discussion the Death of the Desktop CPU

[Schmide]

My friend had the Osbone 1 I played with it. CP/M was wierd.

 

[Hitman928]

My friend had the Osbone 1 I played with it. CP/M was wierd.

The typo makes this funny.

 

[Hail The Brain Slug]

@fastandfurious6 This you?

AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 vs. Ryzen 9 9950X vs. Ryzen 9 9950X3D Linux Performance Review - Phoronix

www.phoronix.com

You know, if you enable eco mode on the 9950X3D it can be similarly efficient to strix halo's CPU even with the high desktop idle power cost.

I've got a strix halo mini PC and a 9950X3D desktop that idles at 100W and in testing unreal engine compiles and other UE multithreaded workloads, 9950X3D system in eco mode uses the same power at the wall and performs the same.

 

[fastandfurious6]

Michèl Larabèl the myth the legend!!!


what is the eco mode on windows?

power mode set to "best power efficiency" ?
"energy saver" enabled ?
"quiet" laptop profile?
nvidia gpu "power management mode" set to Normal?
pcie express Link State Power Management set to Maximum Power Savings?
laptop "thermal drivers" installed?
manually disabling turbo?

too many knobs gets too messy

 

[Hail The Brain Slug]

Michèl Larabèl the myth the legend!!!


what is the eco mode on windows?

power mode set to "best power efficiency" ?
"energy saver" enabled ?
"quiet" laptop profile?
nvidia gpu "power management mode" set to Normal?
pcie express Link State Power Management set to Maximum Power Savings?
laptop "thermal drivers" installed?
manually disabling turbo?

too many knobs gets too messy

I see you're being intentionally obtuse. One single setting.

That's too messy, but you're totally fine with a laptop where you have to do all kinds of power management configuration all the time to get the best performance, or make it quieter, or maximize the battery life depending on how and where you're using it at any given moment.

 

[poke01]

To bring this up again,

Desktop CPUs will not die as long as AMD and even INTEL offer 3-4 generations of CPUs on the same platform.

Some just want to upgrade ONLY their CPUs and the no other form factor offers that but the desktop

 

[fastandfurious6]

well ofc they won't go off-market overnight, there's gazillions of desktop pcs on this planet lol

but in practical terms desktop cpus are already over.........

you literally have the #1 flagship cpu in the world, 9950X, in a handheld (Halo form)....

....never before possible!

also 9950X = 9955HX, desktop version only achieves around +15% on the very high wattages

and the difference will keep decreasing, zen 6 will be even more miniscule


basically 80-90% of performance gets reaped in mobile-friendly wattages, and very-high desktop wattages dont offer much more perf

the same theme will keep recurring in future chips

 

[poke01]

well ofc they won't go off-market overnight, there's gazillions of desktop pcs on this planet lol

but in practical terms desktop cpus are already over.........

you literally have the #1 flagship cpu in the world, 9950X, in a handheld (Halo form)....

....never before possible!

also 9950X = 9955HX, desktop version only achieves around +15% on the very high wattages

and the difference will keep decreasing, zen 6 will be even more miniscule


basically 80-90% of performance gets reaped in mobile-friendly wattages, and very-high desktop wattages dont offer much more perf

the same theme will keep recurring in future chips

You can also power limit desktop CPUs and build them in very small enclosures.

I don’t want the desktop CPUs to die, it enables modularity that is a product of a bygone era and as long the Intel and AMD offer such CPUs many will buy them.

 

[jpiniero]

To bring this up again,

Desktop CPUs will not die as long as AMD and even INTEL offer 3-4 generations of CPUs on the same platform.

Some just want to upgrade ONLY their CPUs and the no other form factor offers that but the desktop

There's enough Corpos who like the form factor. That's it. Bascially there's cases where Corpos prefer not having the portability... afraid of the ol Five Finger Discount I guess.

Course a lot of that is AIOs.

 

[fastandfurious6]

why not enable laptop cpu/gpu upgrades?

 

[igor_kavinski]

why not enable laptop cpu/gpu upgrades?

Only possible with laptops that come with hefty cooling solutions. But let's be realistic here. The only reason laptop makers like making laptops is precisely BECAUSE they are NOT upgradable and they can look forward to making more sales in the next upgrade cycle which could be three to five years at most or as less as a year for people with deeper pockets.

One of my worst ever purchases was an ASUS Haswell laptop with Geforce 750. I made the mistake of buying it at launch. Six months later, ASUS upgraded the same model with Geforce 850. You can imagine how mad I got because that was twice the performance of the 750!

 

[fastandfurious6]

Only possible with laptops that come with hefty cooling solutions

so >2kg class that's ok. anything below that is mostly used by ppl who dont know/care about upgrades

but also zen6 onwards upgrades will be less useful.... i.e. by the time zen8 comes out the laptop will need new everything anyway, laptops will be pocket devices that rollout to 20 inch monitor lol

dishing out 2k every 4 years for new high end complete mobile computer is reasonable

 

[Trovaricon]

so >2kg class that's ok. anything below that is mostly used by ppl who dont know/care about upgrades

but also zen6 onwards upgrades will be less useful.... i.e. by the time zen8 comes out the laptop will need new everything anyway, laptops will be pocket devices that rollout to 20 inch monitor lol

dishing out 2k every 4 years for new high end complete mobile computer is reasonable

are you talking strictly about monetary perspective?

Because that is a lot, I mean a LOT of hazardous garbage. Sure, some of it will end up in secondary market, but repairability and proper disposal of electronics & plastics is, well quite dubious - see imported garbage mountains in SEA).
Being able to afford something is not the only barrier (esp. in developed economies) - having preferences over form factor.

 

[pcmax]

To bring this up again,

Desktop CPUs will not die as long as AMD and even INTEL offer 3-4 generations of CPUs on the same platform.

Some just want to upgrade ONLY their CPUs and the no other form factor offers that but the desktop

Intel 1851 needs to either fix their PCIe NVMe gen 5 latency or let it die and yes I'm running one

 

[fastandfurious6]

yes lads... cold and quiet high-end desktop replacement for $2500.

after testing the legion 7 pro 9955HX3D RTX5080 for a week, barely optimized (not sure if games park on Vcache CCD lol):

- runs everything 2560x1600 Ultra DLAA 100% fluid (DLSS only needed for fluid 4K)

- #1 CPU in the world and 16GB VRAM GPU close to 5070ti desktop

- everything super smooth never any hiccups

- perfect quality laptop: keyboard oled etc

- amazing temps and virtually no noise, can do 2.5K Ultra quiet


overall performance cannot see real difference from desktop 9950X3D + 5080 except DLSS usage in 4K



TBH $2500 is a premium for cutting edge 3Dcache zen5 and 16gb vram.
half that price nets you mobile 7950X + RTX5060 or similarly Halo


Desktop CPU is dead confirmed !

 

[sdifox]

AMD Ryzen 9 9955HX3D vs Ryzen 9 9950X3D [cpubenchmark.net] by PassMark Software

and your laptop will throttle.

 

[Hulk]

yes lads... cold and quiet high-end desktop replacement for $2500.

after testing the legion 7 pro 9955HX3D RTX5080 for a week, barely optimized (not sure if games park on Vcache CCD lol):

- runs everything 2560x1600 Ultra DLAA 100% fluid (DLSS only needed for fluid 4K)

- #1 CPU in the world and 16GB VRAM GPU close to 5070ti desktop

- everything super smooth never any hiccups

- perfect quality laptop: keyboard oled etc

- amazing temps and virtually no noise, can do 2.5K Ultra quiet


overall performance cannot see real difference from desktop 9950X3D + 5080 except DLSS usage in 4K



TBH $2500 is a premium for cutting edge 3Dcache zen5 and 16gb vram.
half that price nets you mobile 7950X + RTX5060 or similarly Halo


Desktop CPU is dead confirmed !

"Dead" except for the $2,500 price tag. Mobile has advantages but so does the traditional form factor, the big one being price, the ability to customize, longevity (upgrades), and cooling to name a few.

 

[Hail The Brain Slug]

Desktop CPU is dead confirmed !

You can keep repeating this as many times as you want, but it's not going to make it true.

 

[fastandfurious6]

You can keep repeating this as many times as you want, but it's not going to make it true.

#1 reason why public wanted both desktop and laptop was because laptops were
either Very Slow
or Heavy Loud Hot

now you have Very Fast + 2.5kg Cold Quiet with near equal top-end desktop performance

desktop already died but awareness doesn't happen overnight

I'll quote your post around 1 year from now

 

[sdifox]

#1 reason why public wanted both desktop and laptop was because laptops were
either Very Slow
or Heavy Loud Hot

now you have Very Fast + 2.5kg Cold Quiet with near equal top-end desktop performance

desktop already died but awareness doesn't happen overnight

I'll quote your post around 1 year from now

I just upgraded from a 3700X to a 5950X. Using an old tower that used to house my Opteron 165. I think my Slot A Athlon 700 as well. Pic from 3700X build

 

[Thunder 57]

#1 reason why public wanted both desktop and laptop was because laptops were
either Very Slow
or Heavy Loud Hot

now you have Very Fast + 2.5kg Cold Quiet with near equal top-end desktop performance

desktop already died but awareness doesn't happen overnight

I'll quote your post around 1 year from now

There will still be a market for desktops for the forseeable future so I doubt you will quote anyone in one year.

$2500 then add a docking station so you can use a real monitor (or two) + keyboard/mouse. What does that come out to? And what happens when you max out that CPU/GPU for 10 minutes or so? Throttle hell for sure.

 

[fastandfurious6]

real monitor (or two) + keyboard/mouse. What does that come out to?

few hundred bucks? you can get great monitors for 100-200 these days

peripherals cost the same for any computer, it's not an argument

what happens when you max out that CPU/GPU for 10 minutes or so? Throttle hell for sure.

Not at all, that's the point.

2.5kg 9950X laptop in 2025 now has sufficient design to run

~250-300W sustained
no throttling
normal sound
normal temps

 

[Thunder 57]

few hundred bucks? you can get great monitors for 100-200 these days

peripherals cost the same for any computer, it's not an argument



Not at all, that's the point.

2.5kg 9950X laptop in 2025 now has sufficient design to run

~250-300W sustained
no throttling
normal sound
normal temps

And should you wish to upgrade anything other than storage and maybe RAM you can't. For most people a laptop works fine. That does not mean desktop is dead. Why do I have a feeling this might end up like another infamous thread about quantity of VRAM and "correct settings"? Will we soon have a "correct laptop" argument? $2500 for a laptop that will be outdated CPU/GPU wise in a few years and no upgrade path isn't what I would call desierable.

 

[Doug S]

Only one NVMe slot? Already inadequate even for my modest needs without reading any further!

Also, why would anyone want to be limited to a small display and crappy laptop keyboard and touchpad for all their usage? Yes you can hook up to a big monitor (or two) and a quality keyboard/mouse, but what's the reason why you spent twice as much to buy this as a laptop if you're going to use it as a desktop?

Face it, not everyone wants to carry their PC around with them all the time, and having TWO PCs, one of which is optimized for your own personal fixed location computing needs and one of which is optimized for your own personal mobile computing needs may end up being CHEAPER than this non-upgradeable supposed jack-of-all-trades. Especially since you'd need to replace this thing more often because it isn't upgradeable.

What a ridiculous idea. The desktop *CPU* may die someday, but the desktop PC never will.

 

[Thunder 57]

Face it, not everyone wants to carry their PC around with them all the time, and having TWO PCs, one of which is optimized for your own personal fixed location computing needs and one of which is optimized for your own personal mobile computing needs...

Agreed. I'd rather have a decent thin and light (no dGPU) laptop for travel and a solid desktop for home use.