Linus Tech Tips Discussion

 Ryzen 7 9700X3D Rumors - A Possible Case of the Internet Hallucinating a CPU Into Existence Summary Over the past few days a myriad of articles, including some from reputable tech journalists, have been released mentioning a Passmark benchmark of an unannounced AMD CPU: The Ryzen 7 9700X3D. Some articles also bundled this rumor with those about an upcoming AI Max+ 388 CPU, giving it further legitimacy. While some articles noted that discrepancies in its performance (posting better results than the Ryzen 7 9800X3D) cast doubt on the benchmark's authenticity, others failed to note this or even reported as if the product was confirmed to be real.    Yesterday, a Reddit post appeared on r/pcmasterrace from a user claiming to be the source of the benchmark. They claim to have heavily overclocked a Ryzen 7 9700X, modified a Linux installation's /proc/cpuinfo file, then ran a Passmark benchmark to see if the discrepancy would be recognized. They claim Passmark both accepted the modified information and uploaded the benchmark's results to their database.    Quotes   From TechPowerUp: Quote Update Nov 8th: This PassMark benchmark has been identified as a faked result. Redditors used Linux commands to submit spoofed identification data, using a standard 9700X, apparently to see if it was possible. The higher clocks than the 9800X3D would be unusual for a lower binned X3D part. Many news sites reported on the story, and the shenanigans serve as a warning regarding trusting the veracity of unverified benchmarks. TechSpot's Headline: Quote AMD prepares Ryzen 7 9700X3D as budget-friendly 3D V-Cache CPU, AI Max+ 388 also appears on PassMark From the Reddit Post: Quote TL:DR - My friends and I were playing around with Linux and accidentally submitted a 9700X3D score, which got written up in the news. I'd like to set the record straight: The 9700X3D isn't real, and we should all learn from this. Remember, all benchmarks can be faked!   My thoughts This event is a unique view into just how quickly rumors can spiral out of control. I feel like this raises some questions about the state of tech journalism. While there are undoubtedly great journalists still at work in the space, especially in the video medium, the quality of the online articles that most people go to for information seem to have deteriorated significantly over the past several years. How much of what's left is just news aggregation and AI summaries disguised as articles?    Sources   TechPowerUp Article: https://www.techpowerup.com/342644/amd-ryzen-7-9700x3d-appears-in-leaked-passmark-benchmark   Tom's Hardware Article: https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/cpus/amd-prepping-new-x3d-chip-with-high