The Sino-American chip wars have resulted in many back-and-forth salvos and negotiations as the countries try and strike a balance between technology access and trade. Currently, both sides have set respective import and export controls, letting specific companies on a case-by-case basis. Today, Reuters reports that Chinese telecoms giant ZTE and server firm Maginfra have received U.S. approval to buy Nvidia's last-gen H200 "Hopper" chips.

ZTE joins a club that counts Alibaba, Tencent, ByteDance, and JD.com among the roughly 10-strong group of Chinese companies with U.S. clearance for those purchases. Additionally, an apparent subsidiary of Kingsoft Cloud got approval to buy AMD accelerators equivalent to Nvidia's H200, presumably Instinct MI300X-class chips.

Over on the Chinese side of the table, Reuters remarks that there's no word on whether the respective authorities will give ZTE the go-ahead for import, as the country has taken on a protectionist stance as it tries to grow its own chip industry. The country has discouraged firms from purchasing foreign tech and has instead pushed companies to acquire homegrown accelerators. Huawei in particular has made great strides both technologically and financially.

But even with those domestic production initiatives, the Chinese hunger for AI silicon is so deep that six months ago, Reuters said the nation's tech firms had more than two million H200 chips on order, far more than what Nvidia had on hand at the time. We'd venture that hunger has barely subsided.

ZTE might not be a familiar name Stateside, but the corporation is one of China's largest telecommunication conglomerates, and among many other ventures, it sells all sorts of carrier network gear that's installed worldwide, along with corresponding client-facing equipment, including phones and IoT equipment. Like most any sizable technological venture, ZTE has joined in on the cloud computing and AI push, so it needs accelerators to make those ambitions reality.

The current status of the AI chip trade situation is roughly that the U.S. allows Chinese firms to buy AI chips up to and including the Hopper family (meaning no Blackwell chips), with a 25% export tariff, though final decisions are made on a case-by-case basis. Over on Chinese shores, Beijing's authorities play their cards close to their chest and dole out approvals as they see fit, with no clear rules seemingly set. But China is, of course, a global power with trade connections to most everyone, so interested firms were able to get their hands on Blackwell chips through various creative (and potentially illicit) means.

Whether this change will actually clear the way for any great volumes of H200 accelerators to make their way into ZTE's data centers remains to be seen. CNBC cites a U.S. trade official who today stated that "very few shipments against licenses for H200s and equivalents have taken place. It’s a very small quantity of chips" during a congressional hearing. If H200 shipments become material to Nvidia's bottom line, we'll almost certainly hear about it in future comments or earnings reports.

The U.S. House of Representatives is set to vote on the 2025 defense budget this week, which includes a $3-billion allocation to replace telecommunications equipment previously acquired from Huawei and ZTE. According to Reuters, the equipment provided by these companies comes with security risks, especially as People’s Republic China (PRC)-affiliated hackers have been conducting a massive cyber espionage campaign to compromise private U.S. telecommunications companies. Congress also wants an intelligence report that outlines Chinese espionage efforts and the country’s biotech capabilities.

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has previously created the Supply Chain Reimbursement Program (also known as the Rip and Replace Program)—worth $1.9 billion—so that network operators with ten million or fewer customers can get reimbursed for the removal, replacement, and disposal of hardware and services provided by Huawei and/or ZTE. However, the agency has previously said that the total cost of replacing everything could hit $4.98 billion. So, the $3 billion added to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025 should make up some of the shortfall, which would help over 100 U.S. carriers to get rid of potentially compromised equipment.

Although huge, this amount is still not enough, as the FCC Chairperson, Jessica Rosenworcel, has been urgently asking Congress for additional funding of $3.08 billion. So, even if the FCC gets the complete $3 billion, it still needs to pony up an additional $80 million to cover its expected expenses. Rosenworcel said that the $3.08 billion shortfall would put “both our national security and the connectivity of rural consumers who depend on these networks at risk,” further adding that a lack of funding “could eliminate the only providers in some regions” and even affect 911 coverage and service area.

Senator Maria Cantwell, chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, said that funding for this program will come from the auction of the advanced wireless spectrum AWS-3, so it will likely not be a direct burden to the average taxpayer. Aside from that, all the Huawei and ZTE equipment that needs to be disposed of must be replaced, likely by American-made products from Cisco and other major networking players. So, if Congress passes the complete amount (or maybe even gives the FCC a bit more for it to get the full requested amount), the U.S. telecom industry could finally break free from the supposed threat presented by the use of Huawei and ZTE communications equipment.

China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has held talks with the country's semiconductor and supercomputer companies in a bid to assess the impact of sweeping U.S. sanctions against Chinese high-tech industry which came into effect last Tuesday. The government vows to financially support affected companies, but without plans on how to alleviate the effects of sanctions that bar select Chinese companies from U.S. technologies. 

Officials from the MIIT summoned executives from various semiconductor and supercomputer companies, including 3D NAND memory maker Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. and supercomputer maker Dawning Information Industry Co. better known as Sugon, to discuss the impact of American sanctions against China's chip and supercomputer sectors, reports Bloomberg. 

Many Chinese high-tech companies, including Huawei, Inspur, Sugon, and ZTE have historically relied on government-funded projects for growth, whereas chipmakers like Semiconductor Manufacturing International Co. and Yangtze Memory have both received investments from government-controlled funds and sold products to local companies. Sources with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg that domestic IT market will provide sufficient demand for affected companies. The question is whether they can fulfil that demand. 

Both Sugon and YMTC were essentially eliminated from the global semiconductor and semiconductor production supply chains after the U.S. administration imposed sweeping sanctions against China. Sugon has been in the U.S. entity list since mid 2019 and therefore it cannot procure high-performance computing chips from American companies unless the latter get an appropriate export license from the U.S. Department of Commerce (DoC).  

Meanwhile YMTC cannot procure advanced American chipmaking tools to make 3D NAND with 128 or more layers. Furthermore, YMTC has been added to the unverified list (UVL) and unless the U.S. government specialists or auditors cannot verify that YMTC's products are not used by Chinese entities with military ties within 60 days, the 3D NAND maker gets into the entity list. Once YMTC is on the list, U.S. chip toolmakers as well as all companies that sell products or services featuring American technology will have to get an export license from the DoC to deal with YMTC. If the license is not granted, the company will be left without the necessary wafer fab equipment (WFE). 

Chinese high-performance computing (HPC) chip designers like Biren are not yet affected by the sanctions and the company can produce as many chips at it needs at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC). However, the U.S. administration has enough tools to curb Biren's operations. 

In addition to restricting U.S. chip toolmakers to supply advanced WFE to Chinese companies, the U.S. government also restricted the ability of U.S. persons to 'support the development, or production, of ICs' at select PRC-located fabs without a license.

**Updated 10/21**
YMTC has denied any involvement in closed-door talks with Chinese government officials over U.S. sanctions.

The U.S. Senate unanimously passed the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act of 2019 on Thursday. The bill, which now heads to Donald Trump for approval, would establish a $1 billion fund to help rural telecommunications networks remove and replace Huawei and ZTE equipment.

U.S. federal agencies have been banned from purchasing Huawei and ZTE equipment through the National Defense Authorization Act of 2019. The Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Act would prevent the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from supporting the purchase of that equipment by service providers.

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The bill's passage comes shortly after the FCC adopted a rule preventing telecoms from using the Universal Service Fund, which subsidizes the expansion of broadband availability throughout the country, to purchase equipment from "companies posing a national security threat" (read: Huawei and ZTE and other Chinese companies).

Yesterday, the FCC announced that it "began collecting information from telecommunications carriers on the use of Huawei and ZTE equipment and services in their networks." Universal Service Fund recipients have until April 22 to share this information with the FCC via a dedicated web portal.

The FCC said it wants to know "whether carriers own or are using equipment or services from Huawei or ZTE; the type of such equipment or services; the costs associated with purchasing and/or installing such equipment and services; and the costs associated with removing and replacing such equipment and services."

Huawei gave The Hill the following statement in response to the bill's passage:

"Unfortunately, the legislation that was just passed is considerably underfunded, would take longer than anticipated and could put at risk some of our customers, who serve the most underserved areas. This legislation will simply reduce the ability of broadband providers to provide the most secure network equipment and in turn hurt local consumers and businesses."

We wouldn't be surprised if Huawei contests this decision--it's sued the U.S. government multiple times over the last few years. A District Court judge recently said the company couldn't sue over the federal government's equipment ban, however, because the rule merely affects how the government spends its money.

This bill--as well as the FCC's rule--are similar in concept. U.S. telecoms providers are technically allowed to use Huawei and ZTE equipment; they simply can't use funds from the Universal Service Fund to do so. We'll see how the companies respond if or when President Trump signs the bill into law.

Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) has introduced a bill that seeks to prohibit U.S. intelligence agencies from sharing information with countries that use Huawei's 5G networking equipment, citing national security risks. 

“The United States shouldn’t be sharing valuable intelligence information with countries that allow an intelligence-gathering arm of the Chinese Communist Party to operate freely within their borders," Senator Cotton said in a statement, as per CNBC. "I urge our allies around the world to carefully consider the consequences of dealing with Huawei to their national interests."

The U.S. government shares intelligence information and tools with other countries within the Five Eyes, Nine Eyes and Fourteen Eyes spy alliances, as well as through other means. For example, the recently passed Cloud Act allows the U.S. government to enter deals with each individual country to bypass each other’s judicial process and a warrant requirement in order to gain direct access to the digital data of their own expatriates, even if the data is hosted abroad.

The U.S. government itself banned Huawei, ZTE and other Chinese-manufactured devices in federal agencies, due to the same espionage worries. More recently, the Pentagon also started banning some Chinese applications, such as the social networking app TikTok, from being accessed on military networks. 

The U.S. government began urging its allies to drop Huawei from it critical telecommunications infrastructure last year, arguing that Huawei can’t be trusted not to enable the Chinese government’s espionage operations. 

Some, such as Japan and Australia, agreed to do that, but others, including the UK and Germany, are a little more reluctant, primarily because their national telecom companies have already purchased large quantities of Huawei equipment in order to deploy 5G networks. 

The UK government has said that its core network components and networks used to share intelligence will not make use of Huawei equipment. However, the U.S. government continues to pressure the UK government to drop Huawei completely. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was supposed to meet with the British Foreign Minister last Thursday, but the meeting was canceled at the last minute, due to bad weather.

Huawei has always denied allegations that it helps the Chinese government spy on its foreign customers of 5G networking gear.

Some think success is the greatest revenge. If that's true, Huawei practically became vengeance personified this year, because the company reported a record-high revenue of $122 billion in 2019 despite U.S. government efforts to bring it down.

By now you've probably heard about the conflict between Huawei and the U.S. government enough times to recite it in your sleep. Just in case you haven't, though, here's a brief summary of the back-and-forth that's taken place in the last few years.

• August 2018: U.S. President Donald Trump signs the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for 2019 to stop federal agencies from buying Huawei and ZTE equipment.
• December 2018: Canada arrests Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou at the request of the U.S. government, which said Huawei violated sanctions on Iran.
• May 2019: The U.S. Department of Commerce adds Huawei to the Entity List, which prevents American companies from doing business with it.
• June 2019: Trump delays the Commerce Department's blacklisting of Huawei.
• August 2019: Trump says the U.S. was "not going to be doing business with Huawei" after China refused to buy American agricultural goods during the ongoing trade war.

We've skipped over some of the relevant stories because there were simply too many to list comfortably. Suffice it to say those are the biggest ways in which the U.S. government sought to affect Huawei's business since the NDAA's signing last August.

Huawei faced similar challenges in other countries, too, as governments around the world publicly wondered if it would be safe to use the company's equipment to establish 5G wireless networks. The U.S. may have encouraged this questioning.

But the primary obstacle to Huawei's success was supposed to be its addition to the Entity List. American companies were forced to stop doing business with the company--or were at least supposed to be--and that could've hamstrung its activity.

Huawei defied expectations by posting the record high revenue (which, again, was $122 billion) despite all those obstacles as well as the ongoing trade war between the U.S. and China. Its growth was still slowed, according to chairman Eric Xu, and it's worried about 2020. This year, however, it persevered despite American efforts.

Huawei today announced that it's filed a petition with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to protest a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) order that prohibits carriers from using the Universal Service Fund federal subsidiary to buy Huawei equipment.

The FCC issued the order on November 22 purportedly because it believes that allowing carriers to use Huawei equipment in rural areas throughout the U.S. represents a national security risk. The idea was that preventing carriers from using the Universal Service Fund to buy Huawei equipment would lead them to seek alternative solutions that wouldn't put the country at risk of foreign influence.

Huawei's argument is that the FCC order "fails to offer Huawei required due process protections in labeling Huawei as a national security threat. Huawei believes that the FCC also fails to substantiate its arbitrary findings with evidence or sound reasoning or analysis, in violation of the U.S. Constitution, the Administrative Procedure Act and other laws." 

In addition, the vendor claims the FCC didn't provide evidence prove Huawei a security threat. 

The FCC has not acknowledged the filing.

Of course, the U.S. has already made similar arguments against Huawei, with U.S. President Donald Trump telling federal agencies to stop buying equipment form Huawei and ZTE, both of which are based in China, last year. They were made again when the U.S. Department of Commerce added Huawei to the Entity List -- which prevents U.S. companies from doing business with it -- back in May. Such arguments have been repeated several times since, too.

All of which is to say this isn't the first time the U.S. government has restricted Huawei's ability to do business in the U.S. Nor is it the first time Huawei's complained about the legality of these attempts. In March, Huawei said that banning federal agencies from purchasing its products was unconstitutional. Now, it's back in the courts in an effort to continue operating in rural areas in the States.

According to Huawei, this most recent restriction "is threatening the improving connectivity in rural America, which depends on Huawei equipment because other vendors were not willing to do business" in these locations. You can find a a transcript of Huawei's press conference here. 

We said in June that someone needed to check Huawei CEO Ren Zhengfei for whiplash after the U.S. kept changing its mind about the Chinese telecom's fate. Now we think it's our turn for a doctor visit because just a few weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump said he would let U.S. companies do business with Huawei, he today told reporters that "we're not going to be doing business with Huawei" after China refused to buy U.S. agricultural goods.

China decided not to buy those goods because Trump expanded tariffs on goods imported from the country on August 1. The new tariffs are expected to affect $300 billion worth of goods on top of existing tariffs, but only at a 10% rate, as opposed to the 25% rate previously applied to other goods. This seemed like a middle ground between the immediate expansion of 25% tariffs and Trump's suspension of that expansion following talks with China.

Confused? Imagine how the companies directly affected by this constant back-and-forth on what goods will be affected by tariffs, whether they'll be allowed to continue selling goods to Huawei and other aspects of the U.S.-China trade war probably feel this morning. (To say nothing of the federal workers tasked with carrying out these actions.) The only constant over the last few months has been uncertainty; shareholders loathe uncertainty.

Trump's announcement today reportedly means that U.S. agencies and companies alike won't be allowed to purchase Huawei's telecommunications products. That isn't anything new to the former--Trump banned federal agencies from using products made by Huawei and ZTE when he signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for 2019. The ban for private companies, however, could mean Huawei wHuawei won't be part of the U.S.' 5G networks.

"China wants to do something, but I'm not doing anything yet. 25 years of abuse. I'm not ready so fast," Trump said, as per Business Insider.

The situation with Huawei is particularly difficult for companies to parse. First they weren't supposed to work with the company at all, then they were given provisional licenses to keep working with it, then they decided it was okay to sell Huawei products unrelated to national security concerns. Companies like Intel have also applied for licenses to keep doing business with Huawei. Now those licenses will reportedly be delayed at best.

The U.S. wouldn't be alone in banning (or at least considering a ban) Huawei from its 5G networks. Other countries throughout Europe, as well as Australia, New Zealand and Canada have all reportedly considered such bans. The fear is that Huawei, which has been connected to Chinese intelligence agencies, could use its telecommunications equipment to enable widespread surveillance.

Yet, so far Trump has gone back and forth on the motivation behind Huawei's ban. At first the company was deemed a national security risk, but the announcement in June made it seem like the U.S. was simply using Huawei as leverage against China. With Trump today citing alleged abuse by China, the ban seems even more like retaliation. 

As yet another consequence of President Trump's recent executive order banning companies that pose a high espionage risk, Huawei’s MateBook X Pro laptops seem to have disappeared from Microsoft’s online store. Microsoft’s retail stores will seemingly continue to sell their current stock of Huawei notebooks.

Huawei Notebooks Banned In The U.S.

Huawei’s MateBook X Pro, which Microsoft has been offering since their launch in its online store, as well as its retail stores, seem to have silently been removed from Microsoft’s site. Microsoft has yet to comment on the issue publicly.

The reason for the notebooks’ disappearance is likely the recent executive order banning foreign companies that may represent a risk to U.S. national security, as well as American firms from collaborating with said companies. Although Huawei was not named in the executive order by name, to many American companies, it was obvious that the main target was the Chinese company.

Ban Could Deal A Severe Blow To Huawei’s Business

Huawei’s ban will likely affect more than just the Chinese firm’s smartphone or notebook sales, but also the sale of networking equipment (the class of Chinese products U.S. intelligence agencies fear most due to their high espionage risk), servers, and other products and services that Huawei has been offering to U.S. customers. Huawei, ZTE and other Chinese products were already under a partial ban in the U.S. since last year, affecting only the Pentagon and other federal agencies.

Huawei and Microsoft were also collaborating on a hybrid cloud solution with Microsoft-certified Huawei servers using Intel processors. However, the recent ban will likely prevent both Microsoft and Intel from further collaborating with Huawei.

When the U.S. government banned companies from collaborating with ZTE, a Chinese state-owned company, the repercussions were far more severe than the three-month ban would imply. Beyond the billion-dollar fine the U.S. government imposed on ZTE, the Chinese company’s image was also tainted beyond repair, and it’s currently still struggling to resume its full operations from before the ban happened.

A similar ban against Huawei could mean similar consequences for Huawei. However, for now, Huawei’s CEO remains confident that the ban will not negatively impact the company, and said to Chinese state media that the U.S. politicians underestimate the company’s strength.

.

Everything is coming up Qualcomm. Shortly after the company settled its dispute with Apple, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOF) said U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh should be careful not to rush to punish Qualcomm in the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) antitrust case, which started in January 2017.

The FTC is a government body meant to guard against anticompetitive business practices. It alleged that Qualcomm used its patents to maintain an effective monopoly over the baseband processor market, which in turn sees its products used in the majority of smartphones. According to the FTC, Qualcomm's strict patent licensing terms and royalty demands led to decreased competition, as well as increases in smartphone prices passed on to consumers.

Shortly after, Apple filed multiple billion-dollar lawsuits over Qualcomm’s licensing agreements that eventually led to a global fight over how both companies run their businesses. That battle ended in April with Apple signing a new deal, agreeing to make Qualcomm the only supplier of wireless modems in the iPhone and paying $4.5 billion to cover past licensing fees.

But Apple wasn’t the only one going after Qualcomm. In addition to the FTC, the company’s also been criticized by the Korea Fair Trade Commission, the European Commission and Intel among others. So even though Qualcomm has settled with Apple, it still hasn’t escaped scrutiny.

Enter the DOJ, which said in a filing that it fears a harsh punishment from Koh in the FTC’s antitrust case might “reduce competition and innovation in markets for 5G technology and downstream applications that rely on that technology.” The FTC wants Qualcomm to be punished for establishing a monopoly in the smartphone market; the DOJ wants 5G wireless networks.

It’s possible that the DOJ’s defense of Qualcomm is related to the U.S. government’s criticism of and skepticism towards Huawei and ZTE. We won’t rehash everything here, but suffice it to say that much like other governments around the world, the U.S. has been cautious about allowing Chinese telecoms to establish 5G networks for fear of China using them to spy.

Those fears mean it’s important for U.S. companies to remain competitive in the 5G market. (Not that the rest of the country’s internet infrastructure is competitive with many other developed nations.) Either way, the DOJ has made it clear that not everyone in the U.S. government wants Qualcomm to face harsh punishment for (alleged) monopolization. 

The DOJ wants Koh to hold hearings to allow for outside input on how Qualcomm should be punished. If it does, we wouldn’t be surprised if things continue to go Qualcomm’s way. Hopefully we’ll know how Koh plans to proceed with the case sooner than later.

The Times reported today that the Central Intelligence Agency has evidence that Huawei is at least partly funded by China’s National Security Commission, the People’s Liberation Army, and a yet-to-be-identified third member of the Chinese government's intelligence apparatus. Huawei denied the report, but this is just the latest in a long series of accusations regarding the company's ties with Chinese intelligence agencies.

Those accusations led the U.S. government to prevent federal agencies from purchasing equipment from Huawei and ZTE in August 2018. Reports indicated that the companies might also be banned from civilian networks, too, but so far nothing has come of those claims. That doesn't mean the U.S. has lightened up on Huawei--the company's chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, has been charged with evading sanctions on Iran.

The U.S. government isn't alone in its wariness of Huawei, either, as countries throughout Europe, as well as Australia and New Zealand, have at least considered banning the company's equipment from their wireless networks. MIT announced earlier this month that it would stop working with Huawei as part of a broader effort to limit the university's association with China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and other countries facing international scrutiny.

Now it seems the U.S. government is urging other countries to adopt standards that would prevent Huawei (and presumably ZTE) from becoming a central part of 5G wireless networks. Reuters reported as such on April 15, and The Times reported that the CIA shared its intelligence linking Huawei with China's intelligence apparatus with Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom as part of the Five Eyes alliance.

Huawei's response to these obstacles has varied. In the U.S., for example, it's contesting the ban on its equipment by saying it violates its Constitutional rights. The Chinese government has intervened on its behalf in Canada. Meanwhile, these problems led Huawei CEO Ren Zhengfei to warn "mediocre employees" in January that they could be laid off because the company needs to "conduct some organisational streamlining."

A company representative told The Times that "Huawei does not comment on unsubstantiated allegations backed up by zero evidence from anonymous sources." But as countries around the world question the safety of using Huawei equipment in their wireless networks, the company might not have a choice but to respond. Zhengfei thought things were getting serious in January; let's see how he feels by December.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, better known as MIT, announced Wednesday that, at least temporarily, it will no longer work with Huawei or ZTE “due to federal investigations regarding violations of sanction restrictions.”

The decision was revealed as part of a note from Richard Lester and Maria Zuber, the Massachusetts-based university’s associate provost and vice president for research, respectively, about a “new review process for ‘elevated-risk’ international proposals." This new process was “designed to enable MIT to engage with the world effectively, with responsible management of risks and in keeping with the values of our community,” Lester and Zuber said. It currently applies to international research projects that involve China, Russia and Saudi Arabia, but that list is subject to change as the university feels necessary.

Lester and Zuber said “special attention will be paid to risks related to intellectual property, export controls, data security and access, economic competitiveness, national security and political, civil and human rights, as well as potential impacts on the MIT community, consistency with MIT’s core values and alignment with MIT’s academic mission.”

The process involves three phases. The first one is a compliance review with MIT’s International Coordination Committee, the second is an academic review by the International Advisory Committee and the third is a project risk review by the Senior Risk Group. More details about each phase can be found in the note announcing this new process.

Huawei and ZTE appear to be the first casualties of this process. Both face increasing scrutiny from the U.S., which banned federal agencies from purchasing their equipment and could extend the ban to wireless networks.

Huawei claimed this ban is unconstitutional, but with the U.S. also charging the company with skirting sanctions on Iran, the company’s standing doesn’t seem likely to improve.

Other countries have scrutinized Huawei’s products, too, and several have at least considered a ban of the company’s equipment from their wireless networks. Now, it’s losing research partners, too.

In an effort to stay ahead of China’s advances in the technology sector, the Semiconductor Industry Association, led by Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra, has asked the U.S. government for an increase in chip research funding to $5 billion over the next five years, from a current $1.5 billion. As a result of the ZTE and Huawei bans (in certain sectors) in the U.S., the Chinese government has accelerated the development of its own semiconductor industry.

Semiconductor Industry Association members also include Intel, Nvidia, AMD, Qualcomm, GlobalFoundries and more. Currently, the U.S. government is offering semiconductor companies $1.5 billion towards research and development over a five-year period. The association has asked for an increase to $5 billion over the next five years, as well as a doubling of funds for related material science research.

The organization has also asked the U.S. government for an easier immigration process so that employees from China or India could receive a permanent residency status more easily after working for the semiconductor companies.

In addition, the Semiconductor Industry Association is lobbying the U.S. government for changes to trade agreements between the U.S. and China, so that the U.S. companies get a more fair treatment when intellectual property (IP) disputes arise. U.S. companies have complained in the past that they are not fairly treated by Chinese judges in IP-related cases.

Why Are Government Funds Necessary?

Some could argue that participating companies, including Intel, Nvidia and even Micron, are multi-billion dollar companies that should pay for their own research. However, even large companies such as Intel and Nvidia sometimes avoid investing in very basic research that can take up to decades to prove fruitful if at all. 

Not many companies can make such bets about new unproven technology, especially if they are a public company and have to answer to shareholders. This is where the U.S. government can come in and pay for the initial basic research until the developed technology is proven, and then each company can invest its own money to improve on it and stay ahead of competitors.

Of course, the money given for research should still be well accounted for, and, in many cases, there's reason for smaller and newer companies with potential to get preferential treatment over the large incumbent leaders.

Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2060 Gaming OC Pro 6G Review

With Nvidia’s Turing-based GPU line-up laid bare in front of us, it’s so much easier to draw comparisons and make recommendations without hemming or hawing about cards-to-come. We already know that GeForce RTX 2060 is a good performer at 2560 x 1440 and can hold its own at 1920 x 1080 with real-time ray tracing enabled in games like Battlefield V. We also know that the GeForce GTX 1660 Ti is a better value in terms of performance per dollar. But if you’re looking to arm yourself with the Turing architecture’s signature features for the lowest price possible, GeForce RTX 2060 is where it all begins. Is it worth paying extra for a premium 2060, though, or should you stick with a baseline model at $350/£330?

Consider that Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 2060 has a base clock rate of 1,365 MHz and a GPU Boost rating of 1,680 MHz. Meanwhile, the GeForce RTX 2060 Gaming OC Pro 6G we were sent by Gigabyte has a similar base frequency and an 1,830 MHz GPU Boost clock. That 9% increase doesn’t exactly justify an 11%-higher price (the Gaming OC Pro 6G sells for $390 in the U.S.). However, lower operating temperatures, a semi-passive fan mode, and RGB lighting might just make up the difference.

Meet Gigabyte’s GeForce RTX 2060 Gaming OC Pro 6G

Size-wise, the GeForce Gaming OC Pro is a formidable piece of hardware. Whereas Nvidia’s Founders Edition board measures just over 9” (23cm) long, almost 4.5” (11.5cm) tall, and 1.5” (3.9cm) wide, Gigabyte’s card is more than 11” (28cm) long, 4.4” (11.3cm) tall, and just as thick. In fact, it looks a lot like the GeForce RTX 2070 Gaming OC 8G we already reviewed. Much of the card’s extra length is attributable to the same Windforce 3X cooler. Fortunately, a long heat sink means Gigabyte has no trouble cooling TU106’s 160W TDP in a dual-slot form factor.

Despite its brawny dimensions, Gigabyte’s GeForce RTX 2060 Gaming OC Pro goes relatively light on density. Weighing in at 1.79lb. (811g) it’s a featherweight compared to the 2.15lb (974g) GeForce RTX 2060 Founders Edition. Nvidia’s copper sink topped with pipes and aluminum fins is solid all the way through. Gigabyte, on the other hand, utilizes a three-part sink joined by four copper heat pipes. Those pipes are flattened in the middle and placed directly over Nvidia’s GPU, where they draw heat away before dissipating it through the fin arrays.

Incidentally, a non-Pro version of this card, referred to as the GeForce RTX 2060 Gaming OC 6G, employs two copper heat pipes instead of four and sells for $10 less.

On the cooler’s right side, one part of the sink contacts voltage regulation circuitry underneath through pads. On the left side, closest to the display outputs, another piece of the sink doesn’t touch the board at all. It simply helps the middle section keep TU106 and its surrounding memory modules running at the lowest temperature possible.

Three 80mm fans sit on top of the thermal solution. The outside fans spin counter-clockwise, while the middle fan rotates clockwise. Turbulence is purportedly kept to a minimum, generating less competing airflow from adjacent fans. Then, at idle, the fans stop spinning altogether by virtue of a feature that Gigabyte calls 3D Active Fan. Enthusiasts who prefer to maintain lower idle temperatures can disable 3D Active Fan using downloadable Aorus Engine software. Frankly, the fans make so little noise that we prefer to keep them spinning (even though the semi-passive mode is one of this card’s competitive advantages).

Around the fans, Gigabyte uses plastic gratuitously to form a shroud. Sharp angles and silver accents do look nice, though folds over the card’s top and bottom serve to block air moving through the vertically-oriented fins. A freer-flowing configuration, particularly above the heat sink, might have helped thermal performance. Instead, that’s where we find this card’s RGB-backlit Gigabyte logo.

Nevertheless, the company’s relatively light cooler performs admirably. In Metro: Last Light, we observed the Gaming OC Pro consuming more than 180W. Although that’s 20W+ more than the GeForce RTX 2060 Founders Edition, Gigabyte’s card ran a couple of degrees cooler thanks to its Windforce 3X system.

The GeForce RTX 2060 Gaming OC Pro 6G features a metal backplate that adds rigidity and helps with cooling, thanks to thermal pads opposite the GPU package and power circuitry.

Gigabyte also advertises the power indicators we saw on its GeForce RTX 2070 Gaming OC 8G. A white LED lights up to let you know when there is an issue with auxiliary power. Otherwise, it remains off.

For the most part, we approve of Gigabyte’s complement of display outputs. Three DisplayPort connectors and a single HDMI interface cover the most common multi-monitor configurations. At the same time, an almost $400 GeForce RTX 2060 should probably support VirtualLink via USB Type-C, which this card is missing. Eliminating the DVI connector found on Nvidia’s Founders Edition design yields a freer-flowing grille. However, the potential benefit of additional airflow is lost since the cooler’s fins move air perpendicular to the bracket.

What lives under the GeForce RTX 2060 Gaming OC Pro 6G’s hood is already well-known. We dug deep into the TU106 graphics processor and its underlying architecture in Nvidia’s Turing Architecture Explored: Inside the GeForce RTX 2080, and then again in Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Review: Is Mainstream Ray Tracing For Real? Gigabyte takes the same chip with 1,920 of its CUDA cores enabled and bumps the typical GPU Boost rating up to 1,830 MHz—a 9% increase compared to the Founders Edition’s 1,680 MHz.

The Gigabyte card's 6GB of GDDR6 memory moves data at 14 Gb/s, matching Nvidia’s reference design for an aggregate bandwidth of 336 GB/s.

All of Gigabyte's graphics cards include three years of warranty coverage, and some of them add a fourth year when you register on the company's website. The GeForce RTX 2060 Gaming OC Pro 6G is not one of those special models, unfortunately. At least a three-year warranty matches the guarantee you get with Nvidia's Founders Edition.

How We Tested Gigabyte’s GeForce RTX 2060 Gaming OC Pro 6G

GeForce RTX 2060 is a more mainstream graphics card than the other Turing-based boards we’ve reviewed. As such, our graphics workstation, based on an MSI Z170 Gaming M7 motherboard and Intel Core i7-7700K CPU at 4.2 GHz, is apropos. The processor is complemented by G.Skill’s F4-3000C15Q-16GRR memory kit. Crucial’s MX200 SSD is used as well, joined by a 1.6TB Intel DC P3700 loaded down with games.

As far as competition goes, the 2060 goes up against GeForce GTX 1070 and 1070 Ti. Of course, comparisons to GeForce GTX 1060, 1660 Ti, and 1660 are inevitable as well. All of those cards are included in our line-up, as is GeForce RTX 2070. On the AMD side, we’re mostly interested in Radeon RX Vega 64 and Radeon RX Vega 56, although the more recent Radeon RX 590 seemed like an interesting comparison, too.

Our benchmark selection includes Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation, Battlefield V, Destiny 2, Far Cry 5, Forza Horizon 4, Grand Theft Auto V, Metro: Last Light Redux, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Tom Clancy’s The Division 2, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands, The Witcher 3 and Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus.

The testing methodology we're using comes from PresentMon: Performance In DirectX, OpenGL, And Vulkan. In short, these games are evaluated using a combination of OCAT and our own in-house GUI for PresentMon, with logging via GPU-Z.

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Performance Results: 1920 x 1080

According to Nvidia, GeForce RTX 2060 is designed to excel at 1920 x 1080. It should also deliver solid performance at 2560 x 1440.

Through our benchmark suite, and despite taxing quality settings, the GeForce RTX 2060 Gaming OC Pro 6G serves up excellent frame rates at this resolution. It’s even quantifiably faster than GeForce RTX 2060 Founders Edition, achieving a geometric mean of 97.4 FPS versus Nvidia’s card at 94.9 FPS.

Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation (DX12)

Battlefield V (DX12)

Destiny 2 (DX11)

Far Cry 5 (DX11)

Forza Horizon 4 (DX12)

Grand Theft Auto V (DX11)

Metro: Last Light Redux (DX11)

Shadow of the Tomb Raider (DX12)

Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 (DX12)

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon (DX11)

The Witcher 3 (DX11)

Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (Vulkan)

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Performance Results: 2560 x 1440

Back in the day, GeForce GTX 1070 was considered a decent card for gaming at 2560 x 1440. GeForce RTX 2060 is faster than that. In fact, when we take the geometric mean of its average frame rate across our benchmark suite, it’s faster than GeForce GTX 1070 Ti, too. Now add even more clock rate to Nvidia’s reference version of the 2060. That's what Gigabyte’s GeForce RTX 2060 Gaming OC Pro 6G offers, making it a respectable QHD card, particularly if you’re willing to dial detail settings back when necessary. In plenty of other titles, you’re able to crank the knob on quality and still enjoy more than 60 FPS.

Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation (DX12)

Battlefield V (DX12)

Destiny 2 (DX11)

Far Cry 5 (DX11)

Forza Horizon 4 (DX12)

Grand Theft Auto V (DX11)

Metro: Last Light Redux (DX11)

Shadow of the Tomb Raider (DX12)

Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 (DX12)

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon (DX11)

The Witcher 3 (DX11)

Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (Vulkan)

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Power Consumption

Slowly but surely, we’re spinning up multiple Tom’s Hardware labs with Cybenetics’ Powenetics hardware/software solution for accurately measuring power consumption.

Powenetics, In Depth

For a closer look at our U.S. lab’s power consumption measurement platform, check out Powenetics: A Better Way To Measure Power Draw for CPUs, GPUs & Storage.

In brief, Powenetics utilizes Tinkerforge Master Bricks, to which Voltage/Current bricklets are attached. The bricklets are installed between the load and power supply, and they monitor consumption through each of the modified PSU’s auxiliary power connectors and through the PCIe slot by way of a PCIe riser. Custom software logs the readings, allowing us to dial in a sampling rate, pull that data into Excel, and very accurately chart everything from average power across a benchmark run to instantaneous spikes.

The software is set up to log the power consumption of graphics cards, storage devices, and CPUs. However, we’re only using the bricklets relevant to graphics card testing. Gigabyte's GeForce RTX 2060 Gaming OC Pro 6G gets all of its power from the PCIe slot and one eight-pin PCIe connector.

Idle

Time after time, we’ve seen graphics cards with semi-passive fan modes facilitate lower power consumption at idle than those with fans that spin continuously. Whereas Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 2060 Founders Edition uses more than 10W with nothing going on, the GeForce RTX 2060 Gaming OC Pro 6G ducks in under 8W.   

Gaming

Once Gigabyte’s card spins up, though, our Powenetics system measures significantly higher power use than the Founders Edition board.

Nvidia’s specifications call out a 160W thermal design power for GeForce RTX 2060. Its own implementation dutifully obeys that ceiling, averaging just over 158W through our Metro: Last Light benchmark sequence. But the GeForce RTX 2060 Gaming OC Pro 6G is on a looser leash: it pulls more than 180W during the same test, peaking just above 193W.

The line chart makes it clear where our benchmark breaks between loops. In between, power consumption isn’t as tightly limited as Nvidia’s Founders Edition card, suggesting that Gigabyte isn’t pulling clock rates or voltage through this gaming scenario to honor a specific power limit. We’ll try to confirm that on the next page when we graph those variables.

An elevated power consumption result puts the Gigabyte card on top of Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1060, RTX 2060, and even GTX 1070 Founders Edition models. However, it still uses less power than AMD’s Radeon RX Vega 56.

Along the way, Gigabyte does a good job of splitting current draw between the 16-lane PCI Express slot and a single eight-pin auxiliary power connector.

FurMark

A bit of extra headroom allows FurMark to push average power consumption over 190W with peaks just under 200W.

This straight, stable line graph suggests that we’ve hit Gigabyte’s ceiling. Voltage and frequency must be relaxed to avoid exceeding the card’s power limit.

Radeon RX Vega 56 was already running close to its limit through Metro: Last Light, so it doesn’t use much more power in FurMark. By comparison, Gigabyte’s GeForce RTX 2060 increases by more than 10W in FurMark, so it ends our measurement closer to AMD’s card than Nvidia’s own GeForce RTX 2060 Founders Edition. No wonder Gigabyte can hit and hold a more aggressive clock rate.

The GeForce RTX 2060 Gaming OC Pro 6G nevertheless keeps current draw over the PCIe slot limited to 4A. That’s well below the PCI-SIG’s 5.5A limit.

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Temperatures and Fan Speeds

Gaming

Gigabyte’s Gaming OC Pro 6G is the only card in our comparison with a semi-passive mode. It starts the Metro benchmark sequence at 0 RPM, jumps to 1,500 RPM, and quickly stabilizes around 1,250 RPM before commencing a slow rise to 1,850 RPM. The three 80mm fans do their job quietly, though Nvidia’s Founders Edition solution subjectively makes less noise.

We’ve seen the Windforce design transition from idle to active much clumsier in past reviews, so Gigabyte deserves credit for dialing in a smoother ramp this time around. That initial pulse is almost imperceptible.

Although the temperature of TU106 on Gigabyte’s Gaming OC Pro 6G rises faster than any of our comparison boards, it also levels off quickly and crests below 70°C (and under Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 2060 Founders Edition).

Despite a 1,830 MHz core clock rating, Gigabyte’s GeForce RTX 2060 Gaming OC Pro 6G maintains 1,920 MHz through three runs of the Metro: Last Light benchmark. It does this at a constant voltage of 1.037V, whereas the other cards in our comparison rise and fall to avoid violating stricter limits.

FurMark

The sudden thermal load of FurMark causes Gigabyte’s card to spring to life more urgently. Because the Gaming OC Pro 6G had a bit of available headroom in its power budget through our gaming benchmark, the fans spin faster to compensate for increased heat under FurMark. Meanwhile, Nvidia’s reference designs were already operating at close to their peak potential under Metro: Last Light. Their fans don’t behave much differently in FurMark as a result.

More power consumption is counterbalanced with faster fans, which help keep this card’s TU106 processor from running notably hotter in FurMark than it did under a real-world gaming load.

Gigabyte does pull voltage back to 0.868V to keep the Gaming OC Pro 6G from blowing past its power limit. The GPU’s clock rate is consequently knocked down to 1,680 MHz or so. That’s as fast as a baseline GeForce RTX 2060 when it’s not under the stress of a taxing synthetic workload.

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Software

Gigabyte’s software bundle includes one utility for overclocking and fan control called Aorus Engine, and another one for lighting called RGB Fusion 2.0. The latest version of Aorus Engine at the time of writing was 1.59.

On some cards, Aorus Engine allows you to toggle between different presets, optimizing for performance or acoustics. The GeForce RTX 2060 Gaming OC Pro 6G only gave us the options typically available in “Professional Mode,” though. Custom GPU Boost settings, memory clock rates, GPU voltage adjustments, fan speeds, power targets and target temperatures are all configurable.

A set of icons in the bottom-right allow you to turn the 3D Active Fan (semi-passive mode) feature on or off, open the hardware monitoring pane, or set up RGB Fusion 2.0.

RGB Fusion 2.0 opens in a separate window. The software makes it possible to synchronize the Gaming OC Pro 6G with other compatible products like motherboards and peripherals. If you don’t already have any of those complementary extras, this card’s effects come across as underwhelming since only the Gigabyte logo up top illuminates. But we can see how the subtle lighting would be additive in a case full of other RGB Fusion-capable components.

Gigabyte’s GeForce RTX 2060 Gaming OC Pro 6G also includes a code for Anthem, Battlefield V, or Metro Exodus­—all games able to leverage the card’s Turing-specific features. According to Newegg reviews, the cost of the game is discounted from the card’s price at checkout.

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Conclusion

The least-expensive GeForce RTX 2060 cards cost $350. Stepping up to GeForce RTX 2070 means spending $500. Gigabyte’s GeForce RTX 2060 Gaming OC Pro 6G certainly doesn’t bridge the gap between the entry-level cards from both model ranges. However, it does offer a bit of extra performance compared to Nvidia’s 2060 Founders Edition, along with lower temperatures.

Like any other GeForce RTX 2060, you can expect great frame rates at 1920 x 1080 on the Gaming OC Pro 6G with quality settings maxed out. The card is even competent at 2560 x 1440, though you may find it necessary to dial back certain details to maintain smooth performance. Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1660 Ti is a better value if you’re gaming at 1920 x 1080 and don’t really care about the Turing architecture’s signature features. But there’s something to be said for RTX 2060’s extra speed and unique capabilities, especially when its previous-generation equal, the GeForce GTX 1070 Ti, was a $450 graphics card. Matching the Gaming OC Pro 6G with a competing card would take AMD’s Radeon RX Vega 64, and the lowest-priced model we could find sells for $420. In that context, Gigabyte’s board holds its own.

We only wonder how the non-Pro version of this card, sporting two heat pipes instead of four, would fare subjected to the same thermal loads. Its price tag is $10 lower, after all.

Configurable lighting behind the Gigabyte logo on top of both versions of this card is subtler than some of the Asus Aura-enabled boards we’ve seen. But if the Gaming OC Pro 6G is one of several synchronized components in your PC, we can see how it’d be a cool addition.

It used to be that we favored Nvidia’s Founders Edition models for their superior build quality. But the RTX 2060 Founders Edition is no longer available. Besides, its complement of display outputs, which included DVI on a crowded slot bracket, didn’t make as much sense as Gigabyte’s three DisplayPort connectors and one HDMI interface.

The GeForce RTX 2060 Gaming OC Pro 6G is missing VirtualLink support for next-gen head-mounted displays, unfortunately. But in the end, this card is best known for its fast, quiet operation at low temperatures. Consider spending a few dollars more on it if you want a sanctioned overclock without risking warranty protection.

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Photo Credits: Tom's Hardware

Huawei is suing the U.S. government over a ban preventing federal agencies from purchasing its products. In its lawsuit filed Thursday local time, the company said the ban is unconstitutional because it violates its right to due process, which is enshrined by the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments.

The ban was issued in August as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2018, (which also banned agencies from buying equipment from ZTE). Huawei claims the section of the NDAA related to the ban is a "bill of attainder" that violates its rights.

Essentially Huawei's argument is that because it was never presented the evidence against it or found guilty of a crime, the U.S. government didn't abide by the due process required by the U.S. Constitution. Now, it's up to a federal court to consider the case.

This lawsuit wouldn't threaten the NDAA itself--the court could simply invalidate the section related to the Huawei ban. If it did, the company would be able to negotiate with federal agencies to see if they want to purchase any of its networking equipment.

That seems unlikely, though, because governments around the world are banning Huawei's equipment from their networks entirely. Reports also indicated that U.S. President Donald Trump wanted to extend the ban from federal agencies to the U.S. at large.

The U.S. has also indicted Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou for allegedly skirting economic sanctions on Iran. Wanzhou was arrested in Canada in December 2018, and although she's currently suing the Canadian government for allegedly violating her right to due process (a theme here), she could still be extradited to the U.S.

Huawei isn’t having a great year so far. Governments around the world are considering banning the company’s equipment from next-gen wireless networks, and Politico reported today that the U.S. is poised to do the same this month.

The report indicates the ban wouldn’t only affect Huawei; other Chinese telecommunications companies, like ZTE, would also be affected. But Huawei in particular has become something of a focal point for the U.S. after it asked Canada to arrest Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou for allegedly violating sanctions against Iran.

Politico said U.S. President Donald Trump plans to sign an executive order banning Chinese equipment from U.S. networks before this month's MWC Barcelona 2019, the wireless industry’s biggest event. It’s clear what Trump wants attendees to be thinking about.

This wouldn’t be the first time the U.S. banned these companies: Trump signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) in August 2018 to prevent government agencies from using products made by Chinese tech firms. The difference now would be that the products can’t be used by private companies either.

Australia and New Zealand  have also banned Huawei and ZTE. Germany is said to be considering it, as is the European Union as a whole, over concerns that using the equipment would enable spying by the Chinese government.

Huawei CEO Ren Zhengfei warned employees in late January that “mediocre employees” might lose their jobs in the coming months. Zhengfei (who is also Wanzhou’s father) said the company had to prepare for “times of hardship” as it faced increasing scrutiny from countries around the globe.

Huawei might be in for a rough week. Shortly after the Chinese telecom company’s chief executive warned his workers that “mediocre employees” might be laid off in the coming months, news broke that the U.S. plans to ask Canada to extradite Huawei’s CFO, Meng Wanzhou.

Canada arrested Wanzhou—who is also Huawei CEO Ren Zhengfei’s daughter—at the U.S.’ request in December 2018. The arrest was ostensibly prompted by Huawei skirting U.S. sanctions on Iran, but it was also an all-too-apparent part of the looming trade war with China.

U.S. Senator Ben Sasse (R-NE) told The New York Times that China has been “working to creatively undermine our national security interests." Companies like Huawei and ZTE have shouldered the weight of those fears by having their equipment barred from U.S. federal agencies as well as the 5G infrastructure of several other countries.

The U.S cited similar concerns when it imposed export restrictions on Chinese DRAM makers. Meanwhile, tariffs on goods originating from China have been applied to more and more product categories, despite repeated warnings from America’s tech industry. This isn’t just about Huawei (allegedly) violating U.S. sanctions against Iran.

China has grown increasingly hostile with Canada over its dealings with Huawei. The country has reportedly demanded that Wanzhou be freed, and threatened certain “repercussions” if it follows other Western countries in banning Huawei’s equipment from its 5G wireless infrastructure. A country known for being meteorologically frigid but personally friendly is now in the middle of a much bigger conflict.

The deadline for the U.S. to file an extradition request for Wanzhou is January 30; she is scheduled to appear in a Vancouver court on February 6. We expect things to get even more interesting as those dates approach.

Updated, 6/19/2018, 7:15am PT:

A large majority of 85 U.S. senators voted to reinstate the original seven-year ban on ZTE exports, which is expected to have a significant impact on the state-owned Chinese company. The amendment will be included in the military budget bill called the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

The House has voted on a similar bill that only bans Huawei and ZTE devices from being used by U.S. federal agencies, so it remains to be seen when the two bills will be merged if the complete ban on ZTE exports remains. If the ban survives, and the NDAA receives over two-thirds of votes in the final vote, President Trump will not be able to veto the bill.

In a joint statement, Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL), Tom Cotton (R-AR), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), said:

“We’re heartened that both parties made it clear that protecting American jobs and national security must come first when making deals with countries like China, which has a history of having little regard for either. It is vital that our colleagues in the House keep this bipartisan provision in the bill as it heads towards a conference.”

Updated, 6/12/2018, 10:45am PT:

A bipartisan group of Senators is now trying to reverse the Trump administration's rescue of ZTE by reinstating the export ban as an amendment in the National Defense Authorization Act. 

Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) told reporters that ZTE's many past abuses can't be so easily forgiven:

"I and obviously every other senator believes the death penalty is the appropriate punishment for their behavior. They’re a repeat bad actor that should be put out of business. For eight years, ZTE was able to run wild and be able to become the fourth-largest telecom company in the world."

Beyond reinstating the seven-year ban on ZTE's exports, the amendment would also ban federal agencies from purchasing any hardware from ZTE, Huawei or any of their affiliates.

Original, 6/7/2017, 9:40am PT:

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross announced that ZTE will pay a $1 billion fine for its recent violations. Although not specifically stated, the announcement implies that ZTE will no longer be banned from selling technology to other countries and that American companies will no longer be banned from selling components to ZTE, either. That ban's removal is said to have saved the Chinese government-owned ZTE from collapse.

Why U.S. Government Banned ZTE

After having been found to have sold equipment to sanctioned countries such as Iran and North Korea, ZTE was previously fined $1.19 billion. In March 2017, ZTE agreed to pay that fine and also to a seven-year suspended denial of export privileges, which would go into effect if ZTE broke the agreement during that time.

According to Ross, ZTE was later found to have broken its original agreement, which included disciplinary action against the senior management that committed the original violations. Instead, ZTE seems to have given bonuses to those same executives.Because of this, the Department of Commerce ordered the denial of export privileges against ZTE, which also meant that American companies would no longer be able to sell equipment to ZTE. The U.S. government feared that ZTE would then be exporting that technology to sanctioned countries again.

Ban Removed, New Fine Against ZTE

After President Trump reached a deal with China’s president Xi Jinping, the Department of Commerce now seems willing to remove that ban against ZTE. The company will still pay a $1 billion fine on top of the $895 million it paid in 2017 from the original $1.19 billion fine.

The company will also need to put $400 million into escrow, money that will be reserved in case ZTE violates the new agreement. Ross added that if the company violates the new agreement, it could also be put under denial of export privileges again, too.

Despite this new change, the Pentagon has still ordered all ZTE and Huawei phones to be removed from its military bases. Additionally, there’s a new bill in Congress that will ban ZTE and Huawei devices from being sold to government agencies.

The Congress members who introduced the bill, as well as the intelligence agencies that flagged ZTE and Huawei hardware as risky, believe that Chinese devices could contain spyware and backdoors that could be a threat to national security.

Preparing To Overclock: Hardware and Software

Intel's Core i9-7900X is an incredibly fast 10-core CPU. For the privilege of owning one, expect to pay a cool grand. However, Intel's decision to slather thermal paste between the processor's die and heat spreader really put a cap on the highest frequencies most overclockers can coax from it right out of the box.

But what if you're willing to get a little (or a lot) more adventurous? We de-lidded our sample, cleaned it up really well, replaced Intel's thermal paste with a couple of third-party alternatives, and collected plenty of data to show how Core i9-7900X's overclocking headroom improves as it's cooled more effectively. The culmination of our experiments was a -7900X under the effects of liquid nitrogen, running at a screaming 5.8 GHz, yet stable enough to complete a multi-core run of Cinebench.

Prepping Our Motherboard For Extreme Overclocking

By default, most motherboards aren't equipped to handle that kind of extreme testing. So, we had to do a bit of prep work and perform a couple of modifications first. Accomplished overclockers don't just make BIOS adjustments, after all. You also have to be handy with a soldering iron, drill, razor blade, and fingernail polish.

The MSI X299 Xpower Gaming AC we used is built for overclocking, so it served as the perfect platform to support our endeavor. Soldering a few wires to the board at various voltage detection points allowed us to monitor critical levels with a multimeter during our tests. While it's all well and good to dial in specific voltages through the motherboard firmware, operating at this level calls for precision only possible through verification.

BIOS: Expert Mode

We used MSI's BIOS version E7A91IMS.150, which was the latest one available when we started testing. It's the only firmware we used from start to finish, so feel free to track that one down if you want to retrace our steps. Of course, if you have an X299 board from a different manufacturer, the settings and terminology we use should still give you a good idea of what to adjust. The same principles apply from one platform to another, even if the nomenclature varies.

To access Expert mode on MSI's X299 Xpower Gaming AC, press F7 on the BIOS welcome screen.

The following settings come from the OC menu:

• Extreme OC Setup: This toggle allows you to deactivate energy-saving options, certain protection features, and functionality that has no bearing on overclocking, such as the audio controller. This option isn't used for our ambient cooling tests, but it's mandatory for benchmarking under liquid nitrogen.
• CPU Ratio Apply Mode: The [All Core] setting ensures that all cores have the same multiplier and operating frequency.
• CPU Ratio: Set to 44 and multiplied by the 100 MHz CPU Base Clock, we get an operating frequency of 4400 MHz. The clock rate can then be adjusted via software running under Windows.
• CPU Ratio Offset: In order to limit frequency variation during our most demanding tests, we applied an offset of [-4]. This constrains throttling to four 100 MHz bins during benchmarks that utilize AVX instructions, all the while improving stability.
• Ring Ratio: A coefficient of [34] sets the ring bus to 3400 MHz.
• EIST & Intel Turbo Boost: These settings default to [Disabled] when we modify the previous parameters. Since we are going after a static frequency, and don't want the clock rate to bounce around, we leave both features deactivated.
• CPU Base Clock: We used a BCLK of 100 MHz to keep things simple for our frequency calculations. Later, we'll modify this from the operating system to fine-tune our overclock.

• DRAM Setting: With fast G.Skill TridentZ modules on-hand, we're able to use the memory's XMP profile for reproducible results. These 8GB sticks operate at 4000 MT/s with 18-19-19-39 timings.
• DigitALL Power: This is a very important sub-menu on the X299 platform, and the settings we used are shown below:

Buried among all of those other options, this is one of the BIOS' most important menus. As you may know already, Core i9-7900X's power consumption ramps up quickly when it's overclocked. Without any intervention on our part, the CPU's frequency throttles back in order to keep from exceeding defined power and thermal limits.

The worst part of this is that you may not even realize what is happening. You'll see the Adjusted CPU Frequency right where it should be, but performance won't correspond. What good is it to display high clock rates if they can't be sustained? We won't tease you like that. When we say the CPU hit 4800 MHz, rest assured that we took the time to validate its stability.

• VR 12VIN OCP Expander: Increasing this value pushes the over-current limit higher. At too low of a level, maximum current is choked off and performance suffers. Moving it up to a maximum value of [20A] gives the processor more headroom when it's needed. Note that other manufacturers expose options as high as 180A. Following in our footsteps puts additional strain on your power supply, so make sure your PSU is up to the challenge first.
• CPU Loadline Calibration Control: LLC is also an important parameter that we'll cover in more depth on the following pages. The ideal setting is [Mode 5].
• CPU Over/Under Voltage Protection: OVP and UVP protect the system from over- and under-voltage conditions. Our primary interest is stability, and higher values offer more headroom.
• CPU Over Current Protection: OCP protects the system from over-current conditions; the [Enhanced] option allows us to push the platform further before it forcibly intervenes.
• CPU Switching Frequency: This is the frequency at which the voltage supply stages operate. Increasing it offers greater stability, but causes temperatures to rise. If your VRMs have a tendency to run hot, try setting this parameter to its minimum value and see if the system still runs stably.
• CPU VRM Over Temperature Protection: The voltage supply stages on X299 motherboards have a tough job to perform, so ensure that you're using a well-ventilated case and plenty of airflow. We did not set this option to its maximum value. Instead, we went with a number that'd avoid damaging the motherboard. A temperature of [110°C] seemed high enough for our tastes.

If you put a fan on the supply stage, you can regulate its speed as a function of temperature. This also works for other fans and temperatures. Simply choose the temperature you're interested in (MOS, in the image below), select the name of the channel with a fan attached (CPU1, in our example), and place the colored points for each thermal range at the desired fan speed.

Press the [F] key to set all fans to 100%.

Of course, we'll also need to make adjustments to various voltages. Remember: while overclocking isn't particularly dangerous when you're careful, it's important to be reasonable. Abusing these settings won't get you closer to your objective.

• VCCIN Voltage: This is the primary voltage responsible for supplying other parts of the processor. VCCIN feeds the Vcore, Vring, Vsa, Vio, and so on. Therefore, it's important to set this option higher than the others. Generally, we advise increasing it by 500 to 600mV. As you might imagine, a mismanaged VCCIN can have significant consequences.
• CPU Core Voltage: This is the voltage applied to each core, and it's the main setting used for CPU overclocking.
• CPU Ring Voltage: A higher Vring helps us hit higher ring bus frequencies without compromising stability.
• CPU Uncore Voltage Offset: Adjusting this parameter helps us achieve stable memory overclocks. Without an offset, our RAM kit wouldn't run at 4000 MT/s. But it had no trouble with a setting of +300mV. The kit fired right up with this option set to [Auto], so it's safe to say an automatic configuration applies at least +300mV. Of course, we want to double-check using a multimeter since automatic settings have a tendency to get aggressive.
• CPU SA and IO Voltage: Both options may also help stabilize the memory.
• DRAM CH_X/X Voltage: These settings are also used to overclock the RAM, though they can be used to fine-tune each channel's voltage.

The following table should help guide your own overclocking endeavor, per MSI's own recommendations. It indicates the "safe" voltage operating ranges. But don't crank any of these up unless you determine that there's a useful reason to do so.

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Delidding An Intel Core i9 CPU

Delidding a processor involves removing its integrated heat spreader, which sits on top of the delicate die and dissipates its thermal energy across a larger surface. We're looking to delid Intel's Core i9-7900X because the company's thermal compound isn't the highest-performance stuff out there, and we want to improve the chip's ability to transfer heat into a beefier cooler. 

Back when Intel's Skylake-X-based CPUs launched, there was no tool available for delidding Core i9-7900X. We designed our own and introduced it in Tom's Hardware's Custom Core i9 De-Lidder. Check out that story for a step-by-step walk-through of the process.

To Clean, Or Not To Clean?

Before proceeding, we tested a couple of different preparations: there's the delidded processor on the left, and the delidded chip with its upper adhesive cleaned off on the right. We wanted to measure the temperature differences before and after cleaning. We used the same thermal paste in both cases, applying Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut between the die and IHS, and Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut between the IHS and heat sink.

Red finger nail polish covered the surface-mount components surrounding the die. Conductonaut is electrically conductive, so our goal was to prevent accidental short circuits.

Afterward, we prepared the processor for testing without its IHS. This is commonly referred to as direct-die cooling, and it naturally requires an even more delicate touch, since the die is completely exposed.

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Installing The Direct Die Frame

Delidding is already pretty advanced. With our Direct Die Frame, we take things to another level. Rather than temporarily removing the IHS to replace the thermal paste underneath, and then replacing it, the DDF concept calls for leaving it off. In theory, it is preferable to have less material between the die and heat sink to improve the transfer of thermal energy away from the CPU.

As mentioned, though, the die is more fragile in this unprotected configuration. The setup process isn't particularly difficult, but we still wouldn't recommend it to inexperienced overclockers who aren't accustomed to more extreme modifications like these.

Without its IHS, the processor can no longer be held securely in its motherboard interface. Extreme overclocker Der8auer developed a tool for addressing this conundrum: the direct die frame. In the photo below, MSI's locking system is on the left, while Der8auer’s DDF is on the right.

• Step 1: Remove the four locking screws using the provided key.

• Step 2 : Stick adhesive pads onto the back of the plate bundled with the DDF.

• Step 3: On the motherboard's back side, replace the original plate with the one you just prepared.

The adhesive pads are very strong. Der8auer advises that you put all four of them in place, but that you only expose one. Leave the red part on the three others, allowing you to remove the plate later on, if needed.

• Step 4: Place the processor in what is left of the socket.

When using the DDF, it is recommended that you remove all leftover adhesive from the IHS. To prevent damage to the processor’s PCB, do not use hard or sharp objects. Also, be careful not to tear off any of the surface-mounted components.

• Step 5: Place the DDF on your board and secure it into place using four screws and the provided key. It only fits one way. If you don't get it right, the DDF won't sit flat.

Tighten the screws in an X pattern, switching diagonally from one to the next, to ensure a secure fit.

• Step 6: Assemble your cooler, which should theoretically be compatible. Sadly, the screws from our EK-Supremacy stuck out slightly from the cooling plate. As a result, the block wouldn't make contact with the die. It turned out that the screws on the bottom of the water block caused it to push on the DDF instead of the die.

After reaching out to EK about this issue, the company let us know that compatibility problems were limited to products it manufactured more than a year ago. We did get our hands on a more modern version of the Supremacy and can confirm the problem was resolved. The DDF didn't even exist one year ago, so we can't fault EK here.

All the same, make sure that your water block is compatible before purchasing a DDF of your own. More than anything, it's best to check that nothing protrudes into the lower surface of your block.

Not wanting to wait for a fix (before we knew one was available), and not wanting to start over with another cooling solution, we decided to modify our water block and make it work with the DDF.

Conceptually, the operation was simple: use a counterbore to expand the four screw holes and completely countersink the screw heads into the base. Reality wasn't nearly that tidy, though.

As soon as the first shavings appeared, the cooling plate's protective nickel layer came up. Of course, water blocks aren’t intended to be modified like this. But the outcome was still surprising, causing us to question the protective layer's quality.

With deeper holes dug and the nickel coating removed, our water block was ready for action. With a bit of Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut between our block and the CPU's die, we were ready to start testing.

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Temperatures: Stock Vs. Delidded Vs. Direct Die Cooling

With our platform built and the components prepared, it was time to quantify the thermal differences between delidding a CPU and replacing its thermal paste, and cooling the die directly. In each of the following charts, Without Modification means that no changes were made to the CPU; it's a stock sample. Delidded indicates that the processor's integrated heat spreader was removed and then replaced after using higher-quality thermal paste. Delidded and Cleaned means that we also took the time to remove Intel's adhesive residue, in addition to replacing its thermal compound with better stuff from our lab. Of course, the Direct Die entry corresponds to removing the IHS and mounting our thermal solution on the die itself.

Establishing A Baseline

For our first pass, we stuck with default settings and tested the processor using three workloads. Cinebench R15 is one of the most common benchmarks for quantifying the effect of an overclock. It can utilize one core or all of them, and it's incredibly easy to run. We specified a static clock rate of 4000 MHz and dialed in a 1.06V supply voltage. Those parameters should be easily attainable by anyone.

As expected, the stock CPU with no modifications posted the highest temperatures. Delidding helped shave off 5 to 6°C on average, and cooling the die directly helps even more.

Prime95 v.26.6 does not utilize AVX instructions. But it's still one of the most taxing workloads you can hit a CPU with.

Our Core i9-7900X continued operating at 4000 MHz at 1.06V. Not surprisingly, the finishing order remains the same, though the impact of more effective cooling is amplified.

Switching over to Prime95 v.29.1 adds AVX instructions to the mix. The brutality of this workload automatically forced our CPU down to 3600 MHz at 1.0V (due to our CPU ratio offset of -4). But despite the more taxing benchmark, less aggressive clock rates and voltages lead to slightly lower temperatures than the preceding run without AVX support.

If we stopped benchmarking right there and had to draw a conclusion based on these results, we'd recommend leaving your Core i9 alone. The risk of damaging a $1000 CPU, voiding its warranty, and sinking money into extras like the delidding tool just aren't worth a slightly lower operating temperature. However, the gains become more significant once you start overclocking to higher frequencies.

The Impact of Overclocking

Next, we ran the same three workloads using higher clock rates and voltages. In our pursuit, we sought settings that put our chip's temperature as close to 100°C as possible.

In Cinebench R15, that meant a frequency of 4400 MHz at 1.25V. The overclock imposed significantly warmer temperatures, which increased from 46 to 75°C out of the box. And the delta grew as we improved the configuration's ability to dissipate heat quickly.

With or without adhesive, delidding facilitated gains of 11 to 12°C on average, but also reduced the hottest core's temperature by 15°C. Direct-die cooling helped even more, yielding an 18°C drop compared to the manufacturer’s stock heat sink and fan.

We used the same settings in Prime95 v.26.6 (without AVX), and were treated to significantly warmer temperatures. One core even got as hot as 96°C (never mind our high-performance water cooler and fairly modest 1.25V voltage setting). This is where we realized the benefit of delidding: gains of 15°C after replacing Intel's stock thermal paste and 22°C thanks to the Direct Die Frame are huge.

We had to lower the clock rate and voltage significantly under Prime95 v.29.1. At 4100 MHz and 1.15V, it was already getting worryingly close to our 100°C target. While executing AVX instructions is known to impose warmer temperatures, we've never seen anything like this. And the Core i9-7900X only has 10 cores. Just imagine the 18-core Core i9-7980XE!

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Overclocking: Frequency, Power, And Temperature Scaling

As you overclock, there's always a point when the CPU no longer runs stably and you have to stop pushing higher. The most well-known symptom of this is the blue screen of death (or BSOD). When you start seeing those, there are three possible remedies:

• Dial in a lower clock rate to regain stability.
• Modify other BIOS parameters and hope for a better outcome.
• Use a more effective cooling solution.

Cores versus Vcore: IHS In Place

What does increasing the Vcore setting do to frequency scaling? To answer this question, we used two different Core i9-7900X CPUs at various supply voltages in order to determine the highest clock rate able to complete a run of Cinebench R15. The voltage rose in 0.1V increments up through 1.2V, at which point we added a 1.25V setting for more granularity. Frequency measurements are reported with a precision of 25 MHz.

At their base frequency, both processors performed identically, completing the test at 4250 MHz. Increasing the Vcore by 0.1V bought us a maximum clock rate of 4575 MHz on our second sample, and 4600 MHz on the first one. That's a nice speed-up for a relatively small voltage increase. The next increment was similar, maintaining a 25 MHz gap between the CPUs for a total increase of 250 MHz on both of them. With 1.3V applied, the progression slowed. One Core i9 jumped 100 MHz and the other overclocked 150 MHz higher, widening the gap between them.

Adding Vcore is the primary means by which enthusiasts coax more frequency from their CPUs. But this approach is not without its limitations, as processors run hotter and their scaling slows. When the chip gets too hot, or when it requires a lot of extra voltage to hit slightly higher clock rates, it's time to stop.

Cores versus Vcore: Direct Die

This test zeroes in on our second Core i9 sample, comparing its frequency gains before delidding to direct-die cooling.

Even at the lowest voltage setting, direct-die cooling proved advantageous. However, the gap widened beyond 1.2V. The explanation is simple: prior to delidding, the processor ran hot, keeping the cores from utilizing the extra voltage available to them. The DDF helped it run cooler, allowing the CPU to stabilize at higher frequencies.

Enabling a 100 MHz-higher overclock and a temperature drop of 20°C, direct-die cooling is looking a lot more attractive.

Cache versus Vring

Now we're interested in exploring how the cache frequency scales as we increase the Vring setting.

Increments of 100 MHz explain the shape of our curve. Smaller steps would have yielded a smoother line. But the important take-away is that, for each 0.1V interval, we can hope for roughly 100 MHz of additional headroom.

Power Consumption and Temperature

Next, we looked at the effects of overclocking on power consumption and processor temperature by fixing the Vcore at 1.3V and varying the clock rate.

The first thing we noticed was the almost perfect relationship between temperature and power. It's also remarkable that the progression was practically linear. By increasing clock rate by 15.8%, power consumption jumped 14.8% and the temperature rose 13.5%.

Next, we fixed the frequency at 4250 MHz and raised the Vcore from 1.0 to 1.3V. The temperature still seemed tied to power consumption, but its increase was no longer linear. According to our measurements, pushing Vcore up 30% caused power consumption to rise by 63% and temperature to increase 55%.

Our data illustrating the impact of Vcore on the processor's temperature and power consumption gives enthusiasts one more reason to take it easy with that parameter during an overclock attempt.

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Optimized Overclocking And Load-Line Calibration

As you overclock to progressively higher clock rates, the only time you increase Vcore is to obtain a more aggressive frequency setting. With this in mind, we revisited our two Core i9-7900Xes to suss out the optimal operating points for temperature and power consumption.

The temperature curves are similar to those obtained for power; one always correlates with the other.

• Up until 4600 MHz, it was relatively easy to get big frequency increases from small Vcore adjustments. That meant we were in a range conducive to overclocking. An 8% overclock across 10 cores led to a rise in power consumption of "only" 22%. In this zone, our frequency gain to consumption ratio is close to 1/3.
• Moving past 4600 MHz, a 5% overclock caused a 23%-higher power consumption, yielding a ratio close to 1/5.
• Beyond 4800 MHz, a 2% overclock led to a 24% rise in power consumption, meaning a ratio of 1/12! At that point, there's little reason to chase even higher frequencies. 

The Effects of Load-Line Calibration

When the CPU is idle, using very little energy, our 1.3V setting is easy to obtain. Once a demanding test launches, however, the voltage might drop to 1.26V. An even more taxing workload pushes it lower still. Obviously, that's not what you want to see from a stable system. Fortunately, many motherboards come with a function called Load-Line Calibration. Once activated, LLC artificially raises the supply voltage to compensate for this effect.

In the interest of thoroughness, we ran some tests to quantify the effects of LLC on Vcore. Notice that the measured voltage at idle was always lower than its BIOS setting, though not dramatically so since there was no risk of instability. In Prime95 (without AVX), LLC modes 1 though 5 delivered a Vcore slightly higher than what we asked for, while modes 6 through 8 were a little lower. Prime95 (with AVX) is an even more strenuous test, so modes 1 through 3 over-supplied the Vcore by a substantial amount. At a 1.2V setting, we saw a real voltage of more than 1.23V. Starting with mode 4, the Vcore more closely matched our set point.

Interestingly, we found that the effect of LLC wasn't identical from one sample to the next. Now, we know that Skylake-X-based processors are equipped with an internal voltage supply, so the motherboard doesn't directly supply Vcore. It instead supplies Vccin, which helps explain the small changes we just saw. With that bit of information in-hand, we restarted our tests and kept an eye on Vccin, rather than Vcore.

For a set point of 1.72V, we observed that mode 1 delivers voltages as high as 1.79V (+0.07V) under heavy load. At the opposite end of the spectrum, mode 8 is too weak; its voltage dropped as low as 1.69V (-0.03V). The ideal compromise seemed to be mode 5, which demonstrated balanced results.

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The Main Event: Overclocking With LN2

With all of that practical information out of the way, it's time to set aside our water-cooling loop and set up for liquid nitrogen.

Conductonaut versus Kryonaut

At ambient temperatures, Conductonaut performs better than classic thermal compounds. But experience tells us that it doesn't fare well under the influence of extreme cold. With this in mind, we maintained 2.1V Vccin, 1.4V Vcore, and 4800 MHz core clock rate settings.

• With the cooling pot's base at 20°C, Core Temp indicated a power consumption of 330W and core temperatures ranging from 80 to 98°C.
• At 0°C, power consumption reportedly dropped to 303W. That was naturally a surprising result, so we confirmed it with the monitoring capability of our Cooler Master MasterWatt Maker 1200. Lowering the cooling pot's temperature by 20°C also dropped the core temperatures by as much as 30°C.
• At -20°C, power consumption fell as low as 285W. The cores cooled off by another 25°C.
• At -40°C, our power consumption measurement was 275W (or 55W less than our starting point). The hottest core measured 17°C, while the coolest was at 1°C.
• At -60°C, the system became unstable after we observed rapid and significant core temperature increases. This is our sign that the thermal paste stopped doing its job.

This test confirmed that Conductonaut, a high-performance paste at ambient temperatures, doesn't work below -60°C. Our experiment also gave us several interesting data points to show the direct correlation between CPU's operating temperature and power consumption. Although it's less effective than Conductonaut at ambient temperatures, Kryonaut is a better choice for extreme overclocking.

Direct Die Frame versus IHS

Next, we set out to see if the benefits of direct-die cooling mapped over to overclocking with liquid nitrogen.

Although we did our best to record accurate and precise results, bear in mind that it's very difficult to achieve repeatability with LN2.

With the cooling pot at -50°C, our DDF performs a lot like the Core i9 with its IHS intact. At the next temperature increment, direct-die cooling takes a small lead. But at -70°C, where we thought the gap would widen even further, both approaches converge once again. Tests at -80, -90, and -100°C resulted in similar observations. Whether you use direct-die cooling or a heat spreader between the die and cooling pot, the outcome is near-identical.

Maximum Frequency

The highest stable frequency we reached that'd still run Cinebench R15 was 5800 MHz. Not bad for a CPU that gave us so many problems at launch using more mainstream approaches to cooling.

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Conclusion

Core i9-7900X is a 140W CPU. But we already knew from our launch coverage that overclocking pushes it way beyond that thermal design power. In fact, the most remarkable result from today's testing was how quickly the CPU got hot when we overclocked it.

Although delidding isn't necessary if you use the Core i9-7900X at its default settings, replacing Intel's thermal compound does become an important step if you increase the supply voltage by even a little bit. And if you're looking to squeeze more performance from this 10-core behemoth, direct-die cooling can help decrease its temperature by more than 20°C. The Direct Die Frame is available now; just be sure it's compatible with your cooler.

As you work with your own Skylake-X-based processor, keep an eye on its critical parameters. These processors have a maddening tendency to throttle clock rates without much warning. Bad BIOS settings can severely limit performance, so take the time to adjust the Vccin and Load Line Calibration options carefully. As for Vcore, adjust it sparingly since small increases can seriously affect operating temperatures and power consumption.

Also, know when to stop. Avoid pushing for a 2%-higher overclock when it costs you 20% more power consumption. That's critically important if you want to maintain high performance without compromising stability.

The world of extreme overclocking is subject to a completely different set of rules. There, a few megahertz separate record-holders from everyone else, so it's important to start with the right equipment, and follow up with a delicate touch for finessing knobs and dials in the correct order. Conductonaut thermal paste, which performs very well in ambient environments, fails catastrophically once temperatures are lowered to -60°C. Moreover, although direct-die cooling worked brilliantly with our water-cooler, it wasn't particularly convincing when we broke out the liquid nitrogen.

As for our MSI X299 Xpower Gaming AC and Core i9-7900X combination, it continues running well in the Tom's Hardware FR lab, fast, stable, and cool. This goes to show that overclocking, performed carefully, won't damage your components. Take things slowly, test thoroughly, and don't be greedy.

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The U.S. government recently put pressure on telecommunications companies to stop buying Huawei networking equipment and consumer electronics products. ZTE, another Chinese company, now seems to be next in the line of fire of both the UK and U.S. governments.

UK Warns ISPs Against Using ZTE Hardware

Unlike Huawei, ZTE is a state-owned company, which seems to raise more questions even for the UK government, which hasn’t banned Huawei hardware yet. The UK National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) believes that the potential national security risks are too significant to be ignored, and that it would be better if UK telcos stopped buying ZTE hardware to avoid future security problems that wouldn’t be easily mitigated.

Dr Ian Levy, Technical Director of the NCSC said:

It is entirely appropriate and part of NCSC’s duty to highlight potential risks to the UK’s national security and provide advice based on our technical expertise.NCSC assess that the national security risks arising from the use of ZTE equipment or services within the context of the existing UK telecommunications infrastructure cannot be mitigated.

ZTE Banned From Exporting American Technology

Secretary of Commerce Wilbur L. Ross, Jr. announced that the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has blocked ZTE from exporting technology from U.S. companies.

In March 2017, ZTE settled after the U.S. government discovered that it was shipping U.S. technology to sanctioned countries such as North Korea and Iran. ZTE agreed to pay $1.19 billion and to a suspended denial of export privileges for seven years, which could be activated if ZTE’s violations continued.

The Department of Commerce has now learned that ZTE made false statements to the U.S. government during the 2016 settlement negotiations as well as the 2017 probationary period.

Secretary Ross said:

ZTE misled the Department of Commerce. Instead of reprimanding ZTE staff and senior management, ZTE rewarded them. This egregious behavior cannot be ignored.

The order against ZTE also means American companies can no longer sell any type of technology to ZTE to minimize the chances that ZTE would once again export that technology elsewhere.

A Bill To Ban Huawei, ZTE Hardware Is Coming

Texas Representative Mike Conaway introduced a bill this January to ban Huawei and ZTE from selling hardware to the federal government.

In a statement, Conaway said:

Chinese commercial technology is a vehicle for the Chinese government to spy on United States federal agencies, posing a severe national security threat.Allowing Huawei, ZTE, and other related entities access to U.S. government communications would be inviting Chinese surveillance into all aspects of our lives.

The American intelligence agencies have also warned against consumers buying Huawei and ZTE devices. U.S. versions of ZTE phones were found to have a backdoor in 2012.

Malware is usually able to make its way into a device because of user error. You might open an infected attachment, visit a malicious website, or download a piece of malware disguised as a popular app, for example, only to find that your device has been compromised as a result. But a report from the Check Point security company stated that 36 Android devices are compromised out of the box, which shows that user error isn't the only way for malware to get in.

Check Point said the devices were owned by "a large telecommunications company and a multinational technology company." The malicious apps seem to have been installed somewhere along the supply chain--they weren't included in the vendors' official ROMs, but they were installed by someone with system privileges, which means one of the companies involved in manufacturing, assembling, shipping, and selling the phones was probably involved.

Devices from Samsung, ZTE, Asus, Lenovo, Oppo Global, and LG were included in Check Point's report. The company said much of the malware it found was devoted to stealing information or showing illegitimate advertisements. The most notable apps it found were Slocker, ransomware that uses AES encryption to hold a phone's data for ransom, and the Loki Malware that can "take full control of the device and achieve persistency" to display ads.

It's no surprise to learn that Android smartphones were targeted by various types of malware. In the past we've seen attackers disguise malicious apps as the Android version of the currently iOS-exclusive Super Mario Run; use malware called Gooligan to collect user data and compromise Google accounts; and silently install potentially harmful apps via "autorooting" malware like LevelDropper. And those are just a few recent examples.

Attackers targeting Android smartphones along the supply chain, however, is even more worrisome. It means that even if you do your best to keep yourself safe by never opening sketchy attachments, sticking with trusted websites, and making sure you're installing only legitimate software, your device could already be infected with malware. Check Point explained in its report:

As a general rule, users should avoid risky websites and download apps only from official and trusted app stores. However, following these guidelines is not enough to ensure their security. Pre-installed malware compromise the security even of the most careful users. In addition, a user who receives a device already containing malware will not be able to notice any change in the device’s activity which often occur once a malware is installed.The discovery of the pre-installed malware raises some alarming issues regarding mobile security. Users could receive devices which contain backdoors or are rooted without their knowledge. To protect themselves from regular and pre-installed malware, users should implement advanced security measures capable of identifying and blocking any abnormality in the device’s behavior.

It's hard enough to convince most people to take even basic security precautions. Pew reported last year that many Americans reuse passwords, don't lock their smartphones behind a passcode, and otherwise defy security best practices. Expecting many of these people--even if they're valuable enough to warrant targeting via supply chain malware installation--to make sure their device is clean the first time they use it borders on lunacy.

Of course, it's worth noting that many Android smartphones have been sold, and the 36 found by Check Point are a fraction of a fraction of that number. The question now is how long the attackers targeted these devices' supply chains. Were they compromised from the get-go, or was only a small production run affected? The answers could make the difference between a relatively small problem and a much larger issue for these companies and their customers.

ZTE announced the high-end Axon smartphone for the U.S. market in its latest push to establish itself as a strong player there. ZTE has sold smartphones before in the U.S., but none that were particularly compelling. The new high-end Axon is meant to help ZTE compete against the likes of Samsung, HTC, LG, Sony and even Apple.

The ZTE Axon has a Snapdragon 810 SoC that comes with dual-cluster CPU with Cortex-A53 and Cortex-A57 cores, with the latter clocked at 2.0 GHz. This is the same Snapdragon 810 v2.1 version that the OnePlus 2 will also have, and which is supposed to have solved the overheating issues.

It comes with a 5.5" Quad HD screen with Gorilla Glass 3 protection and 4 GB of RAM. The RAM is notable, as that makes the Axon one of the first smartphones launched this year to have 4 GB of RAM on board.) There's also 32 GB of storage, LTE support, and a 3,000 mAh battery that supports fast charging.

The device has two cameras on the back, one with a 13MP resolution and one 2MP, in order for them to take pictures with a "3D effect." The 13MP camera comes with a fast f/1.8 6-elements lens as well, ensuring the pictures are less blurry and can capture more light when in less than optimal conditions. The rear camera can also shoot 4K video at 30fps, as well as 720p slow-motion video at 120fps. The camera is accompanied by a dual-LED flash.

The phone also has an 8MP front camera, which is one of the highest front-facing camera resolutions on the market (it's basically as high as the iPhone 6's rear camera). Of course, resolution isn't everything, so it remains to be seen just how good it is in the real world, too.

Manufacturers that tend to make cheaper phones with "good specs" usually cut the price by using lower quality components. That's why you can see 8MP rear cameras on $100 smartphones that are nowhere near as good as a more expensive model that has a camera with the same resolution.

The Axon also comes with Hi-Fi audio, but it lacks a microSD card slot -- two trends an increasing number of OEMs seem to embrace lately.

The device will have Android 5.1.1 out of the box, along with ZTE's own customizations on top. It will ship in three different colors: Ion Gold, Chromium Silver and Phthalo Blue.

ZTE's phone will support AT&T, T-Mobile, MPCS, Cricket, Rogers, Bell and Telus, as well as most of the networks in Europe, Asia, Oceania and Latin America. The ZTE Axon will be available for pre-order at ZTE USA's website and its store on eBay, as well as Amazon and Newegg, for only $450 off-contract. It will start shipping to customers on August 3.

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ZTE launched two new budget smartphones in the U.S. today. One is the ZTE Maven, which is available on the AT&T network, and the other is the ZTE Sonata 2, which went to Cricket Wireless.

ZTE has been doing rather well in the U.S. in terms of sales lately. The company saw a 43 percent jump in sales compared to last year and is now the third largest Android smartphone manufacturer in the U.S. According to Strategy Analytics (mentioned in the press release), ZTE now owns 9.1 percent of the postpaid market and 12.3 percent of the prepaid market.

The company has been focused mainly on the low-end of the smartphone market so far, and the Maven and Sonata 2 smartphones are two new budget devices from this segment that should help ZTE further increase its sales volume in the U.S.

The ZTE Maven comes with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 SoC that contains a quad-core Cortex-A7 CPU, Adreno 305 GPU and LTE modem.

The device also brings a 4.5" screen with 854 x 480 resolution, 1 GB of RAM, 8 GB of storage (3.1 GB free), microSD support, a 5MP rear camera, a VGA front-camera and Bluetooth 4.0 support. It also has a 2,100 mAh battery, which, combined with the smaller screen size and resolution, should give more than a day of battery life. Surprisingly, ZTE is launching the Maven with the latest Android 5.1 on board.

The ZTE Sonata 2, which launched on Cricket Wireless, has a dual-core variant of the Snapdragon 400, a 4" screen with 800 x 480 resolution that's protected by Dragontail Glass, 1 GB of RAM, 4 GB of storage, microSD support, a 5MP rear camera, 2MP front-camera, and a 1,650 mAh battery. The device will run the older KitKat version of Android.

The ZTE Maven is now available as a prepaid phone on AT&T's network for $60, while the ZTE Sonata 2 can be purchased for $30 with activation on Cricket Wireless.

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Cricket Wireless added the ZTE Overture 2 to its lineup of 4G LTE devices. Available now in the company's retail stores and online, current customers can purchase the phone for a mere $49.99. The ZTE Overture 2 will be free for new customers thanks to a $50 mail-in rebate.

The ZTE Overture 2 runs Google's Android 5.0 "Lollipop" operating system, making this phone one of the cheapest Lollipop devices on the market. Powering this phone is a quad-core SoC clocked at 1.2 GHz and a 2100 mAh battery.

As for other hardware details, the Overture 2 has a 4.5-inch display with a 854 x 480 (FWVGA) resolution and Dragontail Glass for protection. There's also 1 GB of RAM, up to 8 GB of internal storage and a microSD card slot for adding up to 32 GB of storage.

Measuring a mere 0.39 inches thick, the phone comes packed with a 5MP camera, with flash on the back and a VGA camera on the front. The specifications also list Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity, support for Google Maps turn-by-turn navigation, and Dolby Digital Plus for better sound.

News of adding the ZTE Overture 2 arrives after Cricket Wireless added the Lumia 640 LTE phone on May 13. Customers who purchase this phone between May 15 and June 30 will get a free year of Skype calling (60 minutes per month) and a free year of Office 365 Personal.

A brief look at the specifications show that Microsoft's Windows Phone 8.1 device measures 0.35-inches thick and sports a 5-inch HD ClearBlack IPS screen. Other notable features include a quad-core SoC clocked at 1.2 GHz, an 8MP camera on the back, up to 8 GB of internal storage and a microSD card slot for up to 128 GB of additional storage.

If you're looking to switch carriers, Cricket Wireless lists its available plans here. The company's "top pick" is the Smart plan for $50 per month, which the company indicated is ideal for "music fanatics and web surfers." Customers get 5 GB of data per month, unlimited nationwide talk and text, unlimited nationwide messaging and more.

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Security researcher Kyle Lovett has uncovered a serious security flaw in some ADSL routers given to customers by ISPs, which leaves them vulnerable to remote hacking. These routers have been distributed in countries such as Colombia, India, Argentina, Thailand, Moldova, Iran, Peru, Chile, Egypt, China and Italy. Some of them were also found in the U.S. and other countries, although in those locales they were sold as off the shelf products, rather than being distributed by the ISPs.

The flaw that allows for the hacking to happen is called a "directory traversal" and appears in the router firmware component called webproc.cgi. The attackers can extract a config.xml file which contains the router's configuration settings, including the administrator's password hashes (which can be easily cracked due to the weak hashing algorithm being used), the ISP connection username and password, the Wi-Fi password, and the client and server credentials for the TR-069 remote management protocol used by some ISPs.

Lovett found the vulnerability in his spare time when he was analyzing an ADSL router a few months ago. He investigated this issue further and found that over 700,000 routers, which included multiple models, were vulnerable to the same security flaw.

The identified router models were:

ZTE H108NZTE H108NV2.1D-Link 2750ED-Link 2730UD-Link 2730E Sitecom WLM-3600Sitecom WLR-6100Sitecom WLR-4100 FiberHome HG110Planet ADN-4101Digisol DG-BG4011NObserva Telecom BHS_RTA_R1A

Lovett found that all of these routers had something in common: the vast majority of the routers were using firmware from the Chinese company called Shenzhen Gongjin Electronics, which also does business under the trademark T&W. This company manufactures networking equipment for router vendors such as D-Link, Asus, Alcatel-Lucent, Belkin, ZyXEL and Netgear.

It's not clear whether Shenzhen Gongjin Electronics even knows about this vulnerability in its firmware at this point in time, or whether it has already patched the firmware and has sent an updated version to its router vendor customers. The researcher has already notified the makers of the routers in which he personally found the vulnerability. He disclosed this vulnerability on Wednesday, at a security conference in UK, which focuses on finding vulnerabilities in embedded devices such as routers, network attached storage appliances, IP cameras and so on.

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Today, ZTE announced the Blade S6 4G LTE smartphone, which has an eight-core Cortex A53-based Snapdragon 615 SoC, Adreno 405 GPU, LTE modem and the latest Android 5.0 operating system.

The Adreno 405 GPU brings h.265 video decoding, which cuts bandwidth and video file sizes in half compared to the old h.264 codec. The phone also comes with a 5" 1080p screen, an "SLR-like" 13MP rear camera, 5MP front-camera, 2 GB of RAM, 16 GB of storage, microSD and dual nano-SIM support, Hi-Fi sound, 2,600 mAh battery, a DLNA-based "AliveShare" app, and the MiFavor 3.0 customized interface from ZTE on top of the Android 5.0 OS.

The ZTE Blade S6 4G LTE smartphone also includes the SmartSense feature, which is a set of gestures that can activate certain functionality, such as the flashlight, with a flick of the wrist. Using other gestures, you can also take burst photos, play music and more.

According to ZTE, the Blade S6 4G LTE is targeted mainly at young people:

“In line with our product portfolio plan, we very much sought to push the envelope with the Blade S6, and to do so in a way that would appeal to youths, as well as those with active social lives," said Adam ZENG Xuezhong, Executive Vice President of ZTE Corporation and CEO of ZTE Mobile Devices.

The company has sold more than 20 million Blade series units so far globally, proving that the Blade brand and product have been quite successful for the company. The Blade brand is meant to be a premium brand for a low-cost price.

The ZTE Blade S6 4G LTE can be purchased globally from AliExpress, or through Amazon and Ebay in select markets, for a relatively low price (given the specs) of $250, unsubsidized.

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Cricket Wireless has been around for a long time, offering inexpensive prepaid mobile wireless service (with the caveat of limited coverage). When AT&T snapped up the company back in May 2014, many around the industry were intrigued by the possibilities such a powerful parent company could open up for Cricket.

Now, mere months later, Cricket seems to be enjoying those benefits partly in the form of a very large and exclusive ZTE-made handset.

Cricket worked with ZTE to develop a midrange but rather impressive-sounding phone dubbed the ZTE Grand X Max+, which is currently a Cricket exclusive. The phone boasts a massive 6-inch Full HD display as well as 4G LTE capabilities, and there are 16 GB of internal storage (with support for up to a 32 GB microSD card) and 2 GB of RAM.

The rear-facing camera is a 13 MP affair, and the front-facing camera is a solid 5 MP. There's also Dolby Audio on board (with a single speaker), and a nice, big 3200 mAh battery to better handle the demands of that large display. To get the battery powered up faster, they've enabled Qualcomm Quick Charge 1.0 technology.

And yes, the Grand X Max+ runs on a Qualcomm chip -- the Snapdragon 400 (quad-core 1.2 GHz Cortex A7 CPU with the Adreno 305 GPU). It's a midrange chip to be sure, powering handsets including the Moto G, Moto G 2014, and Lumia 830; however, all of these phones have smaller screens than the Grand X Max + and use a lower 720p resolution. We wonder what sort of performance hit the Grand X Max+ might take, then, in the GPU department.

While the Snapdragon 400 is going to be phased out in favor of the Snapdragon 410 (Cortex A53) at some point, considering the other specifications and features, the Grand X Max+ may still pique buyers' interests with its low price tag. The device will sell unlocked for $199.99.

So why a beastly 6-inch phablet? "We currently have in our lineup a Windows Phone [the Nokia Lumia 1320] with a 6-inch screen and have had really good success with that product," said Andy Smoak, Head of Product at Cricket Wireless. He also noted that this Grand X Max+ will compete with the likes of the Samsung 6.3-inch Galaxy Mega and 6-inch Mega 2, and he wants to beat them on price.

"Historically, those products [like the Mega] have been $399," said Smoak. "You're getting a lot for [the price], yes, but it's not like you're getting a Galaxy S5."

"We worked really hard with ZTE on the Grand X Max+ that comes with the LTE technology, that comes with the big 6-inch screen, that comes with the big battery, the big camera," he added. It's geared for those who want a higher-end phone but don't want to drop $600-$700 on one.

The Grand X Max+ runs Android 4.4 KitKat. One might hope that it would get the Lollipop treatment at some point, but Smoak noted, "One of the ways that we drive a better cost basis is by not doing a lot of OS updates and maintenance releases. We are very strategic about the decisions we make around that." He did say, however, that a product in the class of this handset is likely to see an upgrade to Lollipop, but he wasn't able to confirm either way.

So, fine then; there are lots of other prepaid offerings out there, and one exclusive mid-tier handset is only going to go so far in persuading buyers to switch to or stick with Cricket. But Cricket knows that, and the company is pushing its network as the main attraction.

Cricket enjoys the reliability and wide coverage area of AT&T's network. The company does use AT&T's towers and LTE and 3G networks, but Cricket has its own packet core, data speeds, and so on.

The main difference is data speeds. Cricket's service offers lower LTE speeds than AT&T. Although the company wouldn't give an exact number, Smoak did reframe that issue by saying that what you get is still "head and shoulders" above legacy LTE Cricket speeds.

He also stated that Cricket customers aren't as focused on speeds as they are on coverage area (which it has in spades thanks to AT&T), reliability, and price.

To top off the value of Cricket's offerings, the company offers Wi-Fi access to 13 million "curated" AT&T Smart Wi-Fi hotspots around the U.S. When customers are in range, their data access automatically switches over to the hotspots using AT&T's authentication protocols to ensure security. However, voice calls over Wi-Fi are not supported.

Cricket offers several plan tiers. There's a simple unlimited talk/text plan for $25 per month, or you can opt for the $40, $50, or $60 per month plans that net you 1 GB, 3 GB, or 10 GB of 4G LTE data, respectively.

Follow Seth Colaner @SethColaner. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.

ZTE is announcing three new smartphones running Android KitKat today at IFA. Two of them, the Blade Vec 3G and Blade Vec 4G, look almost identical but have a few differences internally, while the third one, the ZTE Kis 3, has a different design and is targeted at the very low end of the market.

The Blade Vec 4G is the highest-end model of the three and comes with a 5" TFT LCD screen with a 720p resolution, 13MP rear camera, 2MP front camera, 16 GB of storage, 1 GB of RAM, Bluetooth 4.0 and as the name implies, 4G connectivity.

The phone is powered by a quad-core 1.2 GHz Cortex A7 processor from Qualcomm (Snapdragon 400) and runs Android 4.4. It's not a new chip like the Cortex A53-based Snapdragon 410 that we're seeing in some other devices being announced at IFA, but it should have plenty of performance for the level of the market that ZTE is targeting.

The Blade Vec 3G is much like its brother and comes with many of the same specs. The main differences are that it only has 3G connectivity and that it uses an 8MP camera on the back and 5MP camera in the front. It's a little strange that ZTE decided to give the lower-end 3G version a higher quality "selfie" camera, but it probably wanted at least one of these devices to be great at taking selfies.

The Blade Vec 3G seems to have a different processor, too, ditching the Snapdragon 400 for a quad-core 1.3 GHz Cortex A7 Mediatek chip, which should actually be a little faster thanks to the higher clock speed. ZTE most likely chose it because it was cheaper than Qualcomm's processor.

The phone comes with only 8 GB of storage, which is half as much as the Vec 4G, but that should still be enough space for apps for most people. Both phones have a 2,300 mAh battery.

ZTE's low-end smartphone, the Kis 3 Max, comes with a 4.5" screen, 854 x 480 resolution, 512 MB of RAM (which should be enough for KitKat), 4 GB of storage, 5MP rear camera, 2MP front camera, Bluetooth 3.0 and a 2,300 mAh battery. This phone comes with a dual-core 1.3 GHz Cortex A7 chip from Mediatek. All three handsets run Android 4.4 KitKat.

The Blade Vec 4G has already been launched in Turkey, France, Romania, Slovakia, Belgium, Norway and Sweden. The pricing and availability for the other two models will be announced soon.

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ZTE USA announced on Wednesday that the Nubia 5S Mini LTE phone will be offered unlocked beginning August 27. However, customers can pre-purchase the phone now from Amazon for $279.99. The company seems to be placing all bets on the phone’s two cameras to attract customers -- a 13MP camera on the back and a 5MP camera on the front.

The phone has a 4.7-inch screen with a 1280 x 720 resolution. Under the hood, there’s a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 quad-core SoC, 16 GB of internal storage, a microSD card for 32 GB of extra storage, and a 2000 mAh battery. Android 4.3 “Jellybean” is the OS of choice.

As for the cameras, the company boasts that this is the first “widely-available” phone with this kind of camera hardware. The 13MP camera on the back has a BSI sensor and LED flash, and the 5MP camera on the front is capable of shooting HD video at 30 frames per second. Additional camera features include a F2.2 aperture, a 5-piece precision optical lens, a blue glass composite IR filter, and a sapphire lens.

“The Nubia 5S Mini LTE smartphone camera software has distinctive independent control of focus, light metering and white balance functionality,” the press release said. “The advanced combination of hardware and software capture images that are truer to color as the eye sees and produce excellent dark field, macro and color reproduction.”

ZTE USA announced that this phone has three camera modes -- Pro, Fun and Auto – that address all photographers, whether they’re professional or just starting out. The phone has DSLR-like controls, providing editing tools and effects that normally don’t ship on a smartphone unless a third-party app is installed.

The Nubia 5S Mini LTE phone follows the Nubia 5, which was released back in October 2013. The Nubia 5 also packs a 13MP camera on the back with a Konica-Minolta lens and intelligent stabilization, as well as a 2MP camera on the front, and it also has a 5-inch Full HD screen. It runs the Snapdragon S4 Pro (APQ8064) and has 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of internal storage. This phone is also unlocked, but costs a pretty penny more at $599.

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ZTE, a Chinese manufacturer of mostly low-end smartphones, is breaking into new territory with a very comfortably appointed mid-range offering.

“The Grand S Pro proves that it is possible to deliver a high-performing device, without the high price tag. This smartphone showcases ZTE’s definition of value which goes far beyond cost to deliver smart, affordable, quality choices.” - Lixin Cheng, Chairman and CEO of ZTE USA

With its SoC listed simply as MSM8974AB, we're not sure whether the ZTE Grand S Pro sports a Snapdragon 800 or Snapdragon 801 (we asked ZTE two days ago and are awaiting a response), but as we found out in Qualcomm Snapdragon 801: Performance Previewed, there's really only a marginal difference between these two chips. With an off-contract asking price of just $249.99, even if the Grand S Pro sports a Snapdragon 800, that's still a higher SKU than the $300 Google Nexus 5 (MSM8974AA) and not that far off from the much-anticipated OnePlus One's Snapdragon 801 MSM8974AC.

While the ZTE Grand S Pro packs some serious processing power for such an affordable device, the company had to skimp on a few things in order to hit that price point. The onboard storage for example, at just 8 GB, puts the ZTE Grand S Pro more in line with the $180 Motorola Moto G and Google's previous-generation Nexus 4. Fortunately, unlike most of its competition, the ZTE Grand S Pro's paltry storage space can be expanded with up to an additional 32 GB via a MicroSD card slot.

Unfortunately, the device's screen resolution is another area ZTE had to sacrifice. At just 1280 x 720, the Grand S Pro yet again has more in common with low-end and legacy launches. Still, games will likely run very smoothly on the phone due to the lower resolution display, so if mobile gaming is your thing but you need a phone on a budget, the ZTE Grand S Pro just might make sense for you.

The 5-inch IPS display, 2 GB of LPDDR3 memory, and 2300 mAh battery are pretty par for the course, as is the 2 MP front-facing camera. However, the 13 MP rear-facing camera with auto focus and LED flash is a cut above the phone's pricing tier.

Like many manufacturers, ZTE employs a custom skin for Android, consequently the Grand S Pro will debut with Android 4.3, with no word on future upgrades to KitKat (again, we asked and are awaiting a response from ZTE).

Overall, the specifications for this phone are perhaps a bit off-balance. While the ZTE Grand S Pro may have presented a fantastic value proposition just a few months ago, an extra fifty dollar bill will get you a bigger and better screen, more internal storage, a bigger battery, more memory, better optics, and a faster SoC in the OnePlus One.

The ZTE Grand S Pro is available immediately through U.S. Cellular and will only set you back $99.99 with a two year contract. There has been no word on availability through other carriers just yet.

Follow Niels Broekhuijsen @NBroekhuijsen. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.

Mozilla was at CES in Las Vegas in January and had a very prominent presence at MWC. The company hit Barcelona with a giant Firefox booth and all of the Firefox OS phones that have been produced so far. Also on show was the new ZTE Open C, a follow on to last year's ZTE Open. Unfortunately, at the time, the device wasn't yet available, and Mozilla couldn't tell us when North Americans would be able to purchase the Firefox OS smartphone for themselves. That changed this week when ZTE made its Firefox OS phone available to folks in the U.S., UK, and other territories via eBay.

Under the hood, the ZTE Open C boasts a 4-inch 800 x 480 touchscreen display and packs a dual-core 1.2 GHz CPU. It also has 512 MB of RAM, a 3-megapixel camera, 4 GB of on board storage, and (of course) Mozilla's own Firefox OS. Firefox OS is built on a Linux kernel and utilizes B2G (Boot to Gecko), meaning apps developed on the phone can be entirely built on HTML5, JavaScript and any other open source web application APIs. Phones running Firefox OS also ship with Firefox Marketplace, Mozilla's own app market, as well as built-in social features via Facebook and Twitter, and HERE Maps complete with offline capabilities and smart walking, driving and public transit directions.

The ZTE Open C actually ships with Firefox OS 1.3, which was just announced yesterday and includes several new features. They include dual-SIM dual-standby support for continuous autofocus and flash, access to music controls from the notification tray, support for transferring multiple Bluetooth files simultaneously, and various performance enhancements (such as better scrolling and faster app startups). For developers, Firefox OS 1.3 brings NFC enablers, support for WebGL, asm.js and WebAudio, and several new WebAPIs via Gecko 28.

The ZTE Open went on sale last year also through eBay (as well as through certain carriers in Europe). This model is a little bit more expensive at $100 but, as you can probably tell by the specs, this is not a high-end phone. ZTE is hoping to provide cost conscious consumers more options when shopping for their first smartphone.

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ZTE this week announced a brand new Grand smartphone. Dubbed the ZTE Grand Memo II LTE, the device packs a huge 6-inch IPS HD display, a Snapdragon 400 CPU, 2 GB of RAM, 16 GB of onboard storage, a 13-megapixel camera in the back, a 5-megapixel camera up front, WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth 4.0, and a 3200 mAh battery. If you're trying to categorize this phone into high-end flagship or affordable, you'll have a hard time. The truth is that it's a little of column A and a little of column B. Though it might seem like it's neither here nor there, it's an interesting development. So often we see affordable phones that just don't excite at all when it comes to specs. It seems like ZTE is trying to rise above that to an extent with this device.

The device runs on Android 4.4 with ZTE's own custom UI running on top. The company calls this MiFavor and it is, for the most part, fairly unobtrusive, though some users might have a hard time getting used to the little tweaks and changes that give it that unique ZTE flavor. ZTE says it memorizes user habits and offers a customized tailored interface based on the user's needs. We had a chance to go hands on and found a few tweaks we liked and a few we felt didn't really add much to the experience. 

One thing we really liked was that the device allows you to quickly organize your apps into folders. We all understand the merits of organizing apps into categories and folders, but it's a lot of work. By hitting the option key on the lower right hand of the screen, MiFavor gives you the ability to automatically sort your apps into folders. This, of course, means you don't get to choose the categories yourself, but it also means you don't have to do any of the grunt work yourself. You can also revert back to the old tiled, multi-home screen interface at the touch of a button.

The camera is also interesting in that it displays a lot of data on the screen while you're taking photos. This includes various grids and markers to help you frame your photos better, as well as the ISO level and information that most people generally wouldn't pay too much attention to if they're just snapping quick shots. Still, it's nice that this information is readily available if you're trying to get that really great shot but all you have is your smartphone. The phone has 6X digital zoom, but we weren't all that impressed with the quality on max zoom if we're being honest.

We enjoyed our brief time with the ZTE, though we'd love to spend more time with it, so we can get a better idea of how it fares day-to-day, and give it a chance to learn our habits. We'd love to see how that affects the experience. Overall, we're still missing the most important piece of information, which is price. If ZTE prices this right, it could be very successful. Too expensive and it'll be just another underwhelming smartphone that can't stand up against other devices in its price point.

The ZTE Grand Memo II will be available in April in China and is scheduled for release in the USA and other regions after that.

Check out all our Mobile World Congress 2014 coverage here!

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On Friday, ZTE made available its Firefox OS-based ZTE Open smartphone to eBay users in both North America and the UK. By Monday, both stores were sold out. The unlocked device came in Orange, and sold for $79.99 USD (£59.99) after previously launching on Telefónica in Spain, Venezuela and Colombia back in July.

"Targeted at the first time smartphone user, Firefox OS smartphones are the first devices powered completely by Web technologies," Mozilla said last week. "Users get the performance, personalization and price they want in a smartphone packaged in a beautiful, clean, intuitive and easy-to-use experience."

The phone sports a 3.5 inch multi-touch screen with a 480 x 320 resolution, a Qualcomm Snapdragon S1 single-core SoC clocked at 1 GHz, 256 MB of RAM and 512 MB of internal storage. It also has a microSD card slot supporting up to 32 GB of extra storage, but comes with a 2 GB card already inserted. Other features include dual-band Wireless N and Bluetooth 2.1 EDR connectivity, a 3.2MP camera on the back, stereo FM radio, and a Li-ion 1200 mAh battery.

While the phone seems to be a bit outdated in the hardware department, keep in mind that Firefox OS is based on HTML5, JavaScript and other web-based technologies; it doesn't necessarily need the hardware that's packed behind the newer iOS and Android platforms. It also introduces what Mozilla says is a new concept for smartphones: an adaptive app search that "transforms" the phone to meet the user's needs.

"For example, search for your favorite music artist and get results to buy your favorite song, concert tickets or even listen to your favorite song instantly," Mozilla states. "Making it possible for you to create these one-time use or downloadable apps on demand gives you a completely customized experience and helps you get the exact content you want, when you want it."

Like iOS and Android, Firefox OS comes with its own Marketplace which "unleashes the power of HTML5 apps on mobile." It includes popular apps like AccuWeather, Facebook, Nokia HERE Maps, SoundCloud, Terra, Time Out, TMZ and Twitter, EA games like Poppit, and personally tailored and local apps that will differ by region.

ZTE reportedly only had a set limit of devices it planned to sell on eBay this past Friday. That said, there's no indication of when the company plans to take down the "sold out" sign and resume sales in the U.S. and UK. The phone reportedly didn't sell quite as fast as the initial run of developer-only handsets which were scooped up via Geeksphone in mere hours back in April. Still, a sell-out in three days is impressive to say the least.

At $80, there's no question why anyone would want to invest that kind of change to get their hands dirty with a new, emerging platform based on HTML5. Hopefully, more units will be made available soon.

Mozilla is finally ready to release some phone running Firefox OS to the public. The company today announced that two carriers in Europe would soon be launching the first Firefox OS smartphones. Deutsche Telekom and Telefonica have signed up to carry the Alcatel One Touch Fire and the ZTE Open.

It looks like the latter will be available first, as Telefonica has already confirmed that the ZTE Open will hit the Spanish market on July 2 and will be priced at €69 with a €30 pre-pay balance thrown in for good measure. The device boasts a 3.5‐inch, HVGA TFT touchscreen display and has 256MB RAM and 512MB ROM combined with a 3.2MP camera and a 4GB microSD card.

Of course, the most notable feature is the fact that it runs on Mozilla's Firefox OS. The Firefox OS is built on a Linux kernel and uses B2G (Boot to Gecko), meaning apps developed on the phone can be entirely built on HTML5, JavaScript and any other open source web application APIs. Phones running Firefox OS will also ship with Firefox Marketplace, Mozilla's own app market, as well as built-in social features via Facebook and Twitter, and HERE Maps complete with offline capabilities and smart walking, driving and public transit directions.

No word on when the One Touch Fire is due out but we'll keep you posted!

Smartphones have evolved at an incredible pace. When you think back to the first Android phone, the T-Mobile G1, with a 528 MHz Qualcomm processor and less than 200 MB of RAM, it's hard to believe we're now walking around with today's quad-core smartphones in our pockets. ZTE today announced a new smartphone with a 2 GHz CPU under the hood.

Dubbed the ZTE Geek (sigh), it packs an Intel Atom Z2580 processor. It's actually one of the first phones to use this particular Atom chip, the Clover Trail+. It also boasts a 5-inch display (1280 x 720), 1 GB of RAM, 8 GB of on-board storage, a 2,300 mAh battery and Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. Processor aside, it's not out of this world in terms of hardware (the upcoming Galaxy S4 has at least a quad core if not an octa core CPU, 2 GB of RAM and up to 64 GB of storage). Still, it gets points for being the first Z2580 phone.

Specs aside, there's no word on when (or if) this phone will be launched stateside, so it's entirely possible that while the Geek is one of the first Z2580-powered phones, it might not be the first one launched in the United States. We'll keep you posted!

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ZTE has decided to step out of the shadows from white label products to take on the global market with their new handset, unofficially known as “Quantum.” This handset is rumored to be their new flagship phone, running Android Jelly Bean on a Snapdragon S4 processor.

Hardware-wise, the phone fulfills expectations with its 5-inch 720p display, 1 GB of RAM and a 13 megapixel rear-facing camera, as well as being able to support 4G/LTE due to the SoC choice.

While carrier branding is nowhere to be seen, an anonymous tip to Android Police says this phone is exclusively for Spirit, backed up by the Spirit logo in the notification pane. While the Chinese OEM has neither confirmed nor denied it, this could potentially be very good news for Spirit and its consumer base.

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ZTE USA CEO Lixin Cheng told Engadget during an interview at Mobile World Congress 2013 that he welcomes an investigation brought on by the U.S. government. Even more, it should increase brand awareness and help bring more jobs to U.S. citizens through increased sales.

Back in October 2012, Congress submitted a report by the Intelligence Committee claiming that both ZTE and Huawei pose as a threat to national security. The allegations were due to their ties to the Chinese government, and their refusal to cooperate with U.S. investigators.

"[U.S. companies thinking about buying from Huawei should] find another vendor if you care about your intellectual property; if you care about your consumers' privacy and you care about the national security of the United States of America," panel chairman Mike Rogers said on the CBS News program "60 Minutes."

Huawei is the world's second largest maker of routers, switches and telecoms equipment whereas ZTE ranks fifth. However ZTE ranks as fourth in the global mobile phone sector while Huawei resides in the sixth position. ZTE's U.S. revenues only make up 2 to 3-percent of its overall global revenues while Huawei generates around 4-percent here in the States. Locally, ZTE ranks sixth in phone sales and Huawei eighth, trailing behind Apple, Samsung, HTC and Motorola.

At the time of the report, ZTE said that it "profoundly disagreed" with claims that it is influenced or controlled by the Chinese government. "ZTE should not be a focus of this investigation to the exclusion of the much larger Western vendors," the company stated.

In addition to the report, U.S.-based network equipment maker Cisco Systems added to the dark cloud hovering over ZTE, stating that it severed its longstanding sales relationship with the company. Cisco said an internal investigation revealed that the Chinese firm sold Cisco's equipment to Iran.

Now five months later, ZTE USA's CEO seems happy that an investigation is underway, and claims that the government's report really hasn't affected business in the States. "It actually helps us build the brand," said Cheng. "When the report came out, it was such a high profile news and everyone was talking about ZTE. Some of our handset consumers may call the hotline and say, 'Hey, I have a phone from ZTE, do I have security concerns?' And of course, most people would find out no, there are no security concerns."

He went on to tell Engadget that despite what the report claims, ZTE is offering full cooperation with authorities, and that the company will try to disclose anything it can without hurting its business interests. "We always respect the U.S. local laws, the U.S. government and the U.S. legislators' duties to protect the national interests of the U.S.," he added. The government's report stated that ZTE failed to satisfy requests for documents which included "detailed information about formal relationships or regulatory interaction with Chinese authorities."

ZTE is reportedly trying to get back into the smartphone game by restructuring to cut costs. The company saw an estimated net loss of at least $400 million in 2012, and is working to regain the trust of local carriers as well as the American government. The recent accusations against China regarding hacks into The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times isn't helping ZTE build its defense, but the company, strangely enough, sees the report as a way to increase brand awareness.

"We're taking this opportunity to tell our story to the consumers, so I think that's our strategy," said the CEO.

The full report can be accessed via Engadget here.

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ZTE Corporation said on Wednesday that it will be the first to launch "super phones" based on Nvidia's Tegra 4 SoC. The first models will reach the Chinese market in the first half of 2013, delivering improved app load times, realistic gaming experiences, great battery life and more thanks to the new chip's 72 custom GeForce cores and quad-core ARM Cortex-A15 CPU.

The new "super phones" follow previous collaborations between ZTE and Nvidia including the Grand X, which features both a Tegra SoC and Nvidia's Icera modem, and the just-launched Tegra 3-laced Grand Era (Hong Kong). They also brought to the market the very first premium quad-core smartphone priced below $160 USD, the ZTE U950, which packs Nvidia's speedy Tegra 3 chip.

"We’re proud to continue our pioneering partnership with Nvidia and are looking forward to offering more Tegra-powered devices, which are defining a new generation of phones offering premium mobile computing experiences,” said Mr. He Shiyou, ZTE EVP and Head of the Terminal Division. "Our Tegra 4 smartphones will provide full HD entertainment and multimedia experiences that consumers will love."

ZTE said that part of its "super phone" wave includes a Tegra 4 solution that will use Nvidia's optional i500 processor for worldwide 4G LTE voice and data support. Based on a unique software-defined radio (SDR) technology, Nvidia calls this modem "future proof", delivering 100 Megabits per second out of the box, plus software-upgradeability to 150 Mbps LTE, carrier aggregation, and TD LTE.

"Icera has unique soft modem technology which implements the entire modem baseband in software," said Nvidia's Phil Carmack in a blog on Tuesday. "This approach is particularly suited to the modem due to the adaptive nature of the wireless cellular environment. It allows the modem to dynamically allocate more processing resources to the most challenging processing functions required at any given time, making it much more efficient than traditional hardware-centric implementations."

He added that the modem's roadmap can be extended with feature upgrades and performance enhancements through software updates. This is even more beneficial for SoC's with an embedded Icera modem by "delivering the cost-reduction benefits the SoC brings without having to compromise on feature capabilities and performance enhancements."

As for ZTE's "super phone" lineup featuring Nvidia's Tegra 4 SoC, there's no indication that they'll make it to the States. ZTE is no stranger to the North American smartphone market, and a T-Mobile-branded ZTE Grand X was just seen at the FCC back in December. That said, there's a good chance we'll see at least one of these units locally before the end of the year.

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In addition to the new flagship handset, a seemingly very busy ZTE is also gearing up to launch a new tablet. The V81, which is expected to make its debut next month during World Mobile Congress 2013, will feature an 8-inch capacitive screen (1024 x 768) and a dual-core SoC clocked at 1.4 GHz.

Spotted by Engadget, the currently unannounced tablet will sport a 2MP camera on the back and a 0.3MP camera on the front. Also thrown into the mix will be 1 GB of RAM, only 4 GB of internal storage, but a microSD card slot for an additional 32 GB of storage.

According to the specs, the OS of choice will be Google's Android 4.1 "Jelly Bean", powered by a 3700mAh battery. Other features will include 802.11 b/g/n connectivity, HDMI output, Bluetooth 2.1, GPS, an accelerometer, and what appears to be UMTS and GSM cellular connectivity.

Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reports that China's ZTE Corp is shifting its focus on the enterprise sector. The company's mainstay telecom-equipment business took a hit here in the States back in October after a congressional report concluded that both ZTE and Chinese rival Huawei posed a potential national security threat. Both companies have denied those allegations, but the findings have reportedly killed any growth opportunities for them in the States for the next several years.

"We already provide our products and services in most countries around the world," ZTE Vice President Xu Ming said in an interview. "I hope that later more business will come from North America."

Xu Ming told the Wall Street Journal that the company's government and enterprise businesses represent "one of the bright spots," which accounted for around 10-percent of the company's revenue last year. ZTE's telecom-equipment business accounts for more than half of its revenue, the paper said, bust only a fraction actually stems from North America.

ZTE is now looking to generate about one-third of its revenue from its government and enterprise business by 2016, fueled by emerging markets in Asia, the company said.

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Chinese smartphone manufacturer ZTE has announced another smartphone in the form of the quad-core Grand Memo, reports Engadget.

Alongside a 720p 4.7-inch screen that offers a resolution of 1280 by 720 pixels, it's powered by a quad-core 1.7GHz Snapdragon S4 Pro system-on-chip, as well as 2 GB of RAM.

A 13-megapixel camera is situated on the device's rear, with an unspecified version of Android being the device's mobile operating system of choice. A T9 keyboard made for single-handed use has been incorporated as well, accompanied by microSD support and a 3,000mAh battery.

Pricing and availability details have yet to be announced, but it'll receive its official debut during the Mobile World Congress in late February. Elsewhere, ZTE lately announced the low-cost, Android-powered Blade C smartphone.

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Chinese smartphone manufacturer ZTE has announced an Android-powered smartphone dubbed the Blade C.

The phone offers a 4-inch WVGA display, a 3-megapixel camera and is powered by a 1GHz dual-core MediaTek MTK 6577 processor, as well as 512 MB of RAM. Alongside 4 GB of internal storage, the Blade C, which has been designed to "capture a larger share of the low-end market," sports 3G support, Bluetooth 4.0 and a 1,600 mAh battery pack.

The Blade C is also known as the ZTE V807, ZTE T807 and ZTE V889S. The V889S is available in China for around $112, with the Blade C itself expected to launch in Europe for a similar off-contract price.

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During 2012, 1.6 billion handsets were shipped, with 700 million from that figure attributed to smartphones.

The figure represents a 2 percent increase when compared to 2011. The market's slow growth was blamed on stricter upgrade policies, changing consumer tastes and economic challenges stemming from North America and Western Europe.

Global smartphone shipments increased by 490.5 million units when compared to 2011, but the subsequent 43 percent growth rate is eclipsed in comparison to 2011's growth rate of 64 percent over 2010. Saturation in North America and Western Europe was cited as the reason for the slower growth.

According to Strategy Analytics, Samsung shipped the most handsets throughout the year with a 30 percent share, with Nokia and Apple following. As for smartphones, Samsung shipped the most units, while Apple followed in second, with Nokia trailing behind at third place. Chinese handset manufacturer ZTE settled for fourth place.

Apple accounted for 19 percent of the market with 135.8 million iPhone units shipped during 2012 (47.8 million in Q4), representing an increase of 46 percent. It benefited from strong demand in North America but failed to establish a presence within several developing markets such as Africa. Nokia, meanwhile, saw its market share drop from 16 percent to 5 percent.

"Fuelled by robust demand for its popular Galaxy models, Samsung was the star performer, shipping a record 396.5 million mobile phones worldwide and capturing 25 percent marketshare to solidify its first-place lead. However, Samsung’s total volumes for the year fell just short of the 400-million threshold," said Strategy Analytics

"Large marketing budgets, extensive distribution channels, and attractive product portfolios have enabled Samsung and Apple to tighten their grip on the smartphone industry," the market researcher added.

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Following the unveiling of the ZTE Grand S at CES 2013, the Chinese handset manufacturer appears to be working on two additional 5-inch smartphones.

Dubbed the ZTE U956 and ZTE V987, both devices feature 5-inch 720p displays. Comparatively, the Grand S offers a full HD display.

The V987 sports the same design as the Grand S, but has a slightly larger chassis. The device appeared on a Chinese regulatory database, which confirmed it's powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core processor, as well as sporting a 8-megapixel camera. Its battery, meanwhile, is a 2,500mAh pack.

The ZTE U956 houses the same 8-megapixel snapper found in the V987, while an unknown source claimed the smartphone would also boast a quad-core processor. Its price is rumored to be $240.

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Earlier this week, ZTE announced its rumored high-end, 5-inch full HD Grand S smartphone. We took some time during our schlep around South Hall to hit the ZTE booth and get some hands on time with this sexy piece of technology.

Available in a multitude of colors, the phone is solid and is approaching the size of the Galaxy Note II. As such, it feels substantial in your hand and is pushing the limits of what you'd be able to fit in your pocket. It fits, but it certainly wouldn't want to be any larger.

The Grand S runs Android 4.1.2 along with a custom skin on top. Unfortunately, the folks at the ZTE booth didn't seem to know all there was to know about the device. The first person we spoke to was barely able to confirm that there was a custom UI. We finally managed to get our point across by simply stating, "But this is not vanilla Jelly Bean. What is the software you guys added?" We then spoke to a different rep who was aware there was a custom UI, and was able to tell us it wasn't as serious as the customizations with Samsung's TouchWiz. He finally did tell us about a couple of the fun features relating to the camera, including the ability to actually 'delete' people from pictures if they accidentally walk into your shot as you take the photo. Sadly, we weren't able to get a demonstration of that feature, because ZTE apparently didn't train the booth staff on the phone's special features.

The Grand S packs a 5-inch full HD touch screen with 440 PPI and Corning Gorilla Glass. Under the hood is a 1.7GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 processor, 2 GB of RAM, 16 GB of internal storage, a 13-megapixel camera in the back (capable of 1080p video recording), a 2-megapixel camera up front, Dolby Digital surround audio, and a 1780mAh battery. The handset, compatible with 4G LTE, will launch with Android Jelly Bean (and that custom UI we spoke about earlier) and is scheduled for release in China this quarter. Nothing solid on a release date for other territories but we'll keep you posted.

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ZTE has officially announced its high-end, 5-inch full HD Grand S smartphone during CES 2013.

The Grand S' 5-inch full HD touch screen features 440 PPI (pixels per-inch) and is built out of Corning Gorilla Glass. The handset, compatible with 4G LTE, will launch with Android Jelly Bean. Powering it is a 1.7GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 processor and 2 GB of RAM, with the device boasting 16 GB of internal storage.

A 13-megapixel camera is situated on the Grand S' rear, accompanied by a front-facing 2-megapixel camera. The former is capable of shooting 1080p video. Other camera options include facial recognition, a flash and panoramic shooting. Its thin uni-body design, which measures at 6.9mm, prevents the battery from being removable.

The Grand S, which sees ZTE integrating its MiFavor user interface also houses a 1,780 mAh battery, a microSD card slot and Dolby Digital surround sound. The device will be available in two finishes: matte and glossy. The former constitutes of black and white colors, while glossy colors include pink, yellow, red and mint green.

ZTE, which didn't reveal pricing details, will launch the device online in China during the first quarter of 2013, with a U.S. launch following after.

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mSATA: Solid-State Responsiveness On A Tiny Card

The idea of a mSATA-based SSD plugged into your PC's motherboard is cool, but only insofar as the little drive is as fast as more familiar 2.5" models. And it needs to cost the same per gigabyte, too. Paying extra for a slower drive just doesn't make sense, even when it's a small SSD used exclusively for caching. With more and more standard SSDs falling under $1/GB, it's pretty easy to work at least 128 GB of capacity into most desktops.

But in an environment where extra physical space is a luxury (and in some cases not an option at all), mSATA might be the only way to get solid-state storage at all. Ultrabooks are a prime example. With very limited room, you're looking at one 2.5" storage device, an mSATA-based drive, or some combination of the two. Paying a little extra for the functionality of one fast boot drive and a slower disk for user data might be very well be worthwhile in such a compact form factor.

In case you missed Intel SSD 310 80 GB: Little Notebooks Get Big Storage Flexibility, where we first introduced mSATA nearly two years ago, the physical connector we're talking about today looks a lot like mini-PCIe. However, mSATA employs native SATA signaling. Fortunately, some of the boards currently available have the multiplexers necessary to take full-length mini-PCIe cards or mSATA drives in the same slot. From there, you face a performance challenge: some motherboards, such as Intel's DH61AG, enable mSATA at 3 Gb/s transfer rates, handicapping faster SSDs intended for 6 Gb/s connections. 

All of that is to say pairing a platform to a compatible mSATA-based SSD is not always an easy exercise. Getting it right, however, can be rewarding. Beyond the interface's purpose as an enabler of caching (which is only of moderate interest to us nowadays), we really do like the idea of 128 GB or more of flash-based capacity and a 500 GB or larger mechanical drive for user data (like music, movies, and pictures).

Seeing that the selection of SSDs designed to drop into mSATA slots is pretty small, we rounded up as many as we could get our hands on from Adata, Crucial, Mushkin, and OCZ.

Test Setup And Benchmarks

Although we see Ultrabooks (and other thin and light form factors) as the most likely beneficiaries of mSATA space savings, they don't make great benchmarking platforms for swapping drives in and out. So, we're using an mSATA-to-SATA adapter on our desktop test bed. There is no performance penalty associated with this configuration, since the adapter simply changes the physical interface, not the signaling. As a side benefit, this setup lets us compare mSATA-based drives to larger 2.5" SATA-based SSDs without introducing any other variables.

Adata XPG SX300 mSATA SSDs

Adata's XPG SX300 family is the mSATA-based relative of the company's 2.5" SX900 line-up, which we covered in Time To Upgrade: 10 SSDs Between 240 And 256 GB, Rounded Up. They both employ SandForce's second-generation controller, suggesting that we may just see the compact form factor serving up performance similar to what we've been enjoying on the desktop for more than two years now. 

In reality, the XPG SX300s are a little different than the most conventional SandForce-based drives. Like the SX900s, Adata takes advantage of a vendor update from the controller company that allows it to disable over-provisioning entirely. In our review of the SX900, we saw that over-provisioning helps the drive recover performance when all of its cells are written to. Getting rid of the feature can affect speed then, under the right conditions.

You'll notice that the XPG SX300s (all three of them, at 64, 128, and 256 GB) host four BGA memory packages, each of which connects to the controller via two channels. Thus, all three mSATA-based SSDs communicate over eight available channels. Adata tells us that it's using 25 nm synchronous flash from IMFT, which should enable impressive performance.

Why is there so much difference between the three versions in our 4 KB random read test, then? At the low queue depths you'd expect to encounter on an Ultrabook or mainstream desktop, the drives are actually fairly close together. It's only at queue depths of eight and more that the 256 GB model really takes off. This is a result of the interleaving that takes place as more NAND devices are involved in a given operation. At high queue depths, the larger SSD is able to better-utilize the interface between SandForce's controller and the attached flash.

Writing compressible information to the XPG SX300s (in the chart below) doesn't leave any room for interleaving to help performance. SandForce's DuraWrite technology helps all three SSDs achieve similar results.

However, we know that SandForce's architecture doesn't handle compressed data as elegantly. So, the 128 and 256 GB drives serve up notably better performance than the 64 GB model, which is composed of few NAND die. Moreover, the trio's benchmark numbers are significantly lower when each drive is forced to contend with incompressible information.

Sequential read performance is notably better. All three drives post similarly-impressive throughput, sailing over 500 MB/s at a queue depth of two.

So long as you're dealing with compressible data, 128 KB sequential write performance is also really impressive.

The impact of interleaving is profound once we force these mSATA-based SSDs to cope with purely incompressible information. The 128 and 256 GB models fall to 200 MB/s, while the 64G GB drive drops to 100 MB/s. Moreover, higher queue depths do nothing to improve transfer rates, since the architecture is already saturated at a queue depth of one. Stacking more operations only yields better performance when there's still headroom available.

Crucial m4 mSATA SSDs

Crucial's nomenclature suggests that we're dealing with a pared-down version of the company's 2.5" m4. The mSATA-based family is available in 32, 64, 128, and 256 GB capacities, though we're only testing the three largest models today, and probably wouldn't recommend bothering with a 32 GB drive anyway. That's barely large enough for a 64-bit Windows 7 or 8 installation, which eats up more than 20 GB on its own.

Crucial's m4s with mSATA interfaces employ the same eight-channel Marvell 88SS9174 controller found on the company's older and more familiar 2.5" models. The company also uses the same 25 nm NAND from IMFT. As you can see, though, there is only room for four BGA memory packages on the diminutive PCB. So, some of the same interleaving issues that affected Adata's XPG SX300 drives are bound to surface when we compare lower-capacity drives to the larger models with more flash.

Random read performance is consistent from a queue depth of one all the way through 32, with the 256 GB m4 trailing just slightly. This is in contrast to what we saw from Adata's drives, which were clearly differentiated by the time we hit higher queue depths.

Without the benefit of DuraWrite, a SandForce-only technology, Crucial's m4s behave a lot like Adata's XPG SX300s faced with incompressible data. They all turn in similar numbers at a queue depth of one in our 4 KB random write test. At a queue depth of two, the 128 and 256 GB models stand apart from the 64 GB drive. And by the time we push a queue depth of four, the 256 GB sits atop Crucial's stack.

It takes a queue depth higher than four for the 64 and 128 GB m4s to catch up to Crucial's 256 GB model, though, at several other points in the chart, all drives perform similarly in our 128 KB sequential read test.

DuraWrite helped Adata's XPG SX300s maintain comparable transfer rates in our 128 KB sequential write benchmark, so long as data was compressible. As soon as the SandForce-powered SSDs were faced with incompressible data, however, we saw clear differences between each capacity level.

It doesn't matter what type of data you throw at Marvell's controller; the m4s don't exhibit that dualistic behavior typical of SandForce-based competition. But right out of the gate we see the 64 GB m4 achieving less than half as much throughput as the 256 GB model, with 128 GB between them.

Mushkin Enhanced Atlas mSATA SSDs

Unlike Adata's XPG SX300 family, Mushkin's Enhanced Atlas line-up is available in three more familiar (at least for SandForce-based SSDs) capacities: 60, 120, and 240 GB. The Enhanced Atlas centers on the same second-gen controller, but Mushkin maintains over-provisioning on its models to help improve the speed with which these drives recover their performance, even when they're full.

Based on that distinction alone, we'd suspect the Atlas drives to be more performance-oriented than Adata's XPG SX300s. However, we also see that Mushkin arms its SSDs with Toggle-mode NAND from Toshiba. Based on that fact, these things should be quicker (at least in theory) than what we've already seen from Adata using the same controller.

Unfortunately, our first test, 4 KB random reads, don't support our supposition. All three models perform slightly worst than what we saw from the XPG SX300 family. And while we might have expected the impact of interleaving to lend the 120 GB drive better numbers than the 60 GB configuration, it's only at a queue depth of 32 that it differentiates itself. Mushkin's 256 GB version, in contrast, is faster at every queue depth.

It should come as no surprise that the Enhanced Atlas line-up yields results similar to Adata's XPG SX300s in our 4 KB random write test. If you hit these SSDs with compressible data, they're super-fast at high queue depths (though not notably more than the Adata models with synchronous NAND).

Unfortunately for Mushkin, performance in the face of incompressible data is actually worse from its Atlas drives than the competition from Adata. What makes this unfortunate? Well, as the fastest NAND interface available Toggle-mode-capable flash is supposed to be the most expensive. Technically, you'd pay more for a Mushkin Atlas with less usable capacity than a comparable Adata XPG X300. However, a quick spot check on Newegg reveals that, although Muskin's 60 GB model is more expensive, as we'd expect, its 120 and 240 GB SSDs actually cost less than the competition (by $20, in the case of the 240 GB drive).

Toggle-mode NAND does facilitate slightly better numbers in our 128 KB sequential read test, compared to the synchronous-equipped XPG SX300s. At all three capacity points, the benchmark results are similar.

That's not the case for sequential writes, though, where the Enhanced Atlas drives are a little slower than Adata's models when faced with compressible data.

Turning to incompressible information, the 120 and 240 GB models are slower than what we saw two pages ago, while Mushkin's 60 GB SSD is actually a bit faster than the 64 GB XPG SX300. Notice that all three Enhanced Atlas drives fall much closer to each other than the Adata versions did.

OCZ Nocti mSATA SSD

OCZ sells a great many 2.5" SSDs, but it only has one mSATA offering called the Nocti. You'll want to keep in mind that it's an older design, which is why it's specifications are mismatched against the Adata, Crucial, and Mushkin contenders in our round-up. Nevertheless, you can still buy Nocti drives online. In some cases they're even more expensive than the competition. So, it's important that we include the Nocti in our benchmark results.

Notice that OCZ is using a second-generation SandForce controller on its sole mSATA-based SSD. On paper, that'd give it the chops needed to hold its own in testing.

However, we can also see that the company is leaning on TSOP packaging. Unlike the BGA modules used by Adata, Crucial, and Mushkin, these TSOP packages communicate over a single channel each. An mSATA drive with four packages is only utilizing half of what the SandForce controller has available. And that's why OCZ only rates the drive for sequential reads of up to 280 MB/s and writes as high as 260 MB/s. 

Now you see just how dire the Nocti's disadvantage is. That it's still selling for as much as some of the competing drives out there really doesn't make sense.

In lightweight storage workloads, where the Nocti is faced with a queue depth of one, it's actually just as fast as the higher-end SSDs we're testing. It's even competitive at a queue depth of two. But when you start stacking I/O operations, it quickly falls behind. Fortunately for OCZ, most mobile and mainstream desktop applications are not storage intensive. Even still, at the same price (or less), we'd rather spring for the SSD able to utilize all eight of the SandForce controller's channels.

Writes (particularly writing incompressible data) are dismal compared to the Adata and Mushkin drives. Whereas the 120 GB Nocti tops out around 80 MB/s, those two competitors exceed 150 MB/s.

Sequential reads and writes are also pretty bad in comparison to the XPG SX300s and Enhanced Atlases.

At least, that's in theory. Iometer workloads are fairly synthetic, mostly useful for validating manufacturer specifications. Moving on to more real-world testing should help us determine whether OCZ's spec sheet-based disadvantage is something you'd need to worry about in day-to-day use.

PCMark 7 And Power Consumption

Crucial's m4s deserve special recognition. The 128 and 256 GB versions are almost exactly as fast as each other; that's notable because competing 120 and 128 GB models are a bit slower. And the 64 GB m4 holds its own against larger competing SSDs.

All discussion of other drives is rendered almost needless by the fact that Crucial's 256 GB m4 currently sells for $60 less than its closest competitor. It is worth pointing out, however, that OCZ's Nocti drags along at the bottom of our chart.

That 256 GB m4 gets even more attractive when you take a look at its power consumption under load. It ducks in under 1 W, lower than any other mSATA-based SSD in today's round-up and followed by the other two m4s.

At the other end of the spectrum, higher-capacity drives with SandForce controllers use notably more power under load. The Adata XPG SX300 and Mushkin Enhanced Atlas families don't fare particularly well. 

They're all pretty close together at idle, with the exception of OCZ's Nocti, which uses very little power indeed.

Real-World File Transfer Tests

Iometer is a great tool for helping us isolate the behavior of storage devices in very specific cases. But simply running 4 KB blocks of random data or 128 KB chunks of information sequentially through a drive doesn't give us a true sense of performance in a real-world environment. And that's because most real-world workloads aren't nearly as single-dimensional.

So, we also have a couple of real-world file transfer tests, both of which are indicative of write performance as we move information off of a 240 GB Vertex 3 and onto each of these mSATA-based SSDs.

The first test involves one large media file, which is incompressible due to its already-encoded container. It might surprise you to see so much differentiation between the various drives. However, at the top end, Crucial's m4 isn't affected by the type of data we're moving. And, at the bottom, Intel's SSD 310 only populates five of its controller's 10 available channels, helping explain why it doesn't fare as well.

In fact, we can do a bit of math to figure out just how well each of these SSDs matches up to its rated specifications. Intel claims the SSD 310 80 GB can sustain 70 MB/s sequential writes. We show it doing 79 MB/s. Crucial says the 256 GB m4 should be able to write at up to 260 MB/s. We have it pegged at 244 MB/s. Overall, these numbers look pretty darned close.

So yes, while the responsiveness of an SSD is universally better than what you get from a hard drive, there can be some pretty substantial differences in performance when it comes to moving around lots of information.

Here, we're writing a large folder of files that blend random and sequential accesses. Much of this data is already compressed into large files by Blizzard, so we're not sure how much more SandForce's DuraWrite technology can do to improve performance.

Now we see Intel's SSD 310 doing 107 MB/s, while Crucial's m4 smokes along at 340 MB/s. Both of those figures are in excess of what each vendor rates its product for. However, we ran each drive twice to be sure they were correct and saw consistent results within four seconds from one transfer to the next.

Notable yet again is how much worse the 60/64 GB models do compared to the 120/128 and 240/256 GB drives. That information is particularly important as we come up with some general recommendations on the next page.

mSATA: Little Dimensions Can Still Mean Big Performance

The first mSATA-based SSDs that emerged frankly didn't do much to impress us. It was cool to get our hands on a device the size of a mini-PCI Express card with, at the time, 80 GB of capacity (Intel SSD 310 80 GB: Little Notebooks Get Big Storage Flexibility). However, smaller dimensions translated directly to compromises in performance, since Intel was only able to populate five of its controller's 10 channels using TSOP memory. 

Today, the story is a lot different. Higher memory density and BGA packaging make it possible for vendors to fully utilize some of today's fastest storage controllers. And the fact that we're seeing 256 GB drives means you don't have to lean on mSATA-based SSDs for caching; they're able to stand in as a primary target for your operating system, performance-sensitive applications, and games.

And then there's pricing. At launch (and even today), Intel wanted $180 bucks for its SSD 310 80 GB, a drive we see bringing up the rear of our benchmarks. Now, you can find a 256 GB Crucial m4 for $200. That's well under $1 per gigabyte, and exactly as much as the company's 2.5" version of the same drive. Gone are the premiums on mSATA-based drives (at least, the ones we'd recommend to you).

In fact, breaking down the cost of each drive tested today, eight of the 11 models sit around $1/GB or less. The notable exceptions are Adata's XPG 64 GB, Intel's SSD 310 80 GB, and Mushkin's Atlas 60 GB. Incidentally, based on what we saw in the benchmark results, we'd recommend against all of those models. And although its price per gigabyte is a little more attractive, we'd add Crucial's m4 64 GB to that list for its low capacity and modest performance. We'd also add OCZ's Nocti 120 GB for its performance and price proximity to much more attractive options.

The 120 and 128 GB SandForce-based drives are pretty appealing. Adata's XPG SX300 and Mushkin's Enhanced Atlas 120 GB are both strong contenders. So too are the 240/256 GB versions of those same SSDs. But we're most eager to single out Crucial's 256 GB m4. Yes, the 128 GB version is a little more accessible at $115. However, the 256 GB model enjoys the lowest cost per gigabyte of any SSD in our comparison, its power consumption is well within where we'd want to see it, and performance remains impressive, despite the age of its architecture.

I never had an opportunity to give one of our Best of Tom's Hardware awards, and we're revising our awards somewhat to better reflect their true intention. So, it's a privilege to hand out our first Tom's Hardware Elite award to Crucial's 256 GB m4 in the mSATA form factor. This recognition is deserved because the drive demonstrates consistent performance at a price we're comfortable paying. It's unclear if we'll ever see a dramatically faster SSD for the mSATA interface. But, seeing as this one already comes close to saturating a 6 Gb/s connection in sequential reads, and is well-established as a reliable solution, there isn't another option we'd recommend as an alternative. The 256 GB m4 takes our highest honor, and is the drive to buy if you need mSATA-based storage.

ZTE appears to be working on its umpteenth high-end smartphone in the form of the P945.

Details and a leaked image of the P945 surfaced on the reliable Evleaks Twitter account, who has revealed official press shots for several unannounced devices in the past.

The P945 will sport a 5.7-inch 720p display, powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core processor, as well as boasting an 8-megapixel camera and 3000 mAh battery.

Within the image, China Mobile's logo is engraved on the rear of the handset, inevitably confirming an initial China launch, which is expected to be sometime during the second quarter of 2013. A global launch of the device should be confirmed during CES.

The Chinese smartphone manufacturer, known for its low-end, budget handsets, has reiterated its investment in the U.S. market on several occasions.

ZTE recently announced the 5-inch, quad-core Zubia Z5, as well as its high-end Grand S and the 5-inch U887 smartphone.

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