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Tuesday, January 16th, 2024
| Time | Event |
| 10:00a | The Be Quiet! Dark Rock Pro 5 CPU Cooler Review: When Less Is More Last month we took a look at Be Quiet's Dark Rock Elite, the company's flagship CPU tower air cooler. The RGB LED-equipped cooler proved flashy in more ways than one, but true to its nature as a flagship product, it also carried a $115 price tag to match. Which is certainly not unearned, but it makes the Elite hard to justify when pairing it with more mainstream CPUs, especially as these chips don't throw off the same chart-topping levels of heat as their flagship counterparts. Recognizing the limited audience for a $100+ cooler, Be Quiet! is also offering what is essentially a downmarket version of that cooler with the Dark Rock Pro 5. Utilizing the same heatsink as the Dark Rock Elite as its base, the Dark Rock Pro 5 cuts back on some of the bells and whistles that are found on the flagship Elite in order to sell at a lower price while still serving as a high-end cooler. Among these changes are getting rid of the RGB lighting, and using simple wire fan mounts in place of the Elite's nifty rails. The end result is that it allows the Dark Rock Pro 5 to hit a notably lower price point of $80, putting it within the budgets of more system builders, and making it a more practical pairing overall with mainstream CPUs. But perhaps the most important aspect of all is a simple one: cooling performance. What does the Dark Rock Pro 5 give up in cooling performance in order to hit its lower price tag? As we'll see in this review, the answer to that is "surprisingly little," making the Dark Rock Pro 5 a very interesting choice for mid-to-high end CPUs. Particularly for system builders looking for an especially quiet CPU cooler. |
| 7:30p | Synopsys to Acquire Ansys: Set to Offer EDA, Analysis, and Simulation Tools
Synopsys on Tuesday announced that it had reached a definitive agreement to acquire Ansys in a deal valued at $35 billion. Synopsys specializes primarily on electronic design automation (EDA) tools and hardware intellectual property (IP) development, whereas Ansys develops electronics design analysis, and simulation tools, so the deal will create a chip design software powerhouse with expertise in different fields. Chip development is getting harder these days as evolution of process technologies slows down whereas transistor count goes up. To achieve the best power, performance, and area (PPA) results, chip designers nowadays have to work closely with foundries to optimize their design and process technology, an approach called design-technology co-optimization (DTCO). Going forward, chip designer will have to build multi-chiplet solutions to better address demanding applications, go beyond DTCO and optimize their solutions on the system level, an approach known as system technology co-optimization (STCO). This is where Ansys' design analysis and simulation will get particularly useful for customers using Synopsys' EDA tools. Once they are fully integrated with Synopsys software (particularly those which are enhanced with artificial intelligence), the company will be able to offer a top-to-bottom software package to design next-generation processors and systems. This will greatly strengthen its competitive positions against rivals like Cadence and Siemens EDA. Meanwhile, Synopsys and Ansys have collaborated since 2017, so the tools by the two companies already provide a decent development flow. "The megatrends of AI, silicon proliferation and software-defined systems are requiring more compute performance and efficiency in the face of growing, systemic complexity," said Sassine Ghazi, President and CEO of Synopsys. "Bringing together Synopsys' industry-leading EDA solutions with Ansys' world-class simulation and analysis capabilities will enable us to deliver a holistic, powerful and seamlessly integrated silicon to systems approach to innovation to help maximize the capabilities of technology R&D teams across a broad range of industries. This is the logical next step for our successful, seven-year partnership with Ansys. Under the terms of the agreement, Ansys shareholders will get $197.00 in cash and 0.3450 shares of Synopsys stock per Ansys share, valuing Ansys at about $35 billion based on Synopsys' stock price as of December 21, 2023. This deal offers a per-share value of roughly $390.19, a 29% premium over Ansys' closing price and 35% above its 60-day average price as of that date. Post-deal, Ansys shareholders will own about 16.5% of the merged company. Synopsys plans to fund the $19 billion cash part of the transaction with its cash reserves and $16 billion in committed debt financing. Following the acquisition of Ansys, Synopsys is anticipated to see its total addressable market (TAM) expand by 1.5 times, reaching around $28 billion annually, and its annual revenue of around $8 billion. The merged entity is aiming for roughly $400 million in annual cost synergies within three years after closing and about $400 million in annual revenue synergies by the fourth year, with expectations to exceed $1 billion annually over a longer period. "Joining forces with Ansys, a company we know well from our long-standing partnership, is the latest example of how Synopsys remains at the forefront," said Aart de Geus, Executive Chair and Founder of Synopsys. "Our Board and management team carefully evaluated our top strategic options to lead and win in this fast-growing new wave of electronics and system design. The technology-broadening team-up with Ansys is an ideal, value-enhancing step for our company, our shareholders, and the innovative customers we serve." |
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