AMD Zen, news and comments

[Yorus]

Seeing that no one dares to create a thread about this architecture here I go, although I do not have architectural knowledge to speak properly, but maybe this way I give way to those who know more about the subject.

ZEN microarchitecture

Well this is...

well, it's really a mini-zen garden :rofl:

I'll stop...

Zen is the new x86 microprocessor architecture that AMD is developing and the first members of which are expected to be released at the beginning of 2017, possibly during the CES in Las Vegas.

More data about Zen on the AMD page:
http://www.amd.com/en-gb/innovations/software-technologies/zen-cpu

AMD promises a 40% performance improvement, much higher energy efficiency than its current processors and an APU with a graphic performance that is even said to be capable of matching that of the RX460

Personal comment

I find it hard to believe that it will reach everything they promise, but I always have a hope because that will be positive for users, both of Intel and AMD. I have a special interest in APUs, and if as it is said a spectacular performance is achieved with 65w of TDP it is possible that the guts of my next PC will be governed by a Zen. We'll see what happens...

[cobito]

When comparing graphics performance with an RX460, we will have to see if the CPU power has been utilized and they are comparing the previous range + an RX460 or if there really is no difference between using a dedicated RX460 or using the integrated graphics (which I doubt).

The cover has dedicated some entry to the Zen and quite a few to AMD lately.

I think that now something similar is happening with the Athlon XP and Netburst: a substantial improvement on the part of AMD and a setback on the part of Intel that put AMD on a par (if not surpassed Intel). With the fiasco of the Skylake and with nothing particularly promising in sight, it is possible that history will repeat itself.

We will still have to see if AMD's optimism about the performance of the Zen is true.

[Yorus]

Yes, I thought that focusing everything a bit on a thread like "Official Thread" would be more successful, but it doesn't seem to be...

[whoololon]

Joer Yorus, it's just that we don't have anything tangible to put forward.
To start putting "it is expected that" or "maybe", I at least save myself the entry.
Don't get discouraged man, because as soon as a reliable review comes out you will surely have us here beating the drum.

[Yorus]

In other forums the rumors are already filling pages, but here at the moment it's not even enough for those who understand the most to leave a few comments. I will continue to wait and see what is being said elsewhere, because this is like the transfer market in the summer, which is almost more fun than the completed deals.

[cobito]

For now, it seems that they have confirmed the encryption-related features with two functions: SME (Secure Memory Encryption) and SEV (Secure Encrypted Virtualization). Inside the micro, they have put an independent ARM processor in charge of these tasks.

There is a dedicated entry on the "AMD Secure Processor" dedicated entry precisely about the weaknesses in terms of security of this system.

Regarding SME, it seems that what it does is encrypt the data in the RAM. Until now, the norm was to store encrypted data on disk but when it was in RAM, it was decrypted. And about SEV, what it does is apply SME to virtual machines that make use of the AMD-V instruction set.

More on Digiworthy.

[Yorus]

If the security problems already come from the hardware part it can be a problem...

[maxpower]

32 nucleos, lol.

[cobito]

32 cores?

[whoololon]

Yes, well, the supposed processor with 32 cores with support for eight-channel DDR4...
Let's wait and see how the 4-core ones perform...

[krampak]

Currently Intel already has some Xeon with 22 cores so there's no need to be surprised, unless AMD decides that 32 cores are for the Mainstream range but I doubt it

[cobito]

@krampak It doesn't look like it. They've marked it as Opteron and in the article that links @whoololon they compare it to Xeons. Apparently, the high-end for home desktops could have 8 cores.

[JuezDred]

well, I must say that in the market there are already Opterons with more than 12 real cores. and up to 3ghz I think. it would not be surprising that by the middle of next year AMD decides to put more than 8 cores in personal computers.

[cobito]

According to rumors that have spread through Anandtech forums, it seems that there could be a couple of new models: the first one has 8 cores with AMD's HyperThreading implementation with a base frequency of 3.15Ghz and turbo of 3.3GHz with the possibility of making one core go to 3.6GHz.

The other model has 4 cores also with HT. It has a TDP of 65W and the base frequency is 2.9GHz with turbo at 3.1 and maximum frequency of one core of 3.4GHz.

It seems that AM4 motherboards are in production at the moment and the availability of the platform could be for February 2017, a date that sounds realistic according to previous information.

People are comparing the 8-core Zen to the i7-6900k and i7-5960X so we would be talking about a micro quite far from the mid-range. We will have to see how well those cores perform, but if it is capable of taking on Intel's top range they will not be cheap, that's for sure.

[whoololon]

Well, they compare the high-end ones to see who pees the farthest since the numbers will probably make more headlines. But for me, a poor Joe, the ones I'm interested in are the quad-core ones, which will really be the workhorse of the new AMD generation.
It will be those, and not the eight-core ones, that will compete against the current i5-6500 or even i7-6700K; I'll take a risk and say that even with the fry-ups of the kabylake, seeing that they seem to barely exceed the performance of the skylake by 10%.

In any case, what excites me the most (although I'm aware that I won't earn a dime from it) is that AMD is back in the game.

[whoololon]

Well, I hate to post two consecutive entries, but I was struck by the fact that, according to this rumor/news, the chipsets for Summit will have OC variants... just like the CPUs!

Yes, there will be A320 chipsets (nothing to do with the plane) for "office workers", B350 for those who want to overclock them, and X370 for those eager for voltages and multiGPU setups.
As for the CPUs, "obviously" those that allow OC will cost more.

They say that everything sticks, except for beauty. What a great truth. :face_palm_tone1:

Let's hope it stays a rumor, but when the river makes noise...

[Yorus]

That is the fear that exists, that if they really manage to get a good product, they will opt for Intel policies in terms of prices and issues like this one with the chipsets.

I am also more interested in the 4 cores, or to be more precise and leaning towards what I will value the most, the 65w APUs.

[whoololon]

@Yorus Man, that's not that much to be afraid of. This already happened with the Athlons and the Opterons, it's "reasonable" that a product is priced based on its performance.

The thing is that the policy being carried out by the Tainan lumberjack only cares about competition. Everything is very secretive, under the radar, so that one hand doesn't know what the other is doing... and meanwhile, users are left in the dark.

Well, I don't know, it's better that they release reliable specs and performance charts before the price charts, because doing it the other way around will only encourage gossip... and one isn't up for much gossip.

[Yorus]

I'm happy with APUs at the level of the i3, with similar TDP but with a graphics card in line with what the rumors say or less, if it performs something less than my GTX750 I won't cry. Although when I think about it, I don't know why I want a decent graphics card if the last thing I've played has been several Megadrive games via emulator and Geoff Crammond's Grand Prix 4...

Here some information about Raven Ridge APUs:

More information at: https://www.profesionalreview.com/2016/10/31/nuevos-detalles-las-primeras-apus-amd-raven-ridge/

[whoololon]

Well, there is news about the Naples SoC for server.
It has been through a leak from the Sandra database, I don't know how true it will be.

Edit: This is just rumor mongering.

News about Summit ridge: expected release date is January 17.
It is also confirmed that the names will be SR3 (4 cores/ 16 threads, 65 W TDP), SR5 (6 cores/ 12 threads, 95 W TDP) and the top of the range SR7 (8 cores/ 16 threads, 140 W TDP).

Apart from that, and here comes the "good" part, it seems that the SR7 will be on par with the 6850k (2011-3) in terms of performance... at what price?

Well, the thing is that the basic series, supposedly, will be around 300 $ USA, while the series for OC will be over 500 $ USA (note that I say "over", not "around". You know my meaning...)

By the way... SR3, SR5, SR7... i3, i5, i7...
Source: WccfTech.