Thursday, May 5th 2016
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AMD "Summit Ridge" Silicon Reserved for 8-core CPUs Initially
Sources tell Bits'n'Chips that AMD could use a common 8-core CPU die based on its upcoming "Zen" architecture over multiple CPU SKUs, at least initially. AMD will have two distinct kinds of processors, those with integrated graphics (APUs) based on the "Bristol Ridge" silicon, and those without integrated graphics (CPUs), based on the "Summit Ridge" silicon. Since products based on both the dies will use a common socket on the desktop (socket AM4), consumers looking for 2-4 CPU cores will be presented with APU options, while those looking for more powerful CPU solutions will be made to choose 8-core CPUs based on the "Summit Ridge" silicon.
Source:
BitsnChips.it
76 Comments on AMD "Summit Ridge" Silicon Reserved for 8-core CPUs Initially
And it's not stipulations, it's history. History may change, but more often then not it tends to repeat itself.
Just like you, I'm thinking the addition of Jim Keller must change things this time around. And probably unlike you, I'm afraid the gap to close may be too big even for Jim.
In the end, what can you do? We can't all keep quiet until Zen is released. So we'll just speculate instead. Based on our hopes, on AMD's track record, on our affinities to either AMD or intel...
The last rumor I heard is that we will see consumer Zen in about a year. The server chips will come first. Resources at AMD are still really tight. There is only so much they can do.
"Surely" is nothing. Although I am be more than happy if AMD rolls out competitive mid range, and fuck high end.
Heck, you can't close gap this wide in one go, what high end.
Semicustom (mostly consoles) is about 50% of AMD business and that is what keeps it afloat. (let's bash them more for buying ATI, shall we?)
Zen will be a big core design compared to the modulated one of BD for sure, so, not so hard to make the above hypothesis me thinks. After all Intel had much bigger cores than AMD since 1st iX gen of them to have room for HT in it by seperating it in 2 threads. Somewhat like SMT of Zen's.
The past means nothing as this is a new chip. AMD has been limping by with their CPU's for years. As a company this product has to pull through. It is why they went back to a more traditional chip design. As people have seen this die shrink can be a huge asset in power consumption. People that have seen the newest GPU's from AMD have been amazed what it can do with its power draw. The below example isn't the best video I have seen on this but was the first one I found with a simple google search on Polaris power draw.
So all things taken into consideration so far it would seem AMD should have the intention and ability to make a competitive CPU. Even more so if you consider the fact that Intel hasn't really made any super ground breaking moves with their CPU's for a while now. They have just been chugging along. Granted you would have to expect that Intel themselves might not be that far away from their next CPU line as the Core line has been going for a while now and maybe they have been waiting on that to see what AMD has to offer.
It is easy to doubt AMD, but considering what is on the line for AMD as a company at this point it would be unwise to underestimate them, because they can't afford another Bulldozer, in fact another Bulldozer would probably be the end of AMD, and they know that, so you have to expect that if they where going to put the resources into designing a new chip from the ground up that they would make sure it is the best it can be.
Or maybe not, people seem happy to wait for performance they can already get today. /shrugs
*Great porn title.
Dirk Meyer
But if AMD does that, everyone looses their minds!