Tuesday, January 31st 2017
AMD ZEN CPU Complexes Indivisible, Don't Expect 6-core Ryzen: Report
In what could be a blow to budget-conscious PC builders, reports are emerging that the quad-core CCX (CPU complex) units that make up Ryzen processors (and upcoming APUs that use them), are indivisible. This means that the "Summit Ridge" silicon can either be configured as full-fledged eight-core parts, or quad-core parts (one CCX) disabled. The likelihood of cost-effective 6-core parts seems slim.
AMD will continue to sell the Ryzen-branded "Summit Ridge" silicon in three grades - SR7 (top), SR5 (mid), and SR3 (entry-level), but the SR5 may not designate the previously rumored 6-core configuration. Instead, SR7 could indicate eight cores and SMT (multi-threading), which works out to 16 logical CPUs; SR5 could indicate eight cores minus SMT (eight cores, eight threads), and SR3 could designate quad-core with SMT (four cores, eight threads). SR7 and SR5 feature the full 16 MB of L3 cache, while SR3 features 8 MB. All three grades are "unlocked," in that they feature unlocked base-clock multipliers, making overclocking easy.
Sources:
PCGH, Zolkorn
AMD will continue to sell the Ryzen-branded "Summit Ridge" silicon in three grades - SR7 (top), SR5 (mid), and SR3 (entry-level), but the SR5 may not designate the previously rumored 6-core configuration. Instead, SR7 could indicate eight cores and SMT (multi-threading), which works out to 16 logical CPUs; SR5 could indicate eight cores minus SMT (eight cores, eight threads), and SR3 could designate quad-core with SMT (four cores, eight threads). SR7 and SR5 feature the full 16 MB of L3 cache, while SR3 features 8 MB. All three grades are "unlocked," in that they feature unlocked base-clock multipliers, making overclocking easy.
39 Comments on AMD ZEN CPU Complexes Indivisible, Don't Expect 6-core Ryzen: Report
Don't patch/upgrade your Windows 7 & 8 or you'll have to move to 10 if your on Skylake or higher.
The 1% of enthusiast buying the top model have been given more that enough info to start deciding, the rest have nothing but rumors to hold on ... and you know how that went with Polaris.
...there's going to be ALOT of 4 core Ryzens out there with 4 cores disabled just because maybe one of them was defective.
Waste.
We'll have a selection of 4, 8 or 16 threads, I just don't see how that doesn't cover everything for home use. Throwing 6 and 12 in there has both pros and cons. You get more choice, you can nickel and dime better, but it also makes picking a CPU harder for the average Joe.
www.zolkorn.com/news/amd-ryzen-may-price-520-usd-to-720-usd-for-8-cores/
SR5 (more expensive then quad core i5, same price as quad core i5 K) -> 4 core, SMT enabled = 8 threads
SR7 (more expensive then quad core i7 K) -> 8 core, SMT disabled = 8 threads
SR7 FX (more expensive then 6 core i7 K, same price as 8 core i7 X, less expensive then 10 core i7 X) -> 8 core, SMT enabled = 16 threads
This also lines up with what AMD said about it being two 4 core modules on 1 die with each module being able to directly access the L3 cache of the other. This brings up interesting questions yields. Are they so good that selling disabled modules is not necessary? Or are they in a situation where if a core is bad the entire module is usesless which would lower yields since 6-core is not an option.
Or it'll just be an acceptable loss. The die is fairly small.