Friday, September 15th 2017
AMD Ryzen Threadripper MCM De-lidded and De-packaged
PC enthusiast Der8auer, with access to a Ryzen Threadripper processor, took it completely apart for science. It won't be the first time that a Threadripper HEDT processor was de-lidded (its integrated heatspreader removed), revealing that it has four "Zeppelin" 8-core dies, making it practically identical to AMD's 32-core Epyc processors; however, it's the first time that someone completely removed the dies from the package.
Ryzen Threadripper processors are built by completely disabling two out of four "Zeppelin" dies on an Epyc multi-chip module (MCM). Two diagonally opposite dies are disabled. The disabled dies can't be reenabled, at least not on an X399 chipset motherboard, as the Threadripper HEDT platform lacks DRAM, PCIe, and possibly even power wiring for the disabled dies.
Source:
Der8auer
Ryzen Threadripper processors are built by completely disabling two out of four "Zeppelin" dies on an Epyc multi-chip module (MCM). Two diagonally opposite dies are disabled. The disabled dies can't be reenabled, at least not on an X399 chipset motherboard, as the Threadripper HEDT platform lacks DRAM, PCIe, and possibly even power wiring for the disabled dies.
51 Comments on AMD Ryzen Threadripper MCM De-lidded and De-packaged
That's a lot of silicon to waste to just make blanks. Silicon ain't all that cheap either.
EDIT: I just realized something obvious. Ryzen uses 1 good die and EPYC uses 4 good dies. Depending on demand for the various products Ryzen yields could still be very high and they would still have plenty of failed dies for TR!
The Zeppelin die is used in Ryzen, TR and EPYC, but only TR and possibly some EPYCs need dummies. Further TR is an HEDT product, Ryzen sells much better. Say AMD sells 2 Ryzens and 1 EPYC for every TR they sell. Say all 4 dies in the EPYC are good. That's a total of 10 dies. But they don't have to start using good Zeppelins as TR dummies unless their yield is higher than 80%, not 50%!
We've never seen something like this before. This sort of thing will only happen with MCMs in which all the dies are identical. It doesn't occur in traditional GPUs or CPUs because you can't recycle a bad part of a chip into another package.
they have sorted trash issue, no paying money to trash broken chips :D
I mean, then the 1920X is just over $1100 at normal prices, making that single fully-functional chip worth $500, and then rightly so the 1950X is $1400, sealing the deal. A 1300X is what, $160? Two of those chips, in a single socket, for an added $370 bucks? You're paying for those "dead dies" anyway. Also note that a 1300X, while clocked a bit lower, is only a 65W chip, but the 1900X is a 180W one...
why not throw in broken chips and get rid of trash.
You wouldn't believe how much trash costs... I expect a few cents per cpu, packaging shared with epyc = maybe a dollar.
they are really maximizing their margins without letting us consumers suffer (looking at intels TIM here!)
Run AVX on an intel 140W, does it use 140W? no. 165W : yes
Run any workload on an TR, does it use 180W? almost impossible.
High clock ECC memory with all dimms filled with 64 pci-e lanes in use = 180 Watts.
TDP is just more confusing the more you look at it for each generation.
Modern cpu's ain't just a cpu but more a system on a chip.