Thursday, July 19th 2018
MSI Drops First Hint of AMD Increasing AM4 CPU Core Counts
With Intel frantically working on an 8-core socket LGA1151 processor to convincingly beat the 8-core AMD Ryzen 2000 series processor, AMD could be working on the next cycle of core-count increases for the mainstream-desktop platform. Motherboard maker MSI may have dropped the first hint that AMD is bringing >8 cores to the socket AM4 mainstream-desktop platform by mentioning that its upcoming motherboards based on the AMD B450 chipset support 8-core "and up" CPU in a marketing video.
AMD will get its next opportunity to tinker with key aspects of its CPU micro-architecture with "Zen 2," being built on the 7 nm silicon fabrication process. If it decides to stick with the CCX approach to multi-core processors, the company could increase per-CCX core counts. A 50 percent core-count increase enables 12-core processors, while a 100 percent increase brings 16-cores to the AM4 platform. MSI video confirms that these >8-core processors will have backwards-compatibility with existing 400-series chipsets, even if they launch alongside newer 500-series chipset.The video follows.
AMD will get its next opportunity to tinker with key aspects of its CPU micro-architecture with "Zen 2," being built on the 7 nm silicon fabrication process. If it decides to stick with the CCX approach to multi-core processors, the company could increase per-CCX core counts. A 50 percent core-count increase enables 12-core processors, while a 100 percent increase brings 16-cores to the AM4 platform. MSI video confirms that these >8-core processors will have backwards-compatibility with existing 400-series chipsets, even if they launch alongside newer 500-series chipset.The video follows.
88 Comments on MSI Drops First Hint of AMD Increasing AM4 CPU Core Counts
I don't mind if there's coming more cores to mainstream segment, it also puts pressure for Intel since they're now just milking with Skylake by fine-tuning it and adding cores. All the -lake CPUs have identical IPC, Coffee Lake (and the coming 8-core 1151-one) just added cores.
Also some people could move on from older HEDT CPUs which could mean cheaper prices of used CPUs, and I'd love to have a Broadwell-E running the cat videos on my second monitor.
Hell even my 6600k scoring 193cb single thread can't hold up in turn based games with the rare crash or lag when processing which is annoying. It's also the reason I found a cheap 7740x and bought it - It's basically a binned by 100mhz 7700k and will yield a massive performance boost. Ryzen is excellent but x299 is officially my last intel extreme platform since the x58 chipset.
AMD has also unequivocally stated that they know where the road forward lies in terms of improving performance, and that substantial per-generation IPC increases can be expected. Note that in this sense, Zen+ is not a generation, but a refresh. Considering that the design process of any complex IC is long enough that its designers will inevitably know where and how it falls short, I have no doubt at all that they've long since found areas for improvement. As with any product that needs to launch, they launched Zen (1) when it was ready, rather than delaying it to make it "perfect" (which would have been impossible anyhow). Zen wasn't rushed, but the AM4 platform was (hence the memory issues, which microcode updates have largely fixed).
And running 95W through 4 power phases isn't really an issue, given that they are made up of anything but garbage components. Let's say Vcore is 1.2V. That's 79.1A. Even cheapo bargain-basement power phases can handle >20A/phase.
It's almost a certainty that higher than eight core Ryzens won't arrive unitl 7nm (when six or eight CCXs are in use)- that's no surprise.
Ten and Twelve core cpus *MAY* run fine on four phase motherboards but it's not exactly being outlandish to question it. Hell some people don't recommend running eight cores (and certainly not overclocking them) on a four phase. Asrock even has some three phase motherboards.
I do use MSIs install component videos to show users how to install components
As for "wondering" ... I am wondering why core counts > 4 is something 98% of PC users need to think about. Might as well think about 8 wheels on a car. Accomplishes something on an extreme terrain vehicle or high weight tractor trailer combo but won't help me get to a job site any faster.
The more you have, the more power at your disposal, you might not need it all the time, but it's there when you put the foot down.
As for 4 cores being "enough": while I see where @John Naylor is coming from, that's a very narrow view of computing. I mean, sure, for web browsing, even two fast cores with SMT can do the job without any real slowdowns. But throw something slightly demanding into the mix, and that changes dramatically. One extremely common thing to use a computer for is photo editing. While Adobe Lightroom could probably be better optimized and is a rather demanding application, it's a prime example of something that can use ally he resources you throw at it. It runs far better on my R5 1600X desktop than my i7-7600u laptop (both have 16GB RAM and NVMe SSDs). Photoshop can use these resources too. As can.... GiMP or Sketchup or various video editors or most professionally developed performance-limited applications today.
As for gaming, Intel's 8700k has shown very clearly how more threads can help even in 2-3-thread games, as compared to the 7700k there's less risk of background processes causing stuttering.
While I'd currently say that you don't need more than 6c12t for the vast majority of uses, that's also denying the fact that development today is focusing more and more on branching out into more threads as that's where there is more performance to be had. In the coming years, the need/use for more threads will only increase, and SMT is more of a band-aid than a fix. Plus, having the platform allow for more choice is purely a good thing. If you're using your PC mainly for video editing, a 16c CPU makes far more sense than 4c8t, even if the cores are slower. We're slowly but surely moving away from the era of a single SKU being "the fastest" CPU for all uses, as the need to balance fast cores, many cores, and power/cooling becomes more precarious. I don't see this as a problem, really.