Wednesday, January 1st 2020
AMD CEO To Unveil "Zen 3" Microarchitecture at CES 2020
A prominent Taiwanese newspaper reported that AMD will formally unveil its next-generation "Zen 3" CPU microarchitecture at the 2020 International CES. Company CEO Dr Lisa Su will head an address revealing three key client-segment products under the new 4th generation Ryzen processor family, and the company's 3rd generation EPYC enterprise processor family based on the "Milan" MCM that succeeds "Rome." AMD is keen on developing an HEDT version of "Milan" for the 4th generation Ryzen Threadripper family, codenamed "Genesis Peak."
The bulk of the client-segment will be addressed by two distinct developments, "Vermeer" and "Renoir." The "Vermeer" processor is a client-desktop MCM that succeeds "Matisse," and will implement "Zen 3" chiplets. "Renoir," on the other hand, is expected to be a monolithic APU that combines "Zen 2" CPU cores with an iGPU based on the "Vega" graphics architecture, with updated display- and multimedia-engines from "Navi." The common thread between "Milan," "Genesis Peak," and "Vermeer" is the "Zen 3" chiplet, which AMD will build on the new 7 nm EUV silicon fabrication process at TSMC. AMD stated that "Zen 3" will have IPC increases in line with a new microarchitecture.
Source:
chiakokhua aka Retired Engineer (Twitter)
The bulk of the client-segment will be addressed by two distinct developments, "Vermeer" and "Renoir." The "Vermeer" processor is a client-desktop MCM that succeeds "Matisse," and will implement "Zen 3" chiplets. "Renoir," on the other hand, is expected to be a monolithic APU that combines "Zen 2" CPU cores with an iGPU based on the "Vega" graphics architecture, with updated display- and multimedia-engines from "Navi." The common thread between "Milan," "Genesis Peak," and "Vermeer" is the "Zen 3" chiplet, which AMD will build on the new 7 nm EUV silicon fabrication process at TSMC. AMD stated that "Zen 3" will have IPC increases in line with a new microarchitecture.
38 Comments on AMD CEO To Unveil "Zen 3" Microarchitecture at CES 2020
Upgrade anytime you want.
A new feature is not the same thing an an entire architecture. A new feature is not the same thing as supporting only very slow mmeory from 3-4 years ago.
No one stops them from asking more for their products.
They would have money for quality control, testing, drivers, support, libraries, partnerships, sponsorships, bug bounty, scholarships, global existence etc.
They would have profits to support the idiotic stock price.
Remember, they've chosen not to. CHOSEN.
It's a well though business strategy of minimal costs, laying low and building brand strength on strong fan group. Most laptops are offered with single channel memory. This is normal. Intel adapted and their CPUs don't lose that much.
AMD didn't adapt. They made the fastest CPU they could regardless of real world applications and issues.
And if it's slow in laptops: that's because OEMs don't offer them with dual channel, uses slow RAM or something.
And if a program can't use 16 cores, it's the program's fault. :) Google "irony".
All major mobile laptop lineups have already moved to Intel's latest CPUs:
Coffee Lake for mobile workstations (still as 9th gen).
Ice Lake for laptops with strong IGP (10th; 10nm).
Comet Lake for everything else (10th; 14nm).
And, of course, since AMD's surge forced Intel to make larger CPUs, they make less of them.
Also, this isn't really "a shortage". It's just economy working.
"Shortage" is when there's not enough of basic goods that you can't live without: air, water, food.
Computers are just products. There's always a group of buyers that can't afford them. That's how it should be.
OEMs push the "shortage" narrative to justify higher prices (just like RAM makers do talking about floods etc.) Of course it'll work. But it'll be slower.
There's a big problem with how we perceive the competition between Intel and AMD. CPUs are tested with best RAM, best motherboards, best PSUs, best cooling, tweaks and so on.
But how much of that performance goes away when the scenario is less ideal?
And the simple fact is: Zen is a lot more sensitive than whatever Intel offers.
So how "real" is the performance we're seeing in reviews?
And now we move to OEMs and here's the thing. They want to make money. They'll do every shortcut and exploit every possibility to lower costs.
Yes, laptops come with single channel, slow RAM. That's it.
Yes, it hurts AMD more than it hurts Intel.
Seriously, people can't expect OEMs to totally redesign their PCs for Zen. Or to buy more expensive RAM to help it shine (because it goes straight from their margins). I disagree. AMD has been doing good low voltage chips for a long time. They have very strong position in APUs and embedded.
And the laptop APUs they've offered before ZEN weren't bad either. At least they were designed to do this, not forced to.
You're just focusing on the consumer PC market, especially gaming. Here they sucked. But no one forced them to tackle this. We still need ATM. IoT is exploding. They could have just left notebooks to Intel (who's much better at this) and focus on other markets.
On a serious note.
AMD doesn't just flexes its muscles. They are really on the course to steamroll Intel dominance. Even if only short term - let's not fool ourselves, Intel is working overtime on some sledgehammer of their own, they did it few times already. Who knows, perhaps that 4 series Threadripper for 64 cores will be already a Zen 3 part? Kind of makes sense in long term.