Thursday, December 28th 2023
GIGABYTE Releases AGESA 1.1.0.1a AM5 Motherboard BIOS Updates, Suggests 8700G Based on "Hawk Point," Not "Phoenix"
GIGABYTE released UEFI firmware (BIOS) updates for its Socket AM5 motherboards encapsulating the AMD AGESA ComboAM5 PI 1.1.0.1a microcode. This latest version of AGESA has sparked speculation that some of AMD's upcoming Ryzen 8000G desktop APUs are in fact based on the newer "Hawk Point" silicon, and not "Phoenix." AMD released its Ryzen 8040 series "Hawk Point" mobile processors earlier this month, with a faster NPU that results in an up to 40% increase in AI interference performance over that of "Phoenix." "Hawk Point" is essentially identical to "Phoenix," including its first generation XDNA architecture based NPU, however the NPU's clock speed has been dialed up. If AMD is building some of its Ryzen 8000G desktop APU models on "Hawk Point" instead of "Phoenix," then we have our first solid hint that AMD is bringing Ryzen AI to the desktop platform, and that the Ryzen 8000G will end up being the first desktop processors with an NPU.
AMD is expected to be building at least two APU models based on the "Hawk Point" silicon, the Ryzen 7 8700G, and the Ryzen 5 8600G. The lower models, namely the 8500G and Ryzen 3 8300G, are expected to be based on the smaller "Phoenix 2" silicon, with a hybrid CPU that combines two "Zen 4" cores with up to four "Zen 4c" cores. The "Zen 4c" cores may feature an identical instruction set architecture (ISA) and IPC to the regular "Zen 4" cores, but have tighter Vcore limits, and operate at lower clock speeds. This makes the two available "Zen 4" cores the de facto "performance" cores, and AMD flags them as UEFI CPPC "preferred cores," ensuring the OS guides a bulk of its processing traffic to them. Both "Phoenix" and "Hawk Point" feature an identical CPU setup, with up to eight "Zen 4" cores.
Source:
Wccftech
AMD is expected to be building at least two APU models based on the "Hawk Point" silicon, the Ryzen 7 8700G, and the Ryzen 5 8600G. The lower models, namely the 8500G and Ryzen 3 8300G, are expected to be based on the smaller "Phoenix 2" silicon, with a hybrid CPU that combines two "Zen 4" cores with up to four "Zen 4c" cores. The "Zen 4c" cores may feature an identical instruction set architecture (ISA) and IPC to the regular "Zen 4" cores, but have tighter Vcore limits, and operate at lower clock speeds. This makes the two available "Zen 4" cores the de facto "performance" cores, and AMD flags them as UEFI CPPC "preferred cores," ensuring the OS guides a bulk of its processing traffic to them. Both "Phoenix" and "Hawk Point" feature an identical CPU setup, with up to eight "Zen 4" cores.
9 Comments on GIGABYTE Releases AGESA 1.1.0.1a AM5 Motherboard BIOS Updates, Suggests 8700G Based on "Hawk Point," Not "Phoenix"
8700G $329
8600G $229
8500G $179 (probably no NPU)
AMD codenames are easy to follow compared to all the "lakes" Intel has.
Personally I wish we just used the microarchitecture codenames, in which case we could call the current generations Golden Cove and Zen 4. (Raptor Cove and Redwood Cove are just enhanced Golden Cove).
I wish what Intel did with Ice Lake had stuck; Ice Lake had Sunny Cove cores, so it was among the first to separate the microarchitecture name from the generation name, but it was the name for both the consumer and server parts.
I think where people criticize AMD is where AMD sells a most recent generation and two or three generations before it all under "7xxx" series. They made a handy way to know that "7x4x" means Zen 4, but compare this to Intel, where sure they rebranded 13xxx as 14xxx but at least it's all the same generation (if you count Raptor Cove as Golden Cove) and Intel's 1xx chips are also all the same generation.
To be clear, Intel's current deaktop lineup is a mix of Raptor Lake and Alder Lake. And even Rocket Lake was mixed with Comet Lake. But AMD mixed Ryzen 7xxx with parts from the 6xxx and 5xxx days, and I think even some from 4xxx. These older parts have older graphics that'll lose driver support earlier. Intel's mixed generations don't usually have this issue. Although to be fair, AMD supports much older GPUs than Intel does. Intel doesn't support anything that isn't Xe, whereas AMD is supporting Polaris, Vega, Navi 1, Navi 2, and Navi 3.
Summit Ridge=Zen 1 Desktop CPU?
Raven Ridge=Zen 1 Desktop APU?
Whitehaven=Zen 2 Threadripper CPU?
Genoa=Zen 4 Server CPU?
Don't forget that Intel also has Raptor Lake Refresh for mobile (in addition to Meteor Lake) and rebranded Alder Lake for low end 14 series desktop.
Their server chips are a mess of their own.
Hawk Point=Zen 4 Desktop & Mobile APU?
Phoenix 2=Zen 4 Mobile APU?
Raphael=Zen 4 Desktop CPU?
Bergamo=Zen 4 Server CPU?
EDIT: Looks like i got Whitehaven wrong. It was Zen 1, not Zen 2. Others i seem to have gotten right.
Intel tends to use a name per general market segment, whereas AMD names every chip design.
Im more annoyed that AMD uses up series numbers too fast. Like for example Hawk Point using 8000 series.
8000 should be reserved for Zen 5.