AMD to Begin Sampling 7nm "Zen 2" Processors Within 2018 for a 2019 Launch

[btarunr]

It looks like AMD's processor product launch cycle is on steroids, and keeping up (or even ahead) of Intel. After launching the first 12 nm processor architecture with "Zen+," the company is giving final touches to what it hopes to be the world's first 7 nanometer processor architecture, with "Zen 2." The company will reportedly begin sampling the chip within 2018, to enable volume production and market launch in 2019. Speaking at an investors conference call following the company's Q1-2018 Results release, AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su confirmed the 7 nm roll-out strategy of her company.

"We have a 7nm GPU based on Vega that we'll sample later this year. We have a 7nm server CPU that we'll sample later this year. And then, obviously, we have a number of products that are planned for 2019 as well. So it's a very, very busy product season for us. But we're pleased with the sort of the execution on the product roadmap," Dr. Su said. Unlike Zen+, Zen 2 is a major update to the company's processor micro-architecture, and presents the company with opportunities to improve several silicon-level specifications, such as the number of cores per CCX, the IPC of each core, the core-count of the die, the cache hierarchy, and the overall energy-efficiency.



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[DeathtoGnomes]

hopefully they will use the same cpu sockets

 

[RejZoR]

From what I remember, they plan on keeping AM4 (also TR4) for quite a while...

 

[The Quim Reaper]

Just give us overclocks in the 4.5-5Ghz range and you'll pull sales away from Intel quicker than Donald Trump burns through brain cells.

 

[cucker tarlson]

This is the one we've been waiting for. Ryzen 1 was just a prelude.

 

[the54thvoid]

From what I remember, they plan on keeping AM4 (also TR4) for quite a while...

View attachment 100485

That was why I bought into Ryzen. The promise of keeping a mobo but upgrading the CPU.

 

[medi01]

Could you remind me what "sampling" means?

 

[RejZoR]

Sampling means they are rolling out working prototypes. They'll be evaluating their performance, thermal and electrical metrics and adjusting BIOS parameters to all that. They'll also check if everything is in order and as planned. If it is, they'll run a full scale prodcution.

 

[btarunr]

Could you remind me what "sampling" means?

Small batches of functional chips sent out to big OEMs and motherboard manufacturers to begin working on new compatible products / BIOS updates, and to OS/software vendors to begin working on kernel/scheduler/driver patches, etc.

 

[evernessince]

Just give us overclocks in the 4.5-5Ghz range and you'll pull sales away from Intel quicker than Donald Trump burns through brain cells.

Ins't that what the 2800X is going to do? I don't think AMD even needs to wait for next gen ryzen for that goal. Zen 2 will likely have XFR 3.0 boost at least to 4.5 GHz with a 15% uptick in IPC and more cores. TBH I would rather AMD concentrate on IPC instead of frequency as higher and higher frequencies require more energy consumption. Simply improving memory latency, cache branch prediction, and reducing cache misses will drastically improve IPC. Intel demonstrated that a massive cache size can have a huge impact on gaming performance, as the 5775c has better gaming performance than the 7700K and 8700K.

 

[bug]

The usual grain of salt:
1. Ice Lake has tapped out almost a year ago (http://hexus.net/tech/news/cpu/106864-intel-says-10nm-cannon-lake-track-ice-lake-taped/) and we're still looking at almost another year of waiting before seeing it.
2. New architecture together with new fab node has rarely worked as planned.

But if AMD can pull it off, yay! for us.

 

[mroofie]

This is the one we've been waiting for. Ryzen 1 was just a prelude.

This is the one we've been waiting for. Ryzen 1 was just a prelude.

Aaaaaaaahhhhhh

 

[sergionography]

The usual grain of salt:
1. Ice Lake has tapped out almost a year ago (http://hexus.net/tech/news/cpu/106864-intel-says-10nm-cannon-lake-track-ice-lake-taped/) and we're still looking at almost another year of waiting before seeing it.
2. New architecture together with new fab node has rarely worked as planned.

But if AMD can pull it off, yay! for us.

Intel 10nm was just recently delayed yet again for mass production in 2019 instead of late 2018. 7nm on the other hand seems to be a much better process from a perspective aspect but we have to wait and see how yield turns out to be

 

[RejZoR]

It's so weird seeing AMD with smaller manufacturing nodes than Intel lol.

@evernessince
Don't expect 15% IPC boost for Zen+. That's most likely planed for Zen2 coming later in early 2019.

 

[bug]

Intel 10nm was just recently delayed yet again for mass production in 2019 instead of late 2018. 7nm on the other hand seems to be a much better process from a perspective aspect but we have to wait and see how yield turns out to be

Comparing processes among manufacturers has always been hard, so I won't go there.

 

[Vayra86]

It's also good seeing AMD on a new tick-tock and Intel on some weird headless chicken schedule

 

[theGryphon]

It's also good seeing AMD on a new tick-tock and Intel on some weird headless chicken schedule

I almost spat coffee all over my keyboard, so thanks for that!


As a first-gen Ryzen owner, I'll be skipping the current Ryzen 2XXX series, but I'll be all over this upcoming Zen 2 bunch. I expect around 5-10% IPC gain over Ryzen 2XXX, all-core boost clocks at 4.2-4.3GHz and boost clocks at 5GHz.

It seems AMD needs another breakthrough to truly break that glass ceiling on IPC. Mind you, they're not that far behind Intel and 7nm should help close the gap even further but I'm talking about at least a parity match and better.

 

[sergionography]

Comparing processes among manufacturers has always been hard, so I won't go there.

I'm not exactly comparing, rather I'm highlighting the progression. Basically 10nm is one node over 14nm on the same manufacturer. But with physics at this level 1 node doesn't present a big enough jump in performance to always justify the cost, which is why intel remained on 14nm. AMD on the other hand is moving 2 nodes right away, so even in 7nm doesn't hit performance targets, it will still be much better than their current 14/12nm

 

[bug]

Im not exactly comparing, rather im highlighting the progression. Basically 10nm is one node over 14nm on the same manufacturer. But with physics at this level 1 node doesnt present a big enough jump in performancr to alwasy justify the cost, which is why intel remained on 14nm. Amd on the other hand is moving 2 nodes roght away, so even in 7nm doesnt hit performance targets, it will still be much better than their current 14/12nm

Fair enough.
However, the problem with new fab nodes isn't hitting any given performance level (that is usually a given), but getting into "good yields" territory. AMD may have an easier time with their CPUs being made up of several smaller dies, but the technical difficulties are still there.

 

[HTC]

Fair enough.
However, the problem with new fab nodes isn't hitting any given performance level (that is usually a given), but getting into "good yields" territory. AMD may have an easier time with their CPUs being made up of several smaller dies, but the technical difficulties are still there.

Indeed: https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/...-to-delays-in-process-ttm.243235/post-3835200

 

[bug]

^^^ Even 22nm has raised enough problems for TSMC they had to eventually scrape the whole node and go from 28 to 14nm.
The bad news is, while silicon is hitting its limits and we come up against challenges we foresaw, we still have nothing to turn to once silicon is no longer viable.

 

[ShurikN]

hopefully they will use the same cpu sockets

AMD will retain AM4 socket most likely until they move to DDR5. At which point they'll release socket AM5 (shocking, I know )

The usual grain of salt:
1. Ice Lake has tapped out almost a year ago (http://hexus.net/tech/news/cpu/106864-intel-says-10nm-cannon-lake-track-ice-lake-taped/) and we're still looking at almost another year of waiting before seeing it.
2. New architecture together with new fab node has rarely worked as planned.

But if AMD can pull it off, yay! for us.

1. AMD's 7nm was always supposed to launch in this timeframe. Intel's 10nm was originally planed for 2015, then it got delayed to 2017, then it got delayed to 2018, and once more to 2019.
2. Ryzen 1000 series. New arch + new node.

 

[laszlo]

Actually Intel 10 nm is almost same as Amd (GF) 7 nm....

but sound better 7 than 10 no?

 

[FYFI13]

Ins't that what the 2800X is going to do?

2800X not going to OC that much. Not even a chance.

the 5775c has better gaming performance than the 7700K and 8700K.

Have you got any links by hand to support this statement?

 

[RejZoR]

5775c had 128MB of eDRAM which gave it significant boost in some applications. No other CPU from Intel is using eDRAM, not even top of the line ones. I was hoping for Skylake to have eDRAM by default, but it didn't. Which sucked.