What's an AMD NPU?

[TheLostSwede]

So I spotted this over at Biostar's website, as they have already posted their product pages for their AM4 board, although they're not officially listed on the website as yet.

Apparently AMD will be offering CPU's (Ryzen) APU's (Bristol Ridge) and NPU's. What the heck is an NPU? It's obviously not a Network Processing Unit as the section where it's mentioned is with relation to the M.2 slot for SSDs.

http://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en/mb/introduction.php?S_ID=874#specification

 

[qubit]

A quick Google suggests that it's a Network Processing Unit. Sounds like a fancy way to say a network card.

Doesn't sound quite right in the context of a CPU, but it's the closest that I can find. Also, it could just be a typo in the listing. These happen all the time.

 

[alucasa]

Looks as though AMD has taken a liking to calling a lot of things *PU.

CPU
GPU
APU
NPU

 

[R00kie]

NPU's are APU's without the GPU part. So, Athlons and so on.

 

[TheLostSwede]

NPU's are APU's without the GPU part. So, Athlons and so on.

Right, that makes sense in this context. I didn't know that AMD called them that. So the N is for Neutered?

 

[_JP_]

Looks as though AMD has taken a liking to calling a lot of things *PU.

CPU
GPU
APU
NPU

I was going to say "W1zzard, quick, trademark TechPowerUp and 'TPU'"...but then I remembered ASUS has this:

NPU's are APU's without the GPU part. So, Athlons and so on.

Numb Processing Units?

 

[alucasa]

Nah, NPU is Not a Processing Unit.

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

Next processing unit replaces Gcn in AMD's new GPUs it's likely a typo in that context.

Edit

Nope sorry that's NCU no idea on npu still likely a typo tho

 

[FordGT90Concept]

CPU -> APU (CPU + GPU) -> NPU

Pretty safe to assume NPU would be a system-on-a-chip design replacing Jaguar and the like.

Edit: Then again, NPU has to be able to insert into a full motherboard like this to be worth mentioning.

NPU's are APU's without the GPU part. So, Athlons and so on.

Or that, but wouldn't that make it a CPU?

Edit: As per the above edit, I think @gdallsk is right: APU with GPU disabled.


Pretty sad that Ryzen can't drive two x16 slots at x16. Very said APU/NPU only have x8 lanes available for dedicated GPU.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Asus has this info instead:

AMD Ryzen™ Processors :
1 x M.2 Socket 3, with M key, type 2242/2260/2280/22110 storage devices support (SATA & PCIE 3.0 x 4 mode)
AMD 7th Generation A-series/Athlon™ Processors :
1 x M.2 Socket 3, with M key, type 2242/2260/2280/22110 storage devices support (SATA & PCIE 3.0 x 2 mode)

Makes a bit more sense and it seems like gdallsk was right.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Athlon....would have a weak GPU, no? Not no GPU. I mean, it doesn't make sense to sell a budget processor with no GPU. Like Intel's HD series versus Iris Pro series.

 

[Vario]

n00b processing unit

 

[Frag_Maniac]

If it fits in M.2, I was going to say Nand Processing Unit. When I searched for it, the first link shown was a pdf describing such devices as NPUs, which of course stands for Nand Processing Unit as I suspected.

http://www.flashmemorysummit.com/English/Collaterals/Proceedings/2015/20150813_FE31_Wang.pdf