warning dirty pictures contained in this thread of server motherboards!
Early signs show promise. I know these are just engineering samples but to actually see AM4 and Zen and have some architectural info on it.
Can safely say its time to jump off the hype bandwagon and actually feel a bit more assured that AMD will deliver on a truly competitive cpu product finally after so many years of lagging behind.
The reveal had me like...
Not getting on the hype train yet. AMD is too focussed on comparing at the same clock speed and seem very vague concerning the expected clock speed and OC capabilities.
They say that Zen will run at "higher than 3GHz", but instead of clocking the zen chip at 3.2, they brought the Intel one down to 3.0. That's worrying to say the least.
Having a slightly higher IPC is useless if the competitor runs at a much higher clock speed. I have a sneaking suspicion that this is where Zen is going to fall flat on its face.
If you're taking about Skylake then that is a legitimate concern their 14nm fab process, while it has improved their TDP standards, is still not conducive to extreme clocks like Nvidia's or Intel's fab process. However, even on Intel's Broadwell-e overclock-ability is limited due to higher cores = higher TDP. If AMD wants to compete with Skylake then all they have to do is have a another SKU with less cores but with higherclocks, no?
I'm still highly looking forward to the new set of APU's and what they can offer on that department. I like the apu's cause they're a cheap way to get a totally decent pc for work (except for heavy stuff like editing purposes). I also like the fact that you can play some smaller games with just the cpu itself =) Makes good use of tiny cases :-)
Honestly, with the IPC improvement that they have made, so long as it is priced right, I couldn't care less what the clock speed is. It could be running at 500MHz for all I care. I just want good performance and a good price. I am imagining that this will be priced close to the 6700k (somewhere under $400), and that is a price that I would be willing to pay. Now if they tried to charge as much as the 6900k, then we need to start talking about clock speeds. Because if they are matching Skylake IPC clock for clock, core for core, and are priced the same as the Intel component with the same number of cores, then they need to be rather close in clock speed for the performance to line up. But if they price it closer to Intel's 4c/8t parts, then the difference in clock speed doesn't really matter much as you are getting twice the core count. Basically, if they price it against the 6700k, then you have to decide between higher single core performance, thanks to the higher clock speed, or higher core count.
"There are no bad products. Only bad prices."
http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/233878-what-to-expect-when-youre-expecting-amd-zen
My opinion they need to have something at the I5 level kicking ass and taking names and cheaper than the I5. This would go a long ways toward regaining interest. Oddly, i am beginning to care more about Am4 platform and its i/o. No info to date. The whole platform needs to come forward a great deal. Amd get on that ?
If they don't blow Intel out the water, they better start changing market. Maybe compete with ARM, Raspberry Pi or Nentendo.
I agree, I/O is a big deal now with thunderbolt and NVME technologies getting more popular every year. I wanna see what I/O AM4 has, and what other technology Zen has to offer before I make any intention of switching over.
I was half expecting a wccftech link in the OP. But i was wrong. Then i remembered i am not on LTT, but TekSyndicate. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
I am still waiting on more benchmarks though, I mean sure, in one benchmark, it was trading blows with an i7 6900K, but I wanna see how it does overall in single threaded and multi-threaded applications.
As for clock speed, it seems likely that it will be over 3 GHz, but on the other hand, the said TDP is 95W, so that concerns me a little bit since the i7 6900K uses 140W.
Well, the IPC gains aren't big enough obviously to clock at 500 MHz.
Also, I am pretty sure these CPUs are going to be costly, like $500+, AMD put a lot into it, and it is a massive jump from their previous product. I hope they offer a 4C/4T CPU for $150 with these high IPCs Zen has compared to Exavator.
Even better, I would like to get my hands on a Zen APU laptop that is said to have built-in HBM memory, that would be nice. I wish though it be more than "console-class", although if I can get PS4-level performance on a laptop for $500 or less (maybe a bit more), I am game. How about a Surface Pro-like tablet with that stuff too maybe instead, would be sold as long as the price ain't too ridiculous.
they are engineering samples, and thats common/expected among ES chips.
we will have to wait and see.
i mean, it all really depends on how much they charge for how much performance. Thats all it really comes down to. If its comparable performance to intel at a comparable price, i'm not really benefiting from AMD still being in the market. Yeah, i get to vote with my money, but the vote is for two near identical candidates. Intel hasn't had competition for years, and have been inflating the cost for improvements in performance. Either AMD drives down the cost, or I don't give a damn about Zen.
AMD has almost always gone for the "bang for your buck" benefit, as opposed to Intel's "pretty clearly better, but much more expensive". A few times they brought some breakthrough tech to the table and were the goto processors in general, but that's not their usual trend anyway. As I recall a few years ago they decided to attack things as "more cores for the same or less price" as Intel (that was their stated strategy), and with more applications taking advantage of more cores, that might start paying off if it continues here.
I hightly doubt AMD will kick Intel's ass anytime soon, but they may gain back some of the market they lost with the delays of Zen if it is all priced right. They don't really need to dominate the market, as the market is big enough for them to thrive on a proper chunk of it if they attack the right chunks.
zen is not a great overclocker..
It will hurt my heart if i can't get at least .5 :(