Just woke up not too long ago, and while relaxing before heading out to work, and I came across this Anandtech article.
This was paired with the announcement of the new Wraith coolers were released to the market, and some new APUs. Oh, and the new motherboards with M.2 and USB 3.1 that we all have been going "WTF?" about.
I'm still processing this information; not sure what to think about it.
Whoa up there. USB 3.1, PCIe 3.0, M.2, and AMD?
It's like we're actually in 2016 or something.
This will be a great year to get a new notebook!
Since the AM3+ socket has so many PCIe lanes, tacking on USB 3.1 and M.2 wasn't too much of a hitch. I tinkered with the ASRock Extreme6 990fx, which was among the first generation of 990FX refresh boards, and I found it to be quite good. Missed out on the whole USB 3.1 thing though.
Too bad the AM3+ CPUs overall kinda suck
dunno how the desktop carrizo chip is really going to perform, it appears to be locked, probably a low TDP optimized thing
It shouldn't have been much of a surprise. the FM2+ platform is much newer than the walking zombie that is AM3+. Though in my personal opinion why release Carrizo now? That should of launched a looong time ago, As soon as Mobile Carrizo launched
If I am not mistaken, the carrizo line wasn't originally meant to make it to desktop. It was suppose to be a mobile only thing. So, they are likely locked because they don't do well with high voltages (efficiency is best at low clock rates/voltages). I am guessing that they are releasing it on desktop and rejuvenating the FM2+ line up of boards because there is too long of a gap before AM4 is ready. Latest rumors that I've heard have Zen pegged for lat 2016/early 2017, so AM4 likely won't come until then.
AM4 is supposed to launch in like march ish with the Summit Ridge APUs, which are based on carrizo, cuz power efficiency, performance probably won't be there though.
or was it bristol ridge, AMD just needs to hurry up
Originally yes, but then AMD said it was going to be delayed, which was a horrible move on their part they should of released it a long time ago.
I am starting to doubt that (everything is always speculation, so why not speculate some more). The way that I see it, Bristol Ridge (the APUs are Bristol, the cpus are Summit, iirc) got switched to FM2+ because releasing them for AM4 wouldn't make much sense. You shouldn't launch a new platform with weak performers, and we all know that Carrizo is going to be no Zen. It is going to be the low power option.
Well they might have moved it, too many rumors right now, but if they get AM4 set up, at the very least they'll finally have a somewhat compelling ITX option potentially
http://wccftech.com/amd-am4-motherboards-launch-q2-2016-for-bristol-ridge-apus/
Imagine the gaming rigs to come. ITX HBM APU. Performance on par with mid level dGPUs. True console killer, that would be.
I meant more that they won't have like expensive ITX boards, due to the size of the socket, and power requirements on their chips, there's only like 1 AM3 ITX board, and like 4-5 FM2+ ones, and they're all costly, DDR4 is going to help APUs a lot as well
Sorry I read the tittle completely wrong
@Xeth Ha!
No joke!
I am actually kind of angry that they decided to (finally) released Carrizo on the FM2+ platform. To my limited knowledge, part of the reason why they did not do that was because Carrizo had the FM2+ FCH moved onto the CPU die itself. Similarly, the FX-line never received an upgrade because the traditional Northbridge of the motherboard became integrated into the CPU. If disabling part of the CPU was realistically possible for a product, it makes you wonder why Richland cores never made it to AM3+?
Regardless, I almost sold my Gigabyte UP4. Glad I didn't, because now I might be able to tinker a bit more. Going to wait for some reviews beforehand, though.
I think it has to do with the socket. don't forget. the APUs are 28nm chips(?) and the 990FX chipset is made for 32nm chips. even if they did update the FX line with Carrizo based 8-Cores. they would of had to release an entirely new chipset.
Which is something I forgot to mention. Carrizo is 28nm and AM4 is going to be for 14nm sooooo.
Well, I think the important part is more of how it interacts with the board. Steamroller required an addition pin, if I recall correctly, which is why FM2+ came about. That had to do more with power delivery. However, Steamroller was 28nm, but Richland and Trinity were 32nm - and were made from the older lithography.
Dunno why it would need an additional pin, probably more of a chipset thing, the older APUs required more power
The inclusion of GCN, I think? I'll have to re-read up on this.