Why are (at least AMD) APUs so insanely priced?

Hardware Hub MiniPCs and Specialty PCs
1

I’m looking at upgrading my aged hardware and, since I don’t really need top performance and I don’t game, I was looking at an APUs, since they used to be a frugal choice, much cheaper than CPU+dGPU combo.

Or this at least used to be the case.

AMD’s Ryzen 8000 series used to be all about this. 8700G was golden choice in that segment.

Other option was to go for mobile platform onboard - usually MoBo with a mobile chip and either SODIMMs or soldered-on LPDDR5.

First route enabled expandability, second offered higher bandwidth but also more latency - better for iGPU, worse for CPU.

Both had two sub-options:

  • beefy 16-core CPU with thin 2-CU iGPU. Mostly for CPU intensive 2D applications, compiling jobs (9955XH etc)
  • more balanced APU with decent CPU with maximal iGPU that can make use of available RAM bandwidth (AI 3/4/70 PC)

Every previous choice has evaporated.
All that has remained now is:

  • insanely priced beefy 16-CPU-core combos often aren’t even cheaper than full-blown desktop chips, even though they have little I/O, shitty VRM, shitty cooling etc.
  • insanely priced AI 3/4/70 systems that aren’t really that much cheaper than full-blown notebooks, which have better power systems, battery, complex enclosure, display, keyboard, touchpad etc etc.
  • even with those prices, there are not that many available options.
  • Chinese sources, even with usual support caveats, aren’t cheap/er. All that China has is some more choices.

What’s going on ? Am I overlooking something ?
It turns out that the best reasonably-priced choice is STILL 8700G, even though it is getting VERY old, and it’s becoming kind of retro choice (Zen4,RDNA3) at the time when Zen6 and RDNA5 are around the corner.

One would expect to see AMD going BIG with APUs at this time, when PC sales are dropping dramatically.

One would expect to see them pushing 3D-Vcache on all of the chiplets (CPU and iGPU) AND the IOD to claw back performance, lower the average latencies and push fast LPDDR5 wherever they could.

Instead they are going their way to show the market that they don’t give a f**k about consumer market, especially lower segments.

Leave aside for the moment that they could have beefy APUs on ThreadRipper sockets, where some CPU CCDs could be replaced with iGPU CCDs.

With 3DVcache all around it should still be massively cheaper than discrete option, that would still be very potent choice for some markets.

Unified memory space along with 3D caching and MASSIVE memory bandwidth (4 or 8-channels with 12.800MHz MRDIMMs) should make it practically the only choice for many.

What happened ? APU used to be in every third sentence of AMD’s marketing.

Now they couldn’t care less, at least for consumers.
Is grass much greener on the other side ?
is anything substantially better from Intel coming ?
If so, please tell me it will have uniform ISA.

Or maybe the time is coming for APU people to ditch the x86 and look elsewhere (Qualcomm etc) ?

2

Constraint in manufacturing. Only a few fabs out there that can make chips like this. So production shifts to what is more profitable.

3

Capitalism has failed us… again. Wafers are being used for AI chips to maximise profits for corporations that don’t care in the slightest about ordinary users.

I wish that RISC-V would mature faster. The world definitely needs an open architecture that American corporations can’t monopolise, and which the American government can’t weaponise.

4

I don’t have a problem with concept of a free market, supply&demand yaddayadda.

But this is a plunder. Motherf**ckers are using government to inflate the AI bubble while with their funnymoney while everyone else is just there as a dogfood.

5

Yep. And, well, the Intel A380 for $160 run circles around the 8700G still. Not to mention the atrociously atrocious 9050 4GB… But it is still better than the 8700G APU on graphics.

A 9700X + A380 is a mere $70 extra over the 8700G, $337 vs $269.

Other than that, best budget choice RN is a 5700X build with 16G RAM and an A380. AM5 adds another $150 due to insanely priced RAM.

6

RLY ? Arc 380 is much faster than 8700G/780M ?

Any sources for that that you’d care to share ?
It’s a pitty that it isn’t $160 anymore.

Still uniform memory space can have its advantages.

But yes, I might be fine even with RX 9050 4GB, if it was not insanely priced AND massivelly unavailable.

7

Not in EU. Here, 9700X costs just $15 more than 8700G. And Arc 380 costs almost $200.

8

They’re priced at what the market will bear.

9

Nope. PC market is massively dying all over the globe.

10

In which case the problem will correct itself…