AMD Tech Day at CES: 2018 Roadmap Revealed, with Ryzen APUs, Zen+ on 12nm, Vega on 7nm
by Ian Cutress on February 1, 2018 8:45 AM ESTZen Cores and Vega
Ryzen 3 Mobile, Plus More Ryzen Mobile Laptops
The most immediate announcement from AMD is two Ryzen 3 Mobile processors designed to fill out the Mobile stack, and the introduction of Ryzen-based APUs for desktop machines.
At the heart of both of these designs is the combination of AMD’s first-generation Zen cores, specifically four cores in a ‘core complex’, connected to Vega-based graphics integrated into the silicon. The two units are connected via AMD’s Infinity Fabric, designed for high-bandwidth and scale, and a feature that permeates through AMD’s recent product portfolio.
Ryzen Mobile
To date, AMD has already announced two products using this configuration. Both of them are for Ryzen Mobile, specifically the Ryzen 7 2700U and Ryzen 5 2500U, which have already been pre-announced in devices such as the HP Envy x2, the Lenovo Ideapad 720S, and the Acer Swift 3. Only the HP Envy x2 has been launched into the market so far (with mixed reviews due to the OEM design, which draws similar criticisms when equipped with Intel CPUs), with the others to see light in Q1 as well as other OEMs like Dell.
The first announcement is regarding adding more Ryzen Mobile processors to the family to cater for a wider audience. To pair with the Ryzen 7 Mobile and Ryzen 5 Mobile, AMD has two Ryzen 3 Mobile parts which will formally be available on January 9th with expected system availability within Q1.
AMD Ryzen Mobile APUs | |||||
Ryzen 7 2700U with Vega 10 |
Ryzen 5 2500U with Vega 8 |
Ryzen 3 2300U with Vega 6 |
Ryzen 3 2200U with Vega 3 |
FX-9800P (2015) |
|
CPU | 4C / 8T 2.2 GHz Base 3.8 GHz Turbo Zen 14nm |
4C / 8T 2.0 GHz Base 3.8 GHz Turbo Zen 14nm |
4C / 4T 2.0 GHz Base 3.4 GHz Turbo Zen 14nm |
2C / 4T 2.5 GHz Base 3.4 GHz Turbo Zen 14nm |
Dual Module 2.7 GHz Base 3.6 GHz Turbo Excavator 28nm |
GPU | Vega 10 10 CUs 640 SPs < 1300 MHz |
Vega 8 8 CUs 512 SPs < 1100 MHz |
Vega 6 6 CUs 384 SPs |
Vega 3 3 CUs 192 SPs |
GCN 1.2 8 CUs 512 SPs > 758 MHz |
TDP | 15W | 15W | 15 W | 15 W | 15W |
DRAM | Up to DDR4-2400 | DDR4-1866 | |||
L2 Cache | 512 KB/core | 1 MB/module | |||
L3 Cache | 1 MB/core | 4 MB/core | - | ||
PCIe Lanes | ? | ? | ? | ? | 8 x PCIe 3.0 |
Die Size | 209.78 mm2 | 250.4 mm2 | |||
Transistors | 4.95 billion | 3.1 billion | |||
Launch | October 2017 | January 2018 | May 2016 |
The Ryzen 3 2300U is a quad-core processor without simultaneous multithreading, which separates it from the other components. The base frequency of 2.0 GHz, a top turbo of 3.4 GHz, and a total of six compute units in the Vega graphics (this equates to 384 streaming processors). The Ryzen 3 2300U shares the same TDP as the other parts, coming in at 15W, and AMD wants to position this as a high-performance part for eSports capable notebooks, handily beating anything from Intel’s 7th Generation family.
The Ryzen 3 2200U is the only dual core component in AMD’s entire Ryzen product line, although it does have simultaneous multithreading to give it four threads in total. Having two fewer cores to fire up does give it a boost on the base frequency, coming in at 2.5 GHz, but the turbo frequency matches the other Ryzen 3 at 3.4 GHz. The 2200U is certainly the processor bringing up the rear, with only three compute units (192 streaming processors) in total, and helping AMD shift some of the processors that are not binned as aggressively as the higher-performance units.
AMD is promoting these two processors as capable elements of an entry level 15W notebook that can process DirectX 12, offer advanced video features, and be used in aesthetically pleasing designs with a long battery life, including 2-in-1s, ultrathin notebooks, and gaming laptops.
New Devices
Not to be content with just announcing a couple of new Ryzen Mobile processors, AMD was eager to promote new mobile devices that will be using Ryzen Mobile. To accompany the HP Envy x360, the Lenovo Ideapad 720S, and the Acer Swift 3, Q1 will see the launch of a new HP (under embargo until later this week), the Acer Nitro 5 series, and the Dell Inspiron 5000 series.
Acer’s Nitro line of laptops is typically aimed at the gaming crowd. The Nitro 5 dictates a 15.6-inch display, which in this case is a 1920x1080 IPS panel. Acer will use the pre-announced higher-end APUs, the Ryzen 7 2700U and Ryzen 5 2500U, but will also be pairing this with a Radeon RX 560 graphics chip. We were told by AMD that the integrated graphics and discrete graphics will be used in a switching context: for video playback, the lower power integrated graphics is used and the discrete is disabled, however the discrete graphics is fired up for gaming work. For compute, or for games that support multi-adaptor DirectX 12 technologies, both the integrated graphics and the discrete graphics should be available, however this is up to the game/software to implement.
The Dell Inspiron lines are more home/small-medium business-oriented devices, and here Dell is also using the Ryzen 7 2700U and Ryzen 5 2500U processors to offer peak Mobile APU performance. Designed more as a workhorse than for aesthetics, the Inspiron 5000 will offer AMD parts with 15.6-inch and 17-inch displays in a chassis that can support dual HDD/SSD options. The unit also comes with an optional Radeon 530 discrete GPU, which has 384 compute units based on AMD’s older GCN 1.0 architecture. This comes across as very odd, given that even the Ryzen 5 has 512 compute units of the newer Vega architecture. I can only assume that this provides extra displays for very specific customers, though for most it would seem an overly pointless addition.
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haukionkannel - Thursday, February 1, 2018 - link
Spectre fix is promised to Zen2 so Zen+ does not have it. Zen2 has one year time to have some modifications and they already have had about half year to plan those upgrades. Too late for Zen+ but fortunately enough for Zen2 released sometime in 2019. It may be so that Zen2 will come later to the market than Zen+ will depending on how much they need to hone the process.FreckledTrout - Wednesday, January 10, 2018 - link
Thanks Ian. Any news if Navi will have more than one GPU die on a chip, say something similar to what AMD did with Zen via Infinity Fabric?haukionkannel - Thursday, February 1, 2018 - link
That is what is guessed. To go from one big core to many smaller cores. Who knows...at80eighty - Thursday, February 1, 2018 - link
get well soon. articles can come laterAzethoth - Thursday, February 1, 2018 - link
I would love to see GPU articles on unavailable miner only cards be retroactively removed.Don't waste my time with useless bullshit that costs $1600 even though the manufacturer is happy with a fat profit at $500 MSRP.
slickr - Wednesday, February 7, 2018 - link
Aren't you a team of 3-4 writers that go on these events, so one person getting sick doesn't necessarily cancel all info?forgerone - Sunday, March 11, 2018 - link
It would appear that AMD is making Vega GPU's for ASRock MXM mining boards.IntelUser2000 - Monday, January 8, 2018 - link
Radeon 530 is not Polaris. It uses older 28nm architecture.Ian Cutress - Monday, January 8, 2018 - link
My bad, I misread a spec table. Updatedmateau - Monday, January 8, 2018 - link
@Ian..."It is our understanding that the 12nm process is essentially a 14+ process for GloFo"
Forbes disagrees with you. And Forbes IS a credible source that does not plagiarize work form essentially online media hacks.
"Later this year, AMD will also be refreshing the Ryzen desktop lineup including their Threadripper and Pro processors with a new Zen+ core that is based on GlobalFoundries new 12nm process, which should deliver more performance at lower power."
https://www.forbes.com/sites/patrickmoorhead/2018/...