AMD 7th Gen Bristol Ridge and AM4 Analysis: Up to A12-9800, B350/A320 Chipset, OEMs first, PIBs Later
by Ian Cutress on September 23, 2016 9:00 AM ESTThe Two Main Chipsets: B350 and A320
Despite all the crazy potential that might come from playing with PCIe, if a user wants more than a couple of SATA ports or x1 slots, the chipset is there to provide. For the Bristol Ridge OEM launch, there are two main chipsets with a further three aimed more at embedded platforms. We’ll focus more on the first two.
It’s worth noting that AMD has specifically listed that the B350 chipset is not the premium chipset for AM4. We know that Zen will be a part of the AM4 socket and ecosystem, and it would seem that there is at least one specific chipset for the high-end desktop market set to come later. Feel free to speculate.
The B350 and A320 chipsets are mostly identical, using the PCIe 3.0 x4 from the CPU and offering a variety of SATA, USB and PCIe 2.0 connectivity. The PCIe 2.0 lanes, six on the B350 chipset and four on the A320 chipset, support x1, x2 and x4 modes for an array of different controllers. Perhaps the interesting thing here is the support of USB 3.1 at 10 Gbps, which is provided as native support from the chipset.
The main provider of USB 3.1 controllers in the market currently, ASMedia, has been floated around as a partner with AMD in designing these chipsets. We asked AMD if ASMedia was involved, and to what extent, in the development or IP of the hardware. We were told that while the IP is with AMD, ASMedia were bought on as a partner in some fashion (most likely as a design firm or a consultant) to help produce the hardware. We were informed that the chipsets are manufactured at TSMC using a 55nm process, which is a much cheaper process than 28nm or 16nm.
An additional aside, the chipset USB 3.1 ports do not support reversible Type-C natively. We have been informed that a re-driver chip is required to support the revisable connectivity, which is a minor additional IC required by the OEMs.
Aside from the native USB 3.1 output, AMD’s chipset offerings are far behind Intel’s current implementation, affording up to 20 PCIe 3.0 lanes from their chipset despite the same uplink equivalent. This is partly because Intel’s chipset has steadily grown and looks more like a PCIe switch itself. AMD is claiming that the external B350 chipset, compared to the older AM3 platforms, comes down from 19.6W TDP to 5.8W TDP.
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Haawser - Thursday, September 29, 2016 - link
Actual evidence points to GF.Look at the photo of the chip- http://wccftech.com/amd-bristol-ridge-a12-9800-am4...
'Diffused in Germany' means the chip itself was made at GF in Dresden. Then shipped to Malaysia for packaging. Unless the photo is fake. Which is unlikely.
DOS5 - Tuesday, October 4, 2016 - link
Wondering if I understood correctly -- is video card slot limited to 8 lanes? If so, how will this affect APU with video card as primary, APU with video card in dual graphics, and Athlon x4 CPU with video card?Marstg - Saturday, October 22, 2016 - link
Mr Cutress, we are one month later, where is the Bristol Ridge hardware? It would seem easier to reach out to Costco than AMD and have the platform tested. Where are you guys with that?Camdex - Tuesday, February 7, 2017 - link
Interesting article but disappointed in the overclocked benchmarks. AMD can say what they want about Excavator v2 cores but if these benches at 4.8ghz are legit its only going to slightly put it over the recent Athlon 860k. Im doing this comparison based on the future Athlon will be based off the A12 9800. My Athlon 860k gets a cinebench r15 score of 368 at 4.5ghz. IF it overclocked to 4.8ghz I'd bet it'd score right around the same 380 the A12 9800 did. On the plus side IF 4.8ghz is possible on the new Excavator v2 based chips and the power consumptuon is down thats a big plus. I was just hoping the new Athlons would be scoring a bit better say near 400 in cinebench r15 at stock clocks and for $100 or less. But hear this INTEL... I will never pay $180 for a dual core even if it does overclcock well. The new i3 7350k is a joke.Gadgety - Sunday, February 26, 2017 - link
AMD did something similar with the A8-7600 midrange APU. Announced it, launched it, allowed testing by tech sites, and gave OEMs full access, but it took a full 8 months before it was available to the general public.msroadkill612 - Wednesday, April 26, 2017 - link
testGlock24 - Sunday, May 14, 2017 - link
We already have Zen and Bristol Ridge is nowhere to be found anywhere apart from OEM systems. What a shame, would've made a decent office computer.Shayne03 - Saturday, December 2, 2017 - link
Hi i bought a10-9700 with stock hs and a320m vh plus msi motherboard.. my cpu temperature is always at 50 to 60 degree is it normal?