AMD Set to Launch Ryzen Before March 3rd, Meeting Q1 Target
by Ian Cutress on January 11, 2017 7:45 AM EST
Thanks to some sleuthing from various readers, AMD has accidentally let the cat out of the bag with regards to the official Ryzen launch date. While they haven’t specifically given an exact date, the talk to be given by AMD at the annual Game Developer Conference (GDC) says the following:
Join AMD Game Engineering team members for an introduction to the recently-launched AMD Ryzen CPU followed by advanced optimization topics.
From http://schedule.gdconf.com/session/optimizing-for-amd-ryzen-cpu-presented-by-amd
The GDC event runs from February 27th to March 3rd, and currently the AMD talk is not on the exact schedule yet, so it could appear any day during the event (so be wary if anyone says Feb 27th). At this time AMD has not disclosed an exact date either, but it would be an interesting time to announce the new set of Ryzen CPUs right in the middle of both GDC and Mobile World Congress which is also during that week. It would mean that Ryzen news may end up being buried under other GDC and smartphone announcements.
Then again, the launch could easily be anytime during February – this March 3rd date only really puts an end-point on the potential range. AMD has stated many times, as far back as August, that Q1 is the intended date for launch to consumers in volume. When we spoke with AMD at CES, nothing was set in stone so to speak, especially clock speeds and pricing, but we are expecting a full launch, not just something official on paper. Ryan will be at GDC to cover this exact talk, and I’ll be at MWC covering that event. Either way, we want to make sure that we are front of the queue when it comes time to disclosing as much information as we can get our hands on ahead of time. Stay tuned!
Source: GDC
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
72 Comments
View All Comments
JasonMZW20 - Sunday, January 15, 2017 - link
I think AMD scaled Ryzen in such a way that 8c/16t parts will be cheaper than Intel's offerings because of missing on-die features you mention relative to Intel. That's why I put it under $1000 bracket. It can be anywhere from $500-799, while Naples will be over $1000.So, if 8c/16t Summit Ridge is 1/2 scale of 16c/32t Naples server part, then it should have 1/2 PCIe lanes and memory controllers. That means the 4c/8t versions share the same die if they retain 20 PCIe lanes and dual-channel memory, but the other cores were either defective bins or intentionally cut. That's getting really speculative though. It makes sense though, as Intel stuffs an iGPU in the Skylake and Kaby Lake parts to fill the die.
So, if Naples has 40 PCIe lanes (32+8), then SR has 20 (16+4). If Naples has quad-channel memory, SR has dual. It's clever, I think.
I don't think the lack of PCIe lanes will be a big deal, as most gamers have moved to single card setups. Motherboard manufacturers can add SKUs with more dedicated lanes for Crossfire/SLI (2 x16, rather than 2 x8) via PLX chips for VR and others wanting it.
I would LOVE to see a cut Naples die (8c/16t or 6c/12t) with a high-end iGPU and HBM. But that's just fantasy for now.
SquarePeg - Friday, January 13, 2017 - link
Yes that's what I think. Obviously if they only undercut Intel's Kaby Lake prices by 10% to 15% all Intel will do is bump down Skylake and Broadwell prices.Cooe - Sunday, February 28, 2021 - link
Hahaha. That's exactly what they did dumbass.wumpus - Friday, January 13, 2017 - link
I don't expect AMD to ship "no SMT" (or at least in a condition you can't easily turn it on). I can't think of many cases that AMD disables working parts, at least not on CPUs (and I doubt on GPUs once nvidia pulled conclusively ahead).Intel can pull those stunts as long as they are the clear leader. AMD usually ships all the value they can. I know I ran a Semperon32 in 64 bit at one point (didn't "officially" have it, but you didn't even need to enable it in bios. Just feed it some 64 bit code and it ran). Locked cores on Phenon allowed unlock (you might have had to pay a buck for the black edition, but it wasn't much and probably harder to find non-black than black) even if they didn't always work.
Shadowmaster625 - Wednesday, January 11, 2017 - link
The chip is 6 weeks from release and there isnt one single passmark baseline in the database? Yeah, pull the other one please.beginner99 - Thursday, January 12, 2017 - link
I saw this already yesterday in the forums. Has anyone actually thought that this text snippet was sent to GDC organizers maybe already weeks or month ago (such conferences are obviously planned way ahead) and since then the actual release schedule has changed due to some issue(s)?TemjinGold - Friday, January 13, 2017 - link
If anything, their CES comments seem to indicate Ryzen has been pulled earlier, rather than pushed later.wumpus - Friday, January 13, 2017 - link
Sounds believable. Just remember that AMD is in a position where management might drag the thing to market well before engineering is ready to sign off.doggface - Thursday, January 12, 2017 - link
If Ryzen demonstrates the IPC gain they are talking about, the great thing will be that Intel will have to put significant RnD $ into architecture development. They have been too comfortable with the core architecture for too long.It needs more than just media feature additions.
wumpus - Friday, January 13, 2017 - link
Like, what? There was an interesting bit with TSX instructions, but that was pretty much only interesting to database guys. The Knights Landing "tons of cores on a chip" are also pretty cool, but in practice I suspect that most code parallizable code can be convinced to run on a GPU much better.