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 ESTRyzen APU Overclocking: A Focus on Memory Support
Also part of the demonstration about the new APUs was overclocking. For a number of years, AMD has hired Sami Makkinen, a well-known former world-record holder in various overclocking categories, to help tune the overclocking on some of its processors. So despite this being an integrated graphics platform, Sami was on hand to show the day-to-day overclocking potential. I was told that liquid nitrogen overclocking might be held at a later date…
Nonetheless, we were shown the system that would be distributed to reviewers for launch day: a mini-ITX motherboard, a Ryzen 5 2400G processor, 2x8 GB of DDR4 memory, and an AMD Wraith cooler. Using the popular benchmarking tool 3DMark Fire Strike, Sami showed a 39% increase over stock performance by overclocking only the memory and the integrated graphics:
- DDR4-2400 + 1250 MHz GPU: 2911 Points - 'stock'
- DDR4-3200 + 1250 MHz GPU: 3322 Points (+14%)
- DDR4-3200 + 1550 MHz GPU: 3596 Points (+24%)
- DDR4-3600 + 1675 MHz GPU: 4048 Points (+39%)
This shows a couple of interesting data points. First, that the DRAM speed directly influences the results a lot: the 14% gain moving to DDR4-3200 and a similar gain again up to DDR-3600 means that we are still dealing with a graphics system that is memory bandwidth limited, even with only 11 compute units. The Infinity Fabric communication pathways are tied to the DRAM speed, so these would also get a speed up – when asked if it would be possible to discern how much of the speedup is due to a pure DRAM improvement and how much from the Infinity Fabric boost, I was told that AMD could do it in house, but it would be impossible for consumers to do.
However, the DRAM speed gains match up with what we have seen with previous generations of AMD APUs, but also it means that Intel’s decision to combine a Vega GPU with high-bandwidth memory is going to be the way forward in this market.
The second point that this data brings is about memory support. One of the major criticisms of AMD’s initial launch of Ryzen was the lack of high-performance memory support, due to a young firmware. AMD has stated that the Ryzen with Vega graphics line of processors have better memory support with newer firmware revisions, capable of driving higher memory speeds. This is, of course, important to APUs. Additional updates will be coming with the new X470 motherboards in Q2.
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sharath.naik - Tuesday, January 9, 2018 - link
why no ryzen 7 8 core for mobile?msroadkill612 - Wednesday, January 10, 2018 - link
At last, desk top apuS. Its very exciting.It bears noting, that liquid cooling is getting to be mainstream, and apuS DO allow both cpu & gpu to use a single cost effective cooler - ~$100usd.
Desirable as gpu LC may be, it tends to be impossible/difficult on discrete gpuS physically. LC cooling the APU's gpu is very simple.
The usual chip TDP constraints can be greatly loosened if LC is assumed (as in the ~300w LC vega).
"The Ryzen 5 2400G will run at up to 3.9GHz with 4-cores/8-threads and 11 CUs, a 65W TDP, and a price of $169."
Rumors of apuS w/ 28CUs dont seem fanciful, they seem conservative.
My guess? is most moboS would handle a 180W module in their socket?
An 8GB vega 56 is 210W TDP.
FYI:
"www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-ryzen-ama,5018.html
Apr 14, 2017 - 1. TDP is not electrical watts (power draw), it's thermal watts. 2. Published processor TDPs are often rounded up to fit a desired specification. For example, AM4 motherboards are specd to run processors with 65W and 95W TDPs. It gives motherboard manufacturers and system builders a thermal framework"
dsplover - Wednesday, January 10, 2018 - link
You will be feeling like crap a long time. Take it easy, you’ll only get worse. Thanks for the info on new desktop w/ GFX.Any info on that is appreciated.
I just got over the flu, caught in Vegas. Lasted 5 weeks and I took the advice and got a flu shot in November. Big help....NOT
pfdman - Friday, January 12, 2018 - link
"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),"Now that the week is almost up, has anyone seen news as to what that new HP device is?
JoeDuarte - Saturday, January 20, 2018 - link
Did AMD have a solution to the current impossibility of buying an AMD GPU? If we can't deal actually buy their GPUs, AMD might as well not exist, and in a very real sense they don't exist right now.5080 - Sunday, January 21, 2018 - link
Well, they do exist, but all are bought up by coin miners. Great for AMD, not so great for gamers and others that need a fast GPU.5080 - Sunday, January 21, 2018 - link
Hi Ian, are you still going to update this article with Lisa Su's interview and the rest of AMD's announcements?billyswong - Thursday, February 1, 2018 - link
Typo: The table of Ryzen 5 2200G said Wraith Stealth cooler but the article later said they are bundled with Wraith Spire (non-RGB) coolerET - Thursday, February 1, 2018 - link
I love "Dark Mode for RGB heathens". I love that heathen feeling. Would have bought one just for that great line. (Or maybe not, but I still like it.)"more nearer" has some redundant redundancy.
mobutu - Thursday, February 1, 2018 - link
To: AMD, Intel, ARM, whomever,call me when you have a brand new product that's not affected by spectre/meltdown family bug.
Until then, I'm not gonna buy into any of your products.