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AMD Zen Will Compete Favorably with Intel

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AMD x86 Zen Based High-Performance APU Detailed – Rumored To Feature 16 Cores, 16 GB HBM Memory, Greenland iGPU and DDR4 Memory Support

High performance 16c processor? That's 32 threads.

So, to that end... you are looking at $100 difference between a Skylake 4c/8t versus a Hawell-E 6c/8t.

I don't think even buying an Intel 12t Cpu is in the ball game at this point.
 
Honestly, if Zen "only" lets me have a platform that isn't arbitrarily locked down for overclocking (Intel's "blessed" chipsets/microcode proc SKU's) and lets me imagine what the old stars/Phenom II would be like at 5Ghz I'd be happy with that.

So lets shoot for whatever upper i5 performance is for Intel at the time, at i3 or lower prices.

I'm just tired of how Intel first locked out overclocking on budget motherboards with blowing fuses on the chipset (G41/G/P43) and then after X58 chipset was essentially integrated (Lynnfield) so only "Intel blessed skus" could be overclocked, since Intel now directly controlled the FSB/bus option in a way that creative motherboard makers couldn't circumvent.

I'm done ranting. I get why Intel does it (shareholders suck) and that AMD would likely do the same if they were in the dominant position. But I miss the days of just taking a cheap mobo, proc, good ram, PSU and heasink and beating the crap outta it for under $240.
 
There are just too many unknowns. Everyone hopes AMD can finally hold a candle up to Intel. And performance wise maybe Zen can, but now that they have multi-threading the cheaper than Intel name AMD has made for itself might fade away. I mean, I don't doubt Intel put the 5960X over $1k just because they knew they could. But at the same time, an 8 core 16 thread CPU shouldn't exactly be $300 either. Same with the 6-core i7's out there right now. Intel prices high because AMD has no equivalent at this point in time, but I believe that there's some accuracy to their pricing as well.
 
There are just too many unknowns.

Only real world performance is unknown.

But check out the specs here.

Uhmph. Looks to pack a punch. I really think these are going to sell.

ZEN High End ‘Exascale’ CPU, 1-4 Socket (1P-4P) – Specs As Per CERN

Multi-Chip Module (2×16-core)
32 ZEN x86 Core, 6-wide
128 KB L0 Cache (4KB per core)
2 MB L1 D-Cache (64KB per core)
2 MB L1 I-Cache (64 KB per core)
16 MB L2 Cache (512 KB per core)
64 MB L3 Cache (8MB cluster per quad unit)
576-bit Memory Controller (two times 4×72-bit, 64-bit + 8-bit ECC)
204.8 GB/s via DDR4-3200 (ECC Off, 102.4 GB/s per die)
170.6 GB/s via DDR4-2666 (ECC On, 85.3 GB/s per die)

ZEN High End Exascale APU, 1-2 Socket (1P-2P) – Rumored Specs From Fast Forward

16 ZEN x86 Core, 6-wide
64 KB L0 Cache (4KB per core)
1 MB L1 D-Cache (64KB per core)
1 MB L1 I-Cache (64 KB per core)
8 MB L2 Cache (512 KB per core)
8 MB L3 Cache (512 KB per core)
288-bit CPU Memory Controller (4×72-bit, 64-bit + 8-bit ECC)
102.4 GB/s via DDR4-3200 (ECC Off)
85.3 GB/s via DDR4-2666 (ECC On)
102.4 GB/s between CPU and GPU via GMI
~2000-core Polaris GPU
2048-bit GPU Memory Controller
4 GB HBM SGRAM Memory (2 chips at 2GB)
512 GB/s GPU Bandwidth
 
Honestly, if Zen "only" lets me have a platform that isn't arbitrarily locked down for overclocking (Intel's "blessed" chipsets/microcode proc SKU's) and lets me imagine what the old stars/Phenom II would be like at 5Ghz I'd be happy with that.

So lets shoot for whatever upper i5 performance is for Intel at the time, at i3 or lower prices.

I'm just tired of how Intel first locked out overclocking on budget motherboards with blowing fuses on the chipset (G41/G/P43) and then after X58 chipset was essentially integrated (Lynnfield) so only "Intel blessed skus" could be overclocked, since Intel now directly controlled the FSB/bus option in a way that creative motherboard makers couldn't circumvent.

I'm done ranting. I get why Intel does it (shareholders suck) and that AMD would likely do the same if they were in the dominant position. But I miss the days of just taking a cheap mobo, proc, good ram, PSU and heasink and beating the crap outta it for under $240.

If ZEN is good it won't be at i3 or lower prices. Not by a longshot. Any more of that and AMD would surely cease to exist. It will be priced accordingly. They will surely be a good bit more expensive than the cpu's AMD is selling for the desktop today.
 
If ZEN is good it won't be at i3 or lower prices. Not by a longshot. Any more of that and AMD would surely cease to exist. It will be priced accordingly. They will surely be a good bit more expensive than the cpu's AMD is selling for the desktop today.

But, IMHO, it don't mean that it has to be at old skool FX-like prices! (Like socket 940 and pre-Phenom I era) They typically were $700+! (or $600+ if lucky)

The FX60 and FX62 resulted in Intel taking over the performance crown! Because Intel had a better price-to-performance ratio!

AMD making them expensive like Intel 5xxx chips could backfire! We need some good chips in the ballpark of $130 to $190 range. Especially for hex cores!

Looking forward for the new hex cores to basically be a Vishera with better single thread performance. (More balanced, meaning better single thread performance)

I think there's lack of competition and that's possibly why almost all Intels are at roughly $220+.

I'm hoping for a 1070-like moment! ;) (The AMD CPU's version of 1070)
 
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But, IMHO, it don't mean that it has to be at old skool FX-like prices! (Like socket 940 and pre-Phenom I era) They typically were $700+! (or $600+ if lucky)

The FX60 and FX62 resulted in Intel taking over the performance crown! Because Intel had a better price-to-performance ratio!

AMD making them expensive like Intel 5xxx chips could backfire! We need some good chips in the ballpark of $130 to $190 range. Especially for hex cores!

Looking forward for the new hex cores to basically be a Vishera with better single thread performance. (More balanced, meaning better single thread performance)

I think there's lack of competition and that's possibly why almost all Intels are at roughly $220+.

I'm hoping for a 1070-like moment! ;) (The AMD CPU's version of 1070)

I have my doubts about the GTX 1070. Titan X for a little over $300? Not buying it, it's probably just got those numbers in VR. And an 8 core 16 thread CPU is not going to be under $600, I guarantee it. Hex cores might, MIGHT, be under $400, or around the $400 range.
 
I have my doubts about the GTX 1070. Titan X for a little over $300? Not buying it, it's probably just got those numbers in VR. And an 8 core 16 thread CPU is not going to be under $600, I guarantee it. Hex cores might, MIGHT, be under $400, or around the $400 range.
I think you'll be in for a surprise.
 
I think you'll be in for a surprise.

I very well could be. I'm just saying, I'll believe it when I buy it.

EDIT: I'm curious as to how they would get away with this though? They must really not think AMD has anything inside of Polaris that could threaten them.
 
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I very well could be. I'm just saying, I'll believe it when I buy it.

EDIT: I'm curious as to how they would get away with this though? They must really not think AMD has anything inside of Polaris that could threaten them.

As far as we know right now AMD isn't releasing anything with Polaris to compete with the 1070/1080+ cards. It is more targeted at the sub-$200 market.
 
There's already rumors/benchmarks out there of it beating a 980ti... it was in 3dmark Firestrike just graphics score.
 
Apparently this is coming from Computex, more news on Zen timing.

At the Q and A session after AMD's press conference, company CEO Lisa Su just confirmed that desktop Zen x86 chips are the first products to arrive for consumers. These will be followed by a server lineup, then a notebook lineup. Sampling happens this quarter for a few key customers and other customers will get its hand of the parts in Q3 2016. The launch obviously comes after.

Expectations are high on Zen and with 40 percent improvement in IPC, which is quite good, it should be competitive with Intel's Broadwell-E. But we still have too few details to go out and say that it will crush the competition.

Lisa was smart to deflect the launch date question and it was just referenced that it happens in the future. One can hope it happens sometime before the end of 2016, with prospects most likely for the fourth quarter.
 
I'll be in there either way. Just my nature ha ha
 
2017 could be shaping up to be a great year for Overclockers
 
Competitive with Broadwell-E huh?

The FX chips were competitive with broadwell-e if you ignored almost every single comparison except for the heavily biased one quoted by AMD. I am hoping this isn't smoke and mirrors like normal and they actually show something competitive.
 
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