*** AMD "Zen" thread (inc AM4/APU discussion) ***

[Martini1991]

Doubt Intel can magic up anything new.
Price drop and changing of tiers.

It depends whether AMD adheres to current pricing structures or goes with their own.

 

[Mei]

IF Ryzen is good and delivers what they promise, what will Intel's response be?

Lower prices? Or do they have a counter already in the wings?

i think they too big to move fast
they proper tubby
i doubt they be able to rush new products out
they will take the hit

 

[DragonQ]

They can't change the tiers of existing CPUs but luckily enough for them, Kaby Lake is due out soon so they can perhaps restructure those SKUs. Cannonlake and Coffee Lake are already in the pipeline and there's been rumblings of Coffee Lake essentially being a 6-core version of Kaby Lake so that would automatically compete against Ryzen.

Of course they would also immediately drop prices if AMD undercuts them and delivers performance at all levels.

 

[Martini1991]

They can't change the tiers of existing CPUs but luckily enough for them, Kaby Lake is due out soon so they can perhaps restructure those SKUs. Cannonlake and Coffee Lake are already in the pipeline and there's been rumblings of Coffee Lake essentially being a 6-core version of Kaby Lake so that would automatically compete against Ryzen.

Of course they would also immediately drop prices if AMD undercuts them and delivers performance at all levels.

That's what I meant

 

[Martini1991]

Credit should be given to Lisa though I guess.
She's steered them through a rough period.

As much as I'm very much "meh" about the 480X with it offering nothing over my 290X, a lot of that is down to the UK pricing of it, it's a solid product for its US Dollar price point.

I can definitely see Vega/Zen being a popular choice.

 

[Seanspeed]

IF Ryzen is good and delivers what they promise, what will Intel's response be?

Lower prices? Or do they have a counter already in the wings?

No, despite what people think, Intel is not sitting back twiddling their thumbs. The gains they've been making have been very, very hard work for them and the costs of getting ever smaller gains has been increasing dramatically. And they are not sitting on some super powerful CPU technology that they're just keeping secret from everybody because they think everything is fine the way it is now. .

If AMD can actually beat Intel like-for-like, Intel's got nothing to respond with.

I really dont think that's going to happen, though. Largely *because* Intel aren't resting on their laurels like so many think. People just seem to have a hard time accepting that we're hitting very hard diminishing returns in CPU processing at the moment and that's not going to change unless we make some *major*, revolutionary tech breakthroughs.

 

[jagga1968]

well looks like intel just lost a lot of sales between now and zen release, after watching that video my plans have changed, now i wont be buying 2 x £500 6700k bundles on the 28th from ocuk for 2 pc builds . instead i will wait for zen release and then decide.

hope the fat greedy ******** at intel get a good kicking from Amd, they have been robbing us for far too long.

 

[Harlequin]

AMD has got brand spanking new architecture - from the man who gave them the intel beating K8

 

[Seanspeed]

but they talked about the fps counter on bf1 demo, it didnt show up on twitch
everyone screaming fake >.<

Regardless of it was fake or not(I doubt it), it was a totally ridiculous and meaningless test. Hey, we want to show how good our CPU is. Let's crank the resolution to 4k where it's going to be GPU bottlenecked! I mean, seriously, what the hell were they thinking?

 

[Boomstick777]

Thought this was really good. The presentation of the show etc. The performance of Zen and a lil Vega tease at the end. AMD have def stepped their game up imho.

 

[Martini1991]

well looks like intel just lost a lot of sales between now and zen release, after watching that video my plans have changed, now i wont be buying 2 x £500 6700k bundles on the 28th from ocuk for 2 pc builds . instead i will wait for zen release and then decide.

I don't think this will make much of a difference to be honest on the grand scheme of things. Most people buy from OEM's, and those systems are sitting in shops and warehouses now.

Enthusiasts should definitely be encouraged to hold off until Zens launch though.

I liked and disliked that Lisa stuck to Q1 2017.
From all we "know", they're due in January. She knows that as far as public announcement goes, this launch has to be perfect. This gives them some leeway for the inevitable AMD launch disaster

 

[Harlequin]

i did like the fact they were using Nv cards as well

for a jan launch , they will be in warehouses now

 

[Boomstick777]

i did like the fact they were using Nv cards as well

Same, good stuff from AMD.

 

[Martini1991]

i did like the fact they were using Nv cards as well

for a jan launch , they will be in warehouses now

Not necessarily.
Tons of launches happen where the products are landing on the day with the E-tailer, or only days before.

 

[Harlequin]

Not necessarily.

for their suppliers - further up the food chain

also I think , they have a major OEM deal or more , one reason , I`ve read for the delay.

edit , and you changed your reply as well

 

[MatTheCat]

Speaking as someone who held off on going for a Sandybridge i7 2600K, (a CPU I still have), until Bulldozer was released, only to have my hopes based upon 'promising' pre release blarb dashed by actual hands on benchmarks and reviews.....

.......what is so different this time around?

I am not looking to upgrade myself, but I do have a friend who is wanting a new build. We had decided on the i5 6600K, but I advised that he should hold off a while and wait for for the Zen reveal. Now that we have had it, I still see a glaring lack of concrete information that might help me make a decision on which way to go.

Cherry picked benchmarks, games not benched, but only running on two systems, no release date and no bloody pricing.

My mate is firmly in the 200 GBP bracket for a CPU. Are AMD going to offer a viable option at that price point and if so, then when? Jan? Feb? March?

I am that ****ed off with the lack of good information that I am tempted to tell him just to plump for the 6600K. It will probs perform better in 90% of scenarios than it's Zen counterpart anyhow and it wouldn't surprise me at all if 3-4 years down the line, DX 12 titles still don't really make that great use of multiple cores/threads, which would be the Zen counterparts only real advantage.

 

[Martini1991]

for their suppliers - further up the food chain

also I think , they have a major OEM deal or more , one reason , I`ve read for the delay.

edit , and you changed your reply as well

Doesn't really change much.
Gives them time for their inevitable AMD delay without it being called a delay which would have occurred if they'd said January and missed it.

 

[Martini1991]

Speaking as someone who held off on going for a Sandybridge i7 2600K, (a CPU I still have), until Bulldozer was released, only to have my hopes based upon 'promising' pre release blarb dashed by actual hands on benchmarks and reviews.....

.......what is so different this time around?

I am not looking to upgrade myself, but I do have a friend who is wanting a new build. We had decided on the i5 6600K, but I advised that he should hold off a while and wait for for the Zen reveal. Now that we have had it, I still see a glaring lack of concrete information that might help me make a decision on which way to go.

Cherry picked benchmarks, games not benched, but only running on two systems, no release date and no bloody pricing.

My mate is firmly in the 200 GBP bracket for a CPU. Are AMD going to offer a viable option at that price point and if so, then when? Jan? Feb? March?

I am that ****ed off with the lack of good information that I am tempted to tell him just to plump for the 6600K. It will probs perform better in 90% of scenarios than it's Zen counterpart anyhow and it wouldn't surprise me at all if 3-4 years down the line, DX 12 titles still don't really make that great use of multiple cores/threads, which would be the Zen counterparts only real advantage.

The main difference is an i5 2500K was 150 pound, an i7 2600K was 220.

That 220 today gets you an i5 6600k if you're lucky.

While there's certainly things to question with that AMD event, it was more positive than anything I ever took from BD.

 

[Harlequin]

Doesn't really change much.
Gives them time for their inevitable AMD delay without it being called a delay which would have occurred if they'd said January and missed it.

as opposed to the inevitable 5% increase at best for intel with a 50% increase in price , and a new socket for each cpu launch then huh

 

[Seanspeed]

Speaking as someone who held off on going for a Sandybridge i7 2600K, (a CPU I still have), until Bulldozer was released, only to have my hopes based upon 'promising' pre release blarb dashed by actual hands on benchmarks and reviews.....

.......what is so different this time around?

I am not looking to upgrade myself, but I do have a friend who is wanting a new build. We had decided on the i5 6600K, but I advised that he should hold off a while and wait for for the Zen reveal. Now that we have had it, I still see a glaring lack of concrete information that might help me make a decision on which way to go.

Cherry picked benchmarks, games not benched, but only running on two systems, no release date and no bloody pricing.

My mate is firmly in the 200 GBP bracket for a CPU. Are AMD going to offer a viable option at that price point and if so, then when? Jan? Feb? March?

I am that ****ed off with the lack of good information that I am tempted to tell him just to plump for the 6600K. It will probs perform better in 90% of scenarios than it's Zen counterpart anyhow and it wouldn't surprise me at all if 3-4 years down the line, DX 12 titles still don't really make that great use of multiple cores/threads, which would be the Zen counterparts only real advantage.

This was just a teaser reveal, honestly.

We're gonna need to wait for real reviews. Apart from the Blender and Handbrake demos, they didn't do anything to legitimately show Ryzen being equally competitive with Intel, certainly not in gaming.

So yea, get your friend to hold out a bit longer if he can. At £200 budget, I have a feeling a 6600k is going to be very hard to beat, but we'll have to see. If he cant wait, it's a very good choice, though. Very little chance he'll be unhappy with this purchase. Though the 7600k should be out soon, too...