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

[DragonQ]

When across the board AMD's chip are half the price of Intel's they are going to have to do a hell of a lot better than reducing prices by 10% to lure now AMD buyers back to Intel.

Agreed. So far it looks like the lowest tier of every core count variant from AMD is going to be half the price of Intel's unlocked equivalent. The leaked benchmarks suggest the performance is definitely there, which leaves Intel with only one trump card: clock speed. If Ryzen struggles to get above 4.5 GHz whilst Kaby Lake can reach 4.9-5.0 GHz, then Intel will still have something to hold onto until Coffee Lake: best single threaded performance. If Ryzen clocks well and recent benchmarks are accurate, Intel will have no choice IMO but to make drastic changes to their line-up before Coffee Lake or risk haemorrhaging sales. On the other hand they may decide that OEMs are too sweet on Intel for retail sales to make any kind of difference in the short term.

Technically speaking they were all unlocked too, the multipliers may have been fixed but the FSB wasn't so they could be overclocked by 1.5GHz+

Doesn't count as unlocked in my book.

The only reason the base clock on later chipsets wasn't overclockable was because it drove too many devices. Wasn't the base clock overclockable on Skylake CPUs because of chipset changes before it was artificially locked down for Kaby Lake?


EDIT: Um, why are the letters "a-r-i-a" censored in the word "v-a-r-i-a-n-t"??

 

[Yaayuh!]

EDIT: Um, why are the letters "a-r-i-a" censored in the word "v-a-r-i-a-n-t"??

Competitor.

 

[DragonQ]

Competitor.

Well that's dumb. Sort your filters out OcUK! (And while you're at it sort out this new horrible design please. >_>)

 

[Silent_Scone]

lol, OverclockersUK - One step forward, five steps back™

 

[SiDeards73]

So excited for the 28th now. I'll be reading as many reviews of Ryzen chips as I possibly can. I want to make sure I make the correct decision. Hopefully motherboard reviews will come out on the 28th as well so I'll be able to order my perfect system as soon as everything is available to buy.

Think i read Motherboard reveals were due beforehand, maybe 22nd or 26th or something?

 

[Cromulent]

Think i read Motherboard reveals were due beforehand, maybe 22nd or 26th or something?

Hmm that would be interesting if it were true. Not sure how you can review a motherboard without a CPU though. How are you going to tell if the motherboard is good at overclocking if you are under NDA for the CPU?

 

[Silent_Scone]

Hmm that would be interesting if it were true. Not sure how you can review a motherboard without a CPU though. How are you going to tell if the motherboard is good at overclocking if you are under NDA for the CPU?

To be fair, most of these sites would probably manage in the same capacity they do with most reviews, which is barely

 

[StarShock]

Hmm that would be interesting if it were true. Not sure how you can review a motherboard without a CPU though. How are you going to tell if the motherboard is good at overclocking if you are under NDA for the CPU?

Lots of pseudo motherboard reviews without chips. Features, prices, aesthetics. Likely we won't really have a good breakdown of which motherboards overclock well and which don't till the general public have got their hands on them, down side of a brand new platform

 

[ubersonic]

EDIT: Um, why are the letters "a-r-i-a" censored in the word "v-a-r-i-a-n-t"??

Because the forum software creators hate the **** Stark character, deny that the ****** is the world's largest river and hate devices that can print/copy/****.

 

[Cromulent]

To be fair, most of these sites would probably manage in the same capacity they do with most reviews, which is barely

Heh. True. It is hard to find trustworthy reviews these days. I tend to stick to Anandtech and LinusTechTips for my computer news. They seem alright to me.

Lots of pseudo motherboard reviews without chips. Features, prices, aesthetics. Likely we won't really have a good breakdown of which motherboards overclock well and which don't till the general public have got their hands on them, down side of a brand new platform

So basically reading what anyone can find for themselves on the spec sheet then? Useful .

Guess I'll just have to hope for the best if I am going to buy on day one. Thanks for the replies by the way .

 

[SiDeards73]

Well chip reviews will be on the 28th i believe? end of NDA and ive seen a few rumors and pics of sites with the chips up for pre-order for the 28th etc, so i can imagine you will see reviews of the chips on decent motherboards, so kinda double review platform review type of thing

Also just seen this on reddit http://www.markit.eu/us/en/products/v1?Target=search&Search=ryzen&InStock=False&PageNr=1

 

[ubersonic]

The X version is automatic overclocking like some graphics cards are doing now ? The non X version is still as good but you have to go manage it manually as it lacks that extra module to feedback, is that possible.

Non-X: Automatically boosts to its turbo clocks unless heat prevents it, like a current Intel/AMD CPU.
X: Automatically boosts to its turbo clocks unless heat prevents it, and if there is more headroom available will boost higher like an Nvidia GPU.

 

[dl8860]

Competitor.

I'd never heard of them before, but now I have. That's sort of backfired

 

[Drollic]

I'm really wanting to see the difference between what clock speeds are achievable on the 1700x and 1800x and if the 1800x chips really are binned and consistently achieve higher speeds both with xfr and manual settings if possible.

It's looking like £100-£125 more as it stands for top tier 8 core, however if you have the cooling, will there even be 200mhz+ difference between the 1700x and 1800x.

 

[Goody_GTI]

I'd never heard of them before, but now I have. That's sort of backfired

Ditto

 

[Journey]

I'd never heard of them before, but now I have. That's sort of backfired

Wonder if they filter Case King, who own them but are technically a competitor?

Edit: Apparently they don't.

 

[Cromulent]

I'm really wanting to see the difference between what clock speeds are achievable on the 1700x and 1800x and if the 1800x chips really are binned and consistently achieve higher speeds both with xfr and manual settings if possible.

It's looking like £100-£125 more as it stands for top tier 8 core, however if you have the cooling, will there even be 200mhz+ difference between the 1700x and 1800x.

The fact that the 1800X are meant to be binned is the reason I want to get one. XFR is great but I'd rather have a stable overclock of 4.4Ghz like my current i7 3930k if that is possible with Ryzen. I'll try and get another really good CPU cooler to go with it so hopefully I'll be able to get the best overclock possible.

 

[SiDeards73]

Stolen this from Anandtech forums but i think it makes a good point about Ram and performance and especially as its relevant to a weak part of Ryzen

"The difference in Prime numbers will be in the realm of 10-15%, based on my own tests.

Core i5 6600k @ 4Ghz:
2133 CL 15 - Prime scores 34-36
3000 CL 15 - Prime scores 38-41"

 

[Hagar]

Hmm that would be interesting if it were true. Not sure how you can review a motherboard without a CPU though. How are you going to tell if the motherboard is good at overclocking if you are under NDA for the CPU?

My first stop is always to read the manual Bios section for clues as to overclockability. This is not as good as a proper review, but then they rarely go into detail on the bios selections they have used.

So as soon as the manual is put on line, it narrows my mobo selection.

 

[Cromulent]

My first stop is always to read the manual Bios section for clues as to overclockability. This is not as good as a proper review, but then they rarely go into detail on the bios selections they have used.

So as soon as the manual is put on line, it narrows my mobo selection.

Ah. Good plan. I'll keep an eye on the ASRock website to see when they post the manual then. Thanks.