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

Hexus.net | Posted: 19th September 2016 said:
AMD Socket AM4 and Bristol Ridge chip pictured up-close

Just a fortnight ago we heard officially that the first pre-built 7th Generation AMD A-Series desktop PC systems had started to ship. Now it looks like someone has opened up one of these new machines, or else found an AWOL motherboard, and taken a nice clear photo of the AM4 processor socket.

H7D7Fic.jpg

The socket, as pictured above, features a PGA (Pin Grid Array) design. It is clearly labelled 'Socket AM4' and there are 1331 pins present – a significant increase on the 942 pins supported by AMD's AM3+ socket. (For further comparison Intel's current LGA 1151 sports 1151 pins.)

As a reminder, AMD Socket AM4 is designed to support the currently shipping 7th Generation AMD A-Series ('Bristol Ridge') desktop PC systems and the upcoming Zen-Series ('Summit Ridge') processors. The beefed up number of pin connections will likely be used for the platform's new dual channel DDR4 (up-to 3200MHz) memory configuration, support for up to 24 PCIe lanes, and the integrated Northbridge in upcoming processors.

MBJGd4L.jpg
'Bristol Ridge' processor pins

The new AM4 socket is the same size as previous AMD sockets, at 40mm square, however there is some confusion about CPU cooler compatibility. Some manufacturers, such as Noctua, have previously shown off a 'mounting upgrade kit' to make its coolers AM4 compatible - thus it looks like cooler compatibility could be an issue. WCCF Tech says that the socket's mounting holes had to be relocated due to the increased amount of traces going in and out of the socket.

Retail availability of AM4 motherboards is expected sometime next month. AMD Zen-based 'Summit Ridge' processors are expected in February next year, followed up by 'Raven Ridge' Zen-based APUs in the summer.
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Source
 
AMD have been shipping that HSF since the last FM2 update. It is very good for a stock cooler. Probably about as good as the Arctic 7 Pro.
 
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Is that the wraith cooler? That's doing a much better job than I thought it would!

Asus "Octopus" :p? That's an interesting name to pick for a motherboard. Looks quite simple, guess it shows most of the stuff have moved to the CPU.
 
Using the board shot on the HP page measuring the size of the socket gives 60px which equates to 40mm if the pins are in a 40mm x 40mm arrangement. Measuring heatsink holes gives about 113px so using the ratio 60px:40mm, 113px equates to around 75mm which is the same hole spacing for AM3 socket heatsinks... very odd given the earlier news about the holes being moved to accommodate the extra traces.
 
So the fact they are showing these up against the new Broadwell-E chip I'm imaging they will price them similar.

I might be upgrading in Dec. Give my old gaming machine to my sister and upgrade to a 6700k.

Question is should I wait for the new Zen chips or not and do with out gaming for a few months? Not sure I'd buy one if they are similar price to the Broadwell-E series.
 
RavenXXX2 said:
Yeah pricing similar to Intel's overpriced chips is likely to get a few AMD diehards to bite but that's it. AMD sales will still suck.
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The trouble is historically AMD have had garbage chipsets, that's why a lot of people and particularly OEM's stuck with Intel even when AMD's processors were better.

AMD K7 'Classic' had the AMD Irongate chipset, which had a bug limiting graphics cards to 1x command mode for stability
http://www.thg.ru/blurb/20000210/print.html

Later Athlon's had VIA chipsets which were notorious for PCI issues (remember the problems Soundblaster which pretty much every gamer owned had with them? crackling sound and stuff).
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/04/12/datacorruption_bug_hits_via_chipsets/

Intel chipsets haven't been impeccable either but historically they've been generally more reliable/stable so it's not fair to say people buy Intel because they just hate AMD or whatever.

AMD chipsets are fine these days but during the AMD glory days when people still bought Intel they left a lot to be desired compared to Intel's own chipsets.
 
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mmj_uk said:
The trouble is historically AMD have had garbage chipsets, that's why a lot of people and particularly OEM's stuck with Intel even when AMD's processors were better.

AMD K7 'Classic' had the AMD Irongate chipset, which had a bug limiting graphics cards to 1x command mode for stability
http://www.thg.ru/blurb/20000210/print.html

Later Athlon's had VIA chipsets which were notorious for PCI issues (remember the problems Soundblaster which pretty much every gamer owned had with them? crackling sound and stuff).
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/04/12/datacorruption_bug_hits_via_chipsets/

Intel chipsets haven't been impeccable either but historically they've been generally more reliable/stable so it's not fair to say people buy Intel because they just hate AMD or whatever.

AMD chipsets are fine these days but during the AMD glory days when people still bought Intel they left a lot to be desired compared to Intel's own chipsets.
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What a load of old ####, Intel fan arguments of old, one of those sets went bad, the K8T800, and suddenly they were all bad..... its all they had given that Intel's CPU's by comparison were utter junk.

And Athlon boards also had Nforce chipsets, you had a choice.
 
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mmj_uk said:
Later Athlon's had VIA chipsets which were notorious for PCI issues (remember the problems Soundblaster which pretty much every gamer owned had with them? crackling sound and stuff).
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/04/12/datacorruption_bug_hits_via_chipsets/
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The amusing part for me was when I was using a VIA chipset motherboard, it only occured when using an NVIDIA GPU!, it didn't happen when using an ATI card for me. There was fix for this, which was released by a 3rd party and eventually a VIA PCI Latency Patch.

When I was running an NVIDIA nForce4 SLI chipset AMD motherboard, I had the same issue running an NVIDIA BFG GTX 295! - if I switched SLI off no crackling occured, I ended up selling it and switched to an ATI Sapphire 4890 Vapor-X 2GB and the problem once more went away lol.
 
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