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In January 2017 it looks like AMD will finally release their brand new clean-sheet (it's a new design) Zen CPU architecture, and damn it sounds exciting. Thanks to WCCFTech for the info here.
As a hardware enthusiast myself, I am terribly excited. I have two AMD CPU's in my house powering various things due to their great price. The problem has been performance, AMD just doesn't match up with Intel usually.
That looks like it may truly change with Zen.
They actually did a demonstration back in August that I completely missed. It shows two top-end processors, one from Intel and Zen from AMD competing head to head:
The Blender speed test was impressive, since Zen just about finished first. Considering they had identical clock speeds, cores and threads that's quite amazing for AMD.
Looks like the weather is about to change for AMD, and I'm pretty excited. If they actually turn out anything like I hope, I will likely pick one up for something.
For the performance "enthusiast" market will be "AMD Summit Ridge" which seems to boast up to 8 cores, where as the lower end "AMD Raven Ridge" APU's will have up to 4 cores.
The main thing AMD Zen is focusing on is stronger performance, while still keeping the power draw quite low. They have ditched their own "clustered multi-threading" (CMT) and gone with "simultaneous multi-threading" (SMT) which is what Intel use.
AMD Zen will have much stronger single threaded performance, which will be especially good for us gamers. Along with SMT, the single thread performance increase is going to be rather welcome.
I've seen a lot of complaints about performance with AMD CPU's in some of the ports we've had over the past year, so hopefully in a year or two that will be a thing of the past, or at least, not as bad as it can be now.
Apparently AMD Gray Hawk (Zen+) will release sometime in 2019. That's a decently aggressive schedule! If Zen is actually this good, then Zen+ coming out so soon after can only be a good thing for all of us.
Will you be picking up and AMD Zen processor? Let me know what you're thinking in our comments. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
As a hardware enthusiast myself, I am terribly excited. I have two AMD CPU's in my house powering various things due to their great price. The problem has been performance, AMD just doesn't match up with Intel usually.
That looks like it may truly change with Zen.
They actually did a demonstration back in August that I completely missed. It shows two top-end processors, one from Intel and Zen from AMD competing head to head:
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Looks like the weather is about to change for AMD, and I'm pretty excited. If they actually turn out anything like I hope, I will likely pick one up for something.
For the performance "enthusiast" market will be "AMD Summit Ridge" which seems to boast up to 8 cores, where as the lower end "AMD Raven Ridge" APU's will have up to 4 cores.
The main thing AMD Zen is focusing on is stronger performance, while still keeping the power draw quite low. They have ditched their own "clustered multi-threading" (CMT) and gone with "simultaneous multi-threading" (SMT) which is what Intel use.
AMD Zen will have much stronger single threaded performance, which will be especially good for us gamers. Along with SMT, the single thread performance increase is going to be rather welcome.
I've seen a lot of complaints about performance with AMD CPU's in some of the ports we've had over the past year, so hopefully in a year or two that will be a thing of the past, or at least, not as bad as it can be now.
Apparently AMD Gray Hawk (Zen+) will release sometime in 2019. That's a decently aggressive schedule! If Zen is actually this good, then Zen+ coming out so soon after can only be a good thing for all of us.
Will you be picking up and AMD Zen processor? Let me know what you're thinking in our comments. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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Comandante Ñoñardo Oct 12, 2016
I miss the old AMD, with the hidden unlockables cores....
I use Intel since January of 2015.
I use Intel since January of 2015.
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I currently have two systems, my Phenom IIx6 1090t running Linux, and an A10-7850k running windows. Hoping to buy a Zen system and merge the two. Depends on if the zen box can properly handle GPU passthrough though to run Windows with a GPU in a VM.Sounds like you'll at least want an APU for your Linux host. I think they will come out a bit after the FX series.
Yep same here, except I have had the same intel platform for 8 years now! A good ol' Q6600 @ 3.2Ghz, hehe.I have had almost the same for quite some time (a bit downclocked compared to yours), and I upgraded a bit of time ago to a Xeon with a socket mod 771->775. Happy so far :)
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Joeyboots80 Oct 12, 2016
Looks like I know what I am doing with some of my tax money in 2017! Zen build here I come. :)
1 Likes, Who?
Yea, Zen is a must-have for me. I'm also skipping Polaris in favor of Vega.
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I really hope that I can ditch my 2600k and my gtx970 early next year for a full AMD rig :)
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I too would like to see AMD more competitive as it benefits everyone.
I've always bought AMD CPUs right up until my Phenom II X4 965BE died not so long ago. I always found Intel to be too expensive and would buy something I thought was more value for money. I decided to treat myself to an i7-4790k this time though and it's been fantastic. And I'll be using it until it packs up, no matter how good the new AMD CPUs are! When the time does come to upgrade, let's hope the competition is vibrant.
I've always bought AMD CPUs right up until my Phenom II X4 965BE died not so long ago. I always found Intel to be too expensive and would buy something I thought was more value for money. I decided to treat myself to an i7-4790k this time though and it's been fantastic. And I'll be using it until it packs up, no matter how good the new AMD CPUs are! When the time does come to upgrade, let's hope the competition is vibrant.
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LinuxGamesTV Oct 12, 2016
Is anyone have info if am4/(zen motherboards) will support quad channel memory ?
AM4 is Dualchannel only.
If i know it right, only the Zen 16 Core (32 treads) or higher will have quadchannel.
Last edited by LinuxGamesTV on 12 October 2016 at 10:47 am UTC
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Like some of the early comments, I have being a loyal AMD customer until this year, when I bought a used laptop and a mobo/CPU with Intel.
Is 2016, but unfortunately some games, about half I think, are still monocore processes. So for those, you need all single core power you can get. I remember playing Crysis 1 to 3, and it was amazing that the first one utilized 2 cores, when the last one utilized all 8 cores from my FX 8350. But unfortunately not all games are like that.
Early this year I got a opportunity of buying a used Intel CPU/mobo/memory combo (i7 3770k), for a really good price from a friend, and it was a eye opener to see how some games jumped in performance.
For some time now I want to build a mini-ITX system, but cannot find a new mobo for a good price for this i7 3770k, so next year, if Zen is good enough, I plan to get a full AMD ITX mobo/VGA to be my new rig.
Last edited by M@GOid on 12 October 2016 at 10:53 am UTC
Is 2016, but unfortunately some games, about half I think, are still monocore processes. So for those, you need all single core power you can get. I remember playing Crysis 1 to 3, and it was amazing that the first one utilized 2 cores, when the last one utilized all 8 cores from my FX 8350. But unfortunately not all games are like that.
Early this year I got a opportunity of buying a used Intel CPU/mobo/memory combo (i7 3770k), for a really good price from a friend, and it was a eye opener to see how some games jumped in performance.
For some time now I want to build a mini-ITX system, but cannot find a new mobo for a good price for this i7 3770k, so next year, if Zen is good enough, I plan to get a full AMD ITX mobo/VGA to be my new rig.
Last edited by M@GOid on 12 October 2016 at 10:53 am UTC
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I too would have bought an AMD CPU if they had been in line with Intel products. Their open source strategy with their GPUs also makes me wonder if I'm getting wether a GTX 1060 or an RX 480... So, for the time being I'm just waiting until I see clearly what's the better option.
Unfortunately I don't think I'll get a new rig anytime soon, as I'm more of an upgrade freak and I only buy a new computer every ten years or so...
Unfortunately I don't think I'll get a new rig anytime soon, as I'm more of an upgrade freak and I only buy a new computer every ten years or so...
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Yep same here, except I have had the same intel platform for 8 years now! A good ol' Q6600 @ 3.2Ghz, hehe.I have had almost the same for quite some time (a bit downclocked compared to yours), and I upgraded a bit of time ago to a Xeon with a socket mod 771->775. Happy so far :)
I must admit I was looking around at these cheap Xeon mods to work on consumer boards, but I can manage for now with what I've got. My system is fine for light gaming and I really want the benefits of a full system upgrade... Lower power consumption, usb 3+, m.2, ddr4.
I just built a new system for my mom and had to go intel for that very reason, the AMD chipset were lagging behind and I wasn't in a place to wait for the new stuff. I ended up getting her an Intel G4400 (dual core) with 8GB DDR4 and a 128gb SM951 m.2 drive. Insane overkill for what she needs, and it's super cool and quiet that you can't even tell it's turned on.
Really hoping Zen isn't just vaporware hype.
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Is buying a CPU only a good idea given the APU 4 core will most likely be enough for gaming at QHD/4k with Vulkan ? I have been running an APU as a CPU + dedicated card but i wonder if with FOSS AMD drivers we will see interesting APU+Dedicated crossfire support giving much more performance than just CPU+GPU alone ?
Other than that, i can't wait for this. Either way my next Linux rig is AMD+AMD. Not AMD+Nvidia, nvidia just aren't going to be as competitive as AMD on Linux going forward ( can't believe it's possible to type that )
Other than that, i can't wait for this. Either way my next Linux rig is AMD+AMD. Not AMD+Nvidia, nvidia just aren't going to be as competitive as AMD on Linux going forward ( can't believe it's possible to type that )
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I just built a new system for my mom and had to go intel for that very reason, the AMD chipset were lagging behind and I wasn't in a place to wait for the new stuff. I ended up getting her an Intel G4400 (dual core) with 8GB DDR4 and a 128gb SM951 m.2 drive.
If you haven't got a gaming mom, her PC can be so nice and quite and clean and cheap nowadays...!
I've built one for my mother-in-law: G3900 dual core, 4 GB RAM, 250 GB SSD. And Debian.
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I'm looking forward to these! Too bad I'll also need a new mainboard, cooler, and possibly RAM...
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catchatyou 
Oct 14, 2016
Oct 14, 2016
Yes, I'm definitely going to upgrade to Zen at some point! My 8320 has been working pretty well all things considered.
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Actually the memory bandwidth will likely be the bottleneck as APUs may still only use dual-channel memory controllers.Is buying a CPU only a good idea given the APU 4 core will most likely be enough for gaming at QHD/4k with Vulkan ? I have been running an APU as a CPU + dedicated card but i wonder if with FOSS AMD drivers we will see interesting APU+Dedicated crossfire support giving much more performance than just CPU+GPU alone ?
Other than that, i can't wait for this. Either way my next Linux rig is AMD+AMD. Not AMD+Nvidia, nvidia just aren't going to be as competitive as AMD on Linux going forward ( can't believe it's possible to type that )
Just to clarify: Vulkan won't make the GPU component of an APU much better really. The graphics hardware itself will likely be a bottleneck, not the CPU side of things. My guess is that any integrated graphics solution in the short term will have trouble at 4k.
Last edited by Soul_Est on 16 October 2016 at 2:33 am UTC
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