technology AMD finally shaking things up? (Ryzen & Vega)

[S.F. 1,560]

Is it just me or has AMD really started upping its game recently?

 

Whenever I've been asked for advice when it comes to building gaming pcs, I've always answered that it's easily worth spending the extra premium on intel cpus (i5/i7) and getting an nvidia gpu, as amd's bulldozer micro architecture can only seem to compete with the equivalent intel cpu by adding more cores pushing its clock speed to the point where you could use it to heat a medium sized house, and its gpus just don't seem to match nvidia (at least the high end of things).

 

But then, AMD released the RX480, which was a very competitively priced mid tier gpu (and the cheapest entry into pc VR if you're interested in that sort of thing), which I think is a sign of things to come.

 

Their Ryzen cpu's are apparently going to be on equal footing with the equivalent intel offerings, but at a much lower price point (their $500 8-core/16 thread processor matches, and even exceeds, the $1000+ intel Broadwell-E 8 core). Assuming these prices, benchmarks and demos are all accurate - that is a phenomenal price/performance ratio (especially considering they have an 'auto-overclock' feature that keeps upping the clock speed while thermals are safe), and they are meant to be even more energy efficient than intel too, so no more furnace running inside your computer

 

A demo of their Vega gpus also showed a single card running Doom at 4K on ultra at 60fps. Granted Doom runs on Vulcan, which apparently plays better with AMD than DirectX, but still! If they can price their Vega gpus as well as they can their Ryzen cpus, Nvidia should be worried.

 

I dunno, I feel that all the Nintendo Switch news has kinda overshadowed this, and while I am interested in the Switch, I think this is a lot more exciting as I feel that with Intel holding the monopoly on the CPU market, they haven't had that need to innovate as much, and the result of that I feel is that their desktop lines have suffered for it. I'm hoping that AMD, now back in the game proper, will force them to start focussing on their desktop lines more - which will benefit us all, especially those who need a powerful machine whether we are into gaming, video production, audio production etc etc. (Their recent announcement of a hyperthreaded i5 might be a result of this already)

 

I am interested with what will happen with Nvidia too, as I don't feel they have become as complacent as Intel, as the release of their 1070/1080 GPUs was (imo) a good step forward.

 

So, what do you guys all think? Could this be the start of an exciting new arms race, or do you think that it's all just hype and once released, Ryzen/Vega will quickly be forgotten? Also, is anyone thinking of making the switch to AMD because of this?

[Kaneki 1,073]

I'm already an AMD user in my desktop (AMD FX 6300), and I kinda like their CPU products because I'm a price man. However, in laptops, I do like Intel quite a bit better because of temperature issues. I hate my legs feeling like they're burnt due to hot AMD processors, even in non-gaming situations.

 

AMD does sound like they're really stepping up their game when competing against Intel. I think they realized that using their ATI/AMD GPUs as their main selling point will only work so much, that they're finally putting more effort into CPUs than they were putting before (which I think they put a good amount of effort into already).

[S.F. 1,560]

I'm already an AMD user in my desktop (AMD FX 6300), and I kinda like their CPU products because I'm a price man. However, in laptops, I do like Intel quite a bit better because of temperature issues. I hate my legs feeling like they're burnt due to hot AMD processors, even in non-gaming situations.

 

AMD does sound like they're really stepping up their game when competing against Intel. I think they realized that using their ATI/AMD GPUs as their main selling point will only work so much, that they're finally putting more effort into CPUs than they were putting before (which I think they put a good amount of effort into already).

I think I read that their mobile chips won't be ready at launch, but should be coming later in the year - but from the looks of it, their new processors should still keep their price points low, so it's a win-win (and I agree, I prefer not having my lap toasted when using laptops XD)

[Scrubbed user 3,416]

My 6600K and GTX 1080 are awesome and all, but If Ryzen and Vega are all they're cracked up to be, imma get in on that.

[Kaneki 1,073]

My 6600K and GTX 1080 are awesome and all, but If Ryzen and Vega are all they're cracked up to be, imma get in on that.

 

Same here, once I have the money for it.

[Scrubbed user 3,416]

Same here, once I have the money for it.

 

I'm thinkin the Ryzen 7 1700X, and an RX Fury X, or whatever is going to take on the Titan X, and then put waterblocks on them for a custom loop. Oh, and an AM4 motherboard.

 

But always remember the golden rule, wait for benchmarks. AMD could very well be cherrypicking every one they are doing in order to increase hype, and probably stock prices.

[S.F. 1,560]

I'm thinkin the Ryzen 7 1700X, and an RX Fury X, or whatever is going to take on the Titan X, and then put waterblocks on them for a custom loop. Oh, and an AM4 motherboard.

 

But always remember the golden rule, wait for benchmarks. AMD could very well be cherrypicking every one they are doing in order to increase hype, and probably stock prices.

I'd be interested to see a Vega card vs an Nvidia one on a game running on DirectX, for instance.

 

I'm also hoping some AMD motherboards come with Thunderbolt - I know it's an Intel technology, but hopefully they will be able to licence it considering Intel might be using Radeon for their integrated graphics (I have a TB raid drive that I kinda want to keep being able to use XD).

[Scrubbed user 3,416]

I'd be interested to see a Vega card vs an Nvidia one on a game running on DirectX, for instance.

 

I'm also hoping some AMD motherboards come with Thunderbolt - I know it's an Intel technology, but hopefully they will be able to licence it considering Intel might be using Radeon for their integrated graphics (I have a TB raid drive that I kinda want to keep being able to use XD).

 

I think AMD have said they would support Thunderbolt, but since it's shared between Intel and Apple, it is unlikely. It might also come down to whether motherboard manufacturers would actually use it. I just hope there will be decent X370 chipset M-ATX motherboards since I definitely am not swapping my Mastercase 3 anytime soon.

Edited February 14, 2017 by Vulon Bii

[S.F. 1,560]

I think AMD have said they would support Thunderbolt, but since it's shared between Intel and Apple, it is unlikely. It might also come down to whether motherboard manufacturers would actually use it. I just hope there will be decent X370 chipset M-ATX motherboards since I definitely am not swapping my Mastercase 3 anytime soon.

If Apple decide to adopt Ryzen, the there may be more scope for TB I guess (and their desktop lines are due a refresh - so, who knows).

 

I'd be surprised if there weren't any M-ATX motherboards, especially with manufacturers liking to show of their small form-factor gaming rigs, so I'd expect to see some

[Kaneki 1,073]

I'm thinkin the Ryzen 7 1700X, and an RX Fury X, or whatever is going to take on the Titan X, and then put waterblocks on them for a custom loop. Oh, and an AM4 motherboard.

 

But always remember the golden rule, wait for benchmarks. AMD could very well be cherrypicking every one they are doing in order to increase hype, and probably stock prices.

 

Good point. Definitely wait until someone reviews, benchmarks, tests it, whatever.

[Scrubbed user 3,416]

If Apple decide to adopt Ryzen, the there may be more scope for TB I guess (and their desktop lines are due a refresh - so, who knows).

 

I'd be surprised if there weren't any M-ATX motherboards, especially with manufacturers liking to show of their small form-factor gaming rigs, so I'd expect to see some

 

Buying Ryzen CPUs might be out-right cheaper, even for Apple, but as we all know, they don't really make huge hardware upgrades to their desktop models often enough. And when they do, it's pretty much hardware that's been around for a few years that they pass of as new.

 

As far as motherboards, there seems to be a push for mini ITX since a lot of builders are going with that just because of the small size.

[S.F. 1,560]

Buying Ryzen CPUs might be out-right cheaper, even for Apple, but as we all know, they don't really make huge hardware upgrades to their desktop models often enough. And when they do, it's pretty much hardware that's been around for a few years that they pass of as new.

 

As far as motherboards, there seems to be a push for mini ITX since a lot of builders are going with that just because of the small size.

True - especially their latest few updates, but you never know, Ryzen may be the reason for the gap since their last upgrade (unlikely, but possible - they did switch to Radeon from Nvidia, so I'll be interested to see).

 

It's been a while since I've done a build, so my knowledge may be a bit rusty, but aren't the mini ITX boards less expandable than the m-ATX ones?

[Kaneki 1,073]

My good ol' MSI 970A-G46 motherboard (yeah, I know not everyone has a good opinion of MSI motherboards, but I like mine), is pretty expandable, but that's a totally different factor. I think it would depend on the size of the motherboard, but I'm not THAT knowledgeable on building PCs - I know how, but only normal ATX ones.

[S.F. 1,560]

My good ol' MSI 970A-G46 motherboard (yeah, I know not everyone has a good opinion of MSI motherboards, but I like mine), is pretty expandable, but that's a totally different factor. I think it would depend on the size of the motherboard, but I'm not THAT knowledgeable on building PCs - I know how, but only normal ATX ones.

To be fair, it all depends on what sort of space I have - currently I'd go for an m-ATX or m-ITX, but that's because my computer room isn't the biggest. If space is no issue, I'll go for a full size ATX too

[Scrubbed user 3,416]

@Silver Swift @Cloggedone

 

As we see here, ATX is not a bad option for anyone, first time or seasoned builder. It has the largest variety of boards and cases, and pretty much anything will fit in said case. Mini ITX (IMO) is best if are planning a custom loop and you intend on using a single graphics card, and most people buy only two sticks of RAM anyway. You can even get a X99 chipset mini ITX board, but only Asrock makes it and I'm not sure why.   The biggest drawback is if you intend to use air cooling, it can get toasty due to the cramped space of an Mini ITX case. Although, you can use a mini ITX board in an ATX case, but I think it looks dumb and I don't know why people do that. (It's mostly pre-builts are guilty of this though.) Micro ATX is the nice middle ground. You can have a smaller PC, but can still have multiple GPUs (even though I wouldn't recommend it unless water cooling due to temperature concerns) and up to four sticks of RAM.

Edited February 14, 2017 by Vulon Bii

[Kaneki 1,073]

@Silver Swift @Cloggedone

 

As we see here, ATX is not a bad option for anyone, first time or seasoned builder. It has the largest variety of boards and cases, and pretty much anything will fit in said case. Mini ITX (IMO) is best if are planning a custom loop and you intend on using a single graphics card, and most people buy only two sticks of RAM anyway. You can even get a X99 chipset mini ITX board, but only Asrock makes it and I'm not sure why.   The biggest drawback is if you intend to use air cooling, it can get toasty due to the cramped space of an Mini ITX case. Although, you can use a mini ITX board in an ATX case, but I think it looks dumb and I don't know why people do that. (It's mostly pre-builts are guilty of this though.) Micro ATX is the nice middle ground. You can have a smaller PC, but can still have multiple GPUs (even though I wouldn't recommend it unless water cooling due to temperature concerns) and up to four sticks of RAM.

 

Whoa, this is awesome! Thank you for explaining! I should try building one of these sometime (that isn't ATX).

[S.F. 1,560]

@Silver Swift @Cloggedone

 

As we see here, ATX is not a bad option for anyone, first time or seasoned builder. It has the largest variety of boards and cases, and pretty much anything will fit in said case. Mini ITX (IMO) is best if are planning a custom loop and you intend on using a single graphics card, and most people buy only two sticks of RAM anyway. You can even get a X99 chipset mini ITX board, but only Asrock makes it and I'm not sure why.   The biggest drawback is if you intend to use air cooling, it can get toasty due to the cramped space of an Mini ITX case. Although, you can use a mini ITX board in an ATX case, but I think it looks dumb and I don't know why people do that. (It's mostly pre-builts are guilty of this though.) Micro ATX is the nice middle ground. You can have a smaller PC, but can still have multiple GPUs (even though I wouldn't recommend it unless water cooling due to temperature concerns) and up to four sticks of RAM.

Cool, if I do another build while living where I currently am, I'd probably go m-ATX for now (due to the afore mendtioned space issues), as I don't have much of a desire for an SLI/Crossfire setup, but do like RAM expandability (have 4 sticks in my current).

[Jon C 229]

Yep, very promising-looking stuff from them lately. Hopely Ryzen will live up to the hype. I can't wait to try throwing together an all-AMD build for a change.

[Scrubbed user 3,416]

Remember when AMD was showimg benchmarks of their Ryzen CPU against the i7 6900K? Apparently, the highest end Ryzen CPU will be the Ryzen 7 1800X. It will retail for $489. Or at least it should. The 6900K retails (as of this post) for as low as $1,038. If AMD's benchmarks are real, their new architecture will knock Intel on their ass.

 

This is gonna be good.

[S.F. 1,560]

I can't say they're definitely gonna be back in it with Ryzen because it's not out yet lol. I'll wait for a LTT video on them, but their graphics cards are good. Still waiting for the RX 490

He had good things to say about their demo system that he used (the 4K Doom one) - so hopefully that was a representative example of what the final products will be like.

[Scrubbed user 3,416]

Hopefully temperatures won't be a massive issue with Ryzen like the FX processors have

 

They're claiming a 95W TDP for the 8C/16T models. That'll put them slightly higher than the Kaby Lake, but much lower than Broadwell-E. Let's just hope they will come with the Wraith cooler they had been bundling with some of their CPUs for a little while now.

[Scrubbed user 3,416]

 

While we have yet to know what Ryzen 3 & 5 are capable of, I'm confident that they will lay the smackdown on Intel this generation. It will be very interesting what Intel's response will be. I find it be amazing that Ryzen will perform like it does, and they sell it for dirt cheap compared to Intel.

[S.F. 1,560]

 

While we have yet to know what Ryzen 3 & 5 are capable of, I'm confident that they will lay the smackdown on Intel this generation. It will be very interesting what Intel's response will be. I find it be amazing that Ryzen will perform like it does, and they sell it for dirt cheap compared to Intel.

Those 1700x/1800x processors look like insane value for money to me, but with them being the more enthusiast processors, I doubt they will hurt Intel the most. If what you suspect is true, I'd imagine they will make Intel sweat the most.

 

I think we have already seen Intel start to respond to Ryzen, as I'm sure I read that they are releasing an i5 with hyperthreading. But either way, I'm hoping it will force Intel to price their processors more competitively as it looks like they've been enjoying a rather large profit margin (assuming their r&d costs are similar to AMDs)

[llamalauncher 84]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3rUndzpdo1I

 

I wish I could afford such an awsome cpu, but I cant.

 

I hope they make a Bluetooth cpu one day

[S.F. 1,560]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3rUndzpdo1I

 

I wish I could afford such an awsome cpu, but I cant.

 

I hope they make a Bluetooth cpu one day

 

 

A bluetooth CPU? As in a CPU that connects via bluetooth or a CPU with bluetooth integrated?