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posted by martyb on Monday January 07 2019, @09:24PM   Printer-friendly
from the competition++ dept.

AMD has launched the second generation of Ryzen Mobile processors, based on the "12nm" node. These mostly represent an incremental upgrade over the previous generation:

These parts are upgraded versions of the first generation of Ryzen Mobile parts, the Ryzen 3 2300U and the Ryzen 5 2500U (codename: Raven Ridge), which found their way into a number of premium designs. These new second generation parts will take advantage of the upgraded microarchitecture going from Zen to Zen+, as well as the additional frequency headroom and lower power offered by GlobalFoundries' 12nm process. The new processors will also expand the range of power envelopes that Ryzen Mobile is available under, from the top of the stack 35W Ryzen 7 3750H processor down to the 15W Athlon 300W for entry-level devices.

AMD's reasoning for expanding its offerings, the company says, is in part due to the shape of the notebook market. Based on data from analysts at IDC, the notebook market sells around 87-90 million units per year, but the sales distribution between the various market segments has changed from 2017 to 2018: there are fewer 'mainstream' products, more Chromebooks, more premium devices, and more gaming devices. By increasing the number of processors on offer, as well as the power/performance at both the high-end and the budget and value segments, AMD hopes to address most of the possible market in order to get a bigger slice of the pie. Usually the discussion here is about TAM, or 'Total Addressable Market', measured in billions of dollars – the more market you can address, the higher the TAM.

AMD is also announcing two Excavator-based APUs, with 6 W TDPs, for fanless devices such as Chromebooks:

One part of the market that AMD hasn't played in yet is the Chromebook market. The processors that typically go into Chromebooks are lower grade Celerons and Pentiums, which AMD doesn't particularly compete against. In 2019, AMD is going to pursue this market, with they feel is 'an underserved but growing market'. AMD quoted that the Chromebook market is currently growing with an 8% CAGR (compound annual growth rate) with increasing average selling prices, so now is the right time to enter for them. To this end, AMD is launching two Excavator-based A-Series processors with a 6W TDP.

While, the next iteration of Ryzen Mobile will be on the "7nm" node, AMD is expected to announce "7nm" Ryzen desktop CPUs this week. Thus, Ryzen Mobile APUs may be lagging a full year (and a half-node) behind AMD's desktop Ryzen CPUs.

See also: HP and Acer unveil world's first Chromebooks with AMD processors

Previously: AMD Launches First Two Ryzen Mobile APUs With Vega Graphics


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AMD Launches First Two Ryzen Mobile APUs With Vega Graphics 12 comments

AMD has launched the first two of its Ryzen mobile APUs (codenamed "Raven Ridge"): the Ryzen 7 2700U and Ryzen 5 2500U. Both APUs come with "Vega" graphics cores.

These are 15 W TDP chips intended for lower-power but high performance designs (e.g. "Ultrabooks"). Chips with higher TDPs will come out later. In comparing the Ryzen 7 2700U to the AMD FX-9800P, an Excavator-based 15 W TDP chip that was released in 2015, AMD claims that CPU performance has been increased by 200% while GPU performance has increased by 128%. The 200% figure is a result of doubling the core/thread count (the Excavator chip used 2 "modules" rather than 4 real cores) and Ryzen's approximate 52% increase in instructions per clock:

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 07 2019, @09:31PM (9 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 07 2019, @09:31PM (#783385)

    How much faster/cheaper/quieter can we expect this new generation of laptops to be vs intel's offerings? How about battery life?

    I just don't know what to make of the info in the summary. Here is a bit from tfa:

    The A6-9220C is the best processor of the pair, with a 1.8 GHz base frequency and a 2.7 GHz turbo frequency, with 192 SPs running at 720 MHz and support for VP9/H.264/H.265 decode. This processor, according to AMD, beats Intel's Celeron N3350 and Pentium N4200, with the following metrics:

            Up to 23% faster in web browsing (Speedometer 2.0)
            Up to 13% faster in web applications (WebXPRT 3)
            Up to 2.5x faster in email (PCMark for Android, Writing sub-test)
            Up to 62% higher productivity (PCMark for Android, Work test)
            Up to 33% faster in photo editing (PCMark for Android, Photo Editing sub-test)
            Up to 34% faster in web gaming (Bullet Force on WebGL)

    https://www.anandtech.com/show/13771/amd-ces-2019-ryzen-mobile-3000-series-launched [anandtech.com]

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 07 2019, @10:56PM (4 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 07 2019, @10:56PM (#783427)

      How much .../quieter can we expect this new generation of laptops

      It is likely that the processors will vibrate at clock frequency; but don't worry, you can't hear GHz frequency, so it will be quite quiet for you.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 07 2019, @11:02PM (2 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 07 2019, @11:02PM (#783434)

        Obviously I meant sound due to the fan, which is in turn determined by the heat generated by the cpu.

        • (Score: 3, Funny) by c0lo on Monday January 07 2019, @11:22PM (1 child)

          by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Monday January 07 2019, @11:22PM (#783453) Journal

          Obviously I meant sound due to the fan, which is in turn determined by the heat generated by the cpu.

          I use liquid cooling on my mobile, you insensitive clod!
          Need to carry the two large suitcases with me all the time, one with batteries and the other with the magnetohydrodynamic pump, but I proudly do it in silence!

          (grin)

          --
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
          • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday January 08 2019, @12:34AM

            by bob_super (1357) on Tuesday January 08 2019, @12:34AM (#783484)

            You could save a lot of effort by just carrying a container of dry ice or liquid nitrogen, you know.
            The fog that follows you is a nice bonus, except on planes.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 08 2019, @01:36AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 08 2019, @01:36AM (#783506)

        It is likely that the processors will vibrate at clock frequency; but don't worry, you can't hear GHz frequency, so it will be quite quiet for you.

        It would be safe to say that the sunset chorus of the wild jackasses on mid-Pacific isles would be like the murmur of gentle breezes in comparison to my last fan. That's why I asked.

    • (Score: 2) by takyon on Monday January 07 2019, @11:22PM (2 children)

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Monday January 07 2019, @11:22PM (#783455) Journal

      The 15 Watt chips will be used in ultrabook designs but not fanless. The 6 Watt chips will be used in fanless designs, which are 100% silent. 35 Watt chips give you more performance but may be less quiet and have less battery life, although battery life is likely much better than it was for laptops made several years ago.

      The Ryzen Mobile 2nd gen chips are "12nm" Zen+. The 6 Watt parts are "28nm" Excavator, the last chips of a dying old node, and will be found in $100-$300 Chromebooks.

      https://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-A6-9220C-Processor.392021.0.html [notebookcheck.net]

      While you will need to wait a while for benchmarks, you could make some educated guesses on how the Ryzen Mobile 3000-series chips perform based on the differences between the "14nm" Ryzen 1000-series and "12nm" Ryzen 2000-series CPUs for desktops. Slightly increased IPC and clocks between the two nodes.

      The list of metrics AMD came up with might be meaningful, but are most likely cherry picked. On the other hand I barely care about comparing Intel to AMD since I don't want to give Intel a dime and AMD is typically pretty good about price/performance. The metrics you quoted are dealing with APUs used in the lowest end laptops (about $100-$300, ChromeOS and Windows).

      --
      [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
      • (Score: 2) by TheGratefulNet on Tuesday January 08 2019, @04:11AM (1 child)

        by TheGratefulNet (659) on Tuesday January 08 2019, @04:11AM (#783554)

        I am waiting for something to replace this piece of shit intel chip I have. yeah, it was nice, before the sploits and all. 35w i7 chip that is truly fanless (not laptop, just heatpipe cooled). there is a 45w version in previous i7 tech. what I NEED is onboard video (not game video, but workstation video, simple stuff, really). can't afford gfx card; want to be motherboard ONLY and no cards. this is a fanless system and the pcie slot is likely to be taken by nvme, so I need onboard video.

        there is no amd chip with 8cores and onboard video. sell me one that is 45w or less and can be fanless and I'll finally replace my i7 system and go amd.

        come on, amd. I want to give you my money.

        --
        "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
        • (Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday January 08 2019, @04:18AM

          by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Tuesday January 08 2019, @04:18AM (#783556) Journal

          AMD is likely doubling core counts on desktop Ryzen to 16 (we should find out within the next 48 hours). Hopefully, they will double the next generation of mobile Ryzen to 8 cores. But we'll have to wait as long as a year to find out.

          --
          [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
    • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday January 08 2019, @01:11AM

      by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday January 08 2019, @01:11AM (#783497) Journal

      The A6-9220C is the best processor

      The series you quote seems to be from the TFS'es "for fanless devices such as Chromebooks... To this end, AMD is launching two Excavator-based A-Series processors with a 6W TDP.", which is also consistent with the comparison in anandtech mention of with Celeron/N4200.
      If my assumption is right (not enough time to check), the "6W TDP" should allow you to approximate the battery life (given a battery capacity) and the "fanless" will tell you that it should be quiet.

      --
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
  • (Score: 2) by FatPhil on Tuesday January 08 2019, @12:45AM (1 child)

    by FatPhil (863) <pc-soylentNO@SPAMasdf.fi> on Tuesday January 08 2019, @12:45AM (#783486) Homepage
    Just remember, kids: every dollar AMD gives to GlobalFoundaries goes to support state sanctioned human rights violations in Abu Dhabi.
    --
    Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
    • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 08 2019, @04:55AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 08 2019, @04:55AM (#783559)

      The same could be said about America, a country notorious for its human rights abuses. Let he who is without sin start the first boycott.

  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by realDonaldTrump on Tuesday January 08 2019, @03:08AM (1 child)

    by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Tuesday January 08 2019, @03:08AM (#783537) Homepage Journal

    Last January, we were hearing so much about the Spectre. And, the Meltdown. Does anyone remember those? We don't hear about those anymore. Because our Digital Manufacturers got very tough. And very smart about the Cyber Security. American ingenuity!!!

    • (Score: 2) by etherscythe on Tuesday January 08 2019, @07:11PM

      by etherscythe (937) on Tuesday January 08 2019, @07:11PM (#783798) Journal

      I'm dealing with the ongoing fallout every day. It's just not front-page worthy anymore.

      --
      "Fake News: anything reported outside of my own personally chosen echo chamber"
  • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 08 2019, @03:09AM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 08 2019, @03:09AM (#783538)

    As stated, AMD is Advanced Micro Devices, not American Micro Devices.

    • (Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday January 08 2019, @03:45AM (1 child)

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Tuesday January 08 2019, @03:45AM (#783550) Journal

      Your point being...?

      --
      [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
      • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 08 2019, @07:36AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 08 2019, @07:36AM (#783588)

        The abbr tag has the wrong text.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 08 2019, @11:41AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 08 2019, @11:41AM (#783625)

      MAMDGA Make American Micro Devices Great Again.

  • (Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Tuesday January 08 2019, @09:37PM (1 child)

    by hendrikboom (1125) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday January 08 2019, @09:37PM (#783859) Homepage Journal

    Any idea how any of these processors deal with Spectre, Meltdown, and whatever problems the AMD equivalent to Intel's Management Engine has?

    • (Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday January 09 2019, @01:23AM

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Wednesday January 09 2019, @01:23AM (#783931) Journal

      Whatever mitigations the "12nm" desktop CPUs got should be in there.

      If the "7nm" products (Eypc, or the desktop Ryzens about to be announced) are already more secure, that might be another good reason to skip these mobile chips.

      --
      [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
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