[News/Rumor] AMD Zen - 16 CPU threads at $300 [Update: Jan 17 Launch]

[AliG]

For the record, I own 5 figures worth of AMD stock. Trust me - I literally need them to do well for personal reasons lol.

But the notion that they would sell a chip that beats the 5960X in performance for $300 is just rediculous. Feel free to sig this comment, and I'll eat crow if I'm wrong, but I just think that people are (again) getting swept up by the AMD hype generated by rumor mills. Let the product speak for itself.

[StAndrew]

AliG,whenever zen performance rumors are posted and people get so excited, I just look at your sig and chuckle a little. I agree; wait for the product to be released before getting to worked up over the rumor mill.

[AliG]

I have a hunch that Zen will be just a hair below Intel's top offerings, but will be priced at a mid level slot. No that does not mean top end performance for $300. But I think it's very reasonable to expect something along the likes of 6800k performance for that same $300. It's all about optimizing margin vs volume, and right now I do agree they are in a position where they have to undercut Intel - just not to the extend that they effectively are devaluating their whole assets.

[Particle]

100%.

That part was a derivative of the most profitable server chip AMD made. That provided the volume AND margin AMD needed. If they priced the FX-62 at $300 then it entirely devaluates their server lineup.

This isn't complicated guys. I can without a doubt promise you Ford would go bankrupt if we didn't bake our margin into the F150. We literally lose money on small cars but have to sell them to meet fleet emissions and fuel economy requirements.

The profit margin means nothing if there aren't many being sold. If you are going to go against common sense and suggest AMD was selling a lot of them at $1000 and therefore making a significant profit off the part, the burden of proof is going to be yours.

[AliG]

Not arguing they sold a lot of them. I'm saying they had to price it at $1000 to not devalue the rest of their server lineup. You can ignore what I said, and that's fine, but don't put words in my mouth.

[zanzabar]

Not arguing they sold a lot of them. I'm saying they had to price it at $1000 to not devalue the rest of their server lineup. You can ignore what I said, and that's fine, but don't put words in my mouth.

the server side is a 24 or 32 thread part per socket, and likely wont be clocked like the desktop parts. we also have not seen what the pci-e config will look like on the server socket. since it will have 2 dies if it has 64 pci-e lanes that would be huge gain over the 32 lanes zen will have or the 28/40 intel uses.

[AliG]

I'm not going to waste time arguing this.

Someone just quote me in there sig and let's move on:
"There will not be an AMD offering at $300 that beats the 5960X."

[vario]

I'm not going to waste time arguing this.

Someone just quote me in there sig and let's move on:
"There will not be an AMD offering at $300 that beats the 5960X."

Well, thats reasonable. It doesnt mean AMD would not launch somewhat lower clocked full 8 core chip for this 300$ tho, and thats what im expecting.
Hm, so i guess the question is "Will AMD launch 8 core ZEN for ~300$ which CAN beat 5960x" ;-).
Remember good old 939 Days ? There was Fx57 for 1000$ , but i had opteron 146 which was basically the same, just default clock was much lower.But it did ~3ghz .

[Particle]

Not arguing they sold a lot of them. I'm saying they had to price it at $1000 to not devalue the rest of their server lineup. You can ignore what I said, and that's fine, but don't put words in my mouth.

To quote you, "That provided the volume AND margin AMD needed."

I'm not putting words in your mouth.

[drmrlordx]

It looks like chiphell is running a story about the product names for Summit Ridge:

http://wccftech.com/amd-zen-summit-r...etails-leaked/

Only thing we can see is that the SR7 will be "more than 1500RMB". How much more? Who knows?

[AliG]

To quote you, "That provided the volume AND margin AMD needed."

I'm not putting words in your mouth.

You have the line. Sig it and move on.

"There will not be an AMD offering at $300 that beats the 5960X."

[vario]

You have the line. Sig it and move on.

"There will not be an AMD offering at $300 that beats the 5960X."

Internet discussions 101.
Answer two different questions with an answer that is derived from a 3rd question
Also, FX 5x werent part of the server line, just caught that weird statement rereading.

I'm saying they had to price it at $1000 to not devalue the rest of their server lineup.

Anyhow, the more i think about this "news" piece the more i think its pulled from ass.

[kromosto]

Of course it is. Just as AliG said there will be no 300$ AMD at same performance with 5960x. This is just a dream.

[Particle]

You have the line. Sig it and move on.

"There will not be an AMD offering at $300 that beats the 5960X."

I'm not saying there will be. The only thing I've been arguing with you about was your claim that a low volume $1000 halo part was keeping the company afloat. It was absurd. It's like we're having two different discussions where I respond to something you state and you counter with something unrelated.

[Tenknics]

its not being called 6850k...thats the intel chip they're comparing it to in terms of performance...yikes

[vario]

its not being called 6850k...thats the intel chip they're comparing it to in terms of performance...yikes

Well, no, it this "article" they compare it to haswell-E and state its name as 6850K, twice.

Performance is particularly strong at this point vs. INTEL's latest offerings. Single thread performance is matching Haswell-E and of course multi-threading performance as well. ...
...6850K SKU (May not be final designation) is wait for it.... $300 roughly. That's 8 Cores and 16 Threads...
...There will be a nigher SKU than the 6850K, but it is a higher bin so it will certainly overclock better than 6850K and that may carry a premium price, but unlikely to be double.

Thats why i think this piece is garbage.but who knows , maybe the story got mingled somehow.

[StyM]

AMD's Zen Rumored for January 17th Launch; 8 Cores With 16 Threads for $300

As we inch ever closer to AMD's Zen launch, more and more information seems to be slipping through the cracks. This time, MAXSUN, an AMD China partner (poised to provide customers with AM4 platform motherboards) is the source of the proverbial leak, with information that, if true, is sure to stir the pot of bubbling Zen excitement even more.

According to MAXSUN, Zen's initial release date is pegged for January 17th, which, if true, would probably mean a product announcement around CES 2017 (scheduled from the 5th of January through the 8th) - at the same time as Intel is expected to fully unveil their Kaby Lake parts. The company also reports a second release window at March 2017, which lends further credence to AMD's expected staggered launch of Zen-based processors, first for the High-Performance-Desktop (HEDT) market, and trickling down from there. MAXSUN also confirms the pricing scheme we reported yesterday, with regards to the companies' SR7 processors (the top-of-the-line parts in the Zen line-up, and whose naming scheme I think isn't the final one) - the company states these are expected to be priced at around 1500-2000 Yuan SKU ($250-$300).

Performance levels for the price are reported to be not too shabby - that AMD's best performing offerings (8 core, 16 thread chips) would be competitive with Intel's $1089 i7-6900K, an equally 8 core, 16 thread offering (like AMD demonstrated with it's Blender test on-stage, though clock-speeds for the Intel processor were normalized at Zen's 3.0 GHz engineering sample). Taking those performance levels with a grain of salt, the value proposition does seem to be considerably high, especially if Intel's Kaby Lake performance improvements do end up being as rumored.

[Tim]

So, at worst/best, AMDs performance isn't high end but their performance is in a good price/performance package, and again at worst, Intel can just drop prices to match or have better performance for the buck with Kaby Lake? This sounds like AMD vs nVidia all over again. Except Intel has got no financial issues whatsoever and probably could barely care at this point what AMD is doing.

I really hope AMD is going to pull a rabbit out of the hat and upset the established order. Now that I'd love to see. Because if/when $300 equals a $1000 part, that will be a bit of an upset! I'm staying tuned!

[vario]

So, at worst/best, AMDs performance isn't high end but their performance is in a good price/performance package, and again at worst, Intel can just drop prices to match or have better performance for the buck with Kaby Lake? This sounds like AMD vs nVidia all over again. Except Intel has got no financial issues whatsoever and probably could barely care at this point what AMD is doing.

I really hope AMD is going to pull a rabbit out of the hat and upset the established order. Now that I'd love to see. Because if/when $300 equals a $1000 part, that will be a bit of an upset! I'm staying tuned!

Im not sure what you are referring to, because IF that piece is true, it means intels mainstream kabylake will be slower at any serious multithreaded workload no matter what, and to match that, they would have to slash HUGE on broadwell-E parts, and still this would leave platform at a disadvantage because mainboards cost an arm and a leg.Intel cant just "drop prices" , for some time they will have to live in a market where their offering is not the best for everybody.
Kaby lake is 4 core, it cant match 8 core haswell. Not in MT.

[verndewd]

interesting, I think we are all hoping AMD can do 2 threads per core but like others i am skeptical.

[drmrlordx]

I might be skeptical of the prices and alleged IPC of Zen, but I have no doubt that their 8c chips will handle 16t. SMT is SMT, they can do it if they want to do so.

[zanzabar]

interesting, I think we are all hoping AMD can do 2 threads per core but like others i am skeptical.

they do two threads per physical core ATM, why would would it be hard to think they are going to continue.

[zalbard]

The clocks are pretty low, so even if the single core instructions-per-clock figure is comparable to Skylake, these chips may not look so attractive in poorly threaded workloads.

This could explain the pricing.

[tbone8ty]

its priced at ~$300 for a reason...its not meeting all performance metrics.

Zen+ will be all ironed out.

[AliG]

The clocks are pretty low, so even if the single core instructions-per-clock figure is comparable to Skylake, these chips may not look so attractive in poorly threaded workloads.

This could explain the pricing.

Yeah, but it'll still be great value for server applications. I'd be very curious to see how well it performs against a 6700k in multithreaded applications. That's effectively the price point competitor, so if it loses in single thread (due to clocks) but wins in multithread it could be a game changer in that market segment.

its priced at ~$300 for a reason...its not meeting all performance metrics.

Zen+ will be all ironed out.

This.