AMD Bristol Ridge Community driven laptop development thread

[cbn]

For folks that don't know about Bristol Ridge it is AMD's next APU scheduled to be released sometime around Q3 2016.

From what we already know about Bristol Ridge it uses the same die as Carrizo (ie, four excavator cores, 512sp GCN 1.2 iGPU, integrated southbridge) but has the DDR4 controller enabled in lieu of the DDR3 controller. This means that instead of OEMs using DDR3 1600 as default (as we saw on all the Carrizo laptops) DDR4 2133 or DDR4 2400 will be included. This higher amount of bandwidth means a much greater amount of the iGPU can now be utilized provided the chip is provided with enough TDP.

So please write down what specs you would like to see in a Bristol Ridge laptop (eg, screen size, screen type, privacy shutter on web cam: yes or no? speaker type? Chassis material, battery type and size, Backlit keyboard: yes or no? specific trackpad you like? optical drive: yes or no? What I/O do you need? Storage options: 2 2.5" bays, M.2 and 2.5" bay or just M.2? etc, etc, etc)

 

[Azuma Hazuki]

13.3" 1600x900 or 1920x1080 panel
256GB M.2 PCIe SSD
Good keyboard
No need for DVD drive
Aluminum body

About $650 sounds fair for this. The CPU is not going to match anything Intel has; they need to compete on presentation, subjective speed (hence the PCIe SSD), and value for money.

 

[NTMBK]

17" 1366x768 display, single channel memory, plastic casing, discrete GPU which is less powerful than the integrated GPU.

 

[JWade]

13" or 14" in size, any resolution better than 1366x768! no optical, use that space for more battery, don't skimp on the screen or battery. SSD of course, 8gb+ ram.

I currently use an alienware 13, like the size and like the higher screen resolution. something like this with AMD is what I would want, backlit keyboard a plus.

of course I prefer aluminium over plastic.

 

[Bryf50]

17" 1366x768 display, single channel memory, plastic casing, discrete GPU which is less powerful than the integrated GPU.

Don't forget limited to 15W tdp.

 

[dark zero]

As for Stoney Ridge, I want to see a 10 Watt part on a 7 inch laptop.

 

[IntelUser2000]

13.3" 1600x900 or 1920x1080 panel
256GB M.2 PCIe SSD
Good keyboard
No need for DVD drive
Aluminum body

About $650 sounds fair for this. The CPU is not going to match anything Intel has; they need to compete on presentation, subjective speed (hence the PCIe SSD), and value for money.

Is that even possible? I think the equivalent Intel devices go for $1100. For the 256GB SSD variants anyway.

That would mean AMD needs to sell the CPUs like Intel does Atoms.

 

[cbn]

Some interesting info on Carrizo's power management:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=37953816&postcount=70

To maximise the performance on AC and to maximise the battery life while on DC you could do following configuration:

TDP Limit = 35W
PPT Limit AC = 42W
PPT Limit DC = 20W
STAPM = Enabled
STAPM Duration = 200 seconds
STAPM Scalar = 100%
BBT = Enabled
BBT Scalar = 50% (of TDP) // 17.5W

You would have the maximum officially supported cTDP configuration (35W TDP, 42W PPT) available when plugged in to AC and 17.5W power limit enforced while on battery power.

Maybe a set of fans to replace the battery when plugged into AC power? This could allow for a very small mobile device, yet still have sufficient ventilation for processor and VRMs @ 35W+.

In fact, with AMD's focus on integration for future APUs (eg, HBM) I would think having the smallest form factor possible at 35W+ helps the justification for that tech even further.

 

[Blue_Max]

I'd like to see a quiet, fast, affordable NUC with this chipset.

...but I'm not optimistic.

 

[cbn]

How about a TV tuner and antennae built into the laptop? (Maybe with an option to connect external antennae as well)

 

[sm625]

From what we already know about Bristol Ridge it uses the same die as Carrizo (ie, four excavator cores, 512sp GCN 1.2 iGPU, integrated southbridge) but has the DDR4 controller enabled in lieu of the DDR3 controller. This means that instead of OEMs using a single DDR3 1600 SODIMM as default (as we saw on all the Carrizo laptops) a single DDR4 2133 or DDR4 2400 SODIMM will be included. This higher amount of bandwidth means a much greater amount of the iGPU can now be utilized provided the chip is provided with enough TDP.

Further details provided in bold.

 

[cbn]

Further details provided in bold.

Yes, there were even FX-8800P/A10-8700P laptops with one DIMM slot:

https://www.asus.com/Notebooks/X555DG/specifications/

Then there was an issue of certain laptops having two DIMM slots, but only being able to run in single channel. This due to sharing a common motherboard design with the cat core chips,

In a previous post here, I suggested the idea of removing the quad core APU Bristol Ridge dies from AM4 desktop. This, in part, to increase volume in mobile and thus to reduce the chance of "motherboard design sharing" with the single channel Stoney Ridge. The other reasons for not selling quad core APUs on desktop would be to allow the harvested dual core AM4 APUs a larger iGPU (eg, 512sp, 384sp) than the traditional small 256sp iGPU. Also I believe having the quad core APUs removed from AM4 (and instead focusing on mobile) would also open up room for more low end AMD desktop dGPUs to be offered (and once again allow AMD enter into competition with Nvidia in this area). Remember there are a lot of good quality surplus desktops floating around now and I believe AMD offering a low end dGPU to compete with Nvidia is important for that new emerging area.

 

[cbn]

As for Stoney Ridge, I want to see a 10 Watt part on a 7 inch laptop.

I found evidence that 7" laptops do exist, but the chassis using ARM/Android (out of Shenzhen, China) looks more like a 10":

 

[Dannar26]

It's like a laptop screen swallowed a tablet. ::look of horror::

Looks like one of those DvD players I got on the cheap to keep my kid calm in the car.

I'd like to see 13.3", 1080p, backlit keyboard, M.2 SSD, solid construction (hopefully aluminum), no optical drive, wireless AC (though it would be nice to see Ethernet as well), BT, USB-C & 3.0...no reason to have 2.0 anymore imho.

 

[Yuriman]

13.3" 1600x900 or 1920x1080 panel
256GB M.2 PCIe SSD
Good keyboard
No need for DVD drive
Aluminum body

About $650 sounds fair for this. The CPU is not going to match anything Intel has; they need to compete on presentation, subjective speed (hence the PCIe SSD), and value for money.

This is exactly the type of laptop I would buy. Hell, I'd even go for hard plastic.

Things I don't want to see:
-Crappy keyboard and touchpad
-A bunch of internal space wasted on a crappy discrete GPU, optical drive, or 2.5" slot

 

[Azuma Hazuki]

I would LOVE to see Asus do this, not least because it sounds basically like a Zenbook UX303-series but with a Stoney/Bristol Ridge CPU.

Were I working at Asus I'd call this Zenbook AX305 (A for AMD, as opposed to U for Ultrabook) and go with those specs.

 

[cbn]

A few things in common with all the Bristol Ridge posts (except for NTBK's April 1 post):

-A 13.3" or 14" display with a resolution greater than 1366 x 768.

-SSD (with three out of the four specifically mentioning or agreeing with M.2)

-No optical drive

-Aluminum construction (but not mandatory with two out of the four posters)

 

[cbn]

With M.2 PCIe still being very expensive (compared to M.2 SATA 6 Gbps) maybe the laptop could be shipped without storage, but still with a Windows license embedded in the BIOS?

I don't think this has ever been done before, but is there any reason why it couldn't happen?

Perhaps even have the SO-DIMMs left out as well? (allowing the end-user the choice of their own 2 x 4GB DDR4 2133 or 2400 (single or dual rank), 2 x16GB DDR4 2133 or 2400 (single or dual rank) SO-DIMMs, etc)

Opinions?

P.S. Apparently dual rank SO-DIMMs are worth one speed bin above single rank SO-DIMMs on these APUs (eg, dual rank 2133 is roughly equal to single rank 2400).

 

[NTMBK]

In all seriousness, I would love to see a 7" gaming handheld (with integrated XInput compatible controls) with Stoney Ridge in it and good cooling to maintain clocks under gaming loads. Something like a Windows 10/SteamOS version of this:

 

[cbn]

How about a TV tuner and antennae built into the laptop? (Maybe with an option to connect external antennae as well)

Very recently I began experimenting with a Mohu Leaf 50 antennae (shown below) attached (with electrical tape) to the lid of my HP 8460p 14" laptop.

Reception measured on an adjacent 28" 720p TV (connected to the laptop mounted antennae via the supplied coaxial cable) is quite good. So the operation of the powered on laptop doesn't appear to be causing interference.

In fact, I am wondering what the reception would be like outdoors if I really had a laptop with a TV tuner and this type of antennae built into it. Being outside means interference from walls and other obstacles could be eliminated.