AMD Bristol/Stoney Ridge Thread

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Abwx

Lifer
Apr 2, 2011
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Well I dont see it anywhere.

It may be a hard sell for the 1st world, but FM2 is becoming more and more rare and something cheaper than the 200GE is always welcome.

FM2+ boards are still produced with the A68H chipset, most manufacturers kept at least one product in their line up, along with a Carrizo 2/4C that s a convenient way to recycle DDR3 sticks that have been produced at a 1bn quantity for the 4-8GBs ones , i cant imagine all this production being trash binned overnight, even in Europe/US.

https://geizhals.de/?cat=mbfm2p&xf=317_A68H
 
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NostaSeronx

Diamond Member
Sep 18, 2011
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I'm throwing my pennies at it being Xbox One S and Xbox One X derived IP...

A9-9820/RX-8125 have the same frequency properties of the Xbox One X.
RX-8120/(Maybe, there is an A6-9620) which has similar properties of the Xbox One S.
 

amd6502

Senior member
Apr 21, 2017
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I'm throwing my pennies at it being Xbox One S and Xbox One X derived IP...

A9-9820/RX-8125 have the same frequency properties of the Xbox One X.
RX-8120/(Maybe, there is an A6-9620) which has similar properties of the Xbox One S.

It could very well be. I wonder if it's possible that this could be die salvage from Xbox 1S soc. In that case, these might be 8c jaguar GCN 1.1 APUs and would be running DDR3.

Now if they turn out to be for DDR4, then maybe they are just 4c/8t RR.
 
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ET

Senior member
Oct 12, 1999
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I'm throwing my pennies at it being Xbox One S and Xbox One X derived IP...

That's what TUM_APISAK speculated, too.

The RX 350 designation is too low for the Xbox One X GPU, IMO. Though I guess it could be rejects with a severely cut down GPU (or DDR3 instead of GDDR5, which would kill performance).

That'd be a first though, right? For console hardware to be made available to third parties. (Even if it's not the exact part.)
 
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SPBHM

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Sep 12, 2012
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That's what TUM_APISAK speculated, too.

The RX 350 designation is too low for the Xbox One X GPU, IMO. Though I guess it could be rejects with a severely cut down GPU (or DDR3 instead of GDDR5, which would kill performance).

That'd be a first though, right? For console hardware to be made available to third parties. (Even if it's not the exact part.)

Tegra X1 used on the Switch runs with custom clocks but it's the exact same piece used in other products (some Google tablet, Nvidia Shield...),
and there are older examples, with PC specifically the original Xbox CPU was the same physical piece as mobile Coppermine P3 or Celeron

but the Xbox One uses a chip specifically designed for the customer, I would be surprised if AMD was even allowed to sell it to someone else,

also... it's a very bad desktop chip, the Jaguar CPU at 2.3GHz is slow, very slow for PC gaming (and even for general usage, it's slower than a core 2 core at the same clock) and if you have that combined with a large GPU it makes no sense, also the ram configuration... the "S" chip uses a 256bit bus and includes esram which is a difficult thing to optimize for even in a closed platform...
the X uses 384bit GDDR5.....

pairing large IGPs with slow Jaguar CPUs on the desktop makes 0 sense.
if they are disabling most of the GPU just to save some bad dies... I guess... but Jaguar is so outdated, this must be something else...
 

ET

Senior member
Oct 12, 1999
521
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91
but the Xbox One uses a chip specifically designed for the customer, I would be surprised if AMD was even allowed to sell it to someone else,

That's what I meant. Custom console chip sold outside the console. The other way is rather natural (Tegra, or AMD's chip in the Atari VCS), because using off the shelf chips is a real cost saver.

As for market, RX is an embedded line, not a desktop line, and it could well be that Jaguar has a place there that it doesn't on the desktop. But the A9-9820, I'm not sure what's the deal with that. It's a weird name, too, A9 is low end for APUs, but 9820 is a higher number.
 
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amd6502

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Apr 21, 2017
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As for market, RX is an embedded line, not a desktop line, and it could well be that Jaguar has a place there that it doesn't on the desktop. But the A9-9820, I'm not sure what's the deal with that. It's a weird name, too, A9 is low end for APUs, but 9820 is a higher number.

Yes, that's why a Jaguar would make sense here. Also explains the low boost freqs. These would be the same cores that the low end AM1 desktop socket has had (Jaguar). They are slow indeed, but not slower than some of the low end all-in-one desktops that we've seen. (Isn't the IPC of cat core something like between Piledriver and Steamroller, except considerably weaker FPU scores?)

If it is console salvage, then all the console specific IP would be disabled. 1S came with 12CU and so such a salvage binning might be 6 to 8 CU, which falls exactly in line with Kaveri APUs, which is decent sized iGPU, but by today's standards not exactly huge.

Now a Bristol Ridge or Kaveri quad would be faster, even an Athlon 200 in most respects except GPU and heavy MT, but these should still make decent email+www machines (maybe file servers and other odd niches too). Their wattage (cTDP 25W-45W or thereabouts) might make them candidates for OEM sff and all in ones.

The other possibility, maybe it's RR (4c/8t) with some handicap like the whole L3 disabled?

And an even more remote possibility, that this is a proper whole new project to replace Stoney, I suppose with a whole new small die Puma octacore APU (In this case, the iGPU would be very small like the other A9's.) If that's the case I wonder how well they handle the mobile ~10W tdp role.
 
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krumme

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 2009
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FM2+ boards are still produced with the A68H chipset, most manufacturers kept at least one product in their line up, along with a Carrizo 2/4C that s a convenient way to recycle DDR3 sticks that have been produced at a 1bn quantity for the 4-8GBs ones , i cant imagine all this production being trash binned overnight, even in Europe/US.

https://geizhals.de/?cat=mbfm2p&xf=317_A68H
The fm2 mb is aprox 5 euro less than am4 320
Shows how close to end of life that product is.
https://geizhals.de/?cat=mbam4
 

amd6502

Senior member
Apr 21, 2017
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Probably embedded version of Picasso, nothing crazy like xbox rejects.

8 physical cores unless something is misunderstood, plus they are pretty low clocking. Perhaps Puma/Jag plus some tricks got ported to 22FDX (or 12/14 finfet) at long last, to continue the lower budget A series.
 

hojnikb

Senior member
Sep 18, 2014
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why couldnt zen also be sub 2ghz? its actually at its most efficient perf/watt curve and disabling SMT could improve efficiency or at least target tdp at some applications.

seems more plausible than a console reject.
 

burninatortech4

Senior member
Jan 29, 2014
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I bought a Stoney Ridge Dell Inspiron 3180 Windows 10 laptop recently. It has 4GB of DDR4 (single-channel), and 32GB eMMC storage.

It's a DOG! Web-browsing is fine enough, if that's the ONLY thing that you're doing at the time. Try for a little bit of multi-tasking, and BOOM, the thing struggles like heck. Of course, that's makes sense, since the A6-9220e is a SINGLE-CORE CPU, effectively. (Single-Module, dual integer threads, single FP thread).

Throw Skype into the mix, while web browsing with Firefox, and the thing GRINDS to a halt. Since I do that often, I sometimes don't pick up that laptop, I pick up my Intel Atom N2830-based dual-core (a TRUE dual-core CPU) to use instead. It CAN handle web browsing and Skype at the same time.

The sooner that these pre-Zen architecture, GARBAGE AMD APUs are gone, the better!

Not sure why you have this sick fascination with BullDozer-derivative architectures, Nosta, but it's entirely unhealthy. Those CPU cores aren't viable for today's 64-bit multi-threaded software. They just simply aren't. The fact that AMD can crank them out for cheap due to the WSA requirements, is IMHO the only reason that this garbage is sticking around.

Edit: It should be noted that the graphics half of the APU is fine, it even supports VSR (virtual super-resolution), enabling me to view Windows 10 in 1080P, on a physically 1366x768 screen, and still be VERY readable.

Larry,

I have the same laptop [Inspiron 3180 A6-9220e]. It is slow but at $120 purchase price I'm actually really impressed.
- The screen is excellent for a 1366x768 panel (no backlight bleed and surprisingly bright).
- I upgraded the SODIMM to an 8GB module and that seemed to make a huge difference in 'snappiness'. Doing so upped the dedicated VRAM to 512mb - not sure if that makes a tangible difference
- 6-7 hour battery life if just reading text / reddit
- 4k HEVC hybrid video decode (technically). In reality it only smoothly does so at 1080p.

During regular use - I can comfortably watch a YouTube video at 720p in addition to two or three other tabs and have zero lag. I also repasted the SoC (passively cooled) which seemed to help it not stick to 1.6ghz as long (mine stays around 2.0ghz more often now).

The major PITA about this machine is the 32GB eMMC. It's slow and there's no way to upgrade the HDD (the SATA connection has solder pads on the motherboard but there's no SATA connector - unless you purchased the A9-9420e model).
 
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NostaSeronx

Diamond Member
Sep 18, 2011
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seems more plausible than a console reject.
Kryptos/Cato/Garfield/Arlene

It's based on a console. I think however it is its own product. A9-9820 makes it awfully close to the A12-9720P/FX-9800P/FX-9830P.

My guess is that it is a relative to the Xbox products, but has a 128-bit DDR3/DDR4 phy and at most a 640 SP GPU.
 
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amd6502

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It's based on a console. I think however it is its own product. A9-9820 makes it awfully close to the A12-9720P/FX-9800P/FX-9830P.

In MT maybe close, but clearly in sparse thread jaguar cannot keep up (A12 9720p sustains 2.7ghz and boosts to ~3.5ghz). GPU wise yes could be similar if it's a salvage; but if a new project, I think it gets 6CU or less.

If it is its own project I really hope it's not a 28nm project. It's high time they gave 22FDX a test drive. I think an Xbox 1S salvage is likelier however. Think about how many 1S's were produced. Even if a small fraction fail the working 12CU out of 14CU, then one might be left with a large enough number of dies to be worthwhile. For budget category, they want to be closer to 100mm2 than to 150mm2 for die area.

If it is its own project and jaguar got ported to finfet, then I could also see jaguar used in ryzen APUs for big+little helper cores. Four jaguars integrated into a mini-CCX of two zen cores would handle 8 threads. The little cores wouldn't need their own L2 if they could borrow Zen's L3 as LLC. For the lowest p-states the zen cores could turn off, and the jaguar cores could do coarse grain multithread to take over all 8 threads. Couple such mini-CCX with a full CCX and you have a beast 16t APU.
 
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Abwx

Lifer
Apr 2, 2011
10,854
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The fm2 mb is aprox 5 euro less than am4 320
Shows how close to end of life that product is.
https://geizhals.de/?cat=mbam4

Surely, but what woud you build as a secondary bsic set up if ever you have 2 x 8GB DDR3 sticks...?..

Other than this :

https://www.computerbase.de/2019-01/amd-gonzalo-next-gen-konsolen-soc-zen-kernen-navi-grafik/

1-630.1004434127.jpg
 
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Shivansps

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Sep 11, 2013
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The new Carrizos are stating to arrive here, i just set up one for testing

ki19hQ0.png


Notice that Windows seems to misread the cache or something, also, Carriso are full modules whiout CMT? it should not be reading it as 2 cores 2 threads, Or Windows 10 is just misreading everything.
 
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amd6502

Senior member
Apr 21, 2017
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The new Carrizos are stating to arrive here, i just set up one for testing

ki19hQ0.png


Notice that Windows seems to misread the cache or something, also, Carriso are full modules whiout CMT? it should not be reading it as 2 cores 2 threads, Or Windows 10 is just misreading everything.

Looking really good! There's only one active module on the the A6, meaning there are shared resources like the L2 and L1i, as well as the pair of FPU units.
 
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Shivansps

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Looking really good! There's only one active module on the the A6, meaning there are shared resources like the L2 and L1i, as well as the pair of FPU units.

Then things will get ugly, nothing good ever comes from Windows schaduler misreading a CPU.
 

amd6502

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Apr 21, 2017
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Then things will get ugly, nothing good ever comes from Windows schaduler misreading a CPU.

They are for all practical purposes like two independent cores. And on the dual core, there isn't going to be a way to suboptimally allot threads.

Even on a quad core CMT processor, the hit that's taken from suboptimally matching threads to cores is not going to be usually all too noticable outside of anything that's really taxing it to the max, like some gaming.
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
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Those single-module Carizzo APUs are GARBAGE.

They max out at 53% overall CPU usage, because of how crap their CMT is. Basically, they are single-core CPUs.

Evidence: I can Skype and browse the web at the same time on a (true) dual-core Atom (Bay Trail). I cannot, and the CPU maxes out at 53% overall, with a 9220e Stoney Ridge.
 
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amd6502

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Apr 21, 2017
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Those single-module Carizzo APUs are GARBAGE.

They max out at 53% overall CPU usage, because of how crap their CMT is. Basically, they are single-core CPUs.

Evidence: I can Skype and browse the web at the same time on a (true) dual-core Atom (Bay Trail). I cannot, and the CPU maxes out at 53% overall, with a 9220e Stoney Ridge.

At bottom binning and below 20W, yes, they are garbage. I have a medium binned A6 Stoney at 15W and it's okay for casual browsing actually. But that and office apps is about it. I don't think they were meant for anything more. Top binning at 6W performs about similarly as low binning at 15w, and top binning at 10W would perform about similarly to medium binning at 15W (A6-9225). http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare_CPUs/AMD_A6-9225,AMD_A9-9420e,AMD_AM9120AYN23AC/

For desktop wattages (45W -65W) dual core excavators and steamrollers are actually not bad (PD at 65W okay too) for basic office machines. The frequencies of ~3.5GHz (and greater) usually make up for the lack of threads. (Anything demanding like gaming or heavy MT of course is another thing.)
 
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VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
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At bottom binning and below 20W, yes, they are garbage. I have a bottom binned A6 Stoney at 15W and it's okay for casual browsing actually.
At 6W, they are particularly bad. They actually browse alright, even with a VSR 1080P display, but throw Skype into the mix, and things get headed south quickly. Lack of RAM on the OEM install could also be an issue in my case. I should pick up an 8GB DDR4 SO-DIMM to toss in at some point, to see if that helps to alleviate the issue somewhat.
 

amd6502

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Apr 21, 2017
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At 6W, they are particularly bad. They actually browse alright, even with a VSR 1080P display, but throw Skype into the mix, and things get headed south quickly. Lack of RAM on the OEM install could also be an issue in my case. I should pick up an 8GB DDR4 SO-DIMM to toss in at some point, to see if that helps to alleviate the issue somewhat.

I think memory would help. At 4GB and with any apps taking a few GB windows will start doing memory compression; and that will keep a core busy (so forget multitasking in that condition).

In my opinion these things are just not meant for multitasking; Stoney will have to get replaced with a 4 thread or higher APU, that hopefully will handle 6W much better.

Any Stoney at 6W except very top binning is insane in my opinion. I don't know what the people at Dell were thinking or smoking. That is clearly not a good idea. I wouldn't even put those in tablets.