AMD Zen - Key Dates and Information

[Atari2600]

Trying to summarise what we know. This first post will be updated on an ongoing basis to present information and links. I hope posters will add information to the thread itself which can then be pulled up to the first post for all users to have a one-stop-shop for the latest data.


While its probably better to keep this to (at least somewhat verifiable) facts, the nature of pre-release information means at times it's going to be somewhat vague and unconfirmed. If any decent rumours pop up with verification, they can be added - if they are later shown as incorrect, they can be removed.



Dates:
***Supposed*** public launch of consumer Zen at CES -- 5th-8th Jan[1] ***DIDN'T HAPPEN***
Looks like it'll launch toward March time but prior to end of Q1[17][18]

Fairly shakey evidence wise, but possible launch at or prior to GDC[19]
If anything else comes available to firm this up, will post.



CPU Performance Data:
Blender
@ 150 samples on v2.78a x64; 3.4 GHz Zen -- 36 secs[2] (comparable to 3.2+GHz 6900K[3])
@ 100 samples on v2.77 x64; 3.4 GHz Zen -- 25 secs[4]

Handbrake
@ Standard 2D 4K, Quad-Full-HD (3840x2160) 60fps video file[5]; 3.4 GHz Zen -- 56 secs[6] (59 sec for 3.2+ GHz 6900k[6])

Various programs
CanardPC leak[12], while single source and thus unverified, they have a good history of first to the punch.

Clock speeds
Supposedly hitting 3.6 GHz base, 3.9 GHz turbo[13] - with possibly more to come from another stepping. 3.4 GHz is now touted as the lowest clock speed at launch[17].

Core Counts
More than the 8C16T CPUs will be available at launch apparently[18].

CPU Architecture Information:
Ian Cutress architecture review[7][8]


Presentations
HotChips2016[9]
New Horizon[10]


Motherboard Information:
GA-AX370 Photos[11][14]
Others[15]
Chipset info[16]

In terms of what the CPU+chipset can do, on the top-end, **looks** like 32x PCIe lanes, 2x USB 3.1, 10x USB 3.0, 6x USB 2.0, 4x SATA, 2x SATAe plus either (2x SATA + 2x NVMe |or| 2x SATA + 2x PCIe |or| 4xNVMe)



Links:
[1]http://www.kitguru.net/components/c...y-launching-zen-and-x370-motherboards-at-ces/

[2]https://www.blender.org/download/

[3]https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/commen...lender_test_for_comparison/dbb0bgu/?context=3

[4]http://download.amd.com/demo/RyzenGraphic_27.blend

[5]https://forums.anandtech.com/thread...-instructions-included.2495146/#post-38641700

[6]http://www.forbes.com/sites/patrick...strations-and-product-details/2/#7f9f12ed51f3

[7]http://www.anandtech.com/show/10578...lers-micro-op-cache-memory-hierarchy-revealed

[8]http://www.anandtech.com/show/10591...llelism?_ga=1.100096606.1194419361.1470815493

[9]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ln9WKPEHm4w#t=01h01m45s

[10]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DEfj2MRLtA&feature=youtu.be&t=893

[11]http://www.overclock.net/t/1617227/...eview-on-12-13-at-3-pm-cst/1590#post_25723234

[12]https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/summit-ridge-zen-benchmarks.2482739/page-152#post-38646261

[13]https://twitter.com/aschilling/status/817014750018056194

[14]http://techreport.com/news/31241/here-a-world-exclusive-first-look-at-gigabyte-am4-mobos

[15]http://www.anandtech.com/show/10990...oards-for-am4-laying-the-groundwork-for-ryzen

[16]http://techreport.com/news/31228/amd-shows-off-ryzen-ready-chipsets-and-motherboards-at-ces

[17]http://techbuyersguru.com/ces-2017-amds-ryzen-and-vega-revealed?page=0

[18]http://www.pcworld.com/article/3155...rclocking-crossfire-lineup-info-and-more.html

[19]http://schedule.gdconf.com/session/optimizing-for-amd-ryzen-cpu-presented-by-amd

 

[coercitiv]

The two relevant presentations we have from AMD until now, less frequent visitors might find the links handy.

Hot Chips 2016 AMD Zen presentation (Sep 1, 2016)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ln9WKPEHm4w#t=01h01m45s

AMD New Horizon presentation (Dec 13, 2016)
https://youtu.be/4DEfj2MRLtA?t=893

 

[.vodka]

Thank you for this. It was time for a fresh, new thread with actual facts now that we're near launch and the product gets more refined every day.



Part 2 of AT's coverage on Zen back in August
http://www.anandtech.com/show/10591...art-2-extracting-instructionlevel-parallelism

This one talked about the first Blender comparison between Zen and Broadwell-E a few months ago.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/10585...hmark-is-zen-actually-2-faster-than-broadwell

AT's New Horizon recap about Ryzen / Summit Ridge
http://www.anandtech.com/show/10907...nvme-neural-net-prediction-25-mhz-boost-steps

Gigabyte GA-AX370-Gaming unpopulated mobo. Probably midrange in GB's lineup.
http://www.overclock.net/t/1617227/...eview-on-12-13-at-3-pm-cst/1590#post_25723234

 

[zinfamous]

I like this. A thread that aims to present valid, sourced information. We need more of these.

 

[kraatus77]

That other thread should be locked to avoid misinformation imo. it doesn't really reflect what really happened since it was created.

 

[TemjinGold]

Out of curiosity--for the supposed public launch on 1/5, would that be Zen's launch date (hoping a hard launch) or the day we find out the launch day? And would AM4 boards already be out? I was all ready to get a KL w/ Z270 but with how good this looks so far, I may go this way instead if the launch date isn't too far behind the Intel.

 

[sirmo]

Out of curiosity--for the supposed public launch on 1/5, would that be Zen's launch date (hoping a hard launch) or the day we find out the launch day? And would AM4 boards already be out? I was all ready to get a KL w/ Z270 but with how good this looks so far, I may go this way instead if the launch date isn't too far behind the Intel.

Lisa Said "Reeeaaally soon" CES is on the 5th, and many think this will be the actual launch. The rumor I heard last was that the actual hard launch will be on the 17th if I remember correctly.

 

[IEC]

I like this. A thread that aims to present valid, sourced information. We need more of these.

This.

That other thread should be locked to avoid misinformation imo. it doesn't really reflect what really happened since it was created.

and this.

 

[superstition]

That other thread should be locked to avoid misinformation imo. it doesn't really reflect what really happened since it was created.

https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/summit-ridge-zen-benchmarks.2482739/page-149#post-38641593

At the risk of breaking my own point, I'd like to suggest modifying the opening post of that topic for greater accuracy if it's needed — rather than burying all the hard work many credible posters put into it. People can figure out, beyond that, that time has passed and that the most recent pages are current.

 

[moonbogg]

When Zen is launched, I will take the day off and brew a titanic pot of coffee. You can imagine the rest for yourself.

 

[TemjinGold]

Lisa Said "Reeeaaally soon" CES is on the 5th, and many think this will be the actual launch. The rumor I heard last was that the actual hard launch will be on the 17th if I remember correctly.

Right but she also said Q1 with server still on for Q2, which makes me think one hits March while the other hits April.

 

[superstition]

When Zen is launched, I will take the day off and brew a titanic pot of coffee. You can imagine the rest for yourself.

You install it, discover that the automated overclocking makes manual overclocking irrelevant, and then feel the sting of automation?

(Personally, I hope it's as good as they claim. Manual overclocking is a lot of work. Not having to do it would be nice. That way I could tinker around with improving the efficiency of the cooling instead of having to tackle both issues. I have a feeling, though, that RAM tuning is still going to be a big pain.)

 

[prtskg]

You install it, discover that the automated overclocking makes manual overclocking irrelevant, and then feel the sting of automation?

(Personally, I hope it's as good as they claim. Manual overclocking is a lot of work. Not having to do it would be nice. That way I could tinker around with improving the efficiency of the cooling instead of having to tackle both issues. I have a feeling, though, that RAM tuning is still going to be a big pain.)

Automatic overclocking would be default but not the only way. That seems logical to me.
Thanks for making this thread, BTW.
And I don't think Zen will see hard launch before 17th January. If it was to be hard launched during CES, AMD would have said so by now. More announcements means more PR. AMD can effectively use the announcements and press thereof as advertisements.

 

[zinfamous]

When Zen is launched, I will take the day off and brew a titanic pot of coffee. You can imagine the rest for yourself.

Oh, I can imagine what your day will be like:

 

[DrMrLordX]

When Zen is launched, I will take the day off and brew a titanic pot of coffee. You can imagine the rest for yourself.

Watch out for those icebergs!

Oh, I can imagine what your day will be like:

You can not defeat icebergs with plungers. If only.

I expect I'll be staring at NewEgg, cursing that their pre-order prices will have gone up for 300% due to their demand-based metric. Everyone else will be sold out.

(assuming anyone takes pre-orders on the thing)

 

[William Gaatjes]

Nice a thread with all relevant information combined.
Thanks. :thumbsup:

 

[LTC8K6]

You install it, discover that the automated overclocking makes manual overclocking irrelevant, and then feel the sting of automation?

(Personally, I hope it's as good as they claim. Manual overclocking is a lot of work. Not having to do it would be nice. That way I could tinker around with improving the efficiency of the cooling instead of having to tackle both issues. I have a feeling, though, that RAM tuning is still going to be a big pain.)

Automatic overclocking sounds like no overclocking at all. It's just the speed the chip runs at with whatever cooler it has on it, under whatever load and ambient conditions prevail at the time. It just runs at whatever it speed it runs. It sounds like it won't even seem like overclocking.

It could make bench marking quite a task.

Hopefully it can be turned off.

 

[superstition]

Automatic overclocking sounds like no overclocking at all.

It is if the part has a stock speed/TDP/voltage range and a standard stock cooler (or cooler rating) like the Wraith.

Anything above that is overclocking.

Hopefully it can be turned off.

They said it can be.

Automatic overclocking would be default but not the only way. That seems logical to me.

The point I made is that if it works really well there's no good reason to manually overclock.

 

[LTC8K6]

I think you will get overclocking regardless of the cooler, as long as conditions permit, or not if they don't.

If you live near the equator, your auto overclocking may be limited, for example. And the other way around if you live in a cold climate.

Of course if you can go to manual mode, then you may be able to get the overclock that auto-overclocking would not allow.

I also think there may be a return to "black edition" and regular AMD chips.

 

[superstition]

If you live near the equator, your auto overclocking may be limited, for example. And the other way around if you live in a cold climate.

I assume a specification includes ambient/case temperature. (This, incidentally, is the main criticism of 80 Plus — unrealistically low ambient.)

Of course if you can go to manual mode, then you may be able to get the overclock that auto-overclocking would not allow.

Only if one were to violate the safety margins, provided that the auto-overclocking has ideal performance.

 

[sirmo]

Right but she also said Q1 with server still on for Q2, which makes me think one hits March while the other hits April.

She said Q3 for Polaris and middle of the year, and it was right on the money, middle of the year and not towards the end of Q3. I think it's sooner in the quarter than later. Based on everything she's said. Early Feb at the latest imo.

 

[LTC8K6]

I assume a specification includes ambient/case temperature. (This, incidentally, is the main criticism of 80 Plus — unrealistically low ambient.)

Only if one were to violate the safety margins, provided that the auto-overclocking has ideal performance.

I'll be surprised if the auto mode is not quite conservative, with plenty of room for overclockers to manually probe the safety margins.

 

[Elixer]

Out of curiosity--for the supposed public launch on 1/5, would that be Zen's launch date (hoping a hard launch) or the day we find out the launch day? And would AM4 boards already be out? I was all ready to get a KL w/ Z270 but with how good this looks so far, I may go this way instead if the launch date isn't too far behind the Intel.

Since there hasn't been any leaks for motherboards (which always has happened in the past for both camps), I am not seeing any kind of a real launch during CES, unless it is for OEM machines.

 

[.vodka]

Since there hasn't been any leaks for motherboards (which always has happened in the past for both camps), I am not seeing any kind of a real launch during CES, unless it is for OEM machines.

Motherboards are in the works.

There's that unpopulated PCB of a midrange X370 board. I say midrange because of what can be seen as run of the mill specs:

8 chokes on the VRM, 8 phase design probably
8 pin CPU power connector
1 PCIe x16, 1 x4, 3 x1, unknown what belongs to the "southbridge" and what is provided by the CPU (most likely the x16 socket)
One M.2 x4 PCIe 3.0 socket
4 DDR4 slots
6 SATA3?

That's the beauty of a unified socket platform, everything plugs in there... in this case I'm more interested in VRM capability more than anything else at this point, 8c16t SR will need a beefy VRM at >4GHz (more than likely it can cross the 4GHz mark), let's hope properly overengineered high end boards aren't too expensive.

 

[Atari2600]

Since there hasn't been any leaks for motherboards (which always has happened in the past for both camps), I am not seeing any kind of a real launch during CES, unless it is for OEM machines.

There was some mobo photos in .vodka's post. I didn't move them up as there weren't any accompanying specs. Have done so now as it may be useful to some.