Fudzilla: New AMD Zen APU boasts up to 16 cores (plus Greenland GPU with HBM)

[zornem7]

Greenland graphics HBM for Godaveri successor

We got an update on AMD's 2016 processor plans and the new APU with up to 16 Zen x86 cores and integrated Greenland HMB graphics is something that you may find interesting.

The new APU is expected to launch sometime in 2016, replacing the Godaveri platform that we all got to know as the Carrizo APU. Carrizo notebook APUs should launch at Computex, or early June 2015. The new Zen-core powered APU doesn't have a solid codename just yet, at least not the one that our sources are comfortable revealing.

The new APU platform has everything AMD fans could wish for - four channel DDR4 support, PCIe3, up to 16 Zen cores and Greenland GPU, paired with High Bandwidth Memory (HBM). The ability to add up to 16 Zen CPU cores suggests that AMD plans to use this chip for the compute market too, as the marriage of 16 Zen processors and HBM powered Greenland graphics can probably score some amazing compute performance numbers.

Yes, we think such an architecture is a perfect match for the Heterogeneous System Architecture (HSA). In case you are not familiar with this term, HSA is a type of computer processor architecture that integrates CPU and GPU on the same bus, with shared memory and tasks.

http://fudzilla.com/news/notebooks/37399-new-amd-zen-x86-apu-can-has-16-cores

This looks like Zen will be the first APU for the first personal supercomputer that people like me can afford. :biggrin:

 

[Shehriazad]

Moar....cores.

 

[NTMBK]

It's Fudzilla, I'll believe it when I see it. Sounds pretty unlikely.

 

[Smoblikat]

Oh look, AMD adding moar coars to a slow processor, shocking!

 

[Abwx]

Oh look, AMD adding moar coars to a slow processor, shocking!

That s just a pathetic trolling unless you can point us what is Zen performances..

Wich you cant of course, so spare us those kind of useless posts, there are already a lot of them in any AMD related threads, enough of this despicable pollution..

 

[SlowSpyder]

Four channel DDR4 and HBM? Seems unlikely.

 

[Yuriman]

What node is Zen supposed to be built on?

 

[Fjodor2001]

What node is Zen supposed to be built on?

Samsung/GF 14 nm and /or TSMC 16 nm FF+ last I heard.

 

[PG]

This part doesn't make sense to me:

"The new APU is expected to launch sometime in 2016, replacing the Godaveri platform that we all got to know as the Carrizo APU."

From what has leaked so far, Godavari is supposed to be Kaveri refresh only.
Carrizo is not supposed to come to FM2+ at all.
I think the person made a mistake on this statement somehow.

 

[rainy]

What node is Zen supposed to be built on?

Most probably 14nm from GlobalFoundries (on Samsung license).

 

[BigDaveX]

Four channel DDR4 and HBM? Seems unlikely.

I could maybe see them using HBM in the same manner that Haswell and Broadwell use eDRAM, as a small but fast (compared to main memory) cache for the CPU and GPU.

As for adding even more cores, it's probably going to be the only remotely realistic way they can put out anything competitive at the higher end. The high clockspeed strategy was a failure, and they're no way they're going to suddenly go from the single-thread performance of the FX (which is in ballpark of the original Phenom) to something competitive with Haswell, let alone Skylake or whatever Intel is on in 18 months time.

 

[Enigmoid]

Sounds expensive.

 

[mohit9206]

I don't think they mean a true 16 core APU. It probably means like Bulldozer and Vishera, it has 8 cores with 2 modules each. And of those 8 cores atleast 2 would be reserved for the on die GPU if not 4.So we're looking at 4,6 and 8 core APUs depending on whether it has a 2,3 or 4 core GPU. I expect the 8 core APU to have graphics horsepower equivalent to about 7770/R7 250X,6 core APU about 7750/R7250 and 4 core APU about R7 240.
As for the CPU power itself i expect it to match Sandy Bridge in IPC/per core performance at stock speeds.So this new APUs will give a nice boost in on die graphics but still not even come close to Intel in single threaded performance.

 

[Enigmoid]

Maybe its a 8 core 16 thread chip?

 

[flash-gordon]

Four channel DDR4 and HBM? Seems unlikely.

There's an AMD patent on this subject...

edit:

 

[inf64]

Maybe its a 8 core 16 thread chip?

That is exactly what I thought also.

 

[frozentundra123456]

Or maybe they are counting cpu and gpu cores together. For instance they are calling Kaveri 10 compute cores--four cpu plus 6 gcn.

 

[Yuriman]

Think we could make some rough estimates on die size, if this is true?

If Zen is a "big core", some very rough back-of-the-envelope math suggests that 4 Zen cores may be in the range of 100-140mm², based on past designs without CMT, which would put 16 cores at 400-600mm². I can't imagine 400-600mm² + iGPU, which suggests to me that Zen will probably be more like cat cores.

I base this off very little, though, so take it with a grain of salt. I'd like to see what others come up with.

EDIT: For reference, current cat cores are just about half as fast per clock as Haswell.

 

[Fjodor2001]

I don't think they mean a true 16 core APU. It probably means like Bulldozer and Vishera, it has 8 cores with 2 modules each. And of those 8 cores atleast 2 would be reserved for the on die GPU if not 4.

What do you mean that some CPU cores will be "reserved" for the GPU? What tasks do you envision that they will be dedicated to?

 

[DownTheSky]

I'm thinking there will be a variant with full CPU cores (FX series, 8 cores) one with 2 GPU, 6 CPU and one with 4 4. And ofc, smaller. GPU and CPU modules used in different combos, to cover the entire market.

 

[mohit9206]

What do you mean that some CPU cores will be "reserved" for the GPU? What tasks do you envision that they will be dedicated to?

Ok not really reserved but like what others said, i meant dedicated to graphics only.

 

[ShintaiDK]

There's an AMD patent on this subject...

Thats not a patent.

 

[Essence_of_War]

Or maybe they are counting cpu and gpu cores together. For instance they are calling Kaveri 10 compute cores--four cpu plus 6 gcn.

That's my suspicion also. They've been pushing "compute core" as a metric for a year or two now it seems.

 

[flash-gordon]

Thats not a patent.

That was just to illustrate... I was talking originally about this: http://www.google.com/patents/US20130346695

 

[cytg111]

This looks like Zen will be the first APU for the first personal supercomputer that people like me can afford. :biggrin:

- Well it looks in-line with what we've heard so far .. they're making a move for the HPC/Server space again. Problary also within next-gen console requirements. I'd be surprised to see more than 4 cores mainstream though.