Speculation: Ryzen 4000 series/Zen 3

[A///]

An NZXT 280mm AIO. The machine runs silent except when gaming, where the GPU (1090ti) makes a ton of noise.

The what? What 1090ti?

 

[A///]

It would be dumb, but they also did the XT refresh which was an absolute joke.

Realistically, an N6 Zen 3 shrink and bugfix a la Zen+ would be the best option.

That's assuming there is a bug to fix. N6 makes some sense, I suppose. Technically, they could offer some of the non-controversial tech on it. USB4, for example.

 

[trexfromouterspace]

That's assuming there is a bug to fix. N6 makes some sense, I suppose. Technically, they could offer some of the non-controversial tech on it. USB4, for example.

There are always bugs to fix. Ever look at an errata sheet? That's just the hardware bugs you decide to live with.

 

[A///]

@DrMrLordX I wonder if AMD will try anything funky like PGA to PGA adapters from the old Socket 5 and 7 eras.

There are always bugs to fix. Ever look at an errata sheet? That's just the hardware bugs you decide to live with.

Yes, but that's beside the point. Most bugs are a non-issue. Major bugs are.

 

[lightmanek]

The rumor about Infinity Cache makes me wonder if AMD is going to use it as a backbone of creating chiplet GPU-GPU interconnect.
Complexity is enormous and even 128MB is not enough to share frame data, but if used in clever way ...

The name Infinity Cache, if looked as an extension of Infinity Fabric which job is to connect multiple CCX's and CCD's to create one CPU, can be interpreted as cache logic to glue multiple GPU dies.

I know it makes little sense as even AMD stated that chiplet GPUs are only feasible for compute/Ai workloads and architectures like CDNA, but what if they were Jebaiting us 😄

Too early, need my coffee, I will shut up!

 

[DrMrLordX]

I think a zen3 ddr5 release would be all about getting the platfrom in place and ready for the real launch. Hopefully it would just be mid cycle with zen4 with the same i/o die/chipset coming out at the standard year + a bit interval from initial zen3 release.

One thing is clear: with Vermeer being so late in 2020, it's almost inevitable that Zen4 desktop (Raphael?) will be a 2022 chip. AMD missed on their roadmap. An interim chip might whet people's appetites a bit and help distract from the fact that they aren't staying on-track.

Mozart or whatever his name on Twitter is seems to think that RKL will be out with a 5.5 SCC, and that Alderlake will follow with some refined designs.

I doubt it would help much, especially if that's a TVB clockspeed.

@DrMrLordX I wonder if AMD will try anything funky like PGA to PGA adapters from the old Socket 5 and 7 eras.

I hope not. That would be awkward.

 

[A///]

Definitely TVB, @DrMrLordX. No way they can get more than a core or two at those speeds. Hell, I'd love to see wattage and thermals on that. As for the adapter, it's plausible, but given it's hardly done for laptops, and that's for scrapped out ones not from OEMs, it's very unlikely.

I'm sure if Warhol is real, there is a logic method to introduce it as a stepping stone.

 

[moinmoin]

No, it's a joke. You're talking maybe 100 MHz of uplift, which is basically negligible.

It's a typical "the competition makes minor upgrades and the market still eats it up, so let's do that as well" move. It's only a joke in context of AMD's own products within the last 3 years, which is quite telling actually.

AMD missed on their roadmap.

12 vs. 15 months cadence. If Zen 3 does launch in October they missed 15 months by just one month which could be attributed to the pandemic.

 

[A///]

I don't recall AMD ever stating they were on a strict 12 month cadence.

 

[turtile]

That's assuming there is a bug to fix. N6 makes some sense, I suppose. Technically, they could offer some of the non-controversial tech on it. USB4, for example.

N6 doesn't make anysense. Unless the new 7nm they are using is EUV, they are not design compatible. Given Zen 4 will be out in a year or so, why bother? AMD is also using a customized 5nm from TSMC.

I don't recall AMD ever stating they were on a strict 12 month cadence.

Yes, I think they were targeting 12-15 months.

 

[Ajay]

N6 doesn't make anysense. Unless the new 7nm they are using is EUV, they are not design compatible. Given Zen 4 will be out in a year or so, why bother? AMD is also using a customized 5nm from TSMC.



Yes, I think they were targeting 12-15 months.

I could be wrong, but I don't recall AMD saying anything other than 'by the end of 2020'. Don't know what their internal timeline was - have they revealed that?

 

[NostaSeronx]

N6 doesn't make anysense. Unless the new 7nm they are using is EUV, they are not design compatible.

There is no indication of N7+ at AMD at all. However, there were plenty of N6 references...
"In a team take charge of products of AMD in N7/N6 node"

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Vermeer except for a couple blocks is basically the same die as Matisse.

 

[Ajay]

Zen3 except for a couple blocks is basically the same die as Matisse.

Man, stop doing this. Zen3 didn't have all this development time put into it to change 'a couple of blocks'.

 

[NostaSeronx]

Man, stop doing this. Zen3 didn't have all this development time put into it to change 'a couple of blocks'.

First Zen3 was canned sometime before 2H18. (Team A pushed first to Zen5)
The final Zen3 was then split into two designs: On a 7nm family node which is a fake Zen3(cut short design via olde team) and on a 5nm family node which is the real Zen3(longer design phase via another team). Zen(A) -> Zen2(B) -> Fake Zen3(B) -> Real Zen3(C)-N5 -> Zen4(C)-N5+ -> Zen5(A+B)-N3

That is the general gist that I have been given.

If AMD didn't have multiple concurrent design teams, Starship(SSP packages) would only be packin' 48-cores max.

Don't get me on Team D & E which is going to appear for 6 & 7; this early on.

 

[DrMrLordX]

12 vs. 15 months cadence. If Zen 3 does launch in October they missed 15 months by just one month which could be attributed to the pandemic.

I don't recall AMD ever stating they were on a strict 12 month cadence.

Ahem

New AMD Ryzen and EPYC Roadmaps, Zen 4 and 5nm Genoa by 2022, Zen 3 and Milan in 2020

AMD drops the hammer

www.tomshardware.com

Zen4 in 2022 is a miss, plain and simple. It's time to stop making excuses for AMD while bashing Intel for their roadmap mishaps. They set a goal, and they missed it.

 

[CakeMonster]

And Intel has max 8 core on their upcoming CPU design? I think I read that somewhere here. That means that Zen3 will face off against the 10xxx series for the next 2 years? Sounds boring from both camps with regards to innovation.... :/

 

[DrMrLordX]

And Intel has max 8 core on their upcoming CPU design? I think I read that somewhere here. That means that Zen3 will face off against the 10xxx series for the next 2 years? Sounds boring from both camps with regards to innovation.... :/

Rocket Lake-S will indeed be limited to 8 cores. Intel is still using theri 14nm process and the cores of Rocket Lake-S should be a good bit larger than the Skylake-derived cores of Comet Lake, so in order to prevent the die from becoming enormous, Intel has to cut down on the # of cores. It may also prevent runaway thermals. We don't know (yet).

Allegedly Intel has Alder Lake-S coming next year, so it will actually be the product that Zen3 will have to face later in its lifespan, assuming Alder Lake-S launches on time (it probably won't, though).

 

[Hitman928]

Ahem

New AMD Ryzen and EPYC Roadmaps, Zen 4 and 5nm Genoa by 2022, Zen 3 and Milan in 2020

AMD drops the hammer

www.tomshardware.com

Zen4 in 2022 is a miss, plain and simple. It's time to stop making excuses for AMD while bashing Intel for their roadmap mishaps. They set a goal, and they missed it.

I believe you are misinterpreting those slides. According to your interpretation, in March 2020, AMD was promising they'd go back in time and release the first Zen 3 product in 2019.

Edit: In other words, in that presentation AMD was promising Zen 4 would roll out some time in 2022 which they should have no problem achieving.

 

[DrMrLordX]

I believe you are misinterpreting those slides. According to your interpretation, in March 2020, AMD was promising they'd go back in time and release the first Zen 3 product in 2019.

Milan was sampling last year, if I recall correctly. I think you're misinterpreting the first slide.

edit: now that I think of it, where did you even get that first slide? It isn't from the slide deck I linked.

 

[inf64]

Genoa (desktop) is late Q4 2021.

 

[Karnak]

Zen4 in 2022 is a miss, plain and simple. It's time to stop making excuses for AMD while bashing Intel for their roadmap mishaps. They set a goal, and they missed it.

Nope. Quoting Mark Papermaster:

Dr. Ian Cutress: So far AMD’s rate of new products is on track to produce a new core almost every year. The roadmaps quite proudly showcase Zen 3 as almost ready, Zen 4 in development, and Zen 5 further out. Is this cadence sustainable?
Mark Papermaster: We’re on a 12-18 month cadence, and we believe that is sustainable. It’s what the industry demands from us.

An Interview with AMD’s CTO Mark Papermaster: ‘There’s More Room At The Top’

www.anandtech.com

 

[DrMrLordX]

@Karnak

Papermaster was fudging. What he said basically contradicted their own roadmap. I'm not the only one that was expecting Zen4 by the end of 2021:

AMD essentially confirms 5 nm Zen 4 CPUs and "advanced node" RDNA 3 GPUs will launch by 2021 in latest corporate presentation

The updated slides show that among the lineups to receive a performance boost are the Zen 4 EPYC "Genoa" server-grade CPUs, the CDNA 2 compute GPUs and the RDNA 3 gaming GPUs. Curiously enough, AMD did not update the desktop CPU roadmap past the Zen 3 Vermeer CPUs launching this year, but there...

www.notebookcheck.net

Technically, if AMD can get Genoa into the hands of a limited set of partners by the end of 2021, maybe the roadmap is still on-track. But the client map from that slide release shows Zen3 up through the end of 2020, so there's no reason why they wouldn't have Zen4 client in 2021 . . .

 

[turtile]

@Karnak

Papermaster was fudging. What he said basically contradicted their own roadmap. I'm not the only one that was expecting Zen4 by the end of 2021:

AMD essentially confirms 5 nm Zen 4 CPUs and "advanced node" RDNA 3 GPUs will launch by 2021 in latest corporate presentation

The updated slides show that among the lineups to receive a performance boost are the Zen 4 EPYC "Genoa" server-grade CPUs, the CDNA 2 compute GPUs and the RDNA 3 gaming GPUs. Curiously enough, AMD did not update the desktop CPU roadmap past the Zen 3 Vermeer CPUs launching this year, but there...

www.notebookcheck.net

Technically, if AMD can get Genoa into the hands of a limited set of partners by the end of 2021, maybe the roadmap is still on-track. But the client map from that slide release shows Zen3 up through the end of 2020, so there's no reason why they wouldn't have Zen4 client in 2021 . . .

He didn't. The roadmap shows Zen 4 scheduled for release in 2022. It also shows no new CPU releases for EPYC in 2021. The desktop roadmap just posted above shows only Zen 3 through 2021. 2021 will just be APU/GPU releases.

 

[MrTeal]

Ahem

New AMD Ryzen and EPYC Roadmaps, Zen 4 and 5nm Genoa by 2022, Zen 3 and Milan in 2020

AMD drops the hammer

www.tomshardware.com

Zen4 in 2022 is a miss, plain and simple. It's time to stop making excuses for AMD while bashing Intel for their roadmap mishaps. They set a goal, and they missed it.

The article you linked has the following paragraph in it, immediately after the server roadmap.

Perhaps most impressive, AMD's roadmaps indicate the company will have its EPYC Genoa processors fully on the market by the end of 2022. Those chips will come with the 5nm process and Zen 4 architecture, and if AMD can continue to execute on time, that represents an impressively huge jump forward in a relatively short span. We can also expect that AMD's Zen 4 processors for the consumer market will come with the 5nm process as well.

 

[Hitman928]

Milan was sampling last year, if I recall correctly. I think you're misinterpreting the first slide.

edit: now that I think of it, where did you even get that first slide? It isn't from the slide deck I linked.

It's in there, you must have just missed it.

If you go by when AMD starts sampling to partners, then Zen4 in 2021 is a possibility as key partners start to get samples well ahead of launch but even then, you're back to Zen3 being an end of 2020 product with earlier sampling and Zen4 being a 2022 product with earlier sampling, just like their roadmaps show, even though I can see where you and NBC got confused. The roadmap isn't supposed to line up at the ends, the dates at the beginning and end are more like bookends.

The purpose of these road maps was to show partners and investors the time frame they are on for Zen iterations from Zen 1 to Zen 4. Basically they are just saying between 2017 and 2022 they will have Zen 1 - Zen 4 released. That's it. AMD also provided context during the presentation that isn't found in the slides to better understand the roadmaps, such as:

The company says the first Zen 3 chips will land during the tail end of 2020, but the chips will be "fully in the market" for all segments by the end of 2021.

For the client roadmap which ends with Zen3 and the year 2021. So there's wiggle room in these roadmaps and they shouldn't be read as hard launch time frames but rather general guidance of availability.