Where are all the major OEM's PCs with AMD Ryzen processors?

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Ratman6161

Senior member
Mar 21, 2008
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Here are the real reasons.
1. For Dell, HP, Lenovo etc. using AMD CPU's in addition to Intel = that many more SKU's. Even if AMD were a little cheaper, its better for them to standardize on just a few CPU's. the motherboards the put in an i3, i5 and i7 will probably all be the same. They arent for enthusiasts so there doesn't need to be any OC capability, no K chips, not fancy power provisions since they just need to meet the spec for the un-overclocked cpus they are using and power supply with only enough juice for what they have installed. At one time at the office I had a new at the time Dell Optiplex 960 with a Core 2 Quad 6600. Looking inside it, it was really a very plain jane system. But it got the job done and lasted a long time...just don't expect anything out of it as far as going byond the way it came out of the box. Adding AMD to the mix means more different MB's to stock, etc, etc.

2. Name recognition. Consumers and even IT people too lazy to do their homework have come to understand "Intel inside" and that i5 is better than i3 and i7 is better than both. Bigger number = better...even when its not true. Particularly in the mobile world. A while back i had a group in the company that wanted to by 40 high end thin and light laptops. They insisted that "we need the best! so we need i7's". Of course they had no idea that the difference between an i5 and i7 is next to nothing when you are talking the "U" SKU's in the thin and light category. They thought they would be getting quad cores and I had to explain that no, for that you need an "HQ" but 7 is a bigger number right? So it has to be better! For everything! regardless of what I'm doing with it!. Actually they are doing almost exclusively web apps where it makes little to no difference. But marketing is everything and if you are Dell you like the simple 3, 5 and 7 branding.

3. continuing with branding...AMD does the same. R5 Vs. R7. 7 has got to be better than 5 right? and if you put an X on it it must be FAST i.e. 1600 vs 1600x, 1700 vs 1700x. But if I'm at Best Buy and see to desktops and one is an R5 and one is an i5, how do I choose (not me obviously but the average consumer who has no idea). More brand confusion. I would predict most consumers would go with the box that says "Intel inside" because the recognize Intel where AMD feels like an unknown.

For all of these reasons, AMD has got to somehow make a splash with first enthusiasts and then with company IT (of course people like me who are both) before word gets out and OEMs feel comfortable enough to give it a try.

But here is the unfortunate part. In the past OEM's always tended to use AMD CPU's in their el-cheapo product lines. Because they were in the el-cheapo lines, even half way decent CPU's were often paired with bottom of the barrel parts for the other components. So that otherwise half way decent CPU and AMD in general got a bad rap for being the bargain basement crapola CPU...even if it was really OK. After that mess, it will be even harder for AMD to win back the IT crowd. Also for IT, going with AMD seems like an unknown and therefore a risk. I've heard quite a number of IT people makes statements like "no one ever got fired for buying Intel". They must have never tried an Atom :)
 

SpaceBeer

Senior member
Apr 2, 2016
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But HP (and some oher) already offers AMD PCs. In my previous company, IT department has decided to replace i5 office PCs and ultrabooks with AMD APU based elitedesk mini PCs and notebooks. Tens or hundreds of them. At that time, cost saving was no1. priority :)
 
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krumme

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 2009
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Zen platform is to inmature yet. We had a 6ns latency ram improvement bios upgrade. Its insane. New agesa for ram freq comming may.
Then its ready. I kind of regard that as the start.
I think aug. Marks when we will see the first systems based on that more mature bios.

Zen is selling like crazy. In ny country its like 3, 4 and 5 place. Just behind 7700k and 7600k. Incredibly achievement.

Just compare that to before. Its a landslide.
 
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sm625

Diamond Member
May 6, 2011
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OEMs won't even be looking at Ryzen until the Ryzen 3 launches, so they can fill out all their SKUs.
 
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Ratman6161

Senior member
Mar 21, 2008
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But HP (and some oher) already offers AMD PCs. In my previous company, IT department has decided to replace i5 office PCs and ultrabooks with AMD APU based elitedesk mini PCs and notebooks. Tens or hundreds of them. At that time, cost saving was no1. priority :)
Yes its true, the APU's have made a little dent. but you say "cost saving was no1. priority" which is exactly one of the points I made. they use an AMD CPU (or APU) in this case, when they want to go ultra cheap. That means they also go ultra cheap on the rest of the system so the CPU that would otherwise be an OK proposition gets paired with bottom of the barrel single channel RAM, 5400 RPM spinning disks instead of SSD's etc. On the other hand, I often see the ultra low priced Intel systems going the same route.
 

cbn

Lifer
Mar 27, 2009
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Here are the real reasons.
1. For Dell, HP, Lenovo etc. using AMD CPU's in addition to Intel = that many more SKU's. Even if AMD were a little cheaper, its better for them to standardize on just a few CPU's. the motherboards the put in an i3, i5 and i7 will probably all be the same. .

Yep, that is what would be true even if AMD were able to get enough volume to them.

But let's say that AMD's volume of delivered chips was actually pretty low. Now the large OEMs are basically making what might be closer to small specialty runs of desktops with AMD chips in them....and the cost per unit would be higher because of that.
 

scannall

Golden Member
Jan 1, 2012
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Some OEM's will likely offer some form of Ryzen. Probably mostly r3's and APU's. And likely starting with A300 and A320 boards. The A300 doesn't even have a chipset, using the SOC part of the CPU. That should cut costs a bit right there. AMD would likely cut a volume deal with a large OEM for a R3 + RX 550 or RX 540 bundle.
 

cbn

Lifer
Mar 27, 2009
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I wonder if the possibility exists AMD doesn't even go to the the large OEMs with Ryzen 3, 5 and 7? This especially if the chips are doing well enough in retail? (retail = DIYers and Boutique Builders)
 

Topweasel

Diamond Member
Oct 19, 2000
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I wonder if the possibility exists AMD doesn't even go to the the large OEMs with Ryzen 3, 5 and 7? This especially if the chips are doing well enough in retail? (retail = DIYers and Boutique Builders)
The R5 and R3 will have a hard time. The main market for OEM systems using CPU's in that price range tend to be iGPU setups in the $300-$700 market depending on memory and HD configs. If I am right about X39* being Ryzen Pro and that is aimed at the workstation market, and the R7 not being fast enough for specialty gaiming builds over an i7 and not "robust" enough for entry level workstation setups, then the the Ryzen AM4 line could end up being a retail only product. Raven Ridge will help because it will allow scalability of AMD based systems with little to no increased cost and might be why AMD even made a BD based AM4 chip for OEM's only. But the discrepancy between those products and Zen is like night and day. It's almost better for AMD to ignore OEM's until they have a better Zen based lineup for them, then people to mentally connect the dots between those CPU's and Ryzen.
 

w3rd

Senior member
Mar 1, 2017
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Anything mobile will be using APU anyways.
I am sure the market will have full AMD branded rigs soon. Wonder what the new Surface book will have..?
 

Mockingbird

Senior member
Feb 12, 2017
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OEMs won't even be looking at Ryzen until the Ryzen 3 launches, so they can fill out all their SKUs.

AMD does have Bristol Ridge at the low end which is a stopgap solution until Raven Ridge is released.
 

Markfw

Moderator Emeritus, Elite Member
May 16, 2002
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I think the new Zen platform has too many issues at the moment.

Obviously, the general consumers are not technical enough to be able to tinker with the PCs to get them working just right.
This borders on trolling. I have 2 Ryzen systems that run 100%load 24/7 for months, one is a $90 motherboard the other one a $200 one. Both rock solid.

Oh, and they both run DDR3200@3200.

Just because some people who are noobs have a problem matching the right parts, don't blame it on the hardware.
 
Aug 11, 2008
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The reason there are few OEM Ryzen systems is obvious. For the vast majority of use cases, a chip with an igpu is a much better solution. For gaming, Intel still has the advantage. For heavy productivity use, where Ryzen has the edge, at least cost wise, most of those users dont buy OEM systems.
 

Atari2600

Golden Member
Nov 22, 2016
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Just because some people who are noobs have a problem matching the right parts, don't blame it on the hardware.

Just wondering is there space somewhere on the forum for a thread of build configs folks have had great success with.

Would no doubt save some others a lot of hassle in trying to match up parts or in iterating toward a satisfactory rig.
 

Markfw

Moderator Emeritus, Elite Member
May 16, 2002
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Just wondering is there space somewhere on the forum for a thread of build configs folks have had great success with.

Would no doubt save some others a lot of hassle in trying to match up parts or in iterating toward a satisfactory rig.
Yes, the Ryzen build thread.
 
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Atari2600

Golden Member
Nov 22, 2016
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Yes, the Ryzen build thread.

Ugh.

I certainly don't fancy sifting through hundreds, if not thousands, of posts to (perhaps) find a dozen decent ones of relevance!

I was hoping there would be something a little more concise!!
 

krumme

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 2009
5,952
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Ugh.

I certainly don't fancy sifting through hundreds, if not thousands, of posts to (perhaps) find a dozen decent ones of relevance!

I was hoping there would be something a little more concise!!
I think its as simple as posting your ideas and budget and then you get advice and take it from there. Peoples needs are different and bios still evolves.
 
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Markfw

Moderator Emeritus, Elite Member
May 16, 2002
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The biggest problem is not using memory that is on the motherboard MFG's accepted list, or (only for the first month) bad bios. Every new platform Intel or AMD needs at least a month tow work out the bugs. This one was fairly quickly worked out.

As far as OEM's, the topic here, An 8 core processor is not mainstream, and for quad cores, an integrated video is common nowadays, so its more of a enthusiast chip at this time I think.
 
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scannall

Golden Member
Jan 1, 2012
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Ugh.

I certainly don't fancy sifting through hundreds, if not thousands, of posts to (perhaps) find a dozen decent ones of relevance!

I was hoping there would be something a little more concise!!
Just ask Markfw what he is using for parts. His is likely the best and most stable setup in that entire builders thread. And he's done two of them.
 

Markfw

Moderator Emeritus, Elite Member
May 16, 2002
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Just ask Markfw what he is using for parts. His is likely the best and most stable setup in that entire builders thread. And he's done two of them.
Both use the same memory, the samsung b-dies I think they are called, PC3200 cas 14. Both are Asrock motherboards, the B350 pro4 for the inexpensive on and the Taichi for the fancy one. and the Coolers ? H1000i and the Noctura D15 monster.(I think thats it)
 
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Atari2600

Golden Member
Nov 22, 2016
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Just ask Markfw what he is using for parts.

I'm not in the market for a build right now. *maybe* **hopefully** a threadripper in a few months but thats on a pause at the min.


I was thinking more like a properly filtered configurator so forum users (and maybe even general anandtech browsers) could downselect a configuration that forum users know works based on their own experience (and with I suppose some notes on stability, performance using a consistent selection of opensauce/freeware benchmarks, power consumption etc).
 
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swilli89

Golden Member
Mar 23, 2010
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The biggest problem is not using memory that is on the motherboard MFG's accepted list, or (only for the first month) bad bios. Every new platform Intel or AMD needs at least a month tow work out the bugs. This one was fairly quickly worked out.

As far as OEM's, the topic here, An 8 core processor is not mainstream, and for quad cores, an integrated video is common nowadays, so its more of a enthusiast chip at this time I think.

This is far and away the most obvious and real answer. Beige boxes simply can't just throw in a video card for simple video output. Same with laptops. Raven Ridge will be the OEM spearhead that AMD will deploy. That is the chip that will be targeted at the Inspirons and Latitudes of the world.

OEMs will be able to market true SFF $400 systems that can authentically game at 1080p at decent settings. I think that will be a mini revolution on its own.