Zen 2 APUs/"Renoir" discussion thread

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Shivansps

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Sep 11, 2013
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That it is hard to belive is that the ENTIRE GPU is dead when they could be selling the two versions, one with a parcially enabled one, even if it is at 1/4 of what it really is, it would still be better than all other APUs.
 
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Gideon

Golden Member
Nov 27, 2007
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That it is hard to belive is that the ENTIRE GPU is dead when they could be selling the two versions, one with a parcially enabled one, even if it is at 1/4 of what it really is, it would still be better than all other APUs.
Yeah, GPUs are built to be modular. There is no way there would be a lot of dies lying around with the entire GPU cluster borked beyond repair, yet memory controller and CPU 100% functional.

Either contracts with Sony/MS do not allow selling chips with a functional GPU or AMD doesn't bother to write drivers for it (as it's not quite RDNA2 without VRS 2.0 and Mesh shaders, etc)

Either way such a sad waste of GDDR6 )which is in short supply). Even with 1/3 the GPU it would be a very interesting sku and would be a rough estimate for Rembrant performance (12CUs with LPDDR5 or DDR5)
 

Mopetar

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Jan 31, 2011
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Seems somewhat reasonable since the GPU does have some of their technology in it as well. That and the exact feature set seems to be somewhere between RDNA 1 and RDNA 2 so who knows how well it would play nice without it's own special drivers and I can't blame a company for not wanting the extra hassle for such a limited release product.
 
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jpiniero

Lifer
Oct 1, 2010
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MS IIRC is not using partially defective Series X dies for the Series S right now. But they could.

That and the exact feature set seems to be somewhere between RDNA 1 and RDNA 2 so who knows how well it would play nice without it's own special drivers and I can't blame a company for not wanting the extra hassle for such a limited release product.

That's the other thing (as I mentioned), the CPU's vector unit is said to be gutted so it's not really a Zen 2 CPU either.

Either way such a sad waste of GDDR6 )which is in short supply).

I'm wondering what the appeal is to OEMs.
 

Abwx

Lifer
Apr 2, 2011
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It is possible that even a very little part being enabled would had required some specific work for video driver support, and that AMD thought that it wasnt worth the effort.
 

Insert_Nickname

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May 6, 2012
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There is no way there would be a lot of dies lying around with the entire GPU cluster borked beyond repair, yet memory controller and CPU 100% functional.

Not a lot certainly. But they are selling these by the million (8.6 currently), so even a minimal defect rate could still be tens of thousands of chips.

...and as others have said, I'm sure Sony doesn't want their half-way proprietary custom GPU used for anything else. They -did- fund a lot of RDNA R&D after all.
 

andermans

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Sep 11, 2020
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Not a lot certainly. But they are selling these by the million (8.6 currently), so even a minimal defect rate could still be tens of thousands of chips.

...and as others have said, I'm sure Sony doesn't want their half-way proprietary custom GPU used for anything else. They -did- fund a lot of RDNA R&D after all.

I'm more surprised by the 80 systems built on these quote. Like tens of thousands to low hundred thousand seems like low volume for that number of systems? (talking 125-1250 units per system on avg.).
 

HurleyBird

Platinum Member
Apr 22, 2003
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I'm more surprised by the 80 systems built on these quote. Like tens of thousands to low hundred thousand seems like low volume for that number of systems? (talking 125-1250 units per system on avg.).

Wouldn't surprise me if it were closer to half a million that are usable but couldn't make the cut. Also wouldn't surprise me if it were significantly lower, although less than a hundred thousand would.

The majority of these 80 designs likely won't be what we traditionally think of either. Think like low effort (maybe even rebadge) small-ish Chinese companies aiming at the Asian market.
 

jpiniero

Lifer
Oct 1, 2010
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Steam Desk announced - is this Van Gogh? Has 4 Zen 2 cores and 8 RDNA2 CUs. It runs Linux (so no Windows games) so probably will bust but specs wise isn't bad for a Switch clone.

 

tomatosummit

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Mar 21, 2019
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Steam Desk announced - is this Van Gogh? Has 4 Zen 2 cores and 8 RDNA2 CUs. It runs Linux (so no Windows games) so probably will bust but specs wise isn't bad for a Switch clone.
Nice to see it finally surface. Did the old rumours say lpddr4 or 5?
I'm hoping for a nuc sized micro pc or itx motherboards with the soc.

Anyway don't underestimate how many games on steam run on linux with proton, it's not 2004 macintosh where your options were warcraft 3 or bust.
On the otherhand just install windows if you want.
 

blckgrffn

Diamond Member
May 1, 2003
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Nice to see it finally surface. Did the old rumours say lpddr4 or 5?
I'm hoping for a nuc sized micro pc or itx motherboards with the soc.

Anyway don't underestimate how many games on steam run on linux with proton, it's not 2004 macintosh where your options were warcraft 3 or bust.
On the otherhand just install windows if you want.

LPDDR5

The steam on this via comments on Ars is hot.

:D

Seriously though, the OLED Switch release just got blown away online. Looking at the comments on that article, posted minutes after the stub Steam Deck stub article was released says a lot IMO. Not that the OLED version won't sell out anyway, but it is solidly last years news now.


vs

 

tamz_msc

Diamond Member
Jan 5, 2017
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Steam Desk announced - is this Van Gogh? Has 4 Zen 2 cores and 8 RDNA2 CUs. It runs Linux (so no Windows games) so probably will bust but specs wise isn't bad for a Switch clone.


It will use proton so you'll have a large catalog of Windows games.
 

moinmoin

Diamond Member
Jun 1, 2017
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As a Linux user I'm really giddy for Steam Deck. It's what Steam Machines should have been, but the progress Valve managed with Proton since has been really outstanding, and having a dedicated handheld will push that further. It having an AMD APU should also push Linux support for all the power efficiency features in these, which is an area of weakness (though I'm already pretty happy with my cheap small light Renoir laptop and its up to 18h of battery life).

It runs Linux (so no Windows games)
That's a lot of "no Windows games" then.
 

blckgrffn

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May 1, 2003
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As a Linux user I'm really giddy for Steam Deck. It's what Steam Machines should have been, but the progress Valve managed with Proton since has been really outstanding, and having a dedicated handheld will push that further. It having an AMD APU should also push Linux support for all the power efficiency features in these, which is an area of weakness (though I'm already pretty happy with my cheap small light Renoir laptop and its up to 18h of battery life).


That's a lot of "no Windows games" then.

The focus from the Linux faithful on extracting everything from this APU could really have positive knock on effects for AMD. That’s an upside I hadn’t considered.
 
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Tup3x

Senior member
Dec 31, 2016
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Hmm... Excepted a bit more from the GPU side especially when compared to Microsoft SQ2 / Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2.
 

Tup3x

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Dec 31, 2016
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You're kidding right?

8cx Gen 2's GPU sucks, both from a compatibility and a performance point of view.
I'm talking about pure numbers (GFLOPS). Driver situation is what it is and there's the lack of native games too so it real world performance likely is not anywhere near what it could be.
 

tamz_msc

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Jan 5, 2017
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I'm talking about pure numbers (GFLOPS). Driver situation is what it is and there's the lack of native games too so it real world performance likely is not anywhere near what it could be.
In terms of pure numbers it's between an Xbox One S and PS4. Which should be fine for the resolution it targets.
 

Gideon

Golden Member
Nov 27, 2007
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I'm talking about pure numbers (GFLOPS). Driver situation is what it is and there's the lack of native games too so it real world performance likely is not anywhere near what it could be.
It's about the same amount of horsepower per pixel as Series S (which according to MS is targeting upscaled 1440p or roughly twice the resolution) should be quite decent
 

moinmoin

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Jun 1, 2017
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It's about the same amount of horsepower per pixel as Series S (which according to MS is targeting upscaled 1440p or roughly twice the resolution) should be quite decent
Durante (who's somewhat known in the PC modding scene) stated that per pixel its performance is actually slightly above Series X targeting 4K even. Mind it's just a 19:10 800p screen though, so a perfect match one could say.

 

blckgrffn

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May 1, 2003
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Trying to figure out if I am putting $5 down on the 256 model or the 512 model. I feel like if its good, you'd want the bestest one.

If it's OK, then the middle model is fine. Decisions...

Maybe I'll use a couple of accounts to pre order both models and decide later. $5 hedge is... OK given the situations with buying nice things lately. It's hard to believe they are bringing this to market now but the console/PC supply chain must be OK.
 

Shivansps

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Sep 11, 2013
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8 RDNA2 CUs for 1280x800 is more than fine to run metty much everything on high-ultra. (as long as power/temps is not an issue)