AMD Ryzen 5000 Series / Zen 3 Launch

[brunosalezze]

How much would an i9-10900 cost if AMD wasn't around? Yep, that $50 is nothing.

Not much long ago Intel was selling 10 cores for 1723 USD and quad cores for 370 USD.

[skeevy420]

People drink more than $50 on their bar tab, in a single night. Either everyone here is completely broke or lead very sad lives.

Then they don't have $50 to put into their fun stuff jar. My fun stuff jar is up to a whopping $140. It should be 4x that but I bought some Oberwerk 10x50 binoculars (they're awesome), some new winter clothes (necessary), and a Weissenborn that I totally suck at playing but thought it would be a good idea (not a good idea). I need to buy some different strings for it, but that's $15 from the jar that needs to get up to around $900 for me to buy the system that I want.

[jaxa]

Then they don't have $50 to put into their fun stuff jar. My fun stuff jar is up to a whopping $140. It should be 4x that but I bought some Oberwerk 10x50 binoculars (they're awesome), some new winter clothes (necessary), and a Weissenborn that I totally suck at playing but thought it would be a good idea (not a good idea). I need to buy some different strings for it, but that's $15 from the jar that needs to get up to around $900 for me to buy the system that I want.

Sounds like by the time your fun stuff jar reaches ~$900, Zen 3 prices will have dropped. I doubt they will stay at the launch price for more than 5 months.

If you don't need it anytime soon, I would skip to Zen 4 on the new socket. Only problem there is that DDR5 prices could be much higher than DDR4, and Zen 2/3 chips will be cheaper. But you get a new and exciting upgrade path.

[skeevy420]

Sounds like by the time your fun stuff jar reaches ~$900, Zen 3 prices will have dropped. I doubt they will stay at the launch price for more than 5 months.

If you don't need it anytime soon, I would skip to Zen 4 on the new socket. Only problem there is that DDR5 prices could be much higher than DDR4, and Zen 2/3 chips will be cheaper. But you get a new and exciting upgrade path.

I bet the launch price will drop right around the middle of January. By then all the holiday returns and late shoppers are done for the season.

That's my plan. I was all set on upgrading my current system this year and decided to hold off another year since it still does 1080p60 for most games and there's a new socket with DDR5 right around the corner. I just can't justify buying into AM4 when it is "hitting EOL", y'all know what I mean, and a couple years of something new is about to come out.

But if I had bought into Zen 1 or Zen 2, I'd probably consider one of these until AM5/DDR5 lowers in price and let the early adopters get the early adopter kinks worked out.

[muncrief]

I agree that AMD processors made very good progress, but if we want to be realistic then it is worth mentioning that there is a non-negligible probability of Intel being faster throughout the majority of year 2021 (the last 3 of 4 quarters of the year) because of Rocket Lake.

I don't care Guest.

Intel is, and always has been, a totally corrupt and evil corporation.

If it weren't for AMD we'd be spending $500 for a single threaded quad core processor today. If not more.

[geearf]

Michael isn't that a typo:

Also in the initial Ryzen 5000 series is the 5800X at 8-core / 16-threads with 4.7 / 3.8GHz, 105 Watt TDP, and 35MB cache. There is also the Ryzen 5 3600X at 6 cores / 12 threads.

I'm guessing it should be 5600X not 3600X.

[leipero]

If you don't need it anytime soon, I would skip to Zen 4 on the new socket. Only problem there is that DDR5 prices could be much higher than DDR4, and Zen 2/3 chips will be cheaper. But you get a new and exciting upgrade path.

But that's only when platform is new, if you wait few months DDR5 will go down in cost when speed of the modules goes up same as all previous memory generations. For example DDR4 now is super cheap, you have 3200MT modules for bargain because of availability of faster ones, and considering the fact that there's no CPU that supports modules faster than 3200MT, it's basically useless to waste money on anything above that, and that's talking about current generation, one generation back and youa re capped at 2933MT and so on. Ofc., my assumption here is that you wouldn't overclock RAM since it's pretty much worthless and adds more negatives than positives even for APUs, let alone CPUs.

[jaxa]

I agree that AMD processors made very good progress, but if we want to be realistic then it is worth mentioning that there is a non-negligible probability of Intel being faster throughout the majority of year 2021 (the last 3 of 4 quarters of the year) because of Rocket Lake.

Rocket Lake has to improve by around 15% to tie Zen 3. Rocket Lake is known to use Willow Cove cores backported from 10nm to 14nm. There will be an IPC improvement, but worse than the 25% of Willow Cove on 10nm. Maybe they squeeze out another 100 MHz out of the 14nm process. Add it together and Rocket Lake may claw back the lead, but it won't be a blowout.

AMD could try throwing out another trio of XT CPUs to respond to Rocket Lake. Even a 5% uplift could mean bragging rights.

AMD isn't the only competitor Intel has. For example, there is a real possibility of the notebook market and/or server market being ruled by ARM CPUs by the end of this decade if Intel stops innovating the x86 CPU design and stops lowering the price of a CPU core. There also do exist other competitors than ARM (such as https://www.tachyum.com/assets/img/T...ips%202018.pdf).

AMD's surprise resurgence has definitely hurt ARM in the server and laptop spaces. But ARM stands ready to compete if x86 slows down. From the recent ARM announcement, it looks like the crazy annual IPC increases might be coming to an end.

But that's only when platform is new, if you wait few months DDR5 will go down in cost when speed of the modules goes up same as all previous memory generations. For example DDR4 now is super cheap, you have 3200MT modules for bargain because of availability of faster ones, and considering the fact that there's no CPU that supports modules faster than 3200MT, it's basically useless to waste money on anything above that, and that's talking about current generation, one generation back and youa re capped at 2933MT and so on. Ofc., my assumption here is that you wouldn't overclock RAM since it's pretty much worthless and adds more negatives than positives even for APUs, let alone CPUs.

The zigzagging of DRAM prices since 2012 has effed up all assumptions. We could see another doubling or tripling in prices, DDR4 getting expensive again as production shifts towards DDR5, etc. Maybe we should assume the worst.

[Teggs]

I found it interesting that AMD targeted Piledriver and Excavator owners in one of the slides. 80-90% IPC uplift does seem to make a compelling arguments for a new system.

Also I like that power draw did not (apparently) increase much. I can see a few reasons for it, but it's still refreshing after what Intel and Nvidia have been pulling. It makes upgrading a true one-part process for 400 and 500-series motherboard owners, instead of worrying about power supplies, coolers, and possibly the board itself. Now if they would apply that thinking to the GPU side and let Nvidia be the ones who run hot for once...

Add it together and Rocket Lake may claw back the lead, but it won't be a blowout.

Blow out your power budget.

[leipero]

The zigzagging of DRAM prices since 2012 has effed up all assumptions. We could see another doubling or tripling in prices, DDR4 getting expensive again as production shifts towards DDR5, etc. Maybe we should assume the worst.

Keep on mind that there was serious corruption/conspiracy with DRAM price rigging manufacturers that is solved now, that would explain those prices.