• Intel's 7nm process is a year behind schedule.  (AnandTech)
  
  Desktop 7nm is now expected by the end of 2022, with server parts in 2023 - more than three years behind AMD.
  
  This is a driving factor behind Intel's "Foveros" die stacking technology.  If you're tightly constrained on your leading-edge process, breaking out I/O functions to a second chiplet produced on an older process in plentiful supply has a multitude of benefits.
  
  It's probably possible to build a 64-core Zen processor on a single die, but shipping it in volume is an entirely different question.
  
  And despite these problems, Intel just posted another record quarterly profit.
  
  
  
• Putting the new Ryzen 4000 desktop APUs through their paces.  (Tom's Hardware)
  
  They're not slow.  CPU side competes with Intel's brand new 10700K, and graphics side can play League of Legends - admittedly not the most GPU intensive game - at over 100FPS on max settings at 4K.
  
  
  
• Prices for the 4000 Pro desktop APUs have also leaked.  (WCCFTech)
  
  It's a shame you can't buy them because they're pretty good value.  The 6 core / 7 CU 4650G Pro comes in at $209, just $10 more than the 3600 Pro without GPU.
  
  
  
• The reason I'm so hyped for the Ryzen APUs is that this is just the beginning.  At 5nm, with DDR5 RAM, AMD will be able to double everything - 16 cores and 16 CUs - while keeping the die size the same and still keeping TDP under control.
  
  The 15W Zen 2 laptop chips are already faster than my 65W Zen 1 desktop CPU, and when AMD starts shipping 5nm parts they'll be Zen 3 if not Zen 4.
  
  A 16 CU Navi IGP would still be slower than my current RX 580, but would certainly not be slow.
  
  Going much beyond that would require either a large graphics cache or more memory channels - which is what we see in the Xbox Series X and Playstation 5.  Both of those are really just Ryzen APUs with large IGPs.
  
  A Ryzen APU with quad-channel DDR5 would deliver gaming performance not far behind those consoles, but I'm not sure if the market is ready for it.
  
  
  

Posted by: normal at Saturday, July 25 2020 11:32 PM (obo9H)

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