AMD Bristol Ridge Desktop Release

[Arachnotronic]

Yesterday, AMD announced Bristol Ridge/FM4 for OEMs. Here is the product stack:

And here are the chipsets:

Looks to me that performance doesn't move all that much forward (higher IPC than Steamroller, but offset a bit by lower frequencies), but power efficiency goes up. Chipsets look much more modern than the ones that AMD was previously fielding, and I would imagine that upgrade path to Zen (as well as AMD's commitment to keeping AM4 around for a while seen in another slide) could make a "stopgap" Bristol Ridge interesting to some on the road to Summit Ridge.

What are your thoughts on Bristol Ridge? Anybody planning to pick one up?

 

[superstition]

What are your thoughts on Bristol Ridge? Anybody planning to pick one up?

It mainly seems relevant in the OEM space so it makes sense to me that AMD targeted that first. Enthusiasts have no good reason to buy an APU. For general-purpose (entry-level) users, though, these seem relevant enough. HEVC decoding is a nice bonus.

 

[piesquared]

It mainly seems relevant in the OEM space so it makes sense to me that AMD targeted that first. Enthusiasts have no good reason to buy an APU. For general-purpose (entry-level) users, though, these seem relevant enough. HEVC decoding is a nice bonus.

Have to say i don't agree with the bold part. IMO being an enthusiast doesn't just mean buying the fastest and/or most expensive hardware available. I consider myself an enthusiast and would be interested in these, because they are interesting and affordable and would be fun to tweak/play around with. They'll also play games adequately, assuming i am willing to dial down some graphics settings (which i am).

 

[superstition]

would be fun to tweak/play around with. They'll also play games adequately, assuming i am willing to dial down some graphics settings (which i am).

I don't get the desire to tweak something unless there is significant performance to be gained, like people who bought $90 (or $50 if you count the $40 board discount from Micro Center) AMD FX chips to see if they can get to 5 GHz. The lack of cache, FPU performance, GPU strength, and ability to clock high all seem to make APUs rather irrelevant for a gaming enthusiast in my view. A Jack of All Trades and a Master of None. That matches the general-purpose lower-end computer but an enthusiast setup?

 

[daxzy]

Where are the reviews?

 

[VirtualLarry]

Are none of these new BR APUs unlocked?

Edit: I get the energy-efficiency angle, and that these are primarily destined for OEMs, but still... no top-end chip that's unlocked, for the AMD enthusiasts (however many few are left).

Still, I might get a BR to play with, although... I might wait, because I would want to get the "enthusiast chipset (TBA)"-based mobo, so I could drop in Zen.

 

[Azuma Hazuki]

Where's the pricing? That's going to influence how I feel about these things, as a system integrator.

 

[piesquared]

I don't get the desire to tweak something unless there is significant performance to be gained, like people who bought $90 (or $50 if you count the $40 board discount from Micro Center) AMD FX chips to see if they can get to 5 GHz. The lack of cache, FPU performance, GPU strength, and ability to clock high all seem to make APUs rather irrelevant for a gaming enthusiast in my view. A Jack of All Trades and a Master of None. That matches the general-purpose lower-end computer but an enthusiast setup?

I wouldn't say it's the master of none, it annihalates the competing processor by 100% - 300% when gaming and is very competitive in productivity, on a process node 2 full shrinks away to boot. Efficiency is even competitive or better it seems.That is very impressive. There is certainly enough performance there to be adequate for gaming, as well as anything else that people would use their computer for (really looking forward to Vulkan and DX12 results). Also the vast majority of monitors out there are 1080p including me, which this APU would handle easily. Though 4K is starting to catch and I'll be looking for one in the future. Even the fastest cards struggle at that resolution, so that's not Bristol Ridge target. Besides I don't think this chip was intended to break world records even though it certainly would in some areas. So those are some of the reasons i am enthusiastic about Bristol Ridge.

And their next products will be on 14nm. Just a straight shrink of BR to 14nm alone would be incredible, but they also have a brand new core to put on it. AM4 looks like an excellent platform.

 

[dark zero]

Still they recently managed to get the Phenom II performance for real and permanently. Maybe they are still useful for budget build and it is futureproof thanks to Raven Ridge. Not bad AMD... Not bad.

Still Stoney Ridge is on MIA

 

[VirtualLarry]

Are the single-module/dual-thread APUs harvested from dual-module/four-thread APUs? Or do they have their own die / mask set?

And, are these the identical mask sets as Carrizo, or are they a new spin?

 

[piesquared]

Ok i was wrong. Actually it doesnt just compete with the competing intel processor in efficiency, Bristol Ridge seems to be a fair bit ahead.

 

[NostaSeronx]

Are the single-module/dual-thread APUs harvested from dual-module/four-thread APUs? Or do they have their own die / mask set?

And, are these the identical mask sets as Carrizo, or are they a new spin?

Bristol Ridge -> Quad-core, new mask set from Carrizo.
Bristol Ridge-L -> Dual-core harvested from Bristol Ridge.
Stoney Ridge -> Dual-core, new mask set.

Bristol Ridge and Stoney Ridge share the same IP, thus have the same functionality. GFX Uncore IP is shared with Polaris.

 

[cbn]

Yesterday, AMD announced Bristol Ridge/FM4 for OEMs. Here is the product stack:

And here are the chipsets:

Looks to me that performance doesn't move all that much forward (higher IPC than Steamroller, but offset a bit by lower frequencies), but power efficiency goes up. Chipsets look much more modern than the ones that AMD was previously fielding, and I would imagine that upgrade path to Zen (as well as AMD's commitment to keeping AM4 around for a while seen in another slide) could make a "stopgap" Bristol Ridge interesting to some on the road to Summit Ridge.

What are your thoughts on Bristol Ridge? Anybody planning to pick one up?

I am a bit disappointed to see the Athlon x4 part with clocks on the low side. This considering many enthusiasts have a beefy leftover dGPU looking for a home:

http://www.portvapes.co.uk/?id=Latest-exam-1Z0-876-Dumps&exid=thread...-your-old-video-card-after-upgrading.2485395/

Some answers from the Above thread:

I put my EVGA GTX 760 w/4GB in the closet after upgrading to a Zotac 970 last year.

Ugh, I used to give them away but now I have one of the most impressive collection of paperweights around.

Some of them I managed to sell off, but I still have:

BFG 6800GT OC (pair)
XFX 8800GTS
XFX 8600GT
VisionTek HD4870
ASUS HD 5970
ASUS HD 7970 (pair)
EVGA GTX 580
EVGA GTX 670
EVGA GTX 690
EVGA GTX 780

...and some other random low-end cards that I just use for test purposes.

I have gotten rid of a lot of cards too, though, and I am currently using a handful of newer ones regularly--at home and at work. RX 480 nitro is still packaged up for later

I normally hand them out to family free or friends at prices so cheap they're stupid to turn me down. I sold my 7970's during the bitming craze and have regreted letting go of my reference 7970+Accelero, that card was a champ.

I got a GTX 680 sitting in a closet, offered it two family members but they said no Now I got a pretty GTX 780 Lightning sitting on my desk. I've seriously debating using it for PhysX - just because. Haha.

With that mentioned, I will say that my own Athlon x 4 860K does well with my GTX 660....it is just that the BR Athlon would be slower than Athlon x4 860K (due to reduce clocks and cache) and the average Anandtech forum member's surplus dGPU is more powerful than my GTX 660.

 

[cbn]

Are the single-module/dual-thread APUs harvested from dual-module/four-thread APUs? Or do they have their own die / mask set?

And, are these the identical mask sets as Carrizo, or are they a new spin?

The A6-9500 (2C/384sp) is harvested from the 4C/512sp die....and for the first time ever a dual core APU has more than 256sp!

 

[VirtualLarry]

I am a bit disappointed to see the Athlon x4 part with clocks on the low side.

If the BR APUs aren't unlocked, then at least, they should be unlocking the Athlon model. IMHO.

 

[Shehriazad]

I think they're locked because they're OEM versions.

"Retail" Chips will probably get their K...and it will also not be unlikely to have a CPU-only 3.8 Ghz/4.2Ghz Athlon once they get unleashed to self-builders.

 

[cbn]

If the BR APUs aren't unlocked, then at least, they should be unlocking the Athlon model. IMHO.

I think they might release an unlocked part eventually (re: The top APU SKU has 4.2 Ghz turbo clock and AMD has that nice 58mm tall copper cored 95W quiet cooler available).

P.S. At stock clocks I figure an Athlon x 4 860K would be about ~10% faster in games than the Bristol Ridge Athlon x 4 950 (re: lower cache on Athlon x4 950 makes it 6% slower clock per clock and there is ~5% clockspeed difference between the Kaveri and the Bristol Ridge Athlon x 4 part)

With that in mind, it would be interesting to see how a Bristol Ridge Athlon x4 handles games with common surplus dGPU like GTX 760 (1152 Kepler cores) or GTX 770/GTX 680 (both have 1536 Kepler cores)? (re: GTX 760 @ 1152 cores is ~20% more GPU than my GTX 660 @ 960 cores and the GTX 770/GTX 680 @ 1536 cores is 60% more GPU than my GTX 660 @ 960 cores).

GTX 760 or GTX 770/GTX 680 too much GPU?

 

[mohit9206]

Pairing an A8-9600 with A320 would make for a really cheap PC for basic use like web browsing,movies,etc and maybe even some occasional gaming.