AMD's Ryzen CPUs (Ryzen/TR/Epyc) & Vega/Polaris/Navi GPUs

It seems the 3500u is about 10% faster than the 2500u in CB R15, this by my own 2500u. Nice boost for the 12nm but we really need to see 7nm hitting mobile.

 

Probably gonna be another year, if AMD remains on the same release cadence. Release in early January 2020, in laptops and getting reviews / benchmarks by March 2020.

Maybe sooner, but unlikely as AMD's 7nm CPU release schedule should be pretty darned full moving forward this year.

Maybe if the Console APU's put the hustle in the division we could see them sooner for PC, or that resource drain might slow down the release of the 4500u series next year just as likely.

 

TBH owning the 2500u I do not see the immediate need for 7nm. Where it will matter is laptops and DTR's meant for productivity work. Possibly in gaming laptops as well where dedicated GPU's are used.

 

7nm should help all around. Not just for power, but also real estate area to place more CPU / GPU functionality in the same space.

More powerful GPU, Navi based, might give you full RX 570+ level GPU performance in an APU. So not so much CPU as GPU upgrade.

Although, maybe CPU with 6c/8t or 8c/16t in APU might be in the cards some time.

 

If AMD holds true to past design they will just use the base CCX like they do for the quad core now. It is cheaper in the long run not to redesign the wheel. Use what has been developed and shown to work and fit it too the new format. Onece we have the 7nm desktop CPU's we may better be able to guess at the mobile equivalents.

 

It's a new architecture along with a new shrink / process @ 7nm, I don't think AMD can use the old CCX intact, maybe they used segments / elements, but to integrate the IO chip it would take additional design changes. For the mobile CPU I would hope AMD do the same, since chiplets lend itself to APU flexibility in design.

 

I meant use whatever the new CCX (or module) is, since it is not out yet we have to wait on the actual design.

 

Reference Vega 56 stock bios & uv @ 3600rpm. I’m pretty satisfied with the results.
Submitted 3 hours ago by DidIGoHam
https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/commen..._56_stock_bios_uv_3600rpm_im_pretty/?sort=new


snipernote AMD R7 x1700, Vega 56+8 Red Dragon, 32GB RAM 3200 2 points 3 hours ago
"I got better on air cooled vega 56 with power play table and vega 64 bios ... Check my posts xD"

DidIGoHam[ S] 1 point 3 hours ago
"4514 with 0 power limit....impressive"

snipernote AMD R7 x1700, Vega 56+8 Red Dragon, 32GB RAM 3200 1 point 3 hours ago
"Thanks ... I am still at 0% power limit which gives about 240w average usage without hbm oc at 945mhz (which is an oc itself ) and when hbm is oc'ed to 1050 i get about 215w usage and my average score is 4483 atm"

AMD to challenge Intel server processor market dominance
Monica Chen, Taipei; Joseph Tsai, DIGITIMES, Thursday 28 March 2019
https://www.digitimes.com/news/a20190328PD200.html

"Intel's server processor market share is likely to fall below 90% by the end of 2020, as AMD with its EPYC series continues to attract more orders from server vendors and cloud service providers, according to market sources.

Japan-based NTT Data has announced recently to procure datacenter servers equipped with AMD EPYC processors for its credit and financial information system (CAFIS) from Tyan Computer.

Because of the EPYC series' strong price/performance ratio and AMD's plan of releasing its next-generation 7nm datacenter processors codenamed Rome later in 2019, demand for the AMD-based servers has been rising.

AMD's share in the server processor market rose strongly to 3.2% in the fourth quarter of 2018 from 0.8% in the fourth quarter of 2017.

AMD achieved revenues of US$6.48 billion for 2018, up 23% on year and net profits arrived at US$337 million, up from 2017's loss of US$33 million as the company had enjoyed rising EPYC and Ryzen processor shipments and increased GPU sales."

 

Our Most Epyc CPU Tests Yet! The AMD Epyc 7371 On The Gigabyte R281-Z92
Level1Techs
Published on Mar 31, 2019
These high clock Epycs are an *insane* value. very, very speedy .
Benchmarks: https://openbenchmarking.org/result/1...
https://openbenchmarking.org/result/1...

 

XFX Fatboy RX 590 8GB "sweet spot" rig
Bitwit
Published on Mar 30, 2019
This video is sponsored by AMD and MSI
Building a mid-range $850 gaming PC for gaming because gaming

Spoiler: -THE PARTS-

Phanteks Eclipse P400
AMD Ryzen 5 2600
MSI B450 Tomahawk
16GB Patriot Viper Steel 3200
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black Ed
XFX Fatboy RX 590 8GB
Seasonic Focus+ 550W
Silicon Power A55 SSD
Enter giveaway here: https://gleam.io/competitions/ojrOu-b...

Zen 2 - Even More EPYC!
AdoredTV
Published on Apr 1, 2019

 

Not a fan of the delay on Zen 2 chips because of chipset issues.

 

High Performance Computing Conference
Forrest Norrod
Senior Vice President & General Manager
Data Center and Embedded Solutions Group, AMD
Rice Ken Kennedy Institute for Information Technology
Published on Mar 7, 2019

 

AMD to Simultaneously Launch 3rd Gen Ryzen and Unveil Radeon "Navi" This June
by btarunr Yesterday, 22:27
https://www.techpowerup.com/254259/...rd-gen-ryzen-and-unveil-radeon-navi-this-june

"TAITRA, the governing body behind the annual Computex trade-show held in Taipei each June, announced that AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su will host a keynote address which promises to be as exciting as her CES keynote. It is revealed that Dr. Su will simultaneously launch or unveil at least four product lines. High up the agenda is AMD's highly anticipated 3rd generation Ryzen desktop processors in the socket AM4 package, based on "Zen 2" microarchitecture, and a multi-chip module (MCM) codenamed "Matisse." This launch could be followed up by a major announcement related to the company's 2nd generation EPYC enterprise processors based on the "Rome" MCM.

PC enthusiasts are in for a second major announcement, this time from RTG, with a technical reveal or unveiling of Radeon "Navi," the company's first GPU designed from the ground up for the 7 nm silicon fabrication process. It remains to be seen which market-segment AMD targets with the first "Navi" products, and the question on everyone's minds, whether AMD added DXR acceleration, could be answered. Lastly, the company could announce more variants of its Radeon Instinct DNN accelerators."

AMD President and CEO Dr. Lisa Su to Deliver COMPUTEX 2019 CEO Keynote
PRESS RELEASE by btarunr Yesterday, 22:16
https://www.techpowerup.com/254258/...-lisa-su-to-deliver-computex-2019-ceo-keynote
https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/b8f3h7/amd_president_and_ceo_dr_lisa_su_to_deliver/

"Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) announced today that the 2019 COMPUTEX International Press Conference will be held with a Keynote by AMD President and CEO Dr. Lisa Su. The 2019 COMPUTEX International Press Conference & CEO Keynote is scheduled for Monday, May 27 at 10:00 AM in Room 201 of the Taipei International Convention Center (TICC) in Taipei, Taiwan with the keynote topic "The Next Generation of High-Performance Computing".

Spoiler

"COMPUTEX, as one of the global leading technology tradeshows, has continued to advance with the times for more than 30 years. This year, for the first time, a keynote speech will be held at the pre-show international press conference," said Mr. Walter Yeh, President & CEO, TAITRA, "Dr. Lisa Su received a special invitation to share insights about the next generation of high-performance computing. We look forward to her participation attracting more companies to participate in COMPUTEX, bringing the latest industry insights, and jointly sharing the infinite possibilities of the technology ecosystem on this global stage."

As the first CEO keynote speaker at the COMPUTEX Press Conference, Dr. Lisa Su said, "As one of the most important global events for our industry, I look forward to COMPUTEX each year. I am honored to deliver the opening keynote this year and provide new details about the next generation of high-performance AMD platforms and products. With our partners, we will tell the story of how leading-edge technologies and an open ecosystem are driving an inflection point in computing and industry innovation and positively impacting several important markets."

Under the leadership of Dr. Lisa Su, AMD continues to grow and excel in the field of high-performance computing, graphics, and visualization technologies. The latest AMD products released include the world's first 7nm gaming GPU-AMD Radeon VII and first 7nm datacenter GPU, AMD Radeon Instinct MI60.

Upcoming products include 7nm AMD EPYC datacenter processors, 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen desktop processors and graphics cards based on the next-generation "Navi" architecture - all of which are designed to create exceptional experiences for gamers and creators as well as help solve many of the toughest challenges in our lives. During the CEO Keynote, Dr. Lisa Su and other high-profile guests will highlight new details of upcoming products and showcase how the industry is building a new high-performance computing ecosystem that will push technology to the next level.

COMPUTEX 2019 continues its position of Building Global Technology Ecosystems from May 28 - June 1, 2019 hosting 1,685 exhibitors across 5,508 exhibition booths, focusing on the latest tech trends such as AI & IoT, 5G, Blockchain, Innovations & Startups, and Gaming & XR. The 2019 show aims to inspire more innovative technologies and market opportunities to create a new ICT ecosystem. "

 

Original Source:

AMD President and CEO Dr. Lisa Su to Deliver COMPUTEX 2019
CEO Keynote on New High-Performance Computing Technologies
2019/04/02
https://www.computextaipei.com.tw/en_US/news/info.html?id=6994382A4DFCD609

"Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) announced today that the 2019 COMPUTEX International Press Conference will be held with a Keynote by AMD President and CEO Dr. Lisa Su. The 2019 COMPUTEX International Press Conference & CEO Keynote is scheduled for Monday, May 27 at 10:00 AM in Room 201 of the Taipei International Convention Center (TICC) in Taipei, Taiwan with the keynote topic “The Next Generation of High-Performance Computing”.

"COMPUTEX, as one of the global leading technology tradeshows, has continued to advance with the times for more than 30 years. This year, for the first time, a keynote speech will be held at the pre-show international press conference,” said Mr. Walter Yeh, President & CEO, TAITRA, “Dr. Lisa Su received a special invitation to share insights about the next generation of high-performance computing. We look forward to her participation attracting more companies to participate in COMPUTEX, bringing the latest industry insights, and jointly sharing the infinite possibilities of the technology ecosystem on this global stage."

As the first CEO keynote speaker at the COMPUTEX Press Conference, Dr. Lisa Su said, “As one of the most important global events for our industry, I look forward to COMPUTEX each year. I am honored to deliver the opening keynote this year and provide new details about the next generation of high-performance AMD platforms and products. With our partners, we will tell the story of how leading-edge technologies and an open ecosystem are driving an inflection point in computing and industry innovation and positively impacting several important markets.”

Under the leadership of Dr. Lisa Su, AMD continues to grow and excel in the field of high-performance computing, graphics, and visualization technologies. The latest AMD products released include the world’s first 7nm gaming GPU–AMD Radeon™ VII and first 7nm datacenter GPU, AMD Radeon Instinct MI60. Upcoming products include 7nm AMD EPYC™ datacenter processors, 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen™ desktop processors and graphics cards based on the next-generation “Navi” architecture – all of which are designed to create exceptional experiences for gamers and creators as well as help solve many of the toughest challenges in our lives. During the CEO Keynote, Dr. Lisa Su and other high-profile guests will highlight new details of upcoming products and showcase how the industry is building a new high-performance computing ecosystem that will push technology to the next level.

COMPUTEX 2019 continues its position of Building Global Technology Ecosystems from May 28 – June 1, 2019 hosting 1,685 exhibitors across 5,508 exhibition booths, focusing on the latest tech trends such as AI & IoT, 5G, Blockchain, Innovations & Startups, and Gaming & XR. The 2019 show aims to inspire more innovative technologies and market opportunities to create a new ICT ecosystem."

 

EK Preps for 3rd Generation Threadripper with their Velocity Series TR4 Water Block
A 3rd Generation Design for 7nm Zen 2 Threadripper
Published: 4th April 2019 | Source: EKWB | Author: Mark Campbell
https://www.overclock3d.net/news/cp..._with_their_velocity_series_tr4_water_block/1

"2019 is going to be a big year for AMD; it is hard to deny that at this point. Thanks to their early use of 7nm lithography and their next-generation Zen 2 architecture consumers should expect a huge generational leap from the company, both in terms of performance and power efficiency.

While we don't know how much performance AMD's Zen 2 processors will have on tap, we do know that in the case of Threadripper, the company's new chiplet design will be transformative for the TR4 platform.

In essence, TR4's memory structure will be significantly simplified with Zen 2/3rd Generation Threadripper, a move which will likely tackle many of the performance downsides that some applications have with the platform.

Enough about Threadripper! Let's talk about EK, who have already started to pave the way towards 3rd Generation Threadripper by releasing their 3rd Generation TR4 water block, which ships with an improved fin structure and a design that matches the rest of EK's modern Velocity water block lineup.

With their new water block, EK offers a fin structure that covers Threadripper's entire multi-die CPU layout and offers 91 micro-fins to enable superb heat transfer levels.

As the image above illustrates, EK's new Velocity sTR4 water block will be available in three forms, Nickel+Plexi, Nickel+Acetal and Full Nickel, though the Plexi/Acetal versions will be available both with and without RGB lighting options. The Full Nickel version also features LED illumination, but it lacks a non-RGB purchasing option.

EK's new Velocity series TR4 water blocks will be produced in Slovenia and are now available for purchase, starting at €99.90 for the non-RGB versions, €109.90 for the Plexi/Acetal RGB versions and €129.90 for the Full Nickel version."

Comments

 

I thought it was a door lock and had to re-read it again to confirm it was a water block. Hahaa....

 

It FINALLY came! Now let’s get started! [2000mhz+]
JayzTwoCents
Published on Apr 6, 2019
Ive been waiting WEEKS to get the AMD Radeon VII Build started but I needed THIS package before I could begin!

EK-Vector Series Water Blocks for AMD Radeon VII Graphic Cards Launch | Spec | Features | First Look
Mukesh .P
Published on Mar 22, 2019
EK Water Blocks, the leading premium computer liquid cooling gear manufacturer, is releasing EK-Vector Radeon VII water blocks that are compatible with reference design AMD Radeon VII graphics cards.

Spoiler: Details...

This kind of efficient cooling will allow your high-end graphics card to reach higher boost clocks, thus providing more overclocking headroom and more performance during gaming or other GPU intense tasks. This water block directly cools the GPU, 16GB of HBM2 memory, and VRM (voltage regulation module) as cooling liquid is channeled directly over these critical areas. These newly developed water blocks feature a redesigned cooling engine that has a larger footprint compared to the previous generation of EK® Full Cover water blocks. This results in a larger surface area for heat transfer which increases the thermal performance of these water blocks. The base of the block is made of high-grade copper or nickel-plated electrolytic copper while the top is made of high-quality acrylic material or POM Acetal material (depending on the variant). The front aesthetic corner piece is lit up with LED strip (in RGB variants). The top material does not affect the block performance in any way. The block also features a special plastic cover over the block Terminal. This add-on is designed to reveal the graphics card model, visible from the side. Sealing is ensured by high-quality EPDM O-Rings. The brass standoffs are already pre-installed and allow for a safe and easy installation procedure. The EK-Vector Radeon VII water blocks are compatible with popular RGB sync technologies from all major motherboard manufacturers since it features a classic 4-pin 12V RGB LED strip. The EK-Vector Radeon VII water blocks and backplates are made in Slovenia, Europe and are available for pre-order through the EK Webshop or EK Partner Reseller Network. EK-Vector Radeon VII water blocks and backplates will start shipping Monday, 1st of April 2019! In the table below you can see manufacturer suggested retail price (MSRP) with VAT included.

AMD Radeon VII can get over 1900+ on Air out of the box first day, it's the luck of the silicon lottery.

RADEON VII can overclock! Move over Nvidia!
Timmy Joe PC Tech
Published on Feb 19, 2019
AMD Radeon Vii launched with some question of whether or not it would be able to overclock. The 19.2.2 driver update unlocked a staggering 200mhz worth of overclocking potential, but is that enough to match the likes of the Nvidia's 1080 ti or 2080? HUGEEEEE thanks to Jason for making this video possible. I couldn't do this with out amazing viewers and friends that contribute to the channel! https://twitter.com/JasonParauka


Radeon vii is NOT HOT and [NOT] LOUD!!!
not an apple fan
Published on Apr 2, 2019


That Benjamin Person 4 days ago
"Radeon vii is plenty cool and plenty quiet enough, people just love to moan about marginal differences way to much."

GoblinPhreak 4 days ago
"my radeon 7 is running completely stock and still isn't loud at all.... proper airflow in a proper case. no issues. never goes over 98c for junction temp, which is about 62c core, and that's stress testing it. In games its even cooler. They say the card throttles at 110c junction and I never get anywhere near that in games. IF I were to under-volt I would probably lower temps, but I honestly don't care, it runs fine as is."

Current Radeon VII Warranties...
Submitted 1 month ago * by th3st0rmtr00p3r
https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/aob8kp/current_radeon_vii_warranties/

 

I don't know how people can post that the Radeon VII isn't loud, reviews I've seen have shown it to be practically the noisiest card ever in recent history (and by a very large margin!), there's this Guru3d review for instance:
https://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/amd_radeon_vii_16_gb_review,9.html
Probably the only way to run this card without driving yourself insane is to run it on water like that video you posted, which also provides the added benefit of being able to tame a very power hungry card.

 

Finally cooled my Vega
Submitted 17 hours ago by d3lap
https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/ba62xs/finally_cooled_my_vega/
https://imgur.com/gallery/U3Kpo6G
https://imgur.com/a/ADJ64RB

d3lap[ S] 19 points 17 hours ago*
"Getting this to work was more work than originally thought.

Spoiler: Details...

I was mistaken in thinking my phanteks p350x case had top mount rad support. So I improvised. I cut out the rear of my case and mounted the rad externally with 2 fans inside the fase (push) and 2 fans behind the rad (pull) outside the case.

Fortunately besides the pcie brackets (which cuz risers I don't use) nothing else was sacrificed.

As for the AIO it's an uphere aio, I've dealt with the company before and their CS is rock solid (from my experience) build quality is good.

I used the provided Intel bracket and measured (more than once) 64mm hole spacings, and drilled holes. Then lobed off the existing holes so I had clearance for my heatsinks.

I'm using the morpheus vega backplate, since I didn't want to drill out the holes on the ref. Vega one. Mounting was very easy. Currently printing out a fan clip so I can cool the card a little more.

Temps and clocks are great. Ran a few hours of battlefield 5 and core and hbm were in the low 60s, hotspot was mid 70s. Core boosted to almost 1700mhz and hbm was locked to 1100.

I'm very happy with the result.

Edit 1: changed the vrm heatsink from the littles ones to a big one, it's included in the morpheus kit. I removed the push pins and put it in.

Also should note the pc was stripped clean prior to any Dremeling and cleaned throughly before reinstall.

HaloLegend98 AMD Ryzen 2700 | Asrock Vega 56 7 points 15 hours ago
"That bare PCB makes me so jealous"

d3lap[ S] 5 points 15 hours ago
"I will be putting a 120mm fan just to the right of the AIO, but it know its a very pretty thing."

 

GPD "Win 2 Max" Allegedly Ditches Intel CPU For AMD Ryzen APU
Zhiye Liu | Apr 6, 2019 7:10 am ET
https://amp.tomshardware.com/news/gpd-win-2-max-amd-ryzen-apu,39005.html

"GamePad Digital (GPD), the manufacturer behind the original Win handheld gaming PC, recently teased some technical drawings on the company's Twitter account of what appears to be the Win 2 Max. This new model purportedly swaps out the Intel CPU the company used in previous designs for an AMD APU.
...
It's unknown which APU the company will implement in the GPD Win 2 Max. AMD APUs feature a cTDP (configurable thermal design power) so OEMs can adjust them to their liking. Unfortunately for us, it's practically impossible to make a wild guess on the exact model without having more information on hand. As per Liliputing's information, the APU is rated for 25W but can be underclocked to 15W to save battery, or overclocked to 30W to squeeze out every drop of performance. So, let's hope that GPD sticks a bigger battery in the GPD Win 2 Max to compensate for the higher TDP.

Besides the processor upgrade, the GPD Win 2 Max is rumored to come with a quieter dual-fan cooling solution, a pocket-style keyboard, and a higher-resolution display. The GPD Win 2 has a 6-inch 1280x720 screen. The Max version presumably sports a resolution of 1280x800, which could possibly point to a bigger screen in the 7-inch range. At any rate, the Ryzen APU should have no problems pumping out decent framerates in most AAA titles at the aforementioned resolution.

The GPD Win 2 Max supposedly comes out sometime this year. More information on the device will probably pop up as we near launch."

 

Somehow missed posting this one, it's interesting enough to check and then compare against the Ryzen 2 / Ryzen 3xxx desktop IHS / 3rd party IHS's.

Lapped Ryzen IHS vs. Copper & Stock IHS
Gamers Nexus
Published on May 7, 2018
We first lap (sand) a Ryzen integrated heatspreader, then benchmark it thermally vs. a Rockit Cool & stock copper IHS.

Spoiler: Details + Links

Article: https://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/32...
Previous Rockit Cool test: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yb-ES...
Rockit Cool IHS here: https://goo.gl/j1ZanC
We used various sand papers (grit 600, 1200, 1500, 2000, 3000) to sand and polish an AMD APU IHS for the R3 2200G APU, which we previously delidded. This goes with our earlier testing of a custom copper Rockit Cool IHS with the AMD APU, found at the link above. This process involves removing the nickel plated finish from the AMD Ryzen CPU heatspreader, and in so doing smooths out the surface, eliminating many of the microscopic imperfections in the surface. We also polished the surface to a mirror finish, not shown in the video (because it was even more boring than sanding).

 

TSMC sees 7nm chip orders pick-up
Cage Chao, Taipei; Jessie Shen, DIGITIMES, Wednesday 3 April 2019
https://www.digitimes.com/news/a20190403PD209.html

"Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has seen 7nm chip orders ramp up and the process capacity utilization rate start picking up recently, according to industry sources.

With handset chip clients stepping up their pace of advanced chip orders, TSMC is expected to see its 7nm manufacturing processes run at full utilization in the third quarter of 2019, the sources indicated.

TSMC's 7nm process technology has been adopted for the production of new-generation CPUs, GPUs, artificial intelligence (AI)-related solutions and server chips slated for launch this year, according to sources at first-tier handset SoC companies. Among TSMC's 7nm chip clients, HiSilicon and AMD have been ramping up their wafer starts aggressively.

Qualcomm and MediaTek are both keeping a close eye on TSMC's 7nm process utilization rate, and are expected to follow suit demanding more wafer starts at TSMC later in the second quarter, the sources said. And with orders for the new-generation iPhone set to occupy the majority of TSMC's available 7nm process capacity in the third quarter, the pure-play foundry will enjoy a substantial rise in the process capacity utilization during the quarter, the sources continued.

TSMC's 7nm process utilization rate might have hit the lowest for 2019 in the first quarter, according to the sources.

A pick-up in 7nm process utilization may lead to a particularly strong second quarter of 2019 for TSMC, according to market sources. The pick-up is driven mainly by a ramp-up in chip orders for new Android devices.

In addition, TSMC has kicked off volume production of chips built using an enhanced 7nm with EUV node at the end of March, the sources noted. The foundry is expected to enter mass shipments of EUV-based 7nm chips in the second half of 2019.

Overall, 7nm chip orders will be critical in determining TSMC's revenue growth this year."

AMD Ramps Up 7nm Production Before Apple Starts Buying
Mike Sanders / 4 days ago
https://www.eteknix.com/amd-ramps-up-7nm-production-before-apple-starts-buying/

 

AMD addresses Spoiler vulnerability: Ryzen users are safe from this one
By Eric Hamilton on March 17, 2019, 10:22 PM 10 comments
https://www.techspot.com/news/79234-amd-addresses-spoiler-vulnerability-ryzen-users-safe-one.html

CPU Vulnerabilities, Meltdown and Spectre, Kernel Page Table Isolation Patches, and more
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...atches-and-more.812424/page-123#post-10894132

 

AMD Radeon ProRender NAB 2019 Updates Include Plug-In for Blender 2.80 Beta, AI-Accelerated Denoising, and More
Blog Post created by alexander.blake-davies on Apr 9, 2019
https://community.amd.com/community...er-280-beta-ai-accelerated-denoising-and-more

Spoiler

For this year’s NAB Show, we’re announcing updates to our AMD Radeon™ ProRender plug-ins, new integrations, and important updates for developers.

Radeon ProRender is our fast, easy, and incredible physically-based rendering engine that enables creative professionals to produce stunningly photorealistic images.

For NAB 2019, we’re releasing the Open Beta of our new Radeon™ ProRender plug-in for the Blender™ 2.80 Beta, adding significant new features to our plug-ins for Autodesk® 3ds Max® and Maya®, including AI-accelerated denoising, adaptive sampling, and hair support, and announcing integration into Foundry Modo® 13.

Additionally, for developers, our Radeon ProRender Developer Suite is now available, along with our updated feature roadmap for this quarter, and we’re also announcing our new Full Spectrum Rendering technology. Read on for more details about all the updates.

Radeon ProRender for Blender v2.0 Beta for Blender 2.80 Beta
Building on our well-received Radeon ProRender plug-in for Blender 2.79, our new v2.0 plug-in has been completely rewritten for the Blender 2.80 Beta. Commonly used Blender native shader nodes are supported out of the box, including the Blender Principled Shader node. Radeon ProRender nodes, particularly the Uber Shader node, are provided for a more “expert level” shader setup. Additionally, viewport and final rendering are more robust and optimized over the Blender 2.79 plug-in.

AI-Accelerated Denoising
Available in the Blender 2.80 Beta, Autodesk 3ds Max, and Maya plug-ins for Windows® (macOS® and Linux® support planned at a later date), our new AI-accelerated denoiser harnesses the power of machine learning to produce high-quality final and interactive renders in a fraction of the time traditional denoising takes, quickly providing artists the info they need to make creative decisions, speeding up workflows.

Adaptive Sampling
Adaptive Sampling lets you set a threshold for noise in your render and areas of the render that are fully converged and below this level of noise will no longer get samples. This accelerates render times while enabling higher-quality renders. Adaptive Sampling is available in the Blender 2.80 Beta, Autodesk 3ds Max, and Maya plug-ins.

Hair Rendering Support
We’ve added support for rendering realistic looking hair, fur, grass, and other strand-like objects to our plug-ins for Blender 2.80 Beta and Autodesk Maya. With this update, Radeon ProRender now supports Maya’s XGen interactive grooming tools and Blender 2.80’s native hair particle system, allowing artists to use Radeon ProRender for more than just hard surface modeling, opening it up to be used for organic rendering such as creature and character design.

Autodesk 3ds Max and Maya Plug-In Specific Updates
In addition to the major feature updates above, our updated plug-in for 3ds Max supports the just-released new version of 3ds Max, 2020. For Maya (for the Windows and macOS plug-ins only), we’ve added support for Maya Fluid Volumes, allowing you to render advanced effects like smoke, fog, and clouds, the ability to convert Arnold Renderer and Redshift materials to Radeon ProRender materials, and support for Maya 2019. For both plug-ins we’ve reorganized the render settings to allow for clearer user control, helping improve workflows.

Foundry Modo 13 Radeon ProRender Integration
With the latest version of Modo, our powerful physically-based hardware agnostic rendering engine is fully integrated into The Foundry’s powerful and flexible 3D modeling, sculpting, and animation tool. Using Modo 13, artists can now render stunning photorealistic images using the integrated Radeon ProRender GPU-accelerated rendering engine

Full Spectrum Rendering: From Rasterized to Reality
Radeon ProRender’s new Full Spectrum Rendering technology supports every stage of the rendering pipeline and is coming soon to the Radeon ProRender Developer Suite to enable integration of this technology into future versions of popular digital content creation (DCC) applications.

The full Full Spectrum includes rasterized rendering for standard viewport creation, hybrid rendering for advanced viewport creation, biased photorealistic rendering for look development, and path traced reality for final rendering.

By integrating this technology, developers can use Radeon ProRender Full Spectrum Rendering to optimize their application’s rendering performance for every step of the content creation workflow from the initial design stage all the way to the final render for production or executive review.

Radeon ProRender for Developers
To help make it easier for developers to get the tools they need to integrate Radeon ProRender into their application, we’ve created the new Radeon ProRender Developer Suite that includes non-commercial use SDKs for Radeon ProRender, Radeon™ Rays, and the Radeon™ Image Filter Library.

Radeon Rays is our high-performance ray intersection acceleration library, and is available in two versions, Radeon Rays 2.0 that uses OpenCL™ and Radeon Rays 3.0 that uses Vulkan®. The Radeon™ Image Filter Library includes AI-accelerated denoising and standard GPU-accelerated image filters.

The non-commercial SDKs in the Developer Suite are designed for developers prototyping integration into their applications and when they’re ready to take the next step towards integrating Radeon ProRender they can sign an AMD Commercial Software Licensing Agreement (SLA).

Updated Quarterly Development Roadmap
Lastly, we’ve updated our development roadmap for Radeon ProRender, listing the features scheduled to be added in the next quarter and beyond. This roadmap both provides developers information about features they can expect to see available in updates to our SDK and gives end-users insight into features they can expect to see in future updates to our plug-ins.

See the website for download links, community, forum, and other info...

AMD's Radeon ProRender plugin updates and SDK available for free (including ML Denoiser)
submitted 5 hours ago by bsavery
https://www.reddit.com/r/vfx/comments/bbeumc/amds_radeon_prorender_plugin_updates_and_sdk/

bsavery[ S] 1 point 4 hours ago
"Maya, 3dsMax and Blender plugins all updated with ML Denoiser. Plus support for Blender 2.80 and 3dsMax 2020.

The really interesting part is making GPU pathtracing possible in any application with the open SDK which supports any vendor's hardware."

 

Have you ever been insulted for choosing AMD?
Submitted 11 hours ago by Brutual_Bro
https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/bba3c6/have_you_ever_been_insulted_for_choosing_amd/

Uncle_Gamer Ryzen 2600X and Sapphire Pulse Vega 56 105 points 10 hours ago
"I went to speak at my son's computer club and had the 16 year old president of the club try to explain to me that an intel i3 was better than any Ryzen processor. He also wanted me to understand that nVidia drivers have never had any issues while AMD is a constant mess.

I pointed out the error in his thinking and he came unglued, explaining that as I was older I did not understand how gaming systems work.

Was hilarious."

bctoy 38 points 11 hours ago
"We used to insult a friend because his Athlon didn't have the clockspeeds of our Pentium 4s.

It was years later that I saw the benchmarks of that time and how badly the Athlons whupped Pentiums."

The offensive comment's from Intel / Nvidia owners always make me smile, if they only knew. But of course, they don't, which is what is so funny.

 

Gaming is slightly faster on Intel systems (usually). Where it is faster though it barely is and only where the higher end skews are used and expensive video cards along with nominal resolutions and lastly with monitors that can take advantage of those few extra FPS. So only specific circumstances, and usually an expensive one at that.

 

I have read many threads, and posts about the differences between Nvidia, and AMD graphics wise, and many are saying that AMD is superior in quality, and vibrancy during gameplay. Many suggest Nvidia sacrifices quality for more FPS. I dont know if there is any truth to all that, but something to think about.

 

Yeah nvidia does this crap. All these years I thought my eyes and my cheap external monitor was the cause of worse image quality when I found that nvidia windows driver don't use dithering so everything looks washed out on all internal/external displays. I never noticed it.

 

Nvidia GPU's don't really implement compute hw to the same degree as AMD gpu's do.
Hence why NV can pack more ROP's and texture units onto a gpu with higher clocks.
AMD GPU's usually have a tier above compute performance (compared to NV cards) which is power demanding and can limit clocks (but, despite this, lower clocked Polaris and Vega GPU's matched their NV counterparts - suggesting AMD has better IPC, but because of compute was limited in regards to how high they can clock their GPU's without going overboard with power consumption)... couple that with the node previously used for mobile parts and low power (whereas NV used TSMC for high perf. and efficiency nodes)... but when undervolted, AMD usually reaches/surpasses NV.
All round, given that NV doesn't have as much compute hw to work with, they are actually less efficient 'multipurpose GPU's' vs AMD - and when some gamers bad mouth AMD, they don't really look at the GPU from all angles (and neither do reviewers).

In regards to image quality... I can't say if NV does 'cheat' with image quality to improve performance, but in my previous experience of using NV, I hadn't noticed this.
Unless we can compare both systems side by side using same monitors and mostly same systems (sans the GPU's), we can't know for sure.

But, I did notice that AMD improved their drivers significantly.
I know they haven't had issues with them for years really, but in comparison to NV, they modernized their drivers to a degree that easily surpasses NV and are much more frequent in releasing them too.

 

Take Battlefield V for instance, I'd argue there is a significant enough difference when trying to drive a high refresh rate monitor, especially in the min (1% low) FPS.

Spoiler

This hasn't been true for about 15 years since modern rendering engines these days are unaffected by most image quality related settings in the driver. You'd have to go back to the early to mid aughties to find examples of both vendors cheating in 3DMark, or having significant visual/performance differences in their respective hardware antialiasing methods or texture filtering, or compatibility with HDR lighting and different D3D Shader Model revisions. If anything, these days it's AMD that sacrifices quality for more FPS, since their architecture is still significantly weaker at tessellation (hence the inclusion of the adjustable tessellation factor in their driver) and lack of support for DXR in games, which obviously makes games run faster at the expense of missing RT effects, or DLSS to improve the quality of sub-native resolutions. Now the lack of support for dithering in the Nvidia driver is indeed a legitimate complaint that needs to be addressed.

 

In the past there has been cheating and image quality differences between NVidia & AMD, but that has shown to be a thing of the past. I remember some kind of a review or article comparing image qualities between AMD & NVidia, they're both the same. I think it was many many years ago when there was the issue with image quality differences between them, there was a big ruckus about it in the gaming media, and since then they both strive for the same set standard of image quality between the two of them.

 

ATI/AMD used to use faster and better RAMDAC's (also better D/A and A/D components) but that is a thing of the past. Ryzen first silicon had some gaming issues but it is getting better and better all the time. Intel has nowhere to go but sliding sideways, AMD is set to scale upwards.

 

Yes, I actually recall reading a similar article which reached a conclusion that there really is no difference in image quality between NV and AMD (sadly though, I cannot seem to find it online)... but in the past, that may have been (and probably was) the case.
I think the issue with image quality today is similar to some people still claiming that AMD has bad drivers - stuck in the past and hadn't really bothered to update their knowledge base.

That said, I am circumventing NV and Intel for a while as I wanted a change of pace in terms of hw and think that both need a timeout considering their industry practices.
Needless to say I am not disappointed.
I was also happy with GL702ZC, but Asus really botched the cooling in that unit which ended up breaking down several times for the same problem... it was Asus fault entirely, not AMD (because when it worked, AMD hardware was giving me its best and it delivered).
So, with the return and full refund (which was fortunate for me), I got myself the upgraded Helios 500 with Ryzen 2700 and V56 (which I got cheaper than Gl702ZC).
Love it... cooling is powerful, and compared to the GL702ZC, the Helios 500 is really quiet even when gaming ... plus there's ridiculous overhead for overclocking if I choose to do so.

Kudos to Acer for giving AMD hw a much needed break and good design in mobile space... lets hope Acer also releases Zen 2 BIOS support so I can slip in a 65W 8c/16th Zen 2 part with higher clocks and much higher IPC (this new uArch is supposedly less reliant on RAM speeds too, so that would be a welcome thing too).

 

I was under the impression that those 'gaming issues' were relatively easily corrected (mostly) with higher speed and low latency RAM.
Plus, remember that performance also improved on Ryzen 1 CPU's with game developers releasing patches for their games that included support for Ryzen in the first place (most devs don't do this apparently, as they are more accustomed optimizing for Intel).
Look at WoW... it took a LONG time since Ryzen was first released to include support for Zen uArch (which again increased performance on Zen CPU's).

AMD cannot be expected to brute force its way through everything, and I think the current playing field is still favoring Intel in regards to coding optimizations (in regards to gaming and industry software).

 

Why I said it is getting better and better. That means in generational release along with optimizations. Ryzen 1 though is still not there in gaming against intel but close. Ryzen 12nm is closer and sometimes better than Intel. Hopefully 7nm knocks it out of the park for them.

 

Best [AMD/Nvidia] GPU and [AMD] CPU Deals April 2019
The Good Old Gamer
Published on Apr 10, 2019
In the market for a new CPU or GPU? Join me today as I search eBay for the BEST GPU and CPU deals available!
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/ray-tracing-another-bs.826046/page-17#post-10894744

 

Finally had time to run CBR15 on the 2500U, very happy for a light and thin internet/office device.

 

I don't like Ryzen 2500U's score very much because you're only 60-80 points behind 6700HQ.

 

Ryzen 5 2600X vs. Ryzen 7 1700, Searching for the Best Value Sub $200 AMD CPU
Hardware Unboxed
Published on Apr 11, 2019

 

This is what is nice about the system. It is not so far behind the older higher end offerings. To the point they feel nice and snappy. These would make for great general machines for office, student, teacher or what not. I think AMD hit the mark with the 5 series mobile, just wish they would have gotten better OEM support and offerings.

As an aside note, when running CBR15 hwmonitor reports the CPU to use just under 12w most of the time, I would have liked to see it more capable under full core load to use the 15w. I doubt the thin and light laptops could cool the 25w load. I know they limit in bios but more control would be nice.

Edit; I did some subsequent runs, the behavior is it starts as a package at 13.25w but quickly climbs to 90c where it then step down to 11.15w and climbs to about 85c. Seems to need better cooling.

 

When a 5+ year old 11 inch W110ER can fit a 45W quad that gets 600-700 CB R15 score and cools itself better than that...

 

At 4lbs I would not qualify that as thin and light.Also 720p graphics? Old tech for sure.

 

That just further demonstrates how OEM's neglect AMD hardware in laptops.
But that's not the only thing.
The W110ER is a relatively thick looking laptop so it will have better cooling.

The Ryzen 2500u is an extremely efficient chip with only 15W TDP while producing similar score as i7-7700K.
The fact it reaches 90 deg C under software that stresses the CPU/iGP in the first place demonstrates lackluster cooling from the OEM (its hardly AMD's fault).

The laptops that contain AMD APUs' and have adequate cooling, and do NOT TDP restric the chips are ones that have an RX 560x dedicated GPU to accompany it (such as Acer Nitro 5).

Acer actually made beffier cooling for Helios Predator 500 which has Ryzen/Vega than on the Intel/NV version.
That was a smart move actually because the two systems do differ in power consumption and heat production, so cooling would need to be 'tailored' to each system (but most OEM's don't seem to do this).

 

Where have yu seen this? Links, please. Thanks

Probably some with higher scores than this, but not on 7700K level.

 

There is not a cooling solution in the world that will get a 2500u to overclocked 7700K status in CBR15. This is not what it is about. Almost any system with a discrete GPU has a beefier cooling system compared to the APU only systems.

 

People have tested the big brother 2700u and need +30w for +720cb. Almost same power consumption as Intel i5-8250U doing 750cb. Still far away from 7700K performance level. 15w, nope.

Edit. I think he meant 7700HQ. But equal performance with 15w, nope.

 

The point being they are not that inferior, if at all, to the Intel offerings. The 3500u and 3700u should be better showings too.

 

Nvidia G-Sync vs. AMD FreeSync: Which Monitors Perform Better?
by Christian Eberle April 12, 2019 at 6:00 AM
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/nvidia-gsync-vs-amd-freesync-test-comparison,39042.html

"...After our testing, it’s apparent that the most glaring difference between these two monitors is their price. At this writing, the G-Sync-equipped AG241QG G-Sync screen is selling for around $600/ £399.95, while the FreeSync-equipped AG241QX is $320 / £265.99. That’s a major gap, and it’s more than the usual $150 premium most G-Sync monitors carry. Given the image quality advantage enjoyed by the less expensive FreeSync monitor, we know which one we’d choose.

But wait! We haven’t played any games yet.
...
Conclusion
When we first conceived this experiment, we expected the result to swing in favor of the G-Sync monitor. G-Sync monitors usually have more features and perform a little better in our color and contrast tests. We hypothesized that while you’re paying a premium for G-Sync, those monitors perform slightly better in other areas related to image quality.

Our testing of the AOC Agon AG241QG and AG241QX proved that theory wrong. Obviously, the FreeSync-based QX is superior in every way except for its maximum refresh rate. But why would one give up contrast and spend an extra $300 just to gain 21Hz that you can’t actually see when playing? Clearly, the AG241QX is the better choice."

 

Not quite sure how a review of two monitors relates to this thread...