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

Looking forward to a Ryzen 2700u laptop next year, I just hope future Zen 2 mobile CPU's work on Zen mobile socket like their desktop Ryzen counterparts.

I don't need a discrete GPU just the onboard Vega GPU is going to work just fine for my intended use (back to school training and everyday desktop usage).

Down the line if Zen 2 mobile CPU's works on the same socket than I'll upgrade to a 7nm chip and hopefully by then the onboard GPU has double in horsepower as well.

 

If the OEM's provide a modular Ryzen mobile system where you can swap out an existing APU for a better one, I can tell you that would certainly be of great benefit to everyone. You basically end up with superior CPU ang GPU performance in one replacement doing that.
But I think that Zen 2 (or real Ryzen 2 - not the refresh) will see largest performance boosts, especially if it has Navi IGP... plus 7nm, etc...

 

Non modular is fine by me as long the socket stays the same, I've done so many laptop CPU upgrades over the past years it's nothing new but if Ryzen mobile chips are soldered onto the motherboard that would indeed pose a big problem.

Still looking forward to a Ryzen 2700u laptop next and Zen 2 desktop upgrade the year after in 2019, I will most likely be skipping NVIDIA Volta and wait for NVIDIA's 7nm chips in 2020.

Just hope the same socket trend follows on mobile Ryzen chips, would love to look forward to upgrading Zen 2 mobile chip in 2020 too.

 

If OEM's will use mix and match with Intel and Ryzen cpu's... I can't see the socket trend will follows on mobile Ryzen chips. Equal thin and flimsy notebook chassis will be used for both Intel and AMD Mobile chips. BGA Crap is here to stay

 

Ryzen 5 2500U: Can Ryzen Mobile Beat Intel 8th-Gen?

 

AMD Threadripper Water Block Review Roundup 2017


AMD Threadripper Water Block Cooler Roundup for 2017
https://www.hardocp.com/article/2017/12/29/amd_threadripper_water_block_cooler_roundup_for_2017

Video's covering each contender leading up to this summary Roundup:

https://www.youtube.com/user/frgmstr/videos

It would be great if these guys would try the Noctua top end Air Cooler made for ThreadRipper, for cooling comparison, given how the Noctua beats or matches other AIO water cooling solutions.

 

An AIO That FINALLY Cools Threadripper - Enermax Liqtech TR4


Noctua TR4 Air Cooling wins in all these tests...

 

I find it hard to believe the NZXT 62 scored better than the Enermax TR4 cooler.

 

It's the Enermax TR4 240mm radiator model they used. It doesn't cool as well as the 360mm top model, or even as good as the 280mm.

These reviews keep demonstrating that the top model available in each line needs to be used for the lowest temperatures, and that up to the functional best results, the Noctua Air Cooling works great - you don't need to go for a AIO water cooling set up.

If you are going to risk water related issues down the road for a few more degree's CPU temperature reduction, you might as well build it yourself using the best CPU block and largest radiator, rather than go with an AIO.

For the money and the risk reduction, air-cooling with the Noctua TR4 is "good enough".

 

A detailed review of all the new features of ReLive Edition driver, it's long but lots of good info sprinkled throughout, but if you want a must watch section the FRTC + Radeon Chill example of power saving in games at untuned values, tuned load, tuned idle, and tuned long idle is worth watch if you only have a couple of minutes. Radeon Chill / FRTC it's not taking away top end (up to FreeSync / Adaptive Sync limit), but it is saving power in between that saves money - fan noise - wear and tear - it's finer grained than Nvidia's implementation.

There are also ReLive demo's on various in game features, including the equivalent to MSI Afterburner + RTSS OSD values - lots more than the Nvidia options.

Game profiles, in game settings changes that take immediate effect, performance improvements in games, latency reduction in games, expansive increase in games supported for features introduced in previous driver versions, making them worthwhile across the board.

If you haven't updated it gives good reasons to do so, and if you have updated all the features you missed are in that video to find explained.

Radeon Adrenalin - From Great To Greatness


Less detailed coverage:

AMD Adrenalin Edition: Get Your Fix Today!


On the other hand, there are the DX9 glitches in a few of games verified (C&C mostly), with work arounds out side of AMD support; AMD off-hand said they don't have time to fix problems in driver for WinXP games that have 3rd party fixes or are fixed by running an older driver.

There are people without proof listing all the DX9 games they can think of that "might be" affected, but they haven't tried them and no one is replying that they are indeed affected, so I think this problem is limited to just the few games verified to have issues. Time will tell

AMD is "unlikely to devote any valuable engineering resource" to fix issues with some older DX9 games (Witcher 1, C&C games) caused by Adrenalin driver
https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/7na5ws/amd_is_unlikely_to_devote_any_valuable/

AMD Not Fixing Select DirectX 9 Games Crashing On Radeon | Nvidia Prohibit GeForce in Data Center
AMD - 06:24


WELCOME TO THE AMD DRIVERS & SOFTWARE FORUM
https://community.amd.com/community/support-forums/drivers-software

Adrenalin driver breaks Command & Conquer games
https://community.amd.com/thread/223615

Then this AMD support person blows it all up out of proportion by posting this...mishandling this in effect:

Re: Adrenalin driver breaks Command & Conquer games
ray_m Dec 31, 2017 12:10 PM ( in response to yogald)

Your feedback is appreciated.

there is nothing more to add to this thread so it’s locked."

Hopefully someone in AMD will catch the odor of disaster looming, and step in and assign resources to fix this gap in support.

And, then someone jumps from posting specific game problems, a few games with problems, to AMD's support commitment to all games under DX9...

AMD officially end support for dx9 games?
https://community.amd.com/thread/224113

Dx9 games broken?
https://community.amd.com/thread/224118

 

AMD Unlikely to Fix DX9 Games Bugged by Adrenalin Driver

 

A new post that claims dropping these DLL's into the game folder do work for DX9 problems on Windows 10:

AMD Driver DLLs Repository and Performance Survey
https://forums.guru3d.com/threads/a...erformance-survey.399547/page-27#post-5506163

"Here are the dlls from mining drivers (blockchain compute)(17.30.1029)(Win10,64bit),
may be faster and dx9 works properly(thou anything before adrenalin works)"
https://www.dropbox.com/s/py018xkv2ydc8hk/(mining drivers, may be faster, dx9 works).zip

AMD Driver DLLs Repository and Performance Survey
https://forums.guru3d.com/threads/amd-driver-dlls-repository-and-performance-survey.399547/

This first post has the simple directions / procedure.

Also, a fix from via a Microsoft patch is said to work as well:

AMD Unlikely to Fix DX9 Games Bugged by Adrenalin Driver
https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/posts/3776317

Post #18
"Update: S3r1ous over at Guru3D forums has managed to find something that could also be the cause.

Apparently, The Windows 10 OS Update, KB4051963 (OS Build 16299.98) brings the following changes/fixes:

So it might be worthwhile to update your Windows 10 installation if you're facing issues. Though that still doesn't change the fact that the crashes go away when you switch to an older driver, and the appalling response from AMD's rep"

 

Terry Makedon‏ @CatalystMaker
"Happy 2018 everyone!! I am seeing some stories pop up about AMD not supporting some old games. That is absolutely not true, we are identifying the bug and working on a fix asap. C&C, Witcher, BfME, etc will be working again."
8:20 AM - 2 Jan 2018
https://twitter.com/CatalystMaker/status/948227463188017152

Terry Makedon‏ @CatalystMaker
"Hi everyone - just a real time update. Our lead engineer assigned to the "DX9 bug" has just notified me that we have identified the root cause of the bug and the team is working on a proper fix. “Do. Or do not. There is no try.” ;-)"
10:29 AM - 3 Jan 2018
https://twitter.com/CatalystMaker/status/948622475679752192

 

Actually, it looks like AMD will be fixing the DX9 issues that arose:
https://www.techpowerup.com/240159/...ncompatibility-issues-after-all?cp=2#comments

 

Terry Makedon‏ @CatalystMaker
Fix for the few DX9 games that werent launching is now ready and I am happy to announce we have an alpha version of Adrenalin 18.1.1 now available just for that. Old school gaming ftw! http://bit.ly/2Ar10Uc
10:56 AM - 4 Jan 2018
https://twitter.com/CatalystMaker/status/948991452683612163

Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition 18.1.1 Alpha Release Notes
http://support.amd.com/en-us/kb-articles/Pages/RSAE-18.1.1-Alpha-Release-Notes.aspx

Article Number: RN-WIN-RADEONADRENALIN-18.1.1.ALPHA
Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition 18.1.1 Alpha Highlights

• This early access driver is being provided for users who have had issues launching a small number of DirectX 9 based games. This alpha driver has not been fully tested by AMD and is not recommended for general use."

​

Zeruyu @Zeruyu 4 hours ago
Replying to @CatalystMaker
"I can confirm the GOG version of The Witcher 1 EE works again with a Radeon R9 Fury X on Windows 10 x64 using the 18.1.1 beta driver."

 

Nvidia's senior engineer with senior marketologist on Friday afterwork in the bar be like:
- Hey, why wouldn't we spoil something important for small part of gaming community on purpose so that later we'd fix it and get good PR?
- Hey, that's a great idea! LET'S DO IT!
And then after they spoil drivers they go see their friend from MIB who out of laugh uses memory erazing pen on them... each time they visit him.
That's how those driver bugs stuck up. Mystery Solved!

 

AMD Ryzen™ Threadripper™ for 3D Artists – Steve Talkowski

 

Playerunknown's Battlegrounds FPS Test on Lenovo IdeaPad 720s (AMD Ryzen 7 2700U, AMD Radeon Vega10)

Battlefield 1 FPS Test on Lenovo IdeaPad 720s (AMD Ryzen 7 2700U, AMD Radeon RX Vega 10)

Assassin's Creed Origins FPS Test on Lenovo IdeaPad 720s (AMD Ryzen 7 2700U, AMD Radeon RX Vega 10)

Call of Duty WWII FPS Test on Lenovo IdeaPad 720s (AMD Ryzen 7 2700U, AMD Radeon RX Vega 10)

HP Envy x360: The First Ryzen Mobile Laptop Tested!


ASUS ROG Strix GL702ZC Ryzen Laptop Review

 

Roundup: 6x CPU cooler for AMD's Threadripper in the test-hw-journal.de

 

Noctua air coolers beating closed loop AIO water coolers. Not bad doing at all for Noctua, but I am biased considering I have their NH-D14 CPU cooler as well as 3 case fans!

 

Intel launches 8th Gen Core Processor with Radeon RX Vega graphics
Published: 6th Jan 2018, 17:22 GMT
This post is under embargo until January 7, 2018 at 6:01 PM PDT. Please do not read it before this date.
https://videocardz.com/74631/intel-launches-8th-gen-core-processor-with-radeon-rx-vega-graphics

Spoiler: Details...

"8th Gen Intel Core with Radeon RX Vega M Overview

• 4GB of HIgh Bandwidth Memory Gen 2 (HBM2)
• Custom Radeon RX Vega M Graphics
• 8th Generation Intel Core Processor

Enabling the industry to create innovative designs

• First 8th Gen Intel COre H-Series in market, more to come
• First implementation of power sharing across CPU & GPU
• First consumer solution to use Intel EMIB
• First consumer mobile solution to use HBM2

Next level performance in sleek, thin & light systems

• Offers overclocking on CPU, GPU and HBM
• Delivering performance at two designs points: 65W & 100W

Innovative systems designs coming in Q1’18

• Dell, HP and Intel NUC

Hardware Innovation
Smaller, thinner solution through Intel EMIB

• Embedded high speed connector in package
• Reduced silicon footprint over 50%
• Keeps CPU and GPU z-height 1.7mm slim

Enthusiast processor adds needed connectivity

• Eight lanes of PCI Express Gen 3 connecting CPU & GPU
• Provides necessary throughout to feed intense gfx workloads
• Remaining PCIe lanes available for direct CPU access

Hardware Features

• Efficient HBM, up to 80% less power than GDDR5
• Intel Graphics efficient display and Quick Sync Video capabilities available
• 9 Display outputs available for design flexibility

Thinner Designs Through Dynamic Power Sharing

• Intel Dynamic Tuning — NEW! Dynamic power sharing enables enthusiast performance in sleek systems
• Up front design benefit of 17.5W
• Same performance with up to 18% higher efficiency

Two Amazing Graphics Subsystems On One Small Package
High Bandwidth Cache Controller
High Bandwidth Cache

• 4GB Capacity
• 1024-bit bus width
• low power

Compute Units

• Up to 24 Compute Units
• Asynchronous Dispatch
• Per Compute Unit Power Gating
• Vulkan & DirectX 12Ready
• Supports Radeon Shader Intrinsics

Quad Geometry Engines

Vega Pixel Engine

• Up to 16 Render Back Ends
• Up to 64 Pixels/Clock

Radeon Multimedia Engine

• 4K60 encode/decode with Radeon ReLive
• HEVC, H264 HDR enc/dec

Intel Quick Sync Video

• VP9 & HEVC 10b HW enc/dec
• H264 HW enc/dec

Radeon Display Engine

• 6 Displays
• Up to 4K resolution
• Display Port 1.4 w/ HDR
• HDMI 2.0b with HDR10 support

Intel Gfx Display Engine

• 3 Displays
• 4K resolution
• eDP/PSR for long battery life

Spoiler: Text results

8th Gen Intel Core with Radeon RX Vega M GL Graphics
i7-4720HQ w/ GTX950M vs 8th Gen Intel Core w/ Radeon RX Vega M GL
Sysmark 2014 SE 1.6X BETTER PRODUCTIVITY
3DMark Time Spy – Graphics 2.3X BETTER
3DMark 11 Graphics 2.2X BETTER
Vermintide 2 3.0X BETTER FPPS
Handbrake 6.7X FASTER TRANSCODE
Adobe Premiere Pro Creative Cloud 42% FASTER CONTENT CREATION
I7-8550U w/ GTX1050 vs 8th Gen Intel Core w/ Radeon RX Vega M GL
3DMark 11 – Graphics 1.3X BETTER
HITMAN 1.4X BETTER FPS
DEUS EX: Mankind Divided 1.3X BETTER FPS
Vermintide 2 1.1X BETTER FPS
8th Gen Intel Core with Radeon RX Vega M GH Graphics
i7-4720HQ w/ GTX960M vs 8th Gen Intel Core w/ Radeon RX Vega M GH
Sysmark 2014 SE 1.6X BETTER PRODUCTIVITY
3DMark Time Spy – Graphics 2.4X BETTER
3DMark 11 Graphics 2.7X BETTER
HItman 2.7X BETTER FPS
Vermintide 2 2.6X BETTER FPPS
Total War: Warhammer 2.0X BETTER FPS
Rise of the Tomb Raider 2.0X BETTER FPS
I7-7700HQ w/ GTX1060 Max-Q Graphics vs 8th Gen Intel Core w/ Radeon RX Vega M GH
3DMark 11 – Graphics 1.07X BETTER
HITMAN 1.07X BETTER FPS
DEUS EX: Mankind Divided 1.13X BETTER FPS
Total War: Warhammer 1.09X BETTER FPS
RX Vega M Up to 1.13X Higher Performance than GTX 1060 Max-Q (6GB)"

Exclusive: Upcoming Ryzen X470 motherboards from ASRock
Published: 6th Jan 2018 11:41 GMT
https://videocardz.com/newz/exclusi...0-h370-h310-and-b360-motherboards-from-asrock

'We have an update from ASRock regarding their upcoming motherboards.

First Ryzen 2000 motherboards

A new series of Ryzen motherboards are already in the making. We can confirm the following Fatal1ty X470 ASRock motherboards:

ASRock Fatal1ty X470 Gaming K4
ASRock Fatal1ty X470 Professional Gaming
ASRock Fatal1ty X470 Gaming-ITX/ac

It appears that ASRock is sticking to the existing naming scheme for Ryzen Refresh. We are in the process of confirming other series, such as Killer/Taichi and Pro."

 

Both water cooling kits have flaws. B e quiet! Sielnt Loop 360 has uneven bottom plate and Corsair H115i water block is as you can see below a tragedy.

 

First AMD X470(?) Motherboard at CES 2018: Gigabyte Gaming 7 WiFi


CES 2018 - Events, Announcements, Video, Articles...
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/ces-2018-events-announcements-video-articles.812625/

 

Videos for this post and other CES 2018 subjects:

CES 2018 - Events, Announcements, Video, Articles...
http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/ces-2018-events-announcements-video-articles.812625/

AMD Tech Day at CES: 2018 Roadmap Revealed, with Ryzen APUs, Zen+ on 12nm, Vega on 7nm
by Ian Cutress on January 8, 2018 12:01 AM EST
https://www.anandtech.com/show/1223...ealed-with-ryzen-apus-zen-on-12nm-vega-on-7nm

"To mark the start of the annual CES trade show, AMD invited the press in early to sample the latest technologies coming to its portfolio in 2018. What was quite surprising is how much AMD exposed about their plans for 2018, detailing several product lines and launch times well in advance, with some blanks to be filled in later. The highlights include Ryzen APUs, the second generation of Ryzen built on 12nm using the ‘Zen+’ microarchitecture, and proliferating Vega into as many segments as possible, including a new Vega Mobile GPU range, as well as Vega coming to GlobalFoundries’ 7nm process."


This is the CPU/APU product line, and along with new product lines, there are also some new refreshes.

1. Ryzen 3 Mobile APUs: January 9th
2. Ryzen Desktop APUs: February 12th
3. Second Generation Ryzen Desktop Processors: April.
4. Ryzen Pro Mobile APUs: Q2 2018
5. Second Generation Threadripper Processors: 2H 2018
6. Second Generation Ryzen Pro Desktop Processors: 2H 2018

Also included at AMD’s event were a number of side announcements that we will also go into. This includes (but is not limited to):

1. Reduction in pricing for current AMD Ryzen processors
2. 400-Series Chipsets for AM4 Motherboards
3. Custom Radeon Vega Designs
4. Minor Information on Zen 2
5. Overclocking Performance on Ryzen APUs
6. A partnership with Enmotus FuzeDrive
7. Wraith CPU Cooler Update
8. New Laptops/Notebooks based on Ryzen Mobile

* Please note that as this article has gone live, it is not complete. Over the last 12 hours, while at CES, I have been attacked by the 'CES Flu'. Normally I'm not affected, however it turns out that this year's strainis particularly strong and already hit a number of C-level executives. There's something about being at a trade show with 170,000 other people from around the world that screams 'sanitary'.

**Basically, I'll catch up with the rest of the AMD announcements as and when I can. We also have an interview with Dr. Lisa Su about AMD in 2018, which is being transcribed. Watch this space, and stay healthy."

 

Threadripper 2nd Gen.

 

Not a lot of ThreadRipper info, except scheduled for 2H 2018...

 

At least it is on the map.

 

At least we can extrapolate performance boost by seeing the speeds of Zen+ in April and any IPC increase.

What is more exciting is Vega 7nm. It is an efficient design and will be going head to head with the consumer 12nm Volta rumored to be called Ampere. By being on 7nm first, and Nvidia trying to bleed each node dry, so long as it has good memory throughput and good speeds (both of which seem likely from what is known), and maybe increased die size, they should be able to really eat into the GPU market. It seems that is the next goal with how well AMD did in the CPU market.

Then, seeing that the design is done for 7nm on CPUs suggest taping out soon, if not done so already. Exciting days ahead!

 

I am not holding my breath that 12nm will be a worthwhile upgrade to TR. I think 7nm will be though for TR.

 

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/01/06/amd_cpu_psp_flaw/
fTPM vulnerability discovered, fixed later this month. @hmscott

 

AMD All But Relinquishes High-End Desktop Graphics In 2018

A Gaping Hole In AMD’s 2018 Graphics Roadmap
It’s public knowledge at this point that NVIDIA plans to introduce a new lineup of gaming GeForce graphics cards based on its brand new Volta architecture this year. Unlike its competitor, NVIDIA has been following a strict yearly product roadmap since the beginning of the decade.

Like clockwork, every year since the introduction of Kepler in 2012, NVIDIA would deliver a high-end desktop graphics product that surpasses what precedes it.

On the other hand, AMD’s Radeon product cycle has seen far less consistency and as a result we’ve seen the company and its fans genuinely suffer at times. 2014 is one clear example when the company appeared to simply concede competition and resolved to a rebranding scheme that sent its market share tumbling to as low as 18% a year later, the lowest it has ever been since the acquisition of ATi a decade earlier.

AMD Radeon RX Vega 64 and Vega 56 Left To Fend For Themselves Against NVIDIA’s Volta In 2018
If we’ve learned one thing from AMD’s recently published 2018 graphics roadmap is that there’s going to be another product gap this year and we could perhaps be on track to see a repeat of 2014.


According to AMD’s most recently published graphics roadmap, 2018 is going to see a continuation of existing Vega 64 and Vega 56 graphics cards, with no new addition to the high-end desktop. Vega, which hasn’t been able to compete with NVIDIA’s GP102 based products like the GTX 1080 Ti, continues to be in short supply to date. What makes overall matters worse is that it will have to compete with a brand new roster of Volta products later this year.

 

Vega just never could compete and the situation is getting worse. The mobile APU's and even the Intel marriage may be somewhat of a saving grace b ut the high end is gone for now.

 

It seems AMD put most of their eggs in low end Mobile. See also https://www.notebookcheck.net/First...he-Intel-Core-i7-7700HQ-head-on.277336.0.html

https://www.pcworld.com/article/324...r-2-7nm-navi-and-more-in-ces-blockbuster.html

 

A pity!

 

Now this is very impressive from AMD, and apologies if it's already been posted, but their upcoming Ryzen 7 2700U SoC is performing really well in notebooks for only a 15W power consumption:
https://www.notebookcheck.net/First...he-Intel-Core-i7-7700HQ-head-on.277336.0.html
It takes on the i7-7700HQ and equals it in performance, but the AMD chip only uses 15W in comparison to the 45W of Intel - I'm very surprised!

 

AMD in 2018 - Ryzen 2, Threadripper 2 & MORE!

 

AMD'S NEW GPU'S AT CES!!! - CES 2018 Remote Coverage

INTEL FINALLY ADMITS AMD IS SUPERIOR!!!! - CES 2018 Remote Coverage

Ryzen+ Doesn't Suck?!? - CES 2018 Remote Coverage

 

Here's an interesting Acer Nitro 5 laptop featuring all AMD APU (not sure which one) and RX 560 for discrete graphics.
https://www.anandtech.com/show/1228...ing-laptop-with-amd-ryzen-mobile-radeon-rx560

 

Wait a second.
Didn't we have previous sources say that both Ryzen and Vega will be getting refreshes this year (2018)?
So, how accurate is this info from Wccftech?
It's been known to post unreliable information before.

 

AMD Processor Security
1/11/2018
https://www.amd.com/en/corporate/speculative-execution

" An Update on AMD Processor Security
1/11/2018

The public disclosure on January 3rd that multiple research teams had discovered security issues related to how modern microprocessors handle speculative execution has brought to the forefront the constant vigilance needed to protect and secure data. These threats seek to circumvent the microprocessor architecture controls that preserve secure data.

At AMD, security is our top priority and we are continually working to ensure the safety of our users as new risks arise. As a part of that vigilance, I wanted to update the community on our actions to address the situation.

• Google Project Zero (GPZ) Variant 1 (Bounds Check Bypass or Spectre) is applicable to AMD processors.
  • We believe this threat can be contained with an operating system (OS) patch and we have been working with OS providers to address this issue.
  • Microsoft is distributing patches for the majority of AMD systems now. We are working closely with them to correct an issue that paused the distribution of patches for some older AMD processors (AMD Opteron, Athlon and AMD Turion X2 Ultra families) earlier this week. We expect this issue to be corrected shortly and Microsoft should resume updates for these older processors by next week. For the latest details, please seeMicrosoft’s website.
  • Linux vendors are also rolling out patches across AMD products now.
• GPZ Variant 2 (Branch Target Injection or Spectre) is applicable to AMD processors.
  • While we believe that AMD’s processor architectures make it difficult to exploit Variant 2, we continue to work closely with the industry on this threat. We have defined additional steps through a combination of processor microcode updates and OS patches that we will make available to AMD customers and partners to further mitigate the threat.
  • AMD will make optional microcode updates available to our customers and partners for Ryzen and EPYC processors starting this week. We expect to make updates available for our previous generation products over the coming weeks. These software updates will be provided by system providers and OS vendors; please check with your supplier for the latest information on the available option for your configuration and requirements.
  • Linux vendors have begun to roll out OS patches for AMD systems, and we are working closely with Microsoft on the timing for distributing their patches. We are also engaging closely with the Linux community on development of “return trampoline” (Retpoline) software mitigations.
• GPZ Variant 3 (Rogue Data Cache Load or Meltdown) is not applicable to AMD processors.
  • We believe AMD processors are not susceptible due to our use of privilege level protections within paging architecture and no mitigation is required.

There have also been questions about GPU architectures. AMD Radeon GPU architectures do not use speculative execution and thus are not susceptible to these threats.

We will provide further updates as appropriate on this site as AMD and the industry continue our collaborative work to develop mitigation solutions to protect users from these latest security threats.

Mark Papermaster,
Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer"

CPU Vulnerabilities, Meltdown and Spectre, Kernel Page Table Isolation Patches, and more
http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...patches-and-more.812424/page-53#post-10663349

 

The first of series of video's on what to expect with component prices in 2018...first one is DDR4, next is GPU's...AMD re-entry into the market is cited as the source of additional component demand for desktop builds that increased demand causing prices to go up.

Why Building a Gaming PC Right Now is a Bad Idea [Part 1] DDR4 Memory Pricing!

 

The Balloon Falls: Memory Chip Price Decrease in Q4 2017 Prompts Investor Fear
Reuters reports that a sudden (if ridiculous) 5% drop in memory chip prices in Q4 2017 has brought " revenue expectations and investors' profit measurements to a teetering halt. 5% may not look like much - it certainly isn't much when we look at the historic price increases that almost doubled the cost of DDR4 memory kits, as you can see in the PC Part Picker chart below. This memory module price chart doesn't include the 5% drop yet, probably because it takes time for memory chip pricing to materialize in end-user module pricing. But for investors, it's like a spark in a paper archive - it could signal an impending price decrease that would push all profit estimates out the window."

"This 5% drop in pricing has prompted industry analysts to review their profit estimates for 2018, and expect that the memory industry's growth rate will fall by more than half this year to 30 percent. You read that right - investors are scared because growth rates will be 30 percent instead of 60 percent. Oh the joys of inflated pricing, and slower-than-usual ramp-up to keep demand higher than supply. The joys of economic capitalism, where prices for consumers go up, and an industries' value skyrockets by more than 70$ in a single year (2017)."

 

Yeah, but any time a little seasonal price drop occurs I see an article that it's bound to continue to drop, and it just keeps going up.

As he said in the video, the manufacturers aren't keen on getting back into the glut of 2014 situation, and just aren't bringing new plants online, keeping quantities in line with demand this time. The Chinese and others new plants - not from the big 3 - are the only hope for increased availability and maybe that will bring price drops, but those new plants aren't schedule to start operation until 2018 / 2019, and so it could be a while before we see the effects of it all.

 

That ignores the fact that Samsung started production at their new Ram/NVM plant in December, a couple months early and just before or around the time China announced their investigation, although analysts said, do to demand, prices would not drop until 2019. Further, the assumption of keeping supply with current demand is actually to keep us in perpetual shortage, demanding the higher price. Even if not returning to the over-supply situation of 2014, if they do not bring it down to 2015-16 levels, there will be issues with growth in computers, generally. I'm sure the middlemen are loving it, with newegg currently charging $1100-1200 for a 1080 and $1400 for a 1080 Ti, but this will only hurt the market long-term. People will purchase with an eye to wait EVEN LONGER for upgrades, change the way they look at lifespans, and more investigators may get involved. Either way, we'll see what may come.

 

Graphics Card Prices are on the Rise Again

The easiest thing to do would point a finger at a high demand of graphics card due to mining, but with the current trend, that doesn't seem to be it, or simply isn't just that.

"The trend is even worse for AMD Radeon graphics cards, albeit there the shortage has been high overall for a long timeframe now, especially for Vega cards, of course. It remains unclear what precisely is invoking the prices to rise, perhaps it is ming, as Etherium still can be calculated well with a GPU."

I wonder if some will lose in the end when people start keep their hardware longer than before, due greed. The wished increased income can instead be turned to loss who will hurt. People have tried pee in your pants before

 

Why Building a Gaming PC Right Now is a Bad Idea [Part 2] Insane Graphics Card Prices!

 

Why I am glad I got my 1080 TI when I did. Prices and availability are just insane right now.

 

I wrote this in response to another person's analysis, but it puts more context slightly different from just this:

What you are talking about is NOT just cryptomining. Instead, what is the problem is the RAM mfr. did not create enough and did not increase supply when it became understood that it was needed to produce goods. In addition, because of these trends, middlemen, retailers, and resellers through retailers, buy up supply, markup, then resell at obscene amounts. So your real problem is greed and willful decisions on the part of ram mfr. are what is at issues. In fact, I'm sure you've seen China is looking into price fixing for ram over the past 18 months. In addition, they are talking about not alleviating ram shortages until 2019. This may be in part to have the old versions clear from inventory so they don't get hit with that cost, with second gen HBM2, HBM3, DDR5 standard published this summer, GDDR6, there are so many emerging standards no mfr. wants to bank on the wrong one and eat it. But, with the decline in PC purchases over the past 15 years, generally, with people using their systems for longer, you have a hard situation of knowing when people will re-enter the market to replace aged machines, which has added to the uncertainty. Also, not knowing when crypto may dry up, you don't want to over produce and be stuck with worthless inventory. And that leads to a discussion of the season. We already know Nvidia is looking at Volta/Ampere products dropping in a couple months. At that point, the older cards sit in inventory even longer. AMD mentioned a 12nm refresh, but did not mention a Vega variant, which suggests maybe a polaris variant. If that is going to also release in a couple months, AMD cannot afford aging inventory. AMD did mention a 7nm Vega targeting commercial machine learning, which will likely use HBM2. So, I would blame ram manufacturers and the nature of the GPU industry wanting to get inventory channels clear for new releases MORE than just crypto, although crypto IS a part of the problem. I hope that gives more layers for examining the issue.

 

AMD released an updated version of the 17.40 chipset driver dated 1/15. https://support.amd.com/en-us/download/chipset?os=Windows+10+-+64

 

I see Windows 8 is not supported with these new drivers. Only 7,and 10.