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AMD could be back in the CPU performance game with Zen

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Thanks to wccftech (and our IRC for the link) I have learnt today that AMD's new processor design named Zen is shaping up very nicely. Apparently they are due out in October of this year (not confirmed), so hopefully not too long to find out for ourselves. I've no doubt Phoronix will have tests up shortly after they are released so we can see their Linux performance.

QuoteZen is said to have extremely competitive single threaded performance according to engineers with knowledge of the chip. Citing more instructions per clock than Intel’s Broadwell and just a smidgen behind Skylake. The 95W TDP if accurate indicates that indeed we’re looking at a very power efficient design.


This is exactly what I have been hoping for! Go AMD.

QuoteHowever, during last quarter’s earnings conference call President and CEO of the company Lisa Su announced that Zen is performing beyond initial expectations and that engineers have managed to achieve a greater than 40% IPC improvement.


I don't want to get my hopes up too much, but this could really shake up the CPU market for the better if it turns out to be even close to true.

While I like how good my current Intel CPU is, having some proper competition in the higher end would be really great not only for AMD's pockets, but for prices. Competition generally brings down prices, and forces competition to try and do even better.

An AMD APU with Zen could be quite interesting in a Steam Machine to bring down prices, for just one example that could be pretty good to see. Let's hope their drivers are in a good state when Zen arrives.

AMD went back to the drawing board for Zen, so let's hope all their time and effort was worth it. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
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Maokei Mar 13, 2016
I guess AMD strategy will be to make a pure powerful CPU without spending allot of silicon making space for a GPU most people wont use in their desktop machine like intel.
LinuxGamesTV Mar 14, 2016
Quoting: Guest
Quoting: Nyap...
... and you'll see kernel drivers come online at ...
AMD has send patches to the Linux Kernel:

https://lkml.org/lkml/2016/1/29/78
Keyrock Mar 14, 2016
I'll believe it when I see it, but I hope they do pull a miracle out of their ass. AMD has been a complete non-factor in the mid-high end desktop market for half a decade+ now. It's about time Intel had some competition.

As an aside, why compare to Broadwell when Skylake is out?
Quoting: KeyrockAs an aside, why compare to Broadwell when Skylake is out?
Dunno, but even Skylake isn't really a relevant point of comparison as Kaby Lake will be out the same time as Zen.
Mountain Man Mar 14, 2016
Quoting: KeyrockAMD has been a complete non-factor in the mid-high end desktop market for half a decade+ now. It's about time Intel had some competition.
You know, people say stuff like this, but I've been using AMD CPUs for well over a decade, and I've never been unhappy with the performance of my systems. Are Intel CPUs theoretically faster? Sure. But they're also a hell of a lot more expensive. In terms of cost per performance, AMD has always been hard to beat.


Last edited by Mountain Man on 14 March 2016 at 3:07 am UTC
adolson Mar 14, 2016
Quoting: Mountain ManIn terms of cost per performance, AMD has always been hard to beat.

I'll make my next build completely AMD-based if they can get their GPU situation sorted out. And I don't mean "I can play most games fine with their most expensive card at a lower framerate than NVIDIA GPUs from many generations earlier." I mean, get it at least close to on par with NVIDIA's quality and performance, support all the games, and I'm in.

Until then, I'll stick to Intel and NVIDIA.
syxbit Mar 14, 2016
For CPUs, it would be great if they finally caught up. (though I'll believe it when I see it.)
Regardless of how good their GPU hardware is, that simply isn't enough. Their Linux drivers are years behind Nvidia.
TheRiddick Mar 14, 2016
I would like a AMD CPU for my next upgrade, I even had a 6 core 8370E CPU while back, moved to a Intel 6core cpu and felt it was a huge waste of money except for the benefit of PCIe3.0 which did help with 4k content. I didn't see a massive jump in general desktop/gaming performance going from the 8370e to the intel 6 core I have today, definitely not the $500odd I paid for the Intel CPU.


Last edited by TheRiddick on 14 March 2016 at 5:12 am UTC
STiAT Mar 14, 2016
My gaming rig is now 3 years old, but since it still runs a GTX770, I don't have plans to replace it just too soon (most titles run "good enough" for my taste, so I'm planning to give my rig until christmas).

I really hope Zen, new graphics drivers and a now faster evolving mesa will shake it up a bit. Though, I don't get my hopes up too much, but I'm willing to give them a shot again on my next buy if things improve.
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