AMD Carrizo Launched, Packs Efficiency And Innovation Into Mainstream Notebooks

[kcarbotte]

Give me a $500 laptop with a 1080p IPS Freesync screen and quad core carrizo APU and I'll be extremely happy. Although TBH I don't expect to see any laptop with that particular combination of features for under $700 which is unfortunate as I'm fairly certain they could all be fit into a $500 envelope and still make the manufacturers a profit.

But I still think I'll refrain from buying any new laptops until ~2016 when AMD has released some Finfet Zen APU's with on die HBM ~.^

What you are looking for in a laptop is exactly what AMD has said they want to deliver. a quad core apu laptop with 1080p resultuon for $400-$700. There should be options available to suit those needs in the coming weeks.

To me knowledge ZEN is going to be a desktop-only architecture. I would not count on seeing laptops with ZEN APUs in 2016. And even if that happens, ZEN is set to be a high performance (read: more expensive) processor, so it's not likely you'll see laptops for under $700 configured that way.

So I take from this AMD is going to just focus on the most profitable area it can at the expense of other sectors. It's clearly not able to compete on all fronts any more. It's dedicated GPU's aren't generally as good Nvidia. It's CPU's and APU's are no where near as good as Intel's.
So now they are just going to focus on a particular area, the portable sector.

I asked an executive at the Carrizo event if AMD will have an answer to x99 at some point. He wasn't really willing to answer that, but did say that ZEN is a big focus for the company right now. It won't be on the market until 2016 though.

So just a few hours ago I read a MASSIVE story on here about the new intel chips and how badass they were. Now you post this too? Why not combine the reviews...

it's a paper launch. reviewers are waiting for samples.

Bingo! This is not a review, simply an overview of the changes and what to expect. We'll have reviews at a later date.

I hope AMD is being on the level and not just trying to hype things up. They should have learned from the bulldozer fiasco.

Looks like AMD is really focusing on design, instead of just chasing IPC. They seem to have some really interesting ideas and if brought to fruition, could really change the game. Intel has been mostly focused on the iGPU and process for the last several generations. This may shake things up.

With the way AMD is doing things, "Zen" should be a very interesting chip.

I feel exactly the same way. I did get a glimpse of what Carrizo can do in person though. there were a few laptops on display with Carrizo chips demoing different things. Dirt Rally was being played on one that had dual graphics enabled.
a 4k h.265 video was being decoded live on one next to an intel system (not broadwell) doing the same thing (both laptops were hooked up to 4K Dell displays). That aspect, at the very least, does what they say it does.

 

[xenol]

The only thing that matters in mobile for a majority of the market is battery life. If AMD can't compete against Intel in this sector, then AMD stands little chance. People in the $400-$700 laptop market aren't looking for gaming machines, they're looking for things they can take around and can be off the grid for more than 4 hours. Gaming performance is just a nice plus (if they even care about it)

 

[Onus]

The only thing that matters in mobile for a majority of the market is battery life. If AMD can't compete against Intel in this sector, then AMD stands little chance. People in the $400-$700 laptop market aren't looking for gaming machines, they're looking for things they can take around and can be off the grid for more than 4 hours. Gaming performance is just a nice plus (if they even care about it)

This. And please, before voting him (or me) down, please note that he says "...matters in mobile," not "...matters in a laptop." Yes, some people still want desktop replacements that they can carry around and plug in. For those who want mobility however, battery life is key. This seems to be one area where AMD still competes well vs. Intel, with Kabini. My Lenovo X140E with a Kabini Athon X4 gets all-day battery life, especially since I gained at least half an hour by replacing its stock 7200RPM hard drive with a 500GB Samsung SSD (I highlighted Samsung because of how little power they use, particularly when idle, even compared to other SSDs). It is also capable of light gaming, even older (but still decent) titles like Guild Wars.

 

[Vlad Rose]

The biggest problem I see right now that scares me in thinking that AMD may not have enough to be able to compete anymore is their financial situation:

http://247wallst.com/technology-3/2015/06/02/could-amd-go-to-zero/

The most important part of this article is that "Between 2011 and 2014, R&D spending fell from around $1.45 billion to $1.03 billion. For reference, Intel’s R&D spend rose from $8.35 billion to $11.53 billion over the same period." Without R&D, one can't be competitive. It's starting to remind me of of the last days of Cyrix, where they had good ideas, but not enough resources to be able to compete.

 

[RedJaron]

Very interesting ideas presented here. Like many others I'm hopeful they bear useful fruit and not just hype. I'd love to see AMD go back to the Athlon XP days where the CPU was smarter, not just "faster."

 

[Martell1977]

The biggest problem I see right now that scares me in thinking that AMD may not have enough to be able to compete anymore is their financial situation:

http://247wallst.com/technology-3/2015/06/02/could-amd-go-to-zero/

The most important part of this article is that "Between 2011 and 2014, R&D spending fell from around $1.45 billion to $1.03 billion. For reference, Intel’s R&D spend rose from $8.35 billion to $11.53 billion over the same period." Without R&D, one can't be competitive. It's starting to remind me of of the last days of Cyrix, where they had good ideas, but not enough resources to be able to compete.

Except those are combined numbers. How much of that was R&D into 22nm and 14nm processes, and how much was spent on the iGPU? For actual CPU performance spending, it appears Intel did a little with a lot and vice versa for AMD. AMD researches design's for a process but not for creating the process itself and the iGPU borrows from their GPU development.

 

[kenjitamura]

Except those are combined numbers. How much of that was R&D into 22nm and 14nm processes, and how much was spent on the iGPU? For actual CPU performance spending, it appears Intel did a little with a lot and vice versa for AMD. AMD researches design's for a process but not for creating the process itself and the iGPU borrows from their GPU development.

That is a good point. Since AMD pulled out of the foundry business they will have a significantly smaller R&D budget but you could also make the argument that the R&D budgets at TSMC and GF could be looked at as part of AMD's since they use their foundries and benefit from all their advances.

 

[Martell1977]

but you could also make the argument that the R&D budgets at TSMC and GF could be looked at as part of AMD's since they use their foundries and benefit from all their advances.

Not really, as they make chips for others as well with those processes. AMD's expense from the foundries would be for production, which is a different part of the budget. Only way to link the R&D would be if AMD still owned the foundry, in part or fully. TSMC and GF do the research to remain in business, progress or die, like any business.

 

[PaulBags]

So I take from this AMD is going to just focus on the most profitable area it can at the expense of other sectors. It's clearly not able to compete on all fronts any more. It's dedicated GPU's aren't generally as good Nvidia. It's CPU's and APU's are no where near as good as Intel's.
So now they are just going to focus on a particular area, the portable sector.

You can't compare or talk like you are. You have to look at what you pay, what you want, and what you get for your every dollar. AMD APUs are (which I thought were a waste until until these) are still around half the price of the new 6200 and Iris pros Broadwells and keep growing exponentially.

Also, stop talking about the Nvidia cards. The 290X is AMAZING. I'm still doing builds with it, paying around $270-290 each. Crossfire with FreeSync is still cheaper than a 980 but, STILL, amazing alone. No CF/SLI bridge needed n boom! Either way, Intel is winning if you wanna pay more. I have clients with smaller budgets and I have to physically go with AMD.

So I take from this AMD is going to just focus on the most profitable area it can at the expense of other sectors. It's clearly not able to compete on all fronts any more. It's dedicated GPU's aren't generally as good Nvidia. It's CPU's and APU's are no where near as good as Intel's.
So now they are just going to focus on a particular area, the portable sector.

You can't compare or talk like you are. You have to look at what you pay, what you want, and what you get for your every dollar. AMD APUs are (which I thought were a waste until until these) are still around half the price of the new 6200 and Iris pros Broadwells and keep growing exponentially.

Also, stop talking about the Nvidia cards. The 290X is AMAZING. I'm still doing builds with it, paying around $270-290 each. Crossfire with FreeSync is still cheaper than a 980 but, STILL, amazing alone. No CF/SLI bridge needed n boom! Either way, Intel is winning if you wanna pay more. I have clients with smaller budgets and I have to physically go with AMD.

Depends what market your in, in my neck of the woods 290x is only slightly cheaper than 980, and the difference pays for dx12.

 

[Aspiring techie]

This looks like a decent improvement to mid-range notebooks. Intel finally has some real competition. I don't think that Intel will take this sitting down, they will probably crush Carrizo with Skylake or Cannonlake.

Right now, AMD's only hope to compete is to get bought out by a bigger company like Samsung. Then, they will have access to money and resources, enough to make their products as good as Intel's. This then will force Intel to crank up performance in all sectors, not just mobile. If AMD is bought out, the resulting CPU war will make all of us enthausaists happy because both companies will have to go all out in terms of performance.

 

[deksman]

This looks like a decent improvement to mid-range notebooks. Intel finally has some real competition. I don't thin that Intel will take this sitting down, they will crush Carrizo with Skylake or Cannonlake.

Right now, AMD's only hope to compete is to get bought out by a bigger company like Samsung. Then, they will have access to money and resources, enough to make their products as good as Intel's. This then will force Intel to crank up performance in all sectors, not just mobile. If AMD is bought out, the resulting CPU war will make all of us enthausaists happy because both companies will have to go all out in terms of performance.

AMD cannot be bought out by Samsung or another company because that would be a violation of their cross-licensing agreement with Intel I think.

 

[Aspiring techie]

This looks like a decent improvement to mid-range notebooks. Intel finally has some real competition. I don't thin that Intel will take this sitting down, they will crush Carrizo with Skylake or Cannonlake.

Right now, AMD's only hope to compete is to get bought out by a bigger company like Samsung. Then, they will have access to money and resources, enough to make their products as good as Intel's. This then will force Intel to crank up performance in all sectors, not just mobile. If AMD is bought out, the resulting CPU war will make all of us enthausaists happy because both companies will have to go all out in terms of performance.

AMD cannot be bought out by Samsung or another company because that would be a violation of their cross-licensing agreement with Intel I think.

That's a shame. Oh well, I guess we will have to be satisfied with the current development rate.🙁

 

[Martell1977]

That's a shame. Oh well, I guess we will have to be satisfied with the current development rate.🙁

If AMD can significantly close the gap with Intel, which it looks like they are catching up on process, then their balance sheet should improve. Will it be as big as Intel's budget, very, very doubtful. However, if sales increase and they return to profitability, they can begin hiring more engineers and other necessary staff. Zen will be a make it or break it product. They can't survive much longer on GPU's alone.

A large problem with AMD is their image. Intel is a household name and AMD is either unknown or seen as a knock-off. When AMD has products they can compete with, they need to advertise. I'm still seeing Intel ads on TV, which I have never seen an AMD ad. I know this takes money, but when Dell, HP, etc. are advertising a new model, AMD needs to demand they say it has a AMD processor, just like we see the "Intel Inside" logo at the end of the current ads.

 

[cd000]

Dude your gettin a Dell with a AMD processor! Looks like @Dell loves #Carrizo, and will use @AMD once again. #AMDRTP http://www.cnet.com/au/news/dell-inspirion-amd-carrizo/?hootPostID=45e689fbdf6be721715660994800ebed …

 

[InvalidError]

AMD cannot be bought out by Samsung or another company because that would be a violation of their cross-licensing agreement with Intel I think.

AFAIK, the cross-license simply forbids AMD from transferring its licenses to other parties or sub-licensing them. Samsung could probably buy AMD as a fully-owned subsidiary or other similar scheme where the licenses remain within AMD and AMD remains a distinct entity. Any x86 chip Samsung might want to design would have to go through AMD.

 

[aibenq]

People who comment that lastest Intel i7-5775C is beat AMD A10-7850K is makes Intel destroyed AMD... oh please... i7-577C is marketed around $350, while AMD A10-7850K is offered around $130

so still, AMD Kaveri APU is better option for customer want to have a 1080p gaming with out breaking bank. and please, i7-577C is used hyper threading, of course the IPC is higher than AMD A10-7850K who only have 4 thread.

so literary, you pay $350 for i7-5775C for extra 20-30fps, over $130 AMD A10-7850K that's give you 60fps. I think if Intel can give 120fps with $350, that's what we called INTEL DESTROYED AMD... for now, is not. better called "Intel is cross over AMD lawn" rather destroyed.

and for a $350 CPU, I usually will buy discrete graphic card too for my PC, because with fast CPU, I better paired with fast GPU, rather than Iris Pro.

 

[psanchez69]

I think now AMD needs to start making and offering their own laptops instead to beg for OEMs use their APUs to make good products for a fair price.

 

[Nikhil Das]

So I take from this AMD is going to just focus on the most profitable area it can at the expense of other sectors. It's clearly not able to compete on all fronts any more. It's dedicated GPU's aren't generally as good Nvidia. It's CPU's and APU's are no where near as good as Intel's.
So now they are just going to focus on a particular area, the portable sector.

So I take from this AMD is going to just focus on the most profitable area it can at the expense of other sectors. It's clearly not able to compete on all fronts any more. It's dedicated GPU's aren't generally as good Nvidia. It's CPU's and APU's are no where near as good as Intel's.
So now they are just going to focus on a particular area, the portable sector.

Im one saying this to all those people who blindly judge AMD. Can you please specify what is wrong with AMD as of now??
I used both intel and AMD, i am still using them both. My office workstation is having intel, my home pc is AMD based. Well, I stuggle each day, to use my workstation as it is nothing compared with what I am using in My home. Leave hardcore gaming, the i5 in my office pc is not even bale to handle multiple tabs in chrome, well when I open eclipse i5 is literally sweating.
And you know what?? The AMD chip i use in my home pc is 50% CHEAPER than the one in my workstation. What you have to say.? Yes an i7 might overwhelm AMD 8320, bt think about the price before you talk poorly about AMD.
I've been using Athlon 3200 + dual core, and guess what, I was the only one in my whole school (using intel) able to play game at playable framerate (without high end graphics)
Coming to NVIDIA vs AMD, I was using nvidia, and I changed to AMD, and thats not because I am a fan boy, its cz, at that price point, AMD offered better performance.
Yes if you need a monstrous system, and a big pocket, INTEL + NVIDIA.. But Performance, should be available for people with less budget as well, that where AMD shines, and thats what AMD is trying to do. So, Test 2 builds, before you say anything.

 

[InvalidError]

Im one saying this to all those people who blindly judge AMD. Can you please specify what is wrong with AMD as of now??
I used both intel and AMD, i am still using them both. My office workstation is having intel, my home pc is AMD based. Well, I stuggle each day, to use my workstation as it is nothing compared with what I am using in My home. Leave hardcore gaming, the i5 in my office pc is not even bale to handle multiple tabs in chrome, well when I open eclipse i5 is literally sweating.

Then there must be something wrong with your office PC because there is no way a properly configured i5 would struggle with Chrome even if you had 50 tabs open in it unless those tabs are loaded with annoying animated GIFs, Flash, JScript animations and other stuff that eats CPU cycles. Even my old Core2 had no trouble with typical Chrome/FireFox usage with over a dozen tabs.

 

[Vlad Rose]

Im one saying this to all those people who blindly judge AMD. Can you please specify what is wrong with AMD as of now??
I used both intel and AMD, i am still using them both. My office workstation is having intel, my home pc is AMD based. Well, I stuggle each day, to use my workstation as it is nothing compared with what I am using in My home. Leave hardcore gaming, the i5 in my office pc is not even bale to handle multiple tabs in chrome, well when I open eclipse i5 is literally sweating.

Then there must be something wrong with your office PC because there is no way a properly configured i5 would struggle with Chrome even if you had 50 tabs open in it unless those tabs are loaded with annoying animated GIFs, Flash, JScript animations and other stuff that eats CPU cycles. Even my old Core2 had no trouble with typical Chrome/FireFox usage with over a dozen tabs.

I thought the exact same thing as well since personally having both Intel and AMD at home, my AMD pales in comparison. You may want to run a spyware scan on your computer. Or, more than likely, check how much RAM is in the 2 systems since it sounds more related to that. The laptops we had at work were excruciatingly slow running Matlab, Davinci, and other software for automotive work until we had them all bumped up from 2gig of RAM to 8.

Coming to NVIDIA vs AMD, I was using nvidia, and I changed to AMD, and thats not because I am a fan boy, its cz, at that price point, AMD offered better performance.
Yes if you need a monstrous system, and a big pocket, INTEL + NVIDIA.. But Performance, should be available for people with less budget as well, that where AMD shines, and thats what AMD is trying to do. So, Test 2 builds, before you say anything.

With the video cards, I agree with you that they're equally competitive vs Nvidia right now. The recent Gameworks drama going on has not been helping AMD at all though. And to make matters worse, the 300 series of GPUs coming out are only going to be refreshes yet again; until their fury line comes out.

The last thing that is really hurting AMD is that they're financially struggling and don't have the resources for R&D like their competition does; that makes it very hard to try and stay competitive.

So yeah, there is definite cause for concern with AMD.