AMD today announced in a live streaming video event called "New Horizons" that their Zen based cpu is to be called RYZEN.

A quick review is posted here at TomsHardware:

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/amd-ryzen-eight-core-cpu,33180.html

Edit: AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su claims RYZEN is on schedule for Q1 launch, with a clock speed of 3.4 GHz at lauch featuring turbo boost frequencies that go higher. Comparisons claiming comparitive processing power were were made with Intel's i7 6900K (which retails for about $1100).

[ Edited by Jim 13.12.2016 - 16:24 ]

Available as of today.



[ Edited by Jim 02.03.2017 - 11:38 ]

I know we are not really focused on X64 yet, but I must admit to being really jazzed up about AMD's new Ryzen 7 CPU.
Sure, its a little more expensive than low end processors, but its a lot less than a higher end i7.
AND it benchmarks really well (16 freaking threads guys).
Combine that with some of the great gpus that AMD has been introducing, and this is a killer combo.

I would love to run MorphOS 4.0 on something like this.

This would be ~ 1,000 USD/EUR well invested.

Ryzen four and six core cpus posted for sale today by various sources, starting at around $170.

Here's a listing by Newegg.com:

http://promotions.newegg.com/NEemail/Apr-0-2017/Ryzen_re45okvb_11/index-landing.html?utm_medium=Email&utm_source=IGNEFL041117&cm_mmc=EMC-IGNEFL041117-_-EMC-041117-Index-_-Header-_-ClickHere&et_cid=33022&et_rid=18000704&et_p1=&email64=amlnb3UzNzk0NUB3aWxkY2F0cy53aWxtdS5lZHU=


[ Edited by Jim 11.04.2017 - 07:58 ]

6core sounds tempting, but high RAM prices are a bit turn off for me. I'm gonna wait, pff.

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DDR4 prices are fairly reasonable in the US (although DDR3 IS still a better buy, BUT its not an option), so I've been thinking about buying two strips of 8GB each.
And the performance benchmarks of the six core make it look pretty stellar.

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I'll have to keep an eye on your reviews of this CPU and ask you for recommendations in the near future, when I am ready to replace my current i5 desktop system. My current system still runs fairly well for most tasks, but as with all Windows computers I've had for the past 25+ years, I've never been completely satisfied with its performance, and I usually replace my Windows PC about every 2.5 to 3.5 years, so I'm almost due for a new build.

I wonder how I can ship my existing system's mobo to France, without having to pay a ton of import taxes? I have a friend there who needs a new computer, but can't afford one, and the last one I delivered in person by taking it in my suitcase, has died (or the twin video cards have died, and the mobo is so old, it isn't worth spending money on replacement video cards for it, and the money would be better spent replacing the whole system).

If any of you have advice on how to ship computer parts without having to pay high VAT to get the mobo to France, let me know.

> how to ship computer parts without having to pay high VAT to get the mobo to France

VAT is for new products and isn't specific to shipping.

Andreas has a point, place a low value on the paperwork (but not ridiculously low) and the import duties won't be that much.
I only value the video cards I send Mark at about $7.00, and South African Customs doesn't question that.

Your i5, btw, isn't that dated.
From the benchmarks I've seen, Ryzen would probably be faster (even the four core variants), but that depends on the applications you're fond of.
Intel still seems to hold an edge in gaming.

Other benchmarks have been pretty remarkable for the price, though.

And the second generation should improve now that they are seeing what the architecture can do.
Its definitely a solid improvement over the old Bulldozer core.

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VAT was the wrong term for me to use, and I should have typed customs charges for importing used electronic components, or something like that.

As for me updating my desktop to a newer system, I don't need to do it right now, but might do it within the next few months, mostly to help my friend out in France, who needs a newer computer, by sending her my i5 motherboard. The desktop she is using (or was using) is the one I gave her 18 months ago, which was an old PC of mine, bought new in 2006. Seems fairly useless to buy new video cards for that 2006 PC, unless she can get fairly powerful video cards for almost nothing second hand. Otherwise, it would be better for her to save the money for a newer computer build.

I'll have to ask around to see how a 6 core, or 8 core CPU will improve the performance of the couple of PC games I play, as well as my CAD program. Guild Wars 2 is supposed to be CPU intensive, and not depend on the GPU much, from what I have read. Those are the only things I use that need high performance CPU/GPU combination, other than general web browsing, which seems to take more resources to deal with each new week/month.

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For newer demanding games for sure. My old one handles FodQuake nicely and runs generally fine :).

2004 Socket A system with Sempron OC 1.9GHz, 1,2GB RAM, Radeon9100 (which was left after I sold my Peg2 with 9000). I revived it lately when I bought Radeon 9800 PRO for my PM G5, but the card turned out to be faulty.

Some programs require SSE2/3, but that's not a big deal, except Firefox 52 ESR. Firefox 45 ESR runs well on WinXP, though support will end on June 13, 2017.

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It might be cheaper to postpone your system upgrade (benefitting from future price cuts) and order some used hardware locally in France (or at least within the EU) now.

Shipping hardware across oceans is always a risk and rarely inexpensive.

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You will most likely not notice any difference in performance for these use cases. For people with an older GPU, buying a 200 USD GTX 1060 or RX 480 will have a dramatically bigger effect than spending 500 / 600 USD on a Ryzen chip, new mainboard and fast, known to be Ryzen-compatible DDR4 memory.

For raytracing, 8-core Ryzen chips are an amazing option compared to Intel"s substantially more expensive alternatives. Also, if you encode a lot of video files and are dissatisfied with the quality of NVIDIA's or AMD"s hardware encoders (which are insanely fast, though), then more processing cores will be very useful as well. It does not sound like these are common tasks for you, however.

Moreover, I remember you mentioning an interest in Hackintoshs in the past. It seems worth pointing out that running MacOS on AMD processors is rather painful and difficult to maintain.

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Great points, although I am very interested in video encoding speed, but did not think to mention it. I should just send my friend some money to help with a local computer upgrade purchase, and forget about sending her my 2 year old motherboard. I can probably just upgrade my existing i5 to a fast i7 CPU, and replace my Radeon 6850 video card with something newer, and it will double my performance for many tasks.

That was my original thought, when building my existing system and using the i5 at the time, to save some cost. It is/was a fairly highly rated motherboard, so probably still has lots of life left in it, but could be accelerated greatly with a new CPU and video card combo. Thanks for your reply and jogging my thought process in the right direction.

Makes sense. The video card Andre recommended, the Radeon RX480, is a serious powerhouse.
And an i7 processor, if its an older revision may not be that expensive, and it will double your thread count speeding up the operations you mentioned.

The biggest problem with the new AMD core is its requirement of DDR4 and a new motherboard.
The cpu itself is fairly affordable, but when you factor in the total cost...