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AMD Zen 2 Update: 7nm EPYC in Labs Now, Launching in 2019

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Re: AMD Zen 2 Update: 7nm EPYC in Labs Now, Launching in 2019

#3

Am I missing something here or is Intel starting to lag behind on Fab Tech? I thought they were years and billions ahead?!?

To be fair to Intel, ‘nm’ hasn’t really meant anything for years now (it’s today’s ‘MHz’) but their 10nm process has been famously delayed, they were originally planning a launch for 2016 and it’s only been in the last couple of months that products have started to trickle out.

Re: AMD Zen 2 Update: 7nm EPYC in Labs Now, Launching in 2019

#4

Am I missing something here or is Intel starting to lag behind on Fab Tech? I thought they were years and billions ahead?!?

It's a good question. I've thought the same thing. Historically, Intel's competitive advantage has been in manufacturing. As that slows down due to the general slowdown of Moore's law or just because they don't stay on top of their game, it seems likely that AMD, ARM and Nvidia will eat more and more of Intel's lunch.

Re: AMD Zen 2 Update: 7nm EPYC in Labs Now, Launching in 2019

#5

Am I missing something here or is Intel starting to lag behind on Fab Tech? I thought they were years and billions ahead?!?

> I thought they were years and billions ahead?!?

according to their big mouth marketing department, yes. according to reality or market, no.

Re: AMD Zen 2 Update: 7nm EPYC in Labs Now, Launching in 2019

#6
I'm really curious if AMD can overtake Intel in single threaded performance. They already have the lead in number of cores (per socket) and multi threaded benchmarks like cinebench (when using same number of cores and clocks).

At the moment Intel has a slight edge in IPC and quite a bit better clocks.

If they can close the IPC gap or even overtake Intel and GlobalFoundries 7nm process really can clock around 5ghz this will be an interesting matchup.

   Q17: Does the first generation of 7LP target higher frequency clocks than 14LPP?

   GP: Definitely. It is a big performance boost - we quoted around 40%. I don't know how that exactly will translate into frequency, but I would guess that it should be able to get up in the 5GHz range, I would expect.
https://www.anandtech.com/show/12438/the-future-of-silicon-a...

Re: AMD Zen 2 Update: 7nm EPYC in Labs Now, Launching in 2019

#7

I'm really curious if AMD can overtake Intel in single threaded performance. They already have the lead in number of cores (per socket) and multi threaded benchmarks like cinebench (when using same number of cores and clocks). At the moment Intel has a slight edge in IPC and quite a bit better clocks. If they can close the IPC gap or even overtake Intel and GlobalFoundries 7nm process really can clock around 5ghz thi…

I think the IPC gap will become an interesting battle in the near future, especially as gains that came from aggressive speculation have proven to introduce security holes (take your pick of Meltdown, Spectre variant n,...).

Re: AMD Zen 2 Update: 7nm EPYC in Labs Now, Launching in 2019

#8

Am I missing something here or is Intel starting to lag behind on Fab Tech? I thought they were years and billions ahead?!?

The most likely cause of Intel's lagging is a wall of cost/benefit to being both designer and fab. This hit AMD earlier by being smaller(and arguably, with a different management style, AMD could have held on to their fabs longer) but each node only gets more expensive and harder to keep busy with orders which in turn means a greater need for external customers to fund R&D.

Intel had a reprieve of almost a decade with a weak AMD that let them coast along with the desktop monopoly and extract a yawn-worthy 5-10% improvement per generation, but now that they have the incentive to compete again they're struggling to get their house in order - the chip design hasn't had a major refresh in a long time and they have been very late with their version of 10nm.

So they're really at a crossroads now where they can't rely on old tactics and their long-term prospects are in serious doubt, since they didn't position themselves to counter the efficient small-core/big-package architecture that AMD is pushing with the Zen chips. For now, they can still put out competitive flagship product launches simply by binning extremely expensive parts and running them hot(e.g. compare i9 and Threadripper) but that advantage might erode within one more generation.

Re: AMD Zen 2 Update: 7nm EPYC in Labs Now, Launching in 2019

#9

Am I missing something here or is Intel starting to lag behind on Fab Tech? I thought they were years and billions ahead?!?

To be fair to Intel, ‘nm’ hasn’t really meant anything for years now (it’s today’s ‘MHz’) but their 10nm process has been famously delayed, they were originally planning a launch for 2016 and it’s only been in the last couple of months that products have started to trickle out.

Yeah, Intels 10nm is comparable to other companies 7nm: https://www.semiwiki.com/forum/content/6713-14nm-16nm-10nm-7...

Re: AMD Zen 2 Update: 7nm EPYC in Labs Now, Launching in 2019

#10
post #7

I'm really curious if AMD can overtake Intel in single threaded performance. They already have the lead in number of cores (per socket) and multi threaded benchmarks like cinebench (when using same number of cores and clocks). At the moment Intel has a slight edge in IPC and quite a bit better clocks. If they can close the IPC gap or even overtake Intel and GlobalFoundries 7nm process really can clock around 5ghz thi…

I think the IPC gap will become an interesting battle in the near future, especially as gains that came from aggressive speculation have proven to introduce security holes (take your pick of Meltdown, Spectre variant n ,...).

Are there any good post-Meltdown benchmarks conparing Intel and AMD?
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