Read more.The Zen 2 processor inside appears to be an Xbox Series X APU with the graphics disabled.
Read more.The Zen 2 processor inside appears to be an Xbox Series X APU with the graphics disabled.
It uses 16GB of expensive GDDR6,and yet has no working GPU??
This would be way more interesting if even half the GPU worked
Indeed. Can't image that there are that many yield-wise where they whole GPU is broken but the CPU works, assuming that any defects on the GPU are based on the normal defects-per-area.
GDDR6 and CPUs? Well maybe some 7zip benchmark likes GDDR but most consumer loads probably won't.
Looking at the spec, the reason there's no m.2/nvme is that the pcie 4x slot used for nvme is now redirected to the PCIE slot for GPU.
In a way, I'm surprised there are no spare PCI-E lanes from the cpu, but I suppose this harkens back to the Ryzen APUs which limit descrete GPU/PCIE to 8x. I guess the onboard GPU uses reserved PCIE lanes internally, perhaps? Just seems different to Intel's implementations of onboard GPU.
Scavenged CPUs made for Xbox Series X.
iGPU is probably deactivated because it is in agreement AMD has with Microsoft.
DDR6 is there because the CPU works with that and not DDR4 or DDR5. So, they just put them there otherwise, where would you get DDR6 RAM sticks?
And of course, they had to make a motherboard for that all. They went for the cheapest solution I guess.
If it had at least 4x SATA I would use it for a NAS. This how, I see no particular use.
The more you live, less you die. More you play, more you die. Isn't it great.
The GPU was made under licence for Microsoft, I imagine AMD are not permitted to sell, so any which don't make the Series S, are sold like this.
There were rumours Microsoft may use defective dies in Surface systems, but looks unlikely.
It's a weird one, yeah. The original prebuilt showed off some surprisingly weak ST performance (411 in r20), which is a product of the low clocks in console usage. With that and the limited GPU PCIe lanes it's not going to be much of a gaming machine. No iGPU means it's awkward for browsing/office work. Limited storage options means it's a nonstarter for NAS.
The heatsink not being AM4 might be the most interesting thing about it. Also, it looks like the GDDR6 is all mounted on the backside (unlike the XSX but like the PS5), with the backplate working as a heatspreader and no direct cooling.
Isn't GDDR really bad for latency as its designed for graphics not multithread CPU usage? I suspect that's why its got such poor performance. Just looks like someone saw an opportunity to reduce e-waste.
Wasn't one of the excuses that GPU prices were high,because GDDR6 supplies were limited due to XYZ reasons?? So I assume that excuse doesn't hold up if GDDR6 is so plentiful, it can be used for a mediocre combination like this.
Its why I thought it was weird they were using GDDR6,with no GPU active. I can't see this selling for a huge amount of money,especially as the form factor isn't that compact. The PCI-E slot is also very slow.
Even a Ryzen 7 5700G or Ryzen 7 3700X is going to have a faster CPU part that this! You can literally get a Ryzen 7 3700X with a B450 mini-ITX motherboard for just under £350,and 16GB of 3600MHZ DDR4 is well under £100! The total should be much over £400.
It also makes it rather pointless unless its very cheap as a system. The CPU is basically a downclocked version of the Zen2 APU in laptops. That means a desktop Ryzen 7 3700X should beat it.
AFAIK the PS5 CPU also has variable clockspeeds,which this combination also has. So it might the PS5 SOC then,especially as yields on the PS5 SOC apparently are worse than the XBox Series X.
However,that makes it even worse as a standalone CPU - the Zen2 CPU in the PS5 is depreciated:
https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1361026970893627398
Last edited by CAT-THE-FIFTH; 28-06-2021 at 06:45 PM.
I guess it depends on use case scenarios, paired with a freely available and cheap GT 710, it would be perfectly suitable for browsing and office work. Depends on how much they intend to charge for this I guess, anything over £100 makes it a non-starter when you can just go to Dell and get a complete setup for about £500 that'll do the same thing.
Seeems only PCG and CB have gone with the PS5 story, everyone else says Xbox:
https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/this-amd-...ked-ps5-chips/
https://www.computerbase.de/2021-06/...ni-itx-format/
PS5 makes far more sense.
But that all the ones which don't make the PS5 cut have a fault in the GPU part? Not likely, so maybe Sony really do have the best ever contract and AMD have no choice but to disable the GPU.
I admire that these dies are not going to landfill, but GDDR6 isn't cheap and has characteristis not suited to desktop CPU usage (aside from maybe 7zip and other very niche uses), so with the PS5 die being around 308mm2 and normal* yields indication that it might cost about $80 to make, this product might not make much sense.
(* but if these would otherwise have ended up on landfill, normal yield and die prices might not matter here.)
Last edited by kompukare; 28-06-2021 at 08:35 PM.
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