What If Zen 2 Actually Sucks?

They can’t seem to make a decent GPU above midrange but the CPUs are awesome and they keep intel in check.
 
I might be the only one thinking an AMD Zen2 and Intel GPU combo will be the rig to have next upgrade.
 
The only way for Zen 2 to 'suck' would be if there is a performance regression versus Zen in Ryzen+.

As it stands, we can at least expect AMD to pull off a decent update. Up in the cards is whether they will get a real IPC increase and whether they'll get a clockspeed increase- and how many cores that increase will be effective for.
 
Krenum said:
If Zen 2 sucks, the AMD's boat is sunk! And that would suck.
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It wont suck. But wont blow your socks off either. It will be competitive and cost significantly less then Intel's 10 core w/e lake coming out next. It will probably cost $600 at that point.
 
vegeta535 said:
It wont suck. But wont blow your socks off either. It will be competitive and cost significantly less then Intel's 10 core w/e lake coming out next. It will probably cost $600 at that point.
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This pretty much.
 
Prety sure it won't actually 'suck', but I am sure there will be a tradeoffs by doing multiple chiplets with separate IO instead of going with monolithic solution. Just gotta keep the expectation in check.
 
I think it is silly to tell mid grade CPU buyers to "wait for Zen 2". With current 6 and 8 core Zen cpus going for $150 to less than $250, it will be a better buy than anything the next gen will have, at least for the first few months.

It's like telling an 8700k buyer last yearto wait for Intel 9th gen equivelent products.
 
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If per core performance improves 10% (and that is about all anyone should expect), it is gaining faster than Intel is generation to generation however, they are way behind core performance of Intel as it is so a 10% improvement will still be inferior per core to the 9xxx series chips.
 
Zen2 will be the test.
Zen+ had minor tweaks and a speed bump over Zen, which made it a nice chip, but ultimately just a simple evolution and not a game changer. With 7nm can AMD pull off something substantial? Will IPC actually increase. Zen+ showed no great evolution there. Will Zen2 really close in on the GHz race and hit 5+?
The areas which I am sure AMD will not underwhelm is TDP and extreme core count. Both will be amazing. Zen architecture has already been shown to be very capable in this regard and the shrink will only help.
PS- I am now confused on my Zen/Ryzen architectural evolution naming. Hope I got it right. Why can't they be named the same LOL.
 
It's a good video, but I do agree with the premise that everything so far makes it difficult to make a bad case for the processor outside of sand bagging the release or having stock issues. Even if the thing draws parity with the 9900K and lower end HEDT parts it should start a decent price war, more secure platform to boot.
 
I'm pretty much expecting a 12-core 4.X GHz part with a 10% IPC bump. Any more is a pleasant surprise, any less is going to get stomped by Intel's Skylake++++
 
It's not going to "suck" for anyone who has realistic expectations. But for those poor souls who are expecting some sort of quantum leap forward in terms of performance, it may well disappoint. That doesn't mean it sucks, it just means that some people have got themselves over-hyped for more revolutionary performance increases.

We know from previous die shrinks going back a long, long way now that it'll be modest iterative performance increases, and that's actually completely fine. Will it be significant enough for the majority of Zen+ users to rush to upgrade to Zen2? Almost certainly not, but that was never on the cards.

Add in the fact that most users (outside of some specialist use cases) aren't particularly CPU-limited, and it's just not a big deal really. Still, AMD gave us a big leap forward with Zen and if then can build on that with more modest, but continual, increases thereafter then it's all good. And we'll see what Intel's response is (if any). At the end of the day, consumers are getting a good result and that's something we should all be happy about. Just need to keep those unrealistic expectations in check (and that applies to both CPU and GPU improvements).
 
gigatexal said:
They can’t seem to make a decent GPU above midrange but the CPUs are awesome and they keep intel in check.
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They have a GPU stack that competes from 2080 down. That's 99% of the market yet people like you write this almost weekly.
CPU stack isn't much different outside of 240p 1000 Hz gaming.
 
Kardonxt said:
I'm at the point of, "who cares?"

This stupid 6600k still plays all of my games on high settings. Heck I have a buddy who still rocks a 1055t with a GTX 970 and plays everything fine.

Unless you're in the "games are unplayable bellow 144hz" crowd, it hardly seems to matter anymore. Now that all games are console ports, systems seem to last forever. Toss in a new gpu ever 5 years and keep chugging.
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Not all of us are using our computers as dedicated gaming machines, so even if 144hz doesn't matter, better CPU very well may. Any sort of productivity work can benefit from faster CPU, and many of the programs can now benefit from multi-core.

For me, personally, I have been doing fine with my 2013 computer, and have to justify spending ~$1k to have any meaningful upgrade. If Zen 2 means I can purchase mid-range CPU and see a significant improvement, I'll be very interested.
 
N4CR said:
They have a GPU stack that competes from 2080 down. That's 99% of the market yet people like you write this almost weekly.
CPU stack isn't much different outside of 240p 1000 Hz gaming.
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Just because their newest card is 700 bucks doesn’t mean they compete. The card runs hotter and is slower. In any case who cares.
 
JasonLD said:
Prety sure it won't actually 'suck', but I am sure there will be a tradeoffs by doing multiple chiplets with separate IO instead of going with monolithic solution. Just gotta keep the expectation in check.
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They may not all have two cpu chiplets, and the ones with a single chiplet and io die will probably not be hurt much by the separate io die. The inter-chiplet latency on the >8c CPUs will probably have an impact on some workloads, though.

Can't wait for real benchmarks on the whole range.
 
Zen 2 will be the Bee's Knee's and Adored TV is an attention seeking troll sometimes. It's fun to watch until it isn't.
 
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