Ryzen Release Thread

[SteelCrysis]

Non-X Ryzen CPUs have XFR as well, check the comments: http://www.kitguru.net/components/cpu/lu...review/12/

https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/...0X/16.html

What I'd also like to mention is how unfinished the whole motherboard ecosystem feels. AMD sent me a Gigabyte Aorus motherboard with Corsair memory, so I assumed they properly tested that combination for optimum user experience. Not really. Once you setup the system, your memory will run at 2133 MHz, which is extremely low and will severely restrict performance in both application and games. You want to be running 2666 MHz at least. So, off I went into the BIOS, set 2666 MHz - nothing happened. The damn motherboard BIOS just didn't apply the memory frequency. At this point many novices would RMA the memory, or motherboard, or CPU or everything altogether, claiming "it doesn't work." The magic bullet (on my Gigabyte board at least) is that every single memory timing and memory voltage has to be configured to a manual value - not "auto" (this works fine on Intel of course, where you can leave most settings on auto, or just select "XMP3000," and boom ready to go). After this change the Gigabyte Ryzen board would boot at 2666 MHz memory and run fine all day. We got 3000 MHz memory though, so 2933 MHz was tried, and ended up being unstable, no matter what I did. I ended up buying a bunch of memory kits with same-day delivery, and oh wonder, the newly bought Corsair 3000 MHz memory kit works fine (AMD sent me the exact same model, but apparently never tested its 2933 MHz stability). Several 3200 MHz memory kits that work fine on Intel at even higher clocks, barely worked at 2666 MHz, and 2933 MHz remained a no-go. Once you've mastered the memory hurdles, you'll find various posts online by users, reviewers and AMD themselves, recommending you turn off HPET and SMT, use the Windows High Performance power profile and more tweaks. I'm not sure if this a solid buying argument to professional workstation users that just want a system setup quickly and ready to go, because every hour they spend tweaking costs them money.

Some people will now claim that it's not AMD's fault that the motherboards aren't ready. In my opinion it is. Why not give motherboard manufacturers all hardware and all support they need, with plenty of time to spare?

Despite the motherboard issues, overclocking the CPU itself works well (functionally), also thanks to AMD's Ryzen Master utility, where you can make changes in real-time and apply them without a reboot. On the 1800X model specifically I'm not sure if overclocking is worth it. AMD's Boost and XFR will work in tandem to maximize CPU performance automagically. For example, in workloads with few threads the CPU will boost up to 4.1 GHz, without any manual setting changes, a frequency that you'll probably not reach with manual overclocking unless you use watercooling or super-high voltage. Manual overclocking can still be beneficial for heavy workloads that use all cores, where XFR and Boost might not be active or running at lower frequencies.

For years Intel has spoon-fed us incremental improvements to their architecture, especially on the power efficiency side, claiming that their processors are reaching the climax of what is possible for x86 power-wise. Then in comes AMD Ryzen with a much lower R&D budget and at least matches, sometimes beating Intel power-efficiency, and often delivering better performance at the same time. Even with all its eight cores stressed with Prime95, the Ryzen 7 1800X draws just as much power as the quad-core i7-7700K.

If you compare Ryzen 7 1800X pricing to Intel's highest-end offerings, then AMD has a clear winner on their hands once the platform issues are ironed out. The 1800X comes at much better pricing with very similar performance. Looking at the Ryzen 7 lineup though I feel that most people will not need a 1800X and could probably go for the 1700 non-X, which is much more affordable with only little lower performance (we'll test this in a future review). If I were in the market for Ryzen personally, I'd wait till the platform is more mature, and the major bugs are fixed.