Items tagged with APU
Earlier this month, we saw Lenovo pull the wraps off a new ThinkBook S family of consumer laptops and today we're witnessing the launch of a revised family of ThinkPad business laptops. The new laptops include the ThinkPad X395, T495 and T495s, with the "5" at the end of the name representing that these are machines powered by AMD processors. ThinkPad X395 Whereas the ThinkPad X390 makes use of 8th generation Intel Core processors, the ThinkPad X395 is available with up to 2nd generation AMD Ryzen 7 Pro mobile processors backed by Radeon Vega graphics. You'll find a 13.3-inch Full HD display framed with thin bezels and support for up to 32GB of DDR4 memory and up to a 1TB NVMe...
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The driver situation for Ryzen APUs with Radeon Vega Graphics hasn't exactly been optimal (to say the least) since the chips initially launched back in 2017. Whereas the company's mainline Radeon graphics cards (i.e. Radeon RX 580, Radeon RX Vega 56/64) get continual driver updates to provide Game Day-0 support, Ryzen processors with Radeon Graphics have been relegated to quarterly releases. That all changes with the arrival of the Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 19.2.3 driver package. From this moment forward, all future Radeon Software Adrenalin releases will support Ryzen APUs, meaning that customers with these products will be able to enjoy the same performance benefits, patches...
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Earlier this month, AMD delivered its second-generation Ryzen 3000 mobile processors. Unlike the Ryzen 3000 desktop processors, which are built on 7nm Zen 2 architecture, the mobile versions are somewhat confusingly built on the current 12nm Zen+ architecture with integrated Radeon Vega graphics. However, what everyone wants to know is when can we expect to see the first round of Zen 2-based Ryzen mobile processors hit the market? According to a fresh report, it could be as early as Q4 2019 or as late as the first quarter of 2020. We should expect some pretty nice performance gains with Zen 2 mobile chips versus their Zen+ predecessors, with most reports pegging the instructions...
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Although they are well known overseas, those of you that live in the United States are probably not as familiar with a little company called Huawei. The thing is, it isn't little, and it has been around for quite a while. In fact, Huawei has been around since 1986 and is actually the largest telecommunications equipment manufacturer in the world. As of 2018 they are also the second largest smartphone manufacturer in the world, second only to Samsung. Huawei pushed Apple into third place earlier this year by taking a 15.8% stake in the worldwide market. That's impressive seeing as just three years ago Huawei's market share was only 8.7%. Not everything has come easy for the company, though. Breaking...
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If you're the current owner of a Raven Ridge-based APU, then you've no doubt gotten used to a somewhat languid pace of new driver releases. While AMD's standalone Radeon add-in graphics cards frequently receive new driver updates, the company's APUs haven’t been so lucky. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear that this policy will get much better, as it has been confirmed that AMD APUs (a la Raven Ridge) will only be updated every three months (quarterly). A forum member over at Overclockers UK wondered aloud, "How come there is no raven ridge support with the last two drivers? I thought they were now unified release?" AMD representative AMDMatt responded, stating, “APU...
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AMD is brewing something up for Computex that enthusiasts will want to pay attention to. The chipmaker has sent out emails with a bit of detail about the press conference it will have at the show. That conference will take place on June 6th in Taipei and AMD wants folks to pay attention to the conference, despite not really saying what it will be about. What we do know from the email is that AMD is promising hardware demos that have never been seen and is promising to showcase its innovation and leadership. That sounds a lot like new hardware and rumors point to new gear in the Radeon Vega Mobile high-performance hardware segment and likely second-generation Ryzen Threadripper processors....
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AMD has run into a bit of trouble with a "specific boot issue" that might be affecting some second gen Ryzen desktop processors, specifically Raven Ridge APUs, when those chips are socketed into an early AMD Socket AM4 mainboard. According to AMD, since the release of the AMD Socket AM4 mainboards in early 2017, alongside the Ryzen desktop processors, there have been several BIOS updates made available through board partners. AMD wrote, "These updates not only provide improved system performance but also expand support for newer processors as they become available." The rub for owners of Ryzen chips and Socket AM4 boards is that in February, when the Second Gen Ryzen desktop Processors...
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AMD is gearing up to launch its Raven Ridge APUs on the desktop, and in preparation for that, motherboard makers are starting to roll out BIOS updates to support the upcoming chips. This highlights one of the benefits of the AM4 platform, in that AMD is committed to supporting future processor releases through at least 2019, based on previous roadmaps that show Matisse (desktop) and Picasso (desktop/notebook APU) both sticking with the AM4 socket. Raven Ridge APUs are based on AMD's Zen architecture, combining up to 4 Zen-based CPU cores with integrated Vega graphics. We recently had a chance to put a mobile variant through its paces with the HP Envy x360 15z, which features a Ryzen 5 2500U APU....
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Llano has once again surfaced from the murky deaths to make headlines in the tech world. The last time we talked about AMD’s Llano Accelerated Processing Unit (APU), AMD investors filed a lawsuit against the company regarding its hyping up the product’s 2011 launch. “[AMD] repeatedly highlighted the strong and significant interest in, demand for, and unit shipments of its Llano APUs,” said the plaintiffs in the 2014 filing. “Defendants falsely and misleadingly represented that AMD's desktop business was in a 'strong position' and that it would continue to rebound in 2012,” which was allegedly a violation of federal securities laws.AMD Llano Die Shot Well, here we are over three years later, and...
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Much of the focus on AMD's AM4 platform has been Ryzen, which now spans three different product tiers based on the company's Zen architecture (Ryzen 3, Ryzen 5, and Ryzen 7). However, Ryzen is not the only processor family that is compatible with AM4. AMD served up 7th generation Bristol Ridge A-series APUs and Athlon X4 processors for AM4 motherboards to system integrators and OEMs in September 2016. Now those chips are headed to retail. Keeping track of the different architectures can be a bit confusing especially when there is overlap among new sockets. In this case, we are about talking about a different architecture than Zen. These new processors are not using Ryzen cores, nor do they sport...
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It is only a matter of time before AMD comes out with an accelerated processing unit (APU) based on its Zen microarchitecture. Giving us a glimpse at what AMD has in store is a new listing in SiSoftware's SANDRA benchmark database. One of the newest entries shows what looks to be an engineering sample of AMD's forthcoming Raven Ridge APUs, which may end up using the same Ryzen branding as AMD's desktop CPUs. The engineering sample in question pairs Zen and Vega in one neat and tidy package. Most of the details in SANDRA's listing are now hidden, likely at the request of AMD, though screen captures taken from earlier in the day reveal quite a bit about the APU. Click to enlarge for full details...
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To remain competitive with Intel, AMD needs its upcoming Zen architecture to impress on both the performance and power side of things. If Zen is impressive, then it could mean great things for AMD. For the first time in recent memory, it'd actually be able to compete with Intel in key segments. It's always hard to guess just how impressive a new launch is going to be; we can take the promises of companies, but all too often those fall flat. The latest rumors surrounding Zen, though, put the architecture in a great light. New reports are showing that AMD could launch a Zen APU in 2019 that would contain 4 cores and 8 threads - and offer a power rating as low as 10W. Compound that with the...
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AMD has begun shipping its newly minted 7th Generation APUs known as "Bristol Ridge" to its hardware partners, the company announced this week. The new APUs will be integrated into systems built by several different OEM vendors, with HP and Lenovo getting first dibs, followed by others that will pair the processors with AMD's new AM4 platform. Bristol Ridge brings faster compute and graphics performance than previous generation APUs, with AMD claiming up to a 99 percent advantage in gaming graphics compared to Intel's Skylake chips. Graphics performance has traditionally been a strong suit of Intel's APU line and that looks to continue with its latest generation silicon. AMD's also excited about...
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PC enthusiasts and hardcore gamers are passionate about their hardware. We all lust after expensive, high-performance CPUs, GPUs, monstrous RAM kits, and ultra-fast solid state storage devices. But for many of us, top of the line PC components may be overkill, and in some situations, a more mainstream rig will do just fine. That’s the crux of the message AMD has been trying to get across for quite some time with its mainstream APU line-up. Sure, you could build a high-performance rig with a top of the line processor and beefy discrete GPU, but why spend the money if you don’t have to? To that end, the company has been reaching out to some eSports teams and pro gamers in an effort to show that...
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