Friday, May 24th 2024
AMD is Changing the Naming of the Strix Point APUs Series Again
Merely two weeks ago, we published a story on AMD possibly preparing a new processor naming scheme for its ultraportable segment next-generation processors. Today, various trustful Chinese sources reported that AMD changed its mind again, that the Ryzen AI 100 series naming scheme was dropped, and now we should prepare for the Ryzen AI 300. If this turns out to be true, then AMD Strix Point will launch as Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 and Ryzen AI 9 365 (assuming AMD does not change the naming scheme again).
Source:
ITHome
56 Comments on AMD is Changing the Naming of the Strix Point APUs Series Again
In another news about qualcomm's huge success on ai pcs I congratulated qualcomm, even though there are no proofs of any success and their products just launched. All we can do is being sarcastic and speculate.
There is a steadily growing number of plug-ins and applications that can benefit hardware accelerated generative AI and inference. This is more obvious in data center where big ML workloads are taking place. In the world of client computing, this is on a different scale, for differnet purposes and for different user base.
It's not surprising that NPU engines take more and more space on a die, in case of XDNA it's the size of two big cores with L3 cache. None of companies would be wasting such area of silicon and time taken to design it if they thought that AI enterprise was just a momentary tech fart.
One of reasons why there is much public ignorance and cynicism across fora about AI is that people usually do not look beyond marketing language and current generation of users of devices with initial AI capabilities has not been educated on how to benefit from it. Professionals who use specific applications already know.
For example, I recently bought new Galaxy S24 Ultra phone, which has 5-6 AI features for enhancing photo editor, text-to-speech live translation, etc. I visited an ancient necropolis in southern Italy and there was a public sculpture placed in a cave, with little daylight. I took photos with and without flash. The one without flash was obviously very dark and grained, but AI tool proposed a juice of enhancements and that photo actually looked better than the one with flash. There's your AI in action. It does not need to be Large Language Model with 100 billion parametres to be useful for everyday user. Besides, schools will need to teach kids about AI in computing lessons, so that future generations are actually informed in the first place, what it is for and how it's used in different segments in the industry.Of course, motherboards do not have NPU hardware, but OEMs are free to develop software that will use future NPUs on CPUs to manage signalling, power and other parametres on PCB more intuitively and/or effectively.The problem is that Ultra i9 is not better than other i7 mobility CPUs, such as 13705H. Super confusing for buyers and for sellers to explain to them how is this possible.It's all gossip at this point. People enjoy gossips.
CPU should be able to defend itself by working well and being efficient, regardless of its name.
If a local baker sells "French baquette", you are buying a French baquette. However, it might not be as tasty and crispy as the same French baguette sold by another baker in town. You either try both to make up your mind, or you listen to your friends and neighbours as to which is better for your breakfast.
nothing worth while will be done with an npu on a consumergrade computer for at least an other generation and two before it gets any good, everything useful is still being sent to a giant data center running a small fortune of nvidia inference hardware.
What is useful and good depends on which applications users work with. I posted above a long list of applications that already benefit NPU presence. Not everyone uses those, but you certainly cannot say it's not useful in generic terms.
We also see it in browsers. People can't really know which one is the most advanced browser, so companies building those browsers compete in version numbers. Chrome is at 124, Edge at 123 and Firefox at 125.
So, in this case I will stick with what the marketers believe.
PS * In 2020, before the Intel Hybrid CPUs, a colleague informed me that he bought a new PC. I didn't knew him personally, we where just having a simple conversation in a break at work. I asked him about the specs and when he told me that it was using an Intel CPU, I thought, as part of the conversation, to inform him that at that period AMD was offering better solutions. He aggressively stopped me, saying that Intel builds the best CPUs and that AMD CPUs are simply cheap solutions that don't work as good as the Intel ones. I didn't tried to convince him otherwise. I work in education and trying to convince another person who works in education and considers himself educated and smart, while also obviously having strong opinions, that he could pay much less than 1200 euros and have a system with the same or better performance, wasn't looking as the best idea. I was just having a peaceful conversation to pass the time until class time.No, they ask the sales person for guidance, look at the price and buy (almost) blindly.
That's how I buy most stuff. Refrigerator? Internal room, dimensions, price, a couple of quick specs check (having no real knowledge at refrigerator specs) and it's done. Not my best buy unfortunately.
Needed to fix some floor tiles. I bought tile adhesive to fix those. If you ask me if I payed the correct price, I don't know. If you ask me the manufacturer of the product, I don't know.
Most people buy this way. Even PCs. Maybe everyone in here buys this way. Who can spare 10 lifetimes of searching to always get the best product?
So if I see Model 1000 and Model 2000, believe me, my first thought will be to buy Model 2000.
AISRock
AISus
MSAI
MAIcrosoft
AIpple
FAIcebook / MetAI
AIMD
NvidiAI
Its scary and cant be a coincidence, so the earth is flat and AI is probably a plan from the IlluminAIti. Shit. It happened agAIn!
Now if you really don't want to sleep tonight.
AI doesn't fit in TSMC. But it does fit in AISML. I've just invested big in GlobAIlfoundries because of that.
Also its clear Intel is toast, oh no wAIt.. Aintel. Not sure that's good marketing though. Soon you think it ain't inside.
What's in a name they sayUltrai!
@mods
Can I change my name to john_AI_AI_AI?
most people dont really research before buying so when they see "AMD Ryzen Potato 9" they will feel a bit "chip/cheap" and decide to buy other cpu that could be weaker which they dont care, they just want to not have a "potato" inside their case
And i will be honest that these new Gen Alpha kid will love the Ultra from Intel, not weird nerdy name from AMD
Most of my friends and colleagues, both educated and not so well educated, do not give a damn about model numbers of CPUs, as they do not know what the numbers mean. They would either ask a worker in Apple store or in a computer shop for advice, ask me or another friend if they buy online.
Apple has a very elegant and simple CPU scheme for generations: M1, M2, M3, etc. Simplicity is the key, and not 13705H or 7945HX. Apple, of course, does not have as many SKUs as Intel and AMD have, but still. Ryzen 7, Core i7, Xeon 6 and EPYC are fine, but the other model numbers are too much information to deal with for non-teckies. Companies often abuse those brand names by selling 5700 as Ryzen 7 or 165U as Ultra Core 7, in the same way as PU "leather" often passes as leather. Markets are places where buyers and sellers play intricate transactional games. It's a complex environment to navigate.Hahaha! This is too much man. I have been using Firefox for almost 20 years, from its inception, and I could not care less about 125.Now, this is changing, little by little, and it looks to me that model numbers do not play as important role, apart from being pedantic for techies and attempting to get consumers interested in naming conventions. AMD is starting to be perceived more often than not as a brand with premium and reliable CPU portfolio. A lot of effort has contributed to it and model numbers are probably the least relevant part.
What plays more important role are those key identifiers, such as Core i7, Ryzen 9, Xeon 5, EPYC, etc. This, of course, opens the field of abuse (i7 165U, R7 5700, etc...), but in a free economy a lot of things pass, just like PU "leather" products pass. It just shows that few consumers ever pay attention to model number. As soon as it's i7, R5 or R9 ("Potato 9"), it's fine. Everything else is more or less noise for vast majority of buyers. They would rather look into the screen size of laptop, its build and aethetics, perhaps side ports and sometimes ask about battery life. Only in client DIY space numbers mean a bit more as people buy separate components and they need to think how to mix and match. But even then, brand loyalty often wins, as your example showed.
Not quite simple enough.
It adds a nice touch of drama to anything too, in speech. As if you're constantly bumping your toe on something
PS: just seen that the joke was already done