Might be worth waiting a few months for 3D Vcache Zen 3 CPUs

[cst1992]

AMD Zen 3 3D-Vache Ryzen CPUs Enter Mass Production Next Month & Zen 3 B2 Stepping Available End of December, Alleges Rumor

AMD's Ryzen CPUs based on the new Zen 3 stacked chiplet design with V-Cache are expected to enter mass production next month.

wccftech.com

15% performance jump seems significant. There is no new architecture, so prices might not be that high either.

So for people who are not looking to build a PC right this minute(me included), it might be worth it to wait till February. Even if not, they might be able to get current Zen 3s for cheaper!

 

[R0H1T]

I'm not looking to buy them at launch but I'm also looking to stock up on DDR4 during this quarter or early next quarter, besides DDR4 will probably bottom out soon! If you're buying lots of DDR4 for cheap the next 2-4 months might be your last chance

 

[oxrufiioxo]

AMD Zen 3 3D-Vache Ryzen CPUs Enter Mass Production Next Month & Zen 3 B2 Stepping Available End of December, Alleges Rumor

AMD's Ryzen CPUs based on the new Zen 3 stacked chiplet design with V-Cache are expected to enter mass production next month.

wccftech.com

15% performance jump seems significant. There is no new architecture, so prices might not be that high either.

So for people who are not looking to build a PC right this minute(me included), it might be worth it to wait till February. Even if not, they might be able to get current Zen 3s for cheaper!

I think it's a good idea if you are going to go into a platform late best to have the best generation that sockets into it you also get the added benefit of the Alder lake launch dust to settle you might get something faster than a 5600X for much cheaper going that route with like a B660 board and 12400F once the dust settles.

I also wouldn't expect older gens to be Cheaper Zen 2 hasn't dropped at all even with good Zen 3 availability if anything its more expensive now neither has intel 10th gen. Maybe the used market..... But I wouldn't count on saving enough to the point that it's worth going with an older generation especially when doing a whole pc build.

 

[Keullo-e]

Depends on the pricing, an 8-core could be some futureproofing for me. As I purchased my current RAM in May, I don't have a hurry to be an early adopter for a new RAM generation (never done that).

I also wouldn't expect older gens to be Cheaper Zen 2 hasn't dropped at all even with good Zen 3 availability if anything its more expensive now neither has intel 10th gen. Maybe the used market..... But I wouldn't count on saving enough to the point that it's worth going with an older generation especially when doing a whole pc build.

Agree there, the price in the shop where I got my 3600 stayed at exactly the same (214.90EUR) until they stopped selling these.

 

[cst1992]

I'm not looking to buy them at launch but I'm also looking to stock up on DDR4 during this quarter or early next quarter, besides DDR4 will probably bottom out soon! If you're buying lots of DDR4 for cheap the next 2-4 months might be your last chance

You reckon DDR5 will become mainstream that quickly?

 

[Dristun]

Best case scenario is ADL turns out to be really good, AMD goes for a price cut, then slots 3D into previous price points. Fingers crossed.
As for DDR5 - leaked pricing is in "daylight robbery" territory so even if I decide to go for ADL I'll be getting a DDR4 board.

 

[cst1992]

the price in the shop where I got my 3600 stayed at exactly the same (214.90EUR) until they stopped selling these.

Markets aren't the same everywhere.

 

[Keullo-e]

Markets aren't the same everywhere.

I know but also a new lineup doesn't always mean that the older gen will get a (significant) price drop.

 

[cst1992]

That's what I am saying. If prices drop in one market, it's no guarantee they will fall in other markets.
I guess it's got to do with local demand/supply.

 

[The red spirit]

Seems a bit like a pointless release. It doesn't really matter that Zen 3 + cache is faster by 15%, it's not going to make much of difference. At this point AMD should be talking about next Zen, not a bit more polished Zen 3.

 

[maxfly]

Intel will have to threaten AMDs market share before any meaningful cpu price reductions occur.
AL has to be as good as everyone anticipates or pricing isn't going to budge.

 

[R0H1T]

You reckon DDR5 will become mainstream that quickly?

No but DDR4 production will go down, as mobiles have already moved to LPDDR5 (not all of them but definitely all the flagships) & so will servers as well as regular PC's & that's why these (DDR4) prices will likely be the lowest for the foreseeable future.

Basically if you want to stick to current platforms & DDR4 just stock them now or in the next few months!

 

[Nordic]

Intel will have to threaten AMDs market share before any meaningful cpu price reductions occur.
AL has to be as good as everyone anticipates or pricing isn't going to budge.

Does AMD have appreciable market share? As far as I know, Intel still has by far the most market share despite AMD having really good cpus.

 

[maxfly]

Does AMD have appreciable market share? As far as I know, Intel still has by far the most market share despite AMD having really good cpus.

What AMD has, they want to keep building upon or at the very least maintain. They have been eating away at Intels lead quarter by quarter. AL could very quickly reverse that trend.

 

[MIRTAZAPINE]

You reckon DDR5 will become mainstream that quickly?

If the alder lake is like the release of skylake from 2016 then maybe DDR5 would gain ground quickly. Skylake was a push to ddr4 for non-hedt part that time, there are only a handful of board with DDR3 support available majority of board are DDR4. DDR4 was already out for the HEDT Haswell-E.

Unlike skylake though alder lake is the first product deskstop with ddr5 so mainstreaming would probably be much delayed.

 

[Bomby569]

Best case scenario is ADL turns out to be really good, AMD goes for a price cut, then slots 3D into previous price points. Fingers crossed.
As for DDR5 - leaked pricing is in "daylight robbery" territory so even if I decide to go for ADL I'll be getting a DDR4 board.

won't you be leaving a lot of performance on the table? You won't be able to use ddr5 on those motherboards ever

 

[cst1992]

Unlike skylake though alder lake is the first product deskstop with ddr5 so mainstreaming would probably be much delayed.

Not to mention the pandemic. So it might take time for them to manufacture and streamline production of the new DDR5 chips and modules.

 

[maxfly]

They've been ramping up ddr5 production for months. Supply might be tight for the sexy rgb modules. What's going to slow the transition is the huge price differential and minimal gains vs quality ddr4 ics. Run of the mill 2x16gb ddr5 4800 c40 $300-$350. Compared to far cheaper ddr4 prices is going to make it an easy choice to stick with ddr4 for the majority of people. Nobody wants to pay the early adoption tax if they don't have to.

 

[sepheronx]

Waiting on the next AMD APU with RDNA2 arch and DDR5. So I can use it as a home theater / console like system.

 

[Dristun]

won't you be leaving a lot of performance on the table? You won't be able to use ddr5 on those motherboards ever

We'll see in the reviews, I'm interested in this too. I imagine I won't be leaving a lot when compared to the standard 4800CL40 kits, however compared to the faster ones that will be at the same price two years down the line - that's a question, yeah. But I'm fine buying new every 2-3 years because I don't go for high-end stuff with enormous markups.

 

[Wirko]

There is no new architecture, so prices might not be that high either.

AMD goes for a price cut, then slots 3D into previous price points.

I wouldn't count on that. It's not just a refresh like Ryzen XT was. Zen 3 CCD is 84 mm² and the new cache is 36 mm² on top of that. Then there's stacking of logic chips, which hasn't been done for AMD before. And how many times has it been done in the industry at large? I very much believe it's still far from being simple, flawless and cheap.

Getting 15% more performance and paying less than 15% more for that would be illegal according to the law of diminishing returns. Hardly possible, even with price cuts.

 

[RJARRRPCGP]

even if I decide to go for ADL I'll be getting a DDR4 board.

So Alder Lake's IMC supports both DDR5 and DDR4?

 

[Tomgang]

For now I am not upgrading CPU's. I have a 5600X and 5950X in my dual system and that's fine for me. Coming from a i7 980x. These cpu is all ready a good upgrade. I have in fact power limited my CPU's. But that's mostly for now to keep power use down, do to electricity prices are climbing I Europe. I don't know how it is in the US.

For now I see zen 3 v-cashe as a upgrade path later down the road. In a 3-4 years perhaps, when they hit the used market.

 

[Wirko]

So Alder Lake's IMC supports both DDR5 and DDR4?

Yes. But not in the way some Intel's DMCs, for example the P35, supported both DDR2 and DDR3. A motherboard can have either DDR4 or DDR5 slots but not both kinds.

 

[cvaldes]

15% performance jump seems significant. There is no new architecture, so prices might not be that high either.

It depends on each person's usage case. A 15% increase between generations is nothing eyebrow raising. It might be more interesting with a price drop (performance-per-dollar, unlikely with the current silicon shortage situation) or with less power (performance-per-watt advantage).

For something like 4K Ultra gaming, performance is always GPU bound. Upgrading from a 5600X to 6600X isn't going to give you 15% more frames.

If you're rendering 3D animations to pay rent, yeah, it might be worthwhile.

Cutting edge technology often does not translate into performance-per-dollar superiority. Usually one ends up paying a premium for top performance.

That said, this is the final curtain call for the AM4 platform. You won't be able to drop that Zen 3D V-Cache part into the next generation AMD platform. And it will be DDR4.

For sure someone will buy them. If you're on Zen 2 and looking to make a step up and can wait, yeah, 2022 isn't that far off. Makes less sense for Zen 3 owners unless you have specific workloads that will make the expense worthwhile.