Families of video cards AMD Radeon Reference information. Embedded GPUs - All about connecting and disconnecting

AMD at a special event before CES 2018 released new mobile processors and announced desktop chips with integrated graphics. And Radeon Technologies Group, a structural subdivision of AMD, announced Vega mobile discrete graphics chips. The company also revealed plans to transition to new process technologies and future-oriented architectures: Radeon Navi graphics and Zen+, Zen 2 and Zen 3 processors.

New processors, chipset and cooling

First desktop Ryzen with Vega graphics

Two models of desktop Ryzen with integrated Vega graphics will go on sale on February 12, 2018. The 2200G is an entry-level Ryzen 3 processor, while the 2400G is a mid-range Ryzen 5 processor. Both models dynamically boost clocks by 200 and 300 MHz from base frequencies of 3.5 GHz and 3.6 GHz, respectively. In fact, they replace the ultra-budget Ryzen 3 1200 and 1400 models.

The 2200G has only 8 graphics units, while the 2400G has 3 more. The frequency of graphics cores 2200G reaches 1100 MHz, and 2400G - more than 150 MHz. Each graphic block contains 64 shaders.

The cores of both processors bear the same code name as mobile processors with integrated graphics - Raven Ridge (lit. Raven Mountain, a rock in Colorado). However, they plug into the same AMD AM4 LGA socket as all other Ryzen 3, 5 and 7 processors.

Reference: Sometimes AMD refers to processors with integrated graphics as non-CPU (Central Processing Unit, English Central processing unit), but APU (Accelerated Processor Unit, English. Accelerated processing unit, in other words, a processor with a video accelerator).
AMD desktop processors with integrated graphics are marked with a G at the end, after the first letter of the word graphics ( English graphic arts). Mobile processors and AMD and Intel are marked with the letter U at the end, according to the first letter of the words ultrathin ( English ultra-thin) or ultra-low power ( English ultra-low power consumption) respectively.
At the same time, you should not think that if the model numbers of the new Ryzen start with the number 2, then the architecture of their cores belongs to the second generation of the Zen microarchitecture. This is not so - these processors are still in the first generation.

New mobile Ryzen with Vega graphics

Last year, AMD already brought the first mobile Ryzen to market, codenamed Raven Ridge. The entire Ryzen mobile family is designed for gaming laptops, ultrabooks, and tablet-laptop hybrids. But there were only two such models, one at a time in the middle and older segments: Ryzen 5 2500U and Ryzen 7 2700U. The junior segment was empty, but right at CES 2018 the company fixed this - two models were added to the mobile family at once: Ryzen 3 2200U and Ryzen 3 2300U.

AMD VP Jim Anderson Demonstrates Ryzen Mobile Family

The 2200U is the first dual-core Ryzen CPU, while the 2300U is quad-core as standard, however both run on four threads. At the same time, the base frequency for the 2200U cores is 2.5 GHz, and for the lower 2300U - 2 GHz. But with increasing loads, the frequency of both models will rise to one indicator - 3.4 GHz. However, laptop manufacturers can lower the power ceiling, because they also need to calculate energy costs and think over the cooling system. There is also a difference between the chips in the cache size: the 2200U has only two cores, and therefore there is half the cache of levels 1 and 2.

The 2200U has only 3 graphics units, but the 2300U has twice as many, as well as processor cores. But the difference in graphics frequencies is not so significant: 1,000 MHz versus 1,100 MHz.

The first mobile Ryzen PRO

For the second quarter of 2018, AMD has scheduled the release of mobile versions of Ryzen PRO, enterprise-level processors. Mobile PRO specs are identical to consumer versions, with the exception of the Ryzen 3 2200U, which didn't get a PRO implementation at all. The difference between desktop and mobile Ryzen PRO is in additional hardware technologies.

Ryzen PRO processors are complete copies of regular Ryzen, but with additional features

For example, TSME, hardware encryption of RAM on the fly, is used for security (Intel has only software resource-intensive encryption SME). And for centralized management of the fleet of machines, the open standard DASH (Desktop and mobile Architecture for System Hardware, English mobile and desktop architecture for system devices) is available - support for its protocols is built into the processor.

Laptops, ultrabooks, and hybrid laptops with Ryzen PRO should primarily be of interest to companies and government agencies that plan to purchase them for employees.

New AMD 400 series chipsets

The second generation of Ryzen relies on the second generation of system logic: the 300th series of chipsets is replaced by the 400th. The AMD X470 was expected to be the flagship of the series, and later simpler and cheaper chipsets, such as the B450, will be released. The new logic has improved everything related to RAM: reduced access latency, raised the upper frequency limit and added headroom for overclocking. Also in the 400th series, the USB bandwidth increased and the power consumption of the processor improved, and at the same time its heat dissipation.

But the processor socket has not changed. The AMD AM4 desktop socket (and its AMD FP5 mobile non-removable variant) is a particular strength of the company. The second generation has the same connector as the first. It will not change in the third and fifth generations either. AMD has promised in principle not to change AM4 until 2020. And in order for the motherboards of the 300th series (X370, B350, A320, X300 and A300) to work with the new Ryzen, you just need to update the BIOS. Moreover, in addition to direct compatibility, there is also a reverse one: old processors will work on new boards.

Gigabyte at CES 2018 has even shown a prototype of the first motherboard based on the new chipset - X470 Aorus Gaming 7 WiFi. This and other boards on X470 and lower chipsets will appear in April 2018, simultaneously with the second generation of Ryzen on the Zen + architecture.

New cooling system

AMD also introduced the new AMD Wraith Prism cooler. While its predecessor, the Wraith Max, was illuminated in solid red, the Wraith Prism features motherboard-controlled RGB lighting around the fan perimeter. The blades of the cooler cooler are made of transparent plastic and are also highlighted in millions of colors. Fans of RGB lighting will appreciate it, and haters can simply turn it off, although in this case the point of buying this model is leveled.

Wraith Prism - a complete copy of the Wraith Max, but with a backlight of millions of colors

The rest of the specs are identical to the Wraith Max: direct contact heatpipes, software airflow profiles in overclocked mode, and near-silent 39dB operation under standard conditions.

There is no word yet on how much the Wraith Prism will cost, whether it will be bundled with processors, or when it will be available for purchase.

New laptops on Ryzen

In addition to mobile processors, AMD is also promoting new laptops based on them. In 2017, the HP Envy x360, Lenovo Ideapad 720S, and Acer Swift 3 models were released on mobile Ryzen. Acer Nitro 5, Dell Inspiron 5000, and HP series will be added to them in the first quarter of 2018. All of them work on last year's mobile Ryzen 7 2700U and Ryzen 5 2500U.

The Acer Nitro family is a gaming machine. The Nitro 5 line is equipped with 15.6-inch IPS displays with a resolution of 1920 × 1080. And some models will add a discrete Radeon RX 560 graphics chip with 16 graphics units inside.

The Dell Inspiron 5000 line of laptops offers models with 15.6-inch and 17-inch displays, equipped with either hard drives or solid state drives. Some models of the line will also receive a discrete Radeon 530 graphics card with 6 graphics units. This is a rather strange configuration, because even the integrated graphics of the Ryzen 5 2500U have more graphics units - 8 pieces. But the advantage of a discrete card may be in higher clock speeds and separate graphics memory chips (instead of the RAM section).

Price cuts for all Ryzen processors

Plans for 2020: Navi graphics, Zen 3 processors

2017 was a turning point for AMD. After years of trouble, AMD has completed development of the Zen core microarchitecture and released the first generation of CPUs: the Ryzen, Ryzen PRO and Ryzen Threadripper PC processor families, the Ryzen and Ryzen PRO mobile family, and the EPYC server family. In the same year, the Radeon group developed the Vega graphics architecture: Vega 64 and Vega 56 video cards were released on its basis, and by the end of the year, Vega cores were integrated into Ryzen mobile processors.

Dr. Lisa Su, CEO of AMD, assures that the company will release 7nm processors before 2020

The novelties not only attracted the interest of fans, but also captured the attention of ordinary consumers and enthusiasts. Intel and NVIDIA had to hurriedly retort: ​​Intel released six-core Coffee Lake processors, an unplanned second “so” of the Skylake architecture, and NVIDIA expanded the 10th series of Pascal-based video cards to 12 models.

Rumors about AMD's future plans have been accumulating throughout 2017. So far, Lisa Su, CEO of AMD, has only noted that the company plans to exceed the 7-8% annual rate of productivity gain in the electronics industry. Finally, at CES 2018, the company showed a roadmap not just until the end of 2018, but up to 2020. The basis of these plans is the improvement of chip architectures through the miniaturization of transistors: a progressive transition from the current 14 nanometers to 12 and 7 nanometers.

12nm: Second Gen Ryzen on Zen+

The Zen+ microarchitecture, the second generation of the Ryzen brand, is based on the 12nm process technology. In fact, the new architecture is a modified Zen. The technological production norm of GlobalFoundries factories is being transferred from 14nm 14LPP (Low Power Plus, English low power consumption plus) to 12nm norm 12LP (Low Power, English low power consumption). The new 12LP process technology should provide chips with a 10% performance boost.

Reference: The GlobalFoundries factory network is a former AMD manufacturing facility that was spun off in 2009 into a separate company and merged with other contract manufacturers. In terms of contract manufacturing market share, GlobalFoundries shares second place with UMC, significantly behind TSMC. Chip developers - AMD, Qualcomm and others - order production from both GlobalFoundries and other factories.

In addition to the new process technology, the Zen + architecture and chips based on it will receive improved AMD Precision Boost 2 (exact overclocking) and AMD XFR 2 (Extended Frequency Range 2) technologies. Precision Boost 2 and a special modification of XFR - Mobile Extended Frequency Range (mXFR) can already be found in Ryzen mobile processors.

The Ryzen, Ryzen PRO and Ryzen Threadripper family of PC processors will be released in the second generation, but there is no information about the update of the generations of the Ryzen and Ryzen PRO mobile family, and the server EPYC yet. But it is known that some models of Ryzen processors from the very beginning will have two modifications: with and without graphics integrated into the chip. Ryzen 3 and Ryzen 5 entry-level and mid-range models will be released in both variants. And the high level Ryzen 7 will not receive any graphic modification. Most likely, the code name Pinnacle Ridge (literally, a sharp crest of a mountain, one of the peaks of the Wind River ridge in Wyoming) is assigned to the architecture of the cores for these particular processors.

The second generation of Ryzen 3, 5 and 7 will start shipping in April 2018 along with the 400 series chipsets. And the second generation of Ryzen PRO and Ryzen Threadripper will be late until the second half of 2018.

7nm: 3rd generation Ryzen on Zen 2, Vega discrete graphics, Navi graphics core

In 2018, the Radeon Group will release discrete Vega graphics for laptops, ultrabooks, and laptop tablets. AMD does not share specific details: it is known that discrete chips will work with compact multi-layer memory such as HBM2 (RAM is used in integrated graphics). Separately, Radeon emphasizes that the height of the memory chips will be only 1.7 mm.

Radeon executive showing Vega integrated and discrete graphics

And in the same 2018, Radeon will transfer graphics chips based on the Vega architecture from the 14 nm LPP process technology immediately to 7 nm LP, completely jumping over 12 nm. But first, the new graphics units will ship only for the Radeon Instinct line. This is a separate family of Radeon server chips for heterogeneous computing: machine learning and artificial intelligence - the demand for them is provided by the development of unmanned vehicles.

And already at the end of 2018 or the beginning of 2019, ordinary consumers will wait for Radeon and AMD products on the 7-nanometer process technology: processors on the Zen 2 architecture and graphics on the Navi architecture. Moreover, the design work for Zen 2 has already been completed.

AMD partners are already getting acquainted with chips on Zen 2, which will create motherboards and other components for Ryzen of the third generation. AMD is gaining such pace due to the fact that the company has two "jumping" teams to develop promising microarchitectures. They started with parallel work on Zen and Zen+. When Zen was completed, the first team moved on to Zen 2, and when Zen+ was completed, the second team moved on to Zen 3.

7nm plus: fourth generation Ryzen on Zen 3

While one department at AMD is solving the problems of mass production of Zen 2, another department is already designing Zen 3 on a technology standard designated as "7nm+". The company does not disclose details, but according to indirect data, it can be assumed that the technical process will be improved by supplementing the current deep ultraviolet lithography (DUV, Deep Ultraviolet) with a new hard ultraviolet lithography (EUV, Extreme Ultraviolet) with a wavelength of 13.5 nm.

GlobalFoundries has already installed new equipment for the transition to 5nm

Back in the summer of 2017, one of the GlobalFoundries factories purchased more than 10 lithographic systems from the TWINSCAN NXE series from the Dutch ASML. With the partial use of this equipment within the same 7 nm process technology, it will be possible to further reduce power consumption and increase chip performance. There are no exact metrics yet - it will take some more time to debug new lines and bring them to acceptable capacities for mass production.

AMD expects to start selling 7nm+ chips from processors based on the Zen 3 microarchitecture by the end of 2020.

5nm: fifth and next generations of Ryzen on Zen 4?

AMD has not yet made an official announcement, but we can safely speculate that the next frontier for the company will be the 5 nm process technology. Experimental chips at this rate have already been produced by the research alliance of IBM, Samsung and GlobalFoundries. Crystals based on the 5 nm manufacturing process will no longer require partial, but full-fledged use of hard ultraviolet lithography with an accuracy of more than 3 nm. This resolution is provided by the models of the TWINSCAN NXE:3300B lithographic system purchased by GlobalFoundries from ASML.

A layer one molecule thick of molybdenum disulphide (0.65 nanometers) exhibits a leakage current of only 25 femtoamps/micrometer at 0.5 volts.

But the difficulty also lies in the fact that the 5 nm process will probably have to change the shape of the transistors. Long-established FinFETs (fin-shaped transistors, from English fin) may give way to promising GAA FETs (gate-all-around transistor form). It will take several more years to set up and deploy mass production of such chips. The consumer electronics sector is unlikely to receive them before 2021.

Further reduction of technological norms is also possible. For example, back in 2003, Korean researchers created FinFET at 3 nanometers. In 2008, the University of Manchester created a nanometer transistor based on graphene (carbon nanotubes). And in 2016, Berkeley Lab research engineers conquered the sub-nanometer scale: both graphene and molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) can be used in such transistors. True, at the beginning of 2018, there was still no way to produce a whole chip or substrate from new materials.

The integrated graphics processor plays an important role for both gamers and undemanding users.

The quality of games, movies, watching videos on the Internet and images depends on it.

Principle of operation

The graphics processor is integrated into the computer motherboard - this is what the built-in graphics looks like.

As a rule, they use it to remove the need to install a graphics adapter -.

This technology helps to reduce the cost of the finished product. In addition, due to the compactness and low power consumption of such processors, they are often installed in laptops and low-power desktop computers.

Thus, integrated graphics processors have filled this niche so much that 90% of laptops on US store shelves have just such a processor.

Instead of a conventional video card in integrated graphics, the computer's RAM itself often serves as an auxiliary tool.

True, this solution somewhat limits the performance of the device. Yet the computer itself and the GPU use the same bus for memory.

So such a “neighborhood” affects the performance of tasks, especially when working with complex graphics and during gameplay.

Kinds

Integrated graphics have three groups:

1. Shared-memory graphics is a device based on shared memory management with the main processor. This greatly reduces the cost, improves the energy saving system, but degrades performance. Accordingly, for those who work with complex programs, integrated GPUs of this kind are more likely to not work.
2. Discrete graphics - a video chip and one or two video memory modules are soldered on the motherboard. Thanks to this technology, image quality is significantly improved, and it also becomes possible to work with three-dimensional graphics with the best results. True, you will have to pay a lot for this, and if you are looking for a high-performance processor in all respects, then the cost can be incredibly high. In addition, the electricity bill will rise slightly - the power consumption of discrete GPUs is higher than usual.
3. Hybrid discrete graphics - a combination of the two previous types, which ensured the creation of the PCI Express bus. Thus, access to the memory is carried out both through the soldered video memory and through the operational one. With this solution, the manufacturers wanted to create a compromise solution, but it still does not eliminate the shortcomings.

Manufacturers

As a rule, large companies are engaged in the manufacture and development of embedded graphics processors -, and, but many small enterprises are also connected to this area.

It's easy to do. Look for Primary Display or Init Display First. If you do not see something like this, look for Onboard, PCI, AGP or PCI-E (it all depends on the installed buses on the motherboard).

By selecting PCI-E, for example, you enable the PCI-Express video card, and disable the built-in integrated one.

Thus, to enable the integrated video card, you need to find the appropriate parameters in the BIOS. Often the activation process is automatic.

Disable

Disabling is best done in BIOS. This is the simplest and most unpretentious option, suitable for almost all PCs. The only exceptions are some laptops.

Again, find Peripherals or Integrated Peripherals in BIOS if you are working on a desktop.

For laptops, the name of the function is different, and not the same everywhere. So just look for something related to graphics. For example, the desired options can be placed in the Advanced and Config sections.

Shutdown is also carried out in different ways. Sometimes it is enough just to click “Disabled” and set the PCI-E video card to the first in the list.

If you are a laptop user, don't be alarmed if you cannot find a suitable option, you may not have such a function a priori. For all other devices, the same rules are simple - no matter how the BIOS itself looks, the filling is the same.

If you have two video cards and they are both shown in the device manager, then the matter is quite simple: right-click on one of them and select “disable”. However, keep in mind that the display may go out. And, most likely, it will.

However, this is also a solvable problem. It is enough to restart the computer or by.

Perform all subsequent settings on it. If this method does not work, roll back your actions using safe mode. You can also resort to the previous method - through the BIOS.

Two programs - NVIDIA Control Center and Catalyst Control Center - configure the use of a specific video adapter.

They are the most unpretentious in comparison with the other two methods - the screen is unlikely to turn off, you will not accidentally knock down the settings through the BIOS either.

For NVIDIA, all settings are in the 3D section.

You can choose your preferred video adapter for the entire operating system, and for certain programs and games.

In the Catalyst software, an identical function is located in the "Power" option under the "Switchable Graphics" sub-item.

Thus, switching between GPUs is not difficult.

There are different methods, in particular, both through programs and through BIOS. Turning on or off one or another integrated graphics may be accompanied by some failures, mainly related to the image.

It may go out or just appear distorted. Nothing should affect the files themselves in the computer, unless you clicked something in the BIOS.

Conclusion

As a result, integrated graphics processors are in demand due to their cheapness and compactness.

For this, you will have to pay the level of performance of the computer itself.

In some cases, integrated graphics are simply necessary - discrete processors are ideal for working with three-dimensional images.

In addition, the industry leaders are Intel, AMD and Nvidia. Each of them offers its own graphics accelerators, processors and other components.

The latest popular models are Intel HD Graphics 530 and AMD A10-7850K. They are quite functional, but have some flaws. In particular, this applies to the power, performance and cost of the finished product.

You can enable or disable a graphics processor with a built-in kernel, or you can do it yourself through BIOS, utilities and various programs, but the computer itself can do it for you. It all depends on which video card is connected to the monitor itself.

The processor is the main component of the computer, nothing will work without it. Since the release of the first processor, this technology has been developing by leaps and bounds. The architectures and generations of AMD and Intel processors have changed.

In one of the previous articles, we considered, in this article we will look at the generations of AMD processors, consider how it all started, and how it improved until the processors became the way they are now. Sometimes it's very interesting to understand how technology has evolved.

As you already know, initially, the company that produced processors for the computer was Intel. But the US government did not like that such an important part for the defense industry and the country's economy is produced by only one company. On the other hand, there were others who wanted to release processors.

AMD was founded, Intel shared with them all its developments and allowed AMD to use its architecture to release processors. But this did not last long, after a few years Intel stopped sharing new developments and AMD had to improve their processors themselves. By the concept of architecture, we will mean microarchitecture, the arrangement of transistors on a printed circuit board.

Early processor architectures

First, a brief look at the first processors produced by the company. The very first was the AM980, it was full of an eight-bit Intel 8080 processor.

The next processor was AMD 8086, a clone of Intel 8086, which was produced under a contract with IBM, because of which Intel was forced to license this architecture to a competitor. The processor was 16-bit, had a frequency of 10 MHz, and the 3000 nm manufacturing process was used for its manufacture.

The next processor was a clone of Intel 80286 - AMD AM286, compared to the device from Intel, it had a higher clock frequency, up to 20 MHz. The process technology has been reduced to 1500 nm.

Next was the AMD 80386 processor, a clone of Intel 80386, Intel was against the release of this model, but the company managed to win a lawsuit. Here, too, the frequency was raised to 40 MHz, while Intel had only 32 MHz. The technical process is 1000 nm.

AM486 is the latest processor released on the basis of Intel's developments. The processor frequency was raised to 120 MHz. Further, due to litigation, AMD was no longer able to use Intel technologies and they had to develop their own processors.

Fifth generation - K5

AMD released its first processor in 1995. It had a new architecture that was based on the previously developed RISC architecture. Ordinary instructions were recoded into microinstructions, which helped to greatly improve performance. But here AMD could not bypass Intel. The processor had a clock speed of 100 MHz, while the Intel Pentium was already running at 133 MHz. For the manufacture of the processor, the 350 nm process technology was used.

Sixth generation - K6

AMD did not develop a new architecture, but decided to acquire NextGen and use its Nx686 developments. Although this architecture was very different, it also used instruction conversion to RISC, and it also did not bypass the Pentium II. The processor frequency was 350 MHz, the power consumption was 28 watts, and the manufacturing process was 250 nm.

The K6 architecture had several improvements going forward, the K6 II added several extra instruction sets to improve performance, and the K6 III added the L2 cache.

Seventh generation - K7

In 1999, a new microarchitecture of AMD Athlon processors appeared. Here, the clock frequency was significantly increased, up to 1 GHz. The second level cache was placed on a separate chip and had a size of 512 kb, the first level cache was 64 kb. For manufacturing, the 250 nm process technology was used.

Several more processors based on the Athlon architecture were released, in Thunderbird the second level cache returned to the main integrated circuit, which increased performance, and the process technology was reduced to 150 nm.

In 2001, processors based on the AMD Athlon Palomino processor architecture were released with a clock speed of 1733 MHz, a 256 MB L2 cache and a 180 nm process technology. Power consumption reached 72 watts.

Architecture improvements continued, and in 2002 the company launched the Athlon Thoroughbred processors, which used a 130 nm process and clocked at 2 GHz. Barton's next improvement increased the clock speed to 2.33 GHz and doubled the size of the L2 cache.

In 2003, AMD released the K7 Sempron architecture, which had a clock speed of 2 GHz, also with a 130 nm process technology, but already cheaper.

Eighth generation - K8

All previous generations of processors were 32-bit, and only the K8 architecture began to support 64-bit technology. The architecture has undergone many changes, now the processors could theoretically work with 1 TB of RAM, the memory controller was moved to the processor, which improved performance compared to K7. A new HyperTransport data exchange technology has also been added here.

The first processors based on the K8 architecture were Sledgehammer and Clawhammer, they had a frequency of 2.4-2.6 GHz and the same 130 nm process technology. Power consumption - 89 W. Further, as with the K7 architecture, the company performed a slow improvement. In 2006, Winchester, Venice, San Diego processors were released, which had a clock speed of up to 2.6 GHz and a 90 nm manufacturing process.

In 2006, Orleans and Lima processors came out, which had a clock speed of 2.8 GHz, the latter already had two cores and supported DDR2 memory.

Along with the Athlon line, AMD released the Semron line in 2004. These processors had a lower frequency and cache size, but were cheaper. Frequency up to 2.3 GHz and L2 cache up to 512 KB were supported.

In 2006, the development of the Athlon line continued. The first dual-core Athlon X2 processors were released: Manchester and Brisbane. They had a clock frequency of up to 3.2 GHz, a 65 nm manufacturing process and a power consumption of 125 watts. In the same year, the Turion budget line was introduced, clocked at 2.4 GHz.

Tenth generation - K10

The next architecture from AMD was the K10, which is similar to the K8, but has received many improvements, including an increase in cache, an improvement in the memory controller, an IPC mechanism, and most importantly, a quad-core architecture.

The first was the Phenom line, these processors were used as server processors, but they had a serious problem that led to the processor freezing. AMD later fixed it in software, but this reduced performance. Processors were also released in the Athlon and Operon lines. The processors ran at 2.6 GHz, had 512 KB of L2 cache, 2 MB of L3 cache, and were manufactured using the 65 nm process technology.

The next architectural improvement was the Phenom II line, in which AMD made a process transition to 45 nm, which significantly reduced power consumption and heat consumption. Quad-core Phenom II processors had a frequency of up to 3.7 GHz, a third-level cache of up to 6 MB. The Deneb processor already supported DDR3 memory. Then the dual-core and tri-core Phenom II X2 and X3 processors were released, which did not gain much popularity and worked at lower frequencies.

In 2009, budget processors AMD Athlon II were released. They had clock speeds up to 3.0 GHz, but the third level cache was cut out to reduce the price. The lineup included a quad-core Propus and a dual-core Regor. In the same year, the Semton product line was updated. They also did not have an L3 cache and ran at a clock speed of 2.9 GHz.

In 2010, the six-core Thuban and the quad-core Zosma were released, which could run at 3.7 GHz. The processor frequency could change depending on the load.

Fifteenth generation - AMD Bulldozer

In October 2011, a new architecture came to replace the K10 - Bulldozer. Here the company tried to use a large number of cores and high clock speeds to get ahead of Intel's Sandy Bridge. The first Zambezi chip couldn't even beat the Phenom II, let alone Intel.

A year after the release of Bulldozer, AMD released an improved architecture codenamed Piledriver. Here, clock speed and performance have been increased by about 15% without increasing power consumption. The processors had a clock speed of up to 4.1 GHz, consumed up to 100 W, and were manufactured using a 32 nm process technology.

Then the FX processor line was released on the same architecture. They had clock speeds up to 4.7 GHz (5 GHz when overclocked), were versions for four, six and eight cores, and consumed up to 125 watts.

The next Bulldozer improvement, the Excavator, came out in 2015. Here the process technology has been reduced to 28 nm. The processor clock speed is 3.5GHz, the number of cores is 4, and the power consumption is 65W.

Sixteenth generation - Zen

This is a new generation of AMD processors. The Zen architecture was designed by the company from the ground up. Processors will be released this year, it is expected that in the spring. For their manufacture, the 14 nm process technology will be used.

The processors will support DDR4 memory and generate 95 watts of heat. The processors will have up to 8 cores, 16 threads, clocked at 3.4 GHz. Power efficiency has also been improved, and automatic overclocking has been announced as the processor adjusts to your cooling capabilities.

conclusions

In this article, we looked at AMD processor architectures. Now you know how they developed AMD processors and how things are at the moment now. You can see that, some generations of AMD processors are omitted, these are mobile processors, and we intentionally excluded them. I hope this information was helpful to you.