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Why no AMD CPUs? I just don't buy anything Intel and I'm for some time looking at System76, but each time I go build a setup I remember why I gave up the last t
by jdright 7y ago
Why no AMD CPUs? I just don't buy anything Intel and I'm for some time looking at System76, but each time I go build a setup I remember why I gave up the last time around.
Also, with the price difference between the two it would be a more interesting hardware using this difference to acquire more RAM.
- kjeetgill 7y agoI suspect it's because AMD's resurgence is so recent and these things need long lead times for procurement, development, and validation. I'm less familiar with laptops: Do Intel and AMD CPUs even share a common socket?
- isantop 7y agoAMD and Intel do not share a socket.
- DuskStar 7y agoIntel and AMD CPUs do not share a common socket (or chipset) on server, desktop, or mobile platforms. I think the last shared socket was Socket 7 [0], released back in 1995. 0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socket_7 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socket_7
- kjeetgill 7y agoI didn't realize that. I guess it shows that I talk to more people building desktops than I have myself.
- allset_ 7y agoNot only do Intel and AMD processors not share the same socket, processors change socket from generation to generation.
- cogburnd02 7y agoSocket? Ha! Slot 2 forever! Muahahahaha! >:-D
- eikenberry 7y agoMaybe because they don't have mobile versions of their new Zen 2 based chips yet. I'm planning on nursing my current laptop until those are out and make it into laptops. But I figure that is at least a year out as they haven't even announce any mobile Zen 2 chips yet.
- yellowapple 7y agoRelatedly: why no AMD GPUs? AMD's much more cooperative with Linux than Nvidia is or probably ever will be at this rate, and performance is great even with the FOSS drivers (as I've observed on both my Dell Precision 7510 and the Threadripper + Radeon rig I built about a year ago). Like, it's kinda maddening that "the" household name in Linux laptops (if there is such a thing) has zero laptops with an AMD GPU as an option.
- opencl 7y agoSeems to just be that System76 laptops to date are all based on Clevo designs and Clevo does not make any laptops with AMD chips.
- pgeorgi 7y agoAMD GPUs require AtomBIOS which contains bytecode (that is: blobs) to initialize the GPU. If you look at the Linux drivers, they come with an AtomBIOS bytecode interpreter for that purpose. There was some confrontation over that 10 years ago or so (see radeon vs. radeonhd drivers, one point of view is described at https://libv.livejournal.com/27799.html https://libv.livejournal.com/27799.html) and the people in charge of Linux GPU drivers decided to go with AtomBIOS.
- yellowapple 7y ago> AMD GPUs require AtomBIOS which contains bytecode (that is: blobs) to initialize the GPU. If you look at the Linux drivers, they come with an AtomBIOS bytecode interpreter for that purpose. I'm failing to see how this is any worse than the current situation with Nvidia drivers, especially if System76 is preinstalling them. You'll need blobs either way. You'll arguably need far more of them for an Nvidia GPU than an AMD GPU.
- fulafel 7y agoACPI also works this way, no?
- pgeorgi 7y ago
- shmerl 7y agoProbably because AGESA is a blob. Once AMD will return to supporting coreboot, it would be a better option. There was recently some indication, that they are interested. https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=AMD-EPYC-Coreboot-Open-Austin https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=AMD-EPYC...
- hlandau 7y agoIntel is equally blobby (FSP, ME).
- shmerl 7y agoWorks with coreboot though somehow. AGESA prevents it as far as I know, since it does some stuff that coreboot has to be doing. I'm not that familiar with details, may be some coreboot experts can comment.
- hlandau 7y agoCoreboot integrates plenty of blobs via its blobs repository, so "Coreboot builds" does not imply "blob-free".
- shmerl 7y agoThen AGESA must be posing some problem for it.
- tpearson-raptor 7y agoThe ancient AGESA open sourced well over a decade ago, then closed down a few years later right about when the PSP started to appear on AMD platforms? Or do you mean the modern AGESA binary that has zero support whatsoever in coreboot right now?
- shmerl 7y ago
- tadzik_ 7y agoCan't speak for System76, but I got the AMD Thinkpad (A485), and I'm honestly disappointed as hell and now I understand why you don't see the Ryzens on laptops too much. The power management is an absolute joke (the thing has two batteries and barely lasts 2 hours total), suspend works maybe 20% of the time, and the OS actually freezes on it every now and then leaving no trace in syslog. I'd much rather get an Intel now if I had a choice.
- franey 7y agoWhat distro? I have a T495s and I haven't had any issues with it running Arch.
- peller 7y agoYea, something seems fishy. My E485 (one 3-cell battery) gets 3-4 hours on Arch
- lettergram 7y agoThe A485 was their first attempt with the first mobile Ryzen release. The T495s (latest mobile release) should be way better. For reference, I had a Ryzen 1800x and it had the same OS freeze issue. The latest Ryzen CPU hasn’t had any issue with 0% down time for months.
- LMYahooTFY 7y agoI have a similar experience with the A285. Battery life is disappointing with Windows 10, and significantly more so with Ubuntu and variants.
- madez 7y agoHow do you avoid the Intel chips in networking? Intel has often-used Ethernet and WiFi chips.