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Honestly, since I've not been keeping track of the actual technology and details of the various AMD CPUs / APUs, except for all the news about how AMD Ryzen is

Honestly, since I've not been keeping track of the actual technology and details of the various AMD CPUs / APUs, except for all the news about how AMD Ryzen is actually equivalent to or even better than Intel CPUs, all these AMD CPU models and choices are a bit confusing! There's Ryzen 3, 5, 7, 9. Server, desktop and Mobile models. And among each various choices. And now even more choices ... I am rooting for AMD but I sure hope they know what they are doing and improve their marketing so that consumers don't get overwhelmed and confused ... :/

undersuit 6y ago
>all these AMD CPU models and choices are a bit confusing! Perfect time for a whataboutism. Intel has far more confusing names, and more offerings; AMD has adopted what is essentially a cleaner subset of the Intel naming scheme.
- webmobdev 6y ago
  True - Intel too has quite confusing marketing nomenclature for its CPUs. And now that AMD has an actual technical edge over Intel CPUs, I feel they shouldn't ape Intel-like marketing and be more creative while opting for simplicty. Learn from Apple.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - undersuit 6y ago
    >Learn from Apple. When you're finally "winning" greatly expand your product portfolio?
    - webmobdev 6y ago
      Sure, as long as you don't confuse your consumers, why not? Just keep it simple. Look at the current choices on Apple products (apple.com): You want a desktop mac - there's the iMac, the Mini, the Pro. You want a laptop - there's the Air and the Pro. You want a phone - there's the 11, 11 pro, SE2 and XR. You want a TV setup box - there's 4k and HD. You want a music player - there's the Homepod and the iPod Touch. And so on ...
      - smabie 6y ago
        I dunno, that all sounds pretty confusing to me.
        webmobdev 6y ago
        Not really - it makes it easy to research. I want a desktop computer, Apple offers me 3 choices. Easy to compare and choose. Compare that to AMD Ryzen™ 3 3300X and AMD Ryzen™ 3 3250U. It's easy to get confused due to the the similar naming nomenclature and not realize that one is a desktop CPU and the other a laptop / mobile CPU.
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
wincy 6y ago
I suspect they’re trying to show product parity with Intel. To roughly compete with the i3, i5, i7, i9 intel CPUs.
- dr_zoidberg 6y ago
  When Zen first came out, intel had i3/5/7 and AMD proposed Ryzen 3/5/7 (1300, 1500, 1700 and then variantz of those, like 1750 or 1800) and then ThreadRipper (numbered 1900). Intel saw they couldn't compete on the core count, and so they immediately announced the i9s, which were just the top i7s rebranded under a different name. And then AMD just announce Ryzen 9 and kept the ThreadRippers. Long story short, i9 is a marketting name for the thing that would've been the most exclussive i7. And then AMD "paired" the offering just because they could. And I think they were also testing if Intel would launch an i11 ^_^"
jfkebwjsbx 6y ago
Intel CPUs are even worse in that regard having dozens and dozens of them across categories, so... If you are an average user, you only need to remember: buy the 3600.
- wincy 6y ago
  Heck even if you’re building a gaming PC the 3600 is fine. I bought a 2080ti for 4k gaming, then looked at the 3600-3900x as options and realized I’d get negligible benefits from more cores. So my $1200 video card is paired with the CPU I got on sale for $150.
  - dr_zoidberg 6y ago
    Te 3600 is also the one that has the highest L3 cache per thread. Despite that being "non uniform", that's still a big fat cache that helps a lot with performance. Waiting for Zen 3 to bring unified L3 back into the table!
    - smabie 6y ago
      Is that a possibility? Also, with a NUMA aware OS what kind of performance increases would one likely see on a UMA cpu vs a NUMA one?
      - dr_zoidberg 6y ago
        I think Windows and Linux both have NUMA capabilities in their kernel. Long story short, you don't have to think too much -- get one of these and try it yourself.
- webmobdev 6y ago
  > If you are an average user, you only need to remember: buy the 3600. The only negative - It requires a separate graphics card. :/
sq_ 6y ago
I think the segmentation is reasonable enough for typical users. Any basic user just looking for something like a desktop would only see the Ryzen 3/5/7/9 desktop SKUs, and those have a pretty sensible and intuitive segmentation. Even within each segment, the 3xxx(_/X) setup (looking at Zen 2 SKUs) seems like it makes sense. Higher numbers in the last 3 digits have more cores/higher speeds, and the X version of a given processor has higher clocks. I think that would be intuitive enough for any random person to figure out pretty quickly.

undersuit 6y ago

>all these AMD CPU models and choices are a bit confusing! Perfect time for a whataboutism. Intel has far more confusing names, and more offerings; AMD has adopted what is essentially a cleaner subset of the Intel naming scheme.

webmobdev 6y ago
True - Intel too has quite confusing marketing nomenclature for its CPUs. And now that AMD has an actual technical edge over Intel CPUs, I feel they shouldn't ape Intel-like marketing and be more creative while opting for simplicty. Learn from Apple.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- undersuit 6y ago
  >Learn from Apple. When you're finally "winning" greatly expand your product portfolio?
  - webmobdev 6y ago
    Sure, as long as you don't confuse your consumers, why not? Just keep it simple. Look at the current choices on Apple products (apple.com): You want a desktop mac - there's the iMac, the Mini, the Pro. You want a laptop - there's the Air and the Pro. You want a phone - there's the 11, 11 pro, SE2 and XR. You want a TV setup box - there's 4k and HD. You want a music player - there's the Homepod and the iPod Touch. And so on ...
    - smabie 6y ago
      I dunno, that all sounds pretty confusing to me.
      - webmobdev 6y ago
        Not really - it makes it easy to research. I want a desktop computer, Apple offers me 3 choices. Easy to compare and choose. Compare that to AMD Ryzen™ 3 3300X and AMD Ryzen™ 3 3250U. It's easy to get confused due to the the similar naming nomenclature and not realize that one is a desktop CPU and the other a laptop / mobile CPU.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]

wincy 6y ago

I suspect they’re trying to show product parity with Intel. To roughly compete with the i3, i5, i7, i9 intel CPUs.

dr_zoidberg 6y ago
When Zen first came out, intel had i3/5/7 and AMD proposed Ryzen 3/5/7 (1300, 1500, 1700 and then variantz of those, like 1750 or 1800) and then ThreadRipper (numbered 1900). Intel saw they couldn't compete on the core count, and so they immediately announced the i9s, which were just the top i7s rebranded under a different name. And then AMD just announce Ryzen 9 and kept the ThreadRippers. Long story short, i9 is a marketting name for the thing that would've been the most exclussive i7. And then AMD "paired" the offering just because they could. And I think they were also testing if Intel would launch an i11 ^_^"

jfkebwjsbx 6y ago

Intel CPUs are even worse in that regard having dozens and dozens of them across categories, so... If you are an average user, you only need to remember: buy the 3600.

wincy 6y ago
Heck even if you’re building a gaming PC the 3600 is fine. I bought a 2080ti for 4k gaming, then looked at the 3600-3900x as options and realized I’d get negligible benefits from more cores. So my $1200 video card is paired with the CPU I got on sale for $150.
- dr_zoidberg 6y ago
  Te 3600 is also the one that has the highest L3 cache per thread. Despite that being "non uniform", that's still a big fat cache that helps a lot with performance. Waiting for Zen 3 to bring unified L3 back into the table!
  - smabie 6y ago
    Is that a possibility? Also, with a NUMA aware OS what kind of performance increases would one likely see on a UMA cpu vs a NUMA one?
    - dr_zoidberg 6y ago
      I think Windows and Linux both have NUMA capabilities in their kernel. Long story short, you don't have to think too much -- get one of these and try it yourself.
webmobdev 6y ago
> If you are an average user, you only need to remember: buy the 3600. The only negative - It requires a separate graphics card. :/

sq_ 6y ago

I think the segmentation is reasonable enough for typical users. Any basic user just looking for something like a desktop would only see the Ryzen 3/5/7/9 desktop SKUs, and those have a pretty sensible and intuitive segmentation. Even within each segment, the 3xxx(_/X) setup (looking at Zen 2 SKUs) seems like it makes sense. Higher numbers in the last 3 digits have more cores/higher speeds, and the X version of a given processor has higher clocks. I think that would be intuitive enough for any random person to figure out pretty quickly.