Skip to main content

AMD Ryzen 9 3950X delay could be because it isn’t fast enough

AMD’s Ryzen 9 3950X was supposed to be out around now, but we recently heard it has been delayed to November – although the reason for that two-month delay isn’t supply issues, as previously thought, but alleged problems with ‘unsatisfactory’ clock speeds.

When AMD announced the delay of the 3950X, the company said that it was “focusing on meeting the strong demand for our third generation AMD Ryzen processors in the market”.

In other words, it's making sure it's not coming up short, and that makes sense given what we’ve already seen regarding shortages of some Ryzen 3000 chips, also at the top end – most obviously the 3900X since it was first launched – coupled with 7nm production worries at TSMC. (TSMC makes AMD’s new Ryzen chips, and 7nm Navi graphics cards – although those production concerns are more of a longer-term worry as we understand it.)

However, DigiTimes is now claiming that it’s actually worries about clock speeds not being fast enough which have caused AMD to make the delay.

DigiTimes writes: “Last week’s news about TSMC extending 7nm chip production lead time because of strong demand provoked knee-jerk speculation that it was the cause of AMD delaying the launch of its Ryzen 9 3950X.

“It has turned out that unsatisfactory clock speed – rather than foundry support – has prompted AMD to adjust the design of 16-core processor, according to sources from the motherboard supply chain.”

Clock concerns

Obviously we have to treat this very carefully, as it's just the latest nugget from the ever-spinning CPU rumor mill. But it’s hardly unbelievable that AMD may have some concerns about the new 16-core flagship hitting its promised clock speeds, and more specifically the advertised boost speed.

There has been a lot of controversy around the latter recently, which you’re unlikely to have missed, with AMD having admitted there is an issue around boost clocks falling short, concocting a fix to address this.

So it’s not difficult to imagine that the 16-core Ryzen 9 3950X might have had some wobbles in terms of hitting its advertised 4.7GHz boost across the board, but this is entering the realm of pure speculation.

What is interesting is DigiTimes mentioning “adjusting the design” of the chip to remedy whatever was unsatisfactory with the clock speeds of the 3950X, which seems to suggest something a bit deeper than mere firmware tuning. Although this could simply be a matter of phrasing…

At any rate, even before this latest bit of speculation emerged, it was clear enough that when the 3950X launches there will be a lot of scrutiny on this 16-core flagship thanks to the whole boost clock affair. So AMD certainly needs to get things right, and caution could be the best part of valor in that respect.

The other possibility is that this delay could be a combination of both worries about clocks and supply issues, because the latter certainly seems like a valid concern given that the 3900X is still thin on the ground.

Via Wccftech



from TechRadar - All the latest technology news https://ift.tt/2mT66HO

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The future of Magic Leap's promising AR efforts dim after layoffs

The Magic Leap Two is now further away than ever, unfortunately. Today in a blog post the augmented reality pioneer announced major layoffs and has decided to cut up to half of its workforce, according to some reports. The original Magic Leap One was supposed to be one of the first mainstream augmented reality headsets when it launched in 2018, but a high price point and lack of interest from developers left the headset high and dry after launch. According to the blog post, Magic Leap says it will be focusing its efforts on enterprise solutions (a statement HTC has made recently as well) and shift its focus away from consumer technology… at least for the time being.  The company has been open about creating a second headset that would offer improved specs for some time, but how that work will now have to go forward without half of the team , according to some estimates, remains to be seen. Is the window closing on augmented reality?  Although it’s just one company, Magic...

Du offers new roaming bundle for summer

UAE-based telecom operator du is offering roaming bundle for travelers valid for seven days. The summer bundle features unlimited calling and 2.5GB of data to 174 destinations - all from their own UAE number. Priced at AED 300 (per week) this latest addition to du’s roaming bundles will be available for customers travelling to 174 countries, including GCC countries, UK, US, European destinations, and Egypt, starting from May 30. The postpaid mobile subscribers can subscribe to the roaming bundle by sending the SMS U to 5102. Fahad Al Hassawi, Deputy CEO – Telco Services at EITC, the parent company of du, said that the roaming bundle will enhance the subscribers’ connectivity while travelling overseas and minimise their current pain points. Etisalat doubles internet speeds for eLife Unlimited subscribers from TechRadar - All the latest technology news http://bit.ly/2KbK1O8

Airship acquires SMS commerce company ReplyBuy

Airship is announcing that it has acquired mobile commerce startup ReplyBuy . The startup (which was a finalist at TechCrunch’s 1st and Future competition in 2016) works with customers like entertainment venues and professional and college sports teams to send messages and sell tickets to fans via SMS. It raised $4 million in funding from Sand Hill Angels, Kosinski Ventures, SEAG Ventures, Enspire Capital, MRTNZ Ventures and others, according to Crunchbase . Airship, meanwhile, has been expanding its platform beyond push notifications to cover customer communication across SMS, email, mobile wallets and more. But CEO Brett Caine said this is the first time the company is moving into commerce. While sports and concerts tickets might not be a booming market right now, Caine suggested that the company is actually seeing increased purchasing activity “in and around the Airship platform” as businesses try to drive more in-app purchases. He also suggested that both the COVID-19 pandem...