AMD announces availability of OEM PCs with Bristol Ridge AM4 desktop APUs

Posted on Monday, September 05 2016 @ 18:13 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
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AMD announces the availability of its Bristol Ridge A-series desktop APUs, these are the first Socket AM4 processors from AMD. The Bristol Ridge APUs introduce DDR4 memory support and require a new motherboard, but it's unknown when you'll be able to buy standalone APUs in retail stores.

The announcement primarily focuses on OEM systems, HP and Lenovo are shipping Bristol Ridge based PCs today, with more companies to follow soon. This is just speculation, but perhaps AMD decided a full-blown consumer launch doesn't make sense with Zen so close around the corner, although the Zen-based Raven Ridge APUs may still be a year away.

The AM4 platform will also be used by the upcoming Zen-based chips, which will initially not ship in APU versions. The first Summit Ridge "Zen" chips are expected by early 2017.
?AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) today announced that the first OEM systems to feature 7th Generation AMD A-Series desktop processors are now shipping, paired with the new AMD AM4 platform supporting DDR4 memory and next-gen I/O and standards. Designs, initially from HP and Lenovo, with other global OEMs designs to follow, deliver high-speed processing, smooth eSports gaming, and enhanced HD and UHD streaming capabilities, including the highest memory bandwidth to date for an AMD desktop platform.

“The consumer release of these new HP and Lenovo designs is an important milestone for AMD on two fronts. First, it marks a major increase in productivity performance, streaming video and eSports gaming experiences sought after by today’s consumers, delivered through our new 7th Generation AMD A-Series desktop processors. Second, because these new OEM designs also feature our new AM4 desktop platform, the motherboard ecosystem shows its readiness for our upcoming high-performance “Summit Ridge” desktop CPUs featuring “Zen” cores, which share the same platform,” said Kevin Lensing, Corporate VP and general manager of Client Computing at AMD.

Systems powered by 7th Generation AMD A-Series processors are productive, immersive, and energy efficient, with up to four “Excavator” CPU cores. 7th Generation AMD A-Series desktop processors consist of 65-watt and 35-watt versions, offering superior power efficiency and enabling flexible solutions in a wide variety of form factors. The new 7th Generation 65-watt A-Series processors deliver performance only realized at 95-watts with the previous generation. In addition, when compared to the Intel Core i5 6500, the new 65-watt processors offer up to equivalent productivity performance and up to 99% higher graphics performance.

7th Generation AMD A-Series desktop processors (previously codenamed “Bristol Ridge”) also bring enhanced graphics capabilities and key video playback features that support up to 4K Ultra HD in both the popular H.264 and new-and-improved H.265 formats.4 These devices will also feature AMD Radeon Graphics Core Next graphics, with full support for Microsoft® DirectX® 12.

The AMD AM4 socket is a new unified socket infrastructure that provides compatibility between 7th Generation AMD A-Series processors and the upcoming high-performance “Summit Ridge” AMD desktop CPU. AM4 platforms feature DDR4 Memory and next-gen I/O and peripheral support, including PCIe® Gen 3, USB 3.1 Gen 2, NVMe, and SATA Express.


About the Author

Thomas De Maesschalck

Thomas has been messing with computer since early childhood and firmly believes the Internet is the best thing since sliced bread. Enjoys playing with new tech, is fascinated by science, and passionate about financial markets. When not behind a computer, he can be found with running shoes on or lifting heavy weights in the weight room.



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