AMD Launches Ryzen Pro: Intel Xeon Competitor, Now With Vega

AMD's new Ryzen Pro is like Intel receiving a lump of coal for Christmas, but a very important step for AMD.

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Introducing Ryzen Pro Desktop and Mobile Processors

Last week I attended an AMD briefing at their new Santa Clara headquarters, complete with a Jim Sanders bust, where AMD introduced their brand new Ryzen Pro Desktop and Mobile processors with Radeon Vega Graphics. AMD's Ryzen Pro processors are designed to compete with Intel's Xeon lineup. However, AMD has taken things to the next level and has added in their Radeon Vega graphics for the iGPU on the processors.

AMD Launches Ryzen Pro: Intel Xeon Competitor, Now With Vega 01

In 2017 AMD added over $1 billion in sales YoY compared to 2016, and the PC is still AMD's biggest market. In 2017 Q3 AMD says that they had 40% market share in certain market segments, so we are excited to see how they will pump up competition in 2018. Using low power APUs is great for enterprise since power consumption is a big deal to large corporations. The addition of the Vega graphics makes thing interesting since now people can play games on their work PCs. AMD is trying to make their offering very versatile, and the Vega graphics do make that happen.

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On the mobile side of things, we find Ryzen Pro 2700U, 2500U, and 2300U processors. You might have heard about AMD's Ryzen 2700U and 2500U, and these new Ryzen Pro models are quite similar. All the CPUs offer the ability to scale TDP between 12-25W. For the desktop, AMD is launching the Pro 2400G, 2400GE, 2200G, and 2200GE. The GE version comes in at 35W while the G versions come in at 65W. The Pro 2400G and 2200G are very similar to the Ryzen 2400G and 2200G, just like the new Ryzen Pro mobile CPUs.

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For the more powerful desktops, AMD offers Ryzen Pro CPUs up to 8 cores, and Threadripper up to 16 cores. These are already available, and there will be updates to both this year, and Thread Ripper 2nd generation is also sampling.

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The new Pro APUs are rated up to 4 cores 8 threads, up to 3.9GHz with Precision Boost 2 and mobile XFR, up to 11 Radeon Vega CUs, and they should offer up to 20% more performance than competing products.

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The one thing that every Ryzen Pro CPU offers is hardware-based security measures. Each Ryzen Pro processor has a dedicated security processor, GuardMI, AES128-bit encryption engine, enterprise security support, and support for fTPM/TPM 2.0.

Features and Competition

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AMD calls their new Ryzen Pro CPU with Radeon Vega graphics the world's fastest processor for ultrathin commercial notebooks. However, let's cover security features first and then get into the performance.

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At the silicon level, GuardMI technology offers many different features. Transparent secure memory encryption, secure boot, support for trusted applications, and a secure production environment are what AMD has to offer.

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AMD also offers enterprise-grade reliability in the form of image stability, processor availability, commercial-grade quality, enterprise-class manageability, and a commercial limited warranty. That means that AMD offers up to 18 months of software support, two years of processor availability, commercial-grade quality assurance, DASH manageability, and a three-year warranty.

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AMD is positioning their processors on the desktop side to directly compete with the i5-8400 and i3-8100. With the better Vega graphics, AMD has a real advantage if integrated graphics are depended on.

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On the mobile side of things AMD is taking aim at five Intel processors, four of them are 8th gen mobile core processors, one of them is a 7th generation i3 .

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AMD is also claiming that in workstation use cases the new mobile processors are anywhere from 6-22% faster. It's very important since AMD is targeting enterprise and government organizations rather than consumers.

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Along with Precision Boost 2 which raises core frequency dynamically based on thread load, the CPUs also offer mobile extended frequency range (mXFR). MFXR offers boosting based on cooling capabilities of the notebook.

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Here we also see the i7-8550U with GeForce 940MX competing against the Ryzen 5 Pro 2500U with integrated Vega graphics, and the 2500U looks good.

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Here we see it up against both Intel CPUs with discrete and integrated GPUs, it does very well.

Partner Products

AMD Launches Ryzen Pro: Intel Xeon Competitor, Now With Vega 15

Dell, HP, and Lenovo have been working with AMD for a while to get a new line of products ready to hit market ASAP.

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Dell will offer the Latitude 5495 notebook with the new mobile APU, and it's designed for work and play.

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HP is going to offer notebooks and small PCs. We see an HP EliteDesk 700 Mini, EliteBook 755, 645, and 735, EliteDesk 700 SFF & Tower, mt44 Thin Client, and the ProBook 645. They also have an integrated feature to make looking at the notebook's screen from an angle almost impossible.

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Lenovo is offering up new notebooks and mini-PCs. These include the ThinkPad E485, E585, A285, and A485. The ThinkCentre M725s and M715q and Lenovo V330 are also going to hit the market. Lenovo made a nice little chart, which points out AMD strong points.

Xeon Was Great, So Was Coal

Partner Products

AMD Launches Ryzen Pro: Intel Xeon Competitor, Now With Vega 21

One of the coolest marketing slogans will hit billboards near you soon.

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Some intense marketing/PR from AMD.

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Here we see that AMD is on track for 7nm and 7nm+ GPUs.

AMD Launches Ryzen Pro: Intel Xeon Competitor, Now With Vega 24

AMD also made sure to let us know that Zen 2 and Zen 3 are on track and 7nm and 7nm+ are on track for AMD CPUs as well.

AMD Launches Ryzen Pro: Intel Xeon Competitor, Now With Vega 25

AMD's 2nd Generation of Threadripper is also on track, and is now samples to AMD's partners.

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Steven went from a fledgling forum reader in 2003 to one of the internet's brightest tech stars by 2010. Armed with an information systems degree, a deep understanding of circuitry, and a passion for tech, Steven (handle Sin0822) enjoys sharing his deep knowledge with others. Steven details products down to the component level to highlight seldom explained, and often misunderstood architectures. Steven is also a highly decorated overclocker with several world records.

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