Why so many SKUs?

[ZenMonkey]

So AMD appears to be finished with the Ryzen release announcements. Presently, they have 17 SKUs under mainstream Ryzen and three under Threadripper. Am I the only one who thinks there are too many SKUs for CPUs? I don't have an issue with the three Threadripper options because they are completely different, but I think the 17 standard SKUs are a bit much, and Intel releases even more variants.

 

Since AMD left all of their chips unlocked, and most of the chips in the same series can reach comparable performance levels, I think the 17 current SKUs can be reduced down to just seven while providing the same flexibility.

 

Ryzen 1 1100 - 2c4t discount chip for mundane computers

Ryzen 3 1200 - 4c4t low end R3

Ryzen 3 1300 - 4c8t high end R3

Ryzen 5 1400 - 6c12t low end R5 

Ryzen 5 1500 - 6c12t high end R5 (better bin for more reliable speeds)

Ryzen 7 1600 - 8c16t low end R7

Ryzen 7 1700 - 8c16t high end R7 (better bin for more reliable speeds)

 

So... why don't they keep it simple? There has to be a business reason behind it that makes business sense that I'm not seeing.

[LienusLateTips]

what? There are differences.

 

1200 = R3

1300X = higher binned R3 with XFR

1400 = R5 (4c 8t)

1500X = 1400 with a bit more cache and XFR

1600 = R5 (6c 12t)

1600X = 1600 with XFR

1700 = 65W R7 8c 16t 

1700X = 95W R7 8c 16t w/ XFR

1800X = really high clock R7 8c 16t w/ XFR

[themctipers]

i was pretty sure amd didnt make a ryzen 1, you're missing an x on the 1500, same with the 1300, you're missing 1700x/1800x

 

here's how it goes ..

ryzen 3 1200 - i5 basically 

ryzen 3 1300x - i5 overclocked 

ryzen 5 1400 - i7 basically

ryzen 5 1500x - i7 overclocked

ryzen 5 1600 - 6 core i7

ryzen 5 1600x - 6 core i7 overclocked

ryzen 7 1700 - 8 core i7 

ryzen 7 1700x - 8 core i7 + higher TDP and factory overclock

ryzen 7 1800x - 8 core i7 with even more overclcok

 

you can ignore all the X skus if you want some money

 

 

i think it makes perfect sense, if you want something slightly better and factory overclocked then get the x variant, 

[LienusLateTips]

1 minute ago, themctipers said:

i was pretty sure amd didnt make a ryzen 1, you're missing an x on the 1500, same with the 1300, you're missing 1700x/1800x

 

here's how it goes ..

ryzen 3 1200 - i5 basically 

ryzen 3 1300x - i5 overclocked 

ryzen 5 1400 - i7 basically

ryzen 5 1500x - i7 overclocked

ryzen 5 1600 - 6 core i7

ryzen 5 1600x - 6 core i7 overclocked

ryzen 7 1700 - 8 core i7 

ryzen 7 1700x - 8 core i7 + higher TDP and factory overclock

ryzen 7 1800x - 8 core i7 with even more overclcok

 

you can ignore all the X skus if you want some money

 

 

i think it makes perfect sense, if you want something slightly better and factory overclocked then get the x variant, 

No thats his "preferred" list of CPUs that he thinks make sense, but all of the chips AMD makes are different

[themctipers]

Just now, JDE said:

No thats his "preferred" list of CPUs that he thinks make sense, but all of the chips AMD makes are different

ok

 

 

dual cores in 2017 what the fuck no

[LienusLateTips]

Just now, themctipers said:

ok

 

 

dual cores in 2017 what the fuck no

ikr

[Spork829]

5 minutes ago, ZenMonkey said:

There has to be a business reason behind it that makes business sense that I'm not seeing.

Yeah. You have to think about AMD's consumer base in this instance. A sizeable amount of them are going to be tinkerers who will OC their chips to the max anyways, so for them there's no point in buying an 1800X. Just buy a 1700 and OC. However a very large segment of the market for these processors are people who aren't super tech savvy and just want a fast computer, which most of the time will be a prebuilt. Meaning that if AMD can make a bit more cash when SI's and boutique builders sell a PC with an 1800X instead of a 1700 because the buyer isn't interested in tinkering and just wants it to work, that's good for AMD.

[jj9987]

Not all CPUs are made in perfect condition. Some can not go as high as others, some may have faulty core(s), some may have faulty cache. This is how you end up with a lower level Ryzen, that might just have some part of it disabled, for example a few cores. Maybe some CPU just can't clock as high as expected. This way AMD does not have to just throw away or send somewhat faulty CPUs directly to recycling.

[ZenMonkey]

5 minutes ago, JDE said:

what? There are differences.

 

1200 = R3

1300X = higher binned R3 with XFR

1400 = R5 (4c 8t)

1500X = 1400 with a bit more cache and XFR

1600 = R5 (6c 12t)

1600X = 1600 with XFR

1700 = 65W R7 8c 16t 

1700X = 95W R7 8c 16t w/ XFR

1800X = really high clock R7 8c 16t w/ XFR

 

You're not understanding my post correctly. I understand there are minor differences. XFR means next to nothing since all the 6c12t R5 SKUs can potentially overclock to the same levels. I think their line-up could be streamlined. I would streamline it, anyway, were it my decision. Hence, my post.

[ZenMonkey]

6 minutes ago, themctipers said:

ok

 

 

dual cores in 2017 what the fuck no

 

Dual cores could be useful for mundane use, such as a computer for people who just check email, read news, and maybe do a little online shopping, but for some reason don't do that on a phone or tablet, or for use with a media center PC that's only used to play video files.

[themctipers]

Just now, ZenMonkey said:

 

Dual cores could be useful for mundane use, such as a computer for people who just check email, read news, and maybe do a little online shopping, but for some reason don't do that on a phone or tablet, or for use with a media center PC that's only used to play video files.

yeah, but you can get a freaking quad core for $110 or so (IIRC, I don't know the pricing) 

yields are too good for that too, a couple of months ago /r/amd posted something along the lines of 85% yields on perfect dies, so only 15% of them get turned into ryzen 5, and even less get turned into ryzen 3. that's why ryzen 5/3 took so long to launch, because AMD needed to stockpile a bunch because everyone is upgrading to ryzen

[LienusLateTips]

4 minutes ago, ZenMonkey said:

 

You're not understanding my post correctly. I understand there are minor differences. XFR means next to nothing since all the 6c12t R5 SKUs can potentially overclock to the same levels. I think their line-up could be streamlined. I would streamline it, anyway, were it my decision. Hence, my post.

Most Ryzen users won't be people who like to overclock. All they want is for their PC to me as fast as they can. You are basically making bad decisions that might bankrupt the company. The people who are buying it seperately will know what to buy, and most of the other people will just buy the stuff with XFR.

[ZenMonkey]

34 minutes ago, JDE said:

Most Ryzen users won't be people who like to overclock. All they want is for their PC to me as fast as they can. You are basically making bad decisions that might bankrupt the company. The people who are buying it seperately will know what to buy, and most of the other people will just buy the stuff with XFR.

 

Yeah, I hadn't considered the business clients who will buy whatever works for them and won't overclock each individual PC. That's why, as CEO of my imaginary CPU company, I have an excellent group of advisors (you guys!)