Slashdot Mirror


AMD Offers Full Details and Performance of Zen-Based Naples Server Platform (hothardware.com)

MojoKid writes: AMD lifted the veil this morning on architecture details and performance expectations of its next generation Zen-based server platform, codenamed Naples. Naples is an up to 32-core, 64-thread variant of Zen, targeted at enterprise and data center applications. The processors will feature eight-channel DDR4 memory controllers (with up to 16 DIMMs attached per CPU), with support for up to 4TB of memory and 128 lanes of on-chip PCI Express connectivity. In a 2P (dual processor/dual socket) configuration, Naples offers up to 64 physical cores (128 threads), access to 32 DIMM slots, and aggregate 16 memory channels. Versus a 2P Intel Xeon E5-2699A V4 based server, the 2P Naples setup ends up with double the memory channels, a higher total memory capacity, more cores (20 more physical cores, 40 more threads), and 48 more available PCI Express lanes. AMD's performance comparisons at its tech day event pit a 2P Naples server with 512GB of DDR4 RAM up against a 2P Intel Xeon E4-2699A V4 configuration with 384GB of RAM. The Naples system had a higher memory capacity and that memory was clocked much higher too -- 2400MHz versus 1866MHz. The Naples system has more cores, and with SMT on, can ultimately process more threads as a result. The AMD Naples system also has double the memory channels, further improving peak memory bandwidth. In its demos, AMD used a seismic analysis workload, which involved multiple iterations of 3D wave equations. According to AMD, the test taxes the entire system, including CPU cores, memory and I/O. In this demo, the AMD server system completed equations roughly 2.5x faster than the dual-socket Intel Xeon server. Expected price points weren't given, but Naples processors and servers should be available in Q2 this year.

138 comments

  1. Re: We keep getting faster processors... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This. We don't need faster processors. We need to get faster than 64kps Internet access which is more than one B connection.

  2. But can it... by Jack+Kolesar · · Score: 1

    I'm going to go ahead and guess that yes, this can run Crysis?

    1. Re:But can it... by puddingebola · · Score: 1

      No. Next generation, maybe, maybe it runs Crysis.

    2. Re:But can it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, but only in 4k.

    3. Re: But can it... by tigersha · · Score: 1

      Maybe this monster CPU could finally handle 640x480?

      --
      The dangers of excessive individualism are nothing compared to the oppressiveness of excessive collectivism
    4. Re: But can it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      16 colors!

    5. Re:But can it... by webnut77 · · Score: 1

      Gonna get one of these and trick it out to run my toaster.

  3. Re:We keep getting faster processors... by gweihir · · Score: 1

    That seems to be mostly a problem in the US. In Europe, slow Internet is something you usually find in the countryside, but not in cities. Market failure?

    --
    Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
  4. Re:We keep getting faster processors... by youngone · · Score: 4, Insightful
    It sounds like there is no real market for Internet access in many places in the US.

    Chattanooga tried to set up a city owned ISP a few years ago because the local monopoly was terrible, and the state government legislated to prevent them doing it.

    That's what happens when money dominates politics.

  5. Re:We keep getting faster processors... by ckatko · · Score: 2

    That's off-topic. There's nothing about CPU upgrades that demand a comparison to internet speeds. There are TONS of workloads that don't require LIVE access to a saturated internet connection.

    And those that do? BUSINESSES PAY FOR IT.

    My brother wasn't overseeing terabytes of medical info crossing through his building in a day, on a user-grade cable modem.

  6. Quad Sockets: by Major+Blud · · Score: 1

    The article states you can run dual sockets, but will this be supported in quad sockets (provided someone makes a board to support it), or are you also limited by the way it used PCI Express lanes?

    --
    If you post as Anonymous Coward, don't expect a reply.
    1. Re: Quad Sockets: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No. Not with this itteration anyway. Doing so would eat all the pci-e links for infiniband. That said you could do some glue logic for very very NUMA systems but at that point it is almost a glorified blade server on a board.

      Also not sure how much scaling benefit there is past 64 cores (128 threads) in one chasis. Things like IO would bottle neck right up.

      But if there is a market no reason AMD can't (eventually) spin a die with more links on it.

    2. Re: Quad Sockets: by dbIII · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Also not sure how much scaling benefit there is past 64 cores (128 threads) in one chasis

      There is a massive benefit in situations such as a lot of parallel tasks using the same dataset shared in memory. I/O only matters with getting things in and out and a lot of tasks are CPU bound instead of I/O bound. The demo task they used, processing of seismic data, is a good example of that sort of task. Think of things like applying the exact same filter to a few million audio tracks for an idea of how parallel the tasks can be, and think of mixing based on location and time of millions of audio tracks to get an idea of how good it is to do it all on the same machine with shared memory.

    3. Re: Quad Sockets: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It sounds like just 2P. A later chip will probably go higher.

      Intel is no different: the. E3 in each generation launch first and do one CPU, the E5 launch next and do two CPU, and the E7 launch later and do 8 CPU (and the more common 4 CPU).

    4. Re:Quad Sockets: by ckatko · · Score: 2, Informative

      Fun fact: Quad sockets are SUPER-RARE.

      Go ahead. Try and Google for a quad motherboard. They haven't made them since like... the Athlon 64-era Opterons. The boards are MASSIVE. You can't fit 128 DRAM slots on a single board. (And who wants to BUY that many?) There's too many traces and the board becomes super expensive from the extra routing layers. The board is also going to flex under any kind of weight, and the larger the footprint the more important the mounting becomes (going from casual "bolt it to the wall." to only professionals can service it carefully lest they flex it and snap a delicate trace.)

      Some of the larger boards (ala more sockets) are connected into sub-modules that stack perpendicularly into a specialized transport bus. The bus / message-passing chips are also pretty damn expensive.

      The trend has clearly been moving away from MULTI-CPU, and toward MULTI-CORE. The same motherboard, you buy better and better CPUs with more cores as you need. All the cores are together. There's no motherboard manufacturer based chipset. No huge message piping. It's all there in the L1, L2, L3, (L4). And it's the SAME or MORE CPU cores than before. 4 sockets with 4 cores vs 1 CPU with 16 cores? That's a no-brainer. It's way more cost-effective for 99.99% of people. And you can upgrade ONE (or two) CPUs instead of four which adds up fast across many stations.

    5. Re: Quad Sockets: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "i cant wait to apply this filter to a million audio tracks." ... said no one ever

      But yes, there are plenty of reasons this is beneficial, if this is actually a competeitorl for things like general computr/virtualization, sql, etc.

      INTC has been getting fat and compalcent after virtuall killing AMD from repeatedly violating INTC across multiple decades... they need real competition and i hope this is it.

    6. Re: Quad Sockets: by BronsCon · · Score: 2

      "i cant wait to apply this filter to a million audio tracks." ... said no one ever

      Communications network (e.g. phone) surveillance, seeking keywords. Yup, it gets done. A lot.

      --
      APK quotes people (including myself) without context and should not be trusted. Just thought you should know.
    7. Re: Quad Sockets: by thegreatbob · · Score: 1

      Sounds like possible confusion with Hypertransport (or functional equivalent) buses; the inter-processor links are typically discrete from the peripheral interconnects. Also worth noting that AMD CPUs of the previous generations used HT to bond the groups of cores within a single module, as well as the inter-socket links, and a dual socket had 4 NUMA nodes to deal with.

      Back when I had to interact with servers running those platforms, there were some very strange interactions between MySQL and the NUMA arrangement, leading to its performance being utterly crippled. I also encountered many circumstances where the servers were configured incorrectly, leaving half of the nodes in the system without local RAM (i.e. the RAM was attached only to one node per socket).

      --
      There is no XUL, only WebExtensions...
    8. Re:Quad Sockets: by Mad+Merlin · · Score: 2

      Fun fact: Quad sockets are SUPER-RARE.

      Go ahead. Try and Google for a quad motherboard. They haven't made them since like... the Athlon 64-era Opterons.

      Really? You should tell all the people that are making quad socket servers today.

      Maybe you should try following your own advice.

    9. Re: Quad Sockets: by tigersha · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Still rare, still expensive, still fragile, still hard to service and upgrade, still not worth it except for some edge cases.

      Quad (and octa) core servers are the moon rockets of IT. Yes, they do exist. No they are not common. Only for very, very special missions.

      He said 'rare' not 'nonexistent'

      --
      The dangers of excessive individualism are nothing compared to the oppressiveness of excessive collectivism
    10. Re:Quad Sockets: by gravewax · · Score: 2

      wow better tell the guys where I work that at least 400 of our HP servers are Super Rare!

    11. Re: Quad Sockets: by Mad+Merlin · · Score: 1

      OP specifically said quad socket motherboards hadn't been made since the Athlon 64 era (10+ years ago). I provided two examples of current generation quad socket servers that are on sale today.

      Sure, Google and Facebook probably don't run quad socket servers (they're not built for that kind of thing), but your bank probably does.

    12. Re: Quad Sockets: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      most places when they buy servers DON'T upgrade, that is very rare. servicing can be an issue but then the manufacturer normally has a contract to do that themselves (at least that is how we do it). Quad and Octa socket servers are becoming less common but it is ridiculous to suggest they are rare, we still buy a lot for Database servers, Data Mining and even for some of our more specialised virtualisation clusters where CPU power is more critical for certain apps.

    13. Re:Quad Sockets: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think someone needs to learn how to use google before they post such garbage.

    14. Re:Quad Sockets: by Cesare+Ferrari · · Score: 1

      HP DL370 - industry standard 2S Xeon socket server
      HP DL570 - industry standard 4S Xeon socket server

      Sure, getting hold of a mass produced 4S motherboard is difficult, and these 4S servers aren't cheap but if you are intending on buying $20k of processors to run on it, the difficulties can also be solved by throwing money at the problem.

    15. Re: Quad Sockets: by marcansoft · · Score: 1

      His bank probably runs on mainframes.

    16. Re: Quad Sockets: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No you are wrong. Go read any other article on this processor than the one linked. The cpu has 128 pci lanes. In dual socket 64 lanes are used to carry infi-band between the two sockets. It was all in the presentation.

    17. Re: Quad Sockets: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Right, and punch cards too...

    18. Re:Quad Sockets: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In a few years, you can have the same number of cores in a single cpu anyway. Not joking, but I had a dual celeron motherboard long time ago, before dual cores were a thing.

    19. Re: Quad Sockets: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      must be the hardware. No way could it be MySql.

    20. Re: Quad Sockets: by serviscope_minor · · Score: 2

      Still rare, still expensive, still fragile, still hard to service and upgrade, still not worth it except for some edge cases.

      I bought a bunch about 6 years ago (not the 10 the OP claimed). They were quad socket Opterons with a quarter terabyte of RAM. Rarer than 2P, but available from a well known manufacturer (SuperMicro) via vendors already on our systems. Not rare. They weren't expensive either, well, not in terms of bang for buck doubly so considering the space taken up (they're about double the density of 2p systems). They were fine to service and upgrade, not that that really happened, but you slide them out of the rack on the rails, pop the top and there's stacks of nearly arranged DIMMS and CPUs in neatly arranged sockets, just like any other 1U system. The main thing was the lack of wasted space in the 1U case.

      I was always kind of surprised they weren't more common. Some people seemed to prefer "blade" servers for compactness which were vastly more expensive and had less grunt and memory per U, and impossible to upgrade piecemeal. Those 1U supermicros were a hidden gem.

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
    21. Re: Quad Sockets: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I wasn't aware Intel made AMD motherboards, which clearly was what he was referring to.

    22. Re: Quad Sockets: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What??? I'll bet Slashdot runs on a few of these for the backend DB.

      These are incredibly common as both DB and 'heavy' virtualization hosts.

    23. Re:Quad Sockets: by TeknoHog · · Score: 1

      IIRC, one reason behind the invention of integrated circuits was the constant unreliability of interconnects. Imagine all the wiring in a room-sized computer made of vacuum tubes or discrete transistors; to replace it all with a single block of silicon would make a technician's life a lot easier. So with multi-socket mobos it's the same problem all over again, with the same solution.

      --
      Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
    24. Re: Quad Sockets: by cdrudge · · Score: 1

      Quad (and octa) core servers are the moon rockets of IT. Yes, they do exist. No they are not common. Only for very, very special missions.

      Cores or sockets? If you actually mean cores just about every Xeon processor made this decade is quad core or better. Most i5 and i7s are quad or better as well. On the AMD side has there been a model this decade that's not quad core or better?

      He said 'rare' not 'nonexistent'

      He actually said "SUPER-RARE". Having boards/servers readily available from Dell, Supermicro, HP, Tyan, and others I wouldn't say "SUPER-RARE". I would say "not common."

    25. Re: Quad Sockets: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, to be fair, AMD wasn't a real competitor in the server market since the Opteron days, so slapping more than three AMD sockets onto a motherboard doesn't make much financial sense.

    26. Re: Quad Sockets: by thegreatbob · · Score: 1

      I was indeed mistaken in the peripheral interconnect being distinct from the processor interconnect, but I cannot see anything that relates AMD's Infinity Fabric to Infiniband.

      --
      There is no XUL, only WebExtensions...
    27. Re: Quad Sockets: by samwichse · · Score: 1

      Knock yourself out:
      http://www.thinkmate.com/syste...

      Got one of their dual Opteron 16-core (2.8ghz) machines right now, the performance is ~20% better than our dual 8-core (16 thread) Intel machine for our workloads. I'm dying to grab a 64 core machine that can handle 128 threads. 2x that? It would be awesome if we could afford it.

      Sam

    28. Re:Quad Sockets: by Kjella · · Score: 1

      The biggest cost is being hit with per core licensing, I'd love to throw more hardware at our system if it'd stay constant. But a doubling in cores deals a doubling in license costs and rarely a doubling in real world performance so unless you really need it all in one package.... no.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    29. Re: Quad Sockets: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Who will run MySQL on this? Run a real database you hipster freaks.

    30. Re:Quad Sockets: by Bert64 · · Score: 1

      That all depends on what software you're running, only certain things are licensed per core... Some things are licensed per socket, while a lot of licenses are per machine or entirely unrestricted.

      --
      http://spamdecoy.net - free throwaway anonymous email - avoid spam!
    31. Re: Quad Sockets: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Infinity Fabric is in no way associated with Infiniband.

      Source: AMD engineer on the Infinity Fabric

    32. Re: Quad Sockets: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Brain freeze on that. Mea-culpa. Meant infinity fabric.

  7. 512 384 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    > AMD's performance comparisons at its tech day event pit a 2P Naples server with 512GB of DDR4 RAM up against a 2P Intel Xeon E4-2699A V4 configuration with 384GB of RAM. The Naples system had a higher memory capacity ...

    Um, on what planet would a system with 512 gb of ram NOT have more ram than a system with 384 gb of ram ?

    Of course they RE ginger to compare it against a middle tier Intel system with less ram. Let's see a comparison AMD's top of line against Intel's top of line. Or if they are going for value play, let's see AMDs proce for Naples against system with whatever Intel chip is closest to that price.

  8. Re:512 384 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    News flash! Brand new chip is faster than previous generation chip.

  9. pci-e lane madess next to intel by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    now a 1s system with 16 core 32 threads with 64 lanes + more for storage? is better then what Intel has can make for a killer 3-4 way SLI system with room for 10-GIG-e more then 1 pci-e storage disk / etc.

  10. The mac pro should move the this give it the lanes by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    The mac pro should move the this give it the lanes needed for 2 storage cards + 2 video cards + 6-10 TB 3 buses + dual 10 GIG-E.

  11. Now OVH... by future+assassin · · Score: 1

    just has to get these and rent some cheap AMD boxes. I'll take one to run my Xonotic server...

    --
    by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
  12. Re:We keep getting faster processors... by Trickster+Paean · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Chattanooga did set up a city owned ISP, EPB, the Electric Power Board of Chattanooga. EPB offers some of the fastest, most reliable, Internet service at extremely competitive prices. So when EPB began thinking about expanding to other underserved communities in the Chattanooga area, it was a real threat to the incumbent duopoly: Comcast and AT&T.

    The Tennessee legislature couldn't prevent Chattanooga from setting up its own ISP, but what they could do is prevent EPB from expanding their service area beyond the city limits. So areas just outside Chattanooga have some of the slowest Internet service, and it's all thanks to lobbyists for AT&T. Thank you, Tennessee Republican legislature, for protecting the profits of AT&T by protecting them from competition by a city owned utility.

  13. Re: We keep getting faster processors... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    B as in part of ISDN? Damn that's slow.

  14. Re: We keep getting faster processors... by unixisc · · Score: 0

    Doesn't Microsoft have to live w/ this problem as well? With them in the city, one would think that Seattle would be as great as the Bay Area when it came to broadband

  15. But by Billly+Gates · · Score: 1

    It runs slow for games.Everyone knows at 800 X 600 resolution gaming is the most important thing when evaluating a CPU.

  16. Re: We keep getting faster processors... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That only happens in ritual areas. Ares that aren't racist don't get fast internet connections.

  17. Re: We keep getting faster processors... by Chas · · Score: 1

    Hey. Be happy you're the Graceland of Grunge and the Capital Of Crappy Coffee.

    Don't be greedy!

    --


    Chas - The one, the only.
    THANK GOD!!!
  18. Finally, some Xeon competition by mveloso · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The Xeon line has been pretty lame for the last couple of years. It's nice to see some competition.

    1. Re:Finally, some Xeon competition by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I used to dream of buying a Dual-CPU Xeon system for my home PC.

      Then, by the time I had the money, it just wasn't worth the extra cost over a single-CPU i7.

      I would love a new excuse to buy a Dual motherboard !

    2. Re:Finally, some Xeon competition by Khyber · · Score: 1

      The Xeon line has been gimped forever. Can't do a 2S 4GPU config. Memory architecture limitations makes it impossible. AMD, OTOH, could handle it no problem.

      --
      Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
    3. Re:Finally, some Xeon competition by thegreatbob · · Score: 1

      Not perfectly comparable, but I had (still have, but reconfigured) a dual Xeon E5 machine with 3 GPUs in it; admittedly they were not being used for graphics, and were individually dual GPU cards. Never seemed to have any difficulties (aside from the insane amount of heat it put out). Enabling/disabling NUMA did not seem to have any noticeable impact on the performance.

      --
      There is no XUL, only WebExtensions...
  19. Re: We keep getting faster processors... by tigersha · · Score: 1

    So, in short, if you can pay, you can have?

    --
    The dangers of excessive individualism are nothing compared to the oppressiveness of excessive collectivism
  20. Obligatory Post for /. Old Farts by mykepredko · · Score: 3, Funny

    Imagine a Beowulf Cluster of these processors!

    1. Re: Obligatory Post for /. Old Farts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You make me feel old.

      People don't build those anymore. =(

    2. Re: Obligatory Post for /. Old Farts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Neither does portman or her hot grits.....

      But Netcraft confirmed we are both old.

    3. Re: Obligatory Post for /. Old Farts by AcidFnTonic · · Score: 1

      Logged in for the first time in over 11 years just to say the same thing.

      --
      Sometimes the majority just means all the morons are on the same side.
    4. Re: Obligatory Post for /. Old Farts by tigersha · · Score: 1

      Considering how the CPU market has stagnated the last 10 years I can believe that, yes.

      --
      The dangers of excessive individualism are nothing compared to the oppressiveness of excessive collectivism
    5. Re:Obligatory Post for /. Old Farts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm absolutely certain it will end up in some grid computing project.

    6. Re: Obligatory Post for /. Old Farts by rvw14 · · Score: 1

      1. Post logged in for the first time in 11 years
      2. ???
      3. Profit!

    7. Re:Obligatory Post for /. Old Farts by MarkRose · · Score: 1

      And covered in hot grits...

      --
      Be relentless!
  21. Re:We keep getting faster processors... by gweihir · · Score: 2

    So market failure caused by anti-competitive politics. And that in the "home of capitalism". Pretty bad. I wonder how much corruption is involved. Corruption kills societies.

    --
    Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
  22. Re:The mac pro should move the this give it the la by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They will when it is four years old to keep up with the crApple motto of 'Yesterdays Technology at Tomorrows Prices'. Otherwise it will just be copying competent manufactures. And the hipsters wouldn't like that.

  23. Price? by tigersha · · Score: 1

    Anyone?

    --
    The dangers of excessive individualism are nothing compared to the oppressiveness of excessive collectivism
    1. Re:Price? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Looking at the Ryzen launch they should be much more compelling in price/performance than Intel. The Ryzen R7 1800X which rivals the i7 6900K is $499 vs ~$1,000 for the Intel

  24. Re: We keep getting faster processors... by darkain · · Score: 1

    Microsoft is in Redmond, not Seattle proper. The outlaying areas are all served with symmetrical gigabit FttH, while Seattle itself in many neighborhoods is still stuck on shit POTS lines

  25. ECC? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The article doesn't mention support for error correction for the RAM. If a bit gets flipped somewhere in a massive research project running on such a system with 4 to 8 TB RAM, the entire project could be ruined.

    ECC, anyone?

    1. Re:ECC? by Phydeaux314 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      The Ryzen CPUs support ECC, but the parts haven't gone through the server level validation for it. It's up to motherboard manufacturers whether or not to support it, and I expect we'll see "home server" 300 series boards with ECC support in the near future.

      The Naples parts will absolutely support ECC. It's pretty much mandatory for server parts these days.

      --
      Never underestimate the stupidity inherent in all human beings.
    2. Re:ECC? by sexconker · · Score: 2

      Ryzen supports ECC. Even on the desktop, if the mobo supports it.

    3. Re:ECC? by serviscope_minor · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The Ryzen CPUs support ECC, but the parts haven't gone through the server level validation for it. It's up to motherboard manufacturers whether or not to support it, and I expect we'll see "home server" 300 series boards with ECC support in the near future.

      Historically one of the huge advantages of AMD is that ECC has been available on much lower end parts than Intel. I hope that continues.

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
    4. Re:ECC? by Carewolf · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The article doesn't mention support for error correction for the RAM. If a bit gets flipped somewhere in a massive research project running on such a system with 4 to 8 TB RAM, the entire project could be ruined.

      ECC, anyone?

      All the AMD processors support ECC. You need to explicitly criple it like Intel does not to. It need to be certified with the motherboard though, and most consumer motherboards don't do that, and many also don't provide the tools to access if any error-corrections are done.

    5. Re:ECC? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      All the ASUS AMD consumer motherboards support ECC. I've used at least 5 different ASUS boards with ECC for the past 15 years.

    6. Re:ECC? by Lost+Race · · Score: 1

      Their AM1 boards do not. They saved some COGS by only wiring up 64 of the 72 data lines. Very disappointing!

  26. Re:We keep getting faster processors... by Kjella · · Score: 2

    That seems to be mostly a problem in the US. In Europe, slow Internet is something you usually find in the countryside, but not in cities. Market failure?

    Broadband have monopolist tendencies everywhere, but I think the real market failure in the US is because the biggest providers are cable networks. You're basically asking them to saw off the branch they're sitting on. Here in Norway telcos and xDSL was big and power companies were the first to push fiber, cable is also a player but they must remain competitive. They still want to make profit but if they can make more money selling you even faster broadband they'll do it. The mean download speed is now 47 Mbps (36% YoY growth), median is 27.7 Mbps (11% YoY growth) and no caps, it's something of a fiber rush as they're all doing that now. It has nudged out xDSL and cable as the dominant access technology.

    Rural areas struggle more but there's variations of public/private/community funding, our cabin now has fiber. At the base is a commercial provider, but the project also had public funding (and thus a public budget), we paid an extra connection fee and everyone had to dig from the main road to the wall themselves or pay extra for that too. As part of the whole deal all permanent residents were offered fiber, cabins only if they were in close proximity to other routes. The residents want it, the community wants to be attractive and not a backwater hick, the company will make money on it in the long run... nobody's really against rolling it out, the math just needs to be there.

    --
    Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
  27. Re:We keep getting faster processors... by marcansoft · · Score: 1

    The trick is it isn't corruption. The US has completely legalized what many other countries would call corruption. Companies can just throw money at US politicians or their campaigns in various ways and it's all legal.

  28. Re:We keep getting faster processors... by CrashNBrn · · Score: 1

    If the outlying cities really think its a good deal, they should contract EPB for service. If providing the service required infrastructure, then the cities could likewise contract EPB to build it out.

  29. Re: We keep getting faster processors... by tigersha · · Score: 1

    Let me correct that for you: "I dont need faster processors, I need a faster network"

    The rest of us have our own hopes and dreams

    --
    The dangers of excessive individualism are nothing compared to the oppressiveness of excessive collectivism
  30. Re:We keep getting faster processors... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    > If the outlying cities really think its a good deal, they should contract EPB for service.

    The outlying cities can talk to EPB all they want. The incumbent telcos bribed the Tennessee state legislature to make expanding EPB's service area outside Chattanooga's city limits illegal. It's now also illegal for other cities in TN to set up similar ISPs.

    But hey, if Americans were _really_ dissatisfied with their ISP service, there'd be a market for better service, and we'd see faster, lower-priced ISPs proving service to satisfy that demand, right? I mean that's how The Free Market works! _Clearly_, noone wants much faster than 10/1mbit service at 60->120 USD per month.

  31. Re:We keep getting faster processors... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's duck corruption. It quacks like a bribe, it walks like a bribe and it tastes... mmm... tasty bribes!

  32. Great! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Now I can throw away my old server farm that cost 1 billion and replace it with something slightly faster for half a billion!

  33. Strategy masterpeice by calken1979 · · Score: 1

    I think AMD have really done a good job here. They release their 1800X, 1700X and 1700 to prove their IPC, power consumption and multithread performance improvements so that the server OEMs have already seen the architecture potential in a consumer marketplace.

  34. Re:We keep getting faster processors... by drinkypoo · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It doesn't magically become not corruption when it becomes legal.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  35. Re:We keep getting faster processors... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This guy is a troll. He is a maintenance guy in Seattle and has some problem with the city council. In Seattle there are THREE providers all offering 1Gbps service. You can look it up yourself.

  36. Re:The mac pro should move the this give it the la by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The Mac Pro should have hardware that isn't four years old and should have a normal tower chassis.

  37. How about actually doing... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...something useful with those faster CPUs instead of bemoaning the fact you can't suckle even more at the teat of Big Media...

  38. Re:We keep getting faster processors... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    > So market failure [...]

    If you thought all that market and capitalism stuff is there to increase our collective well-being... then -er- I've a bridge I'd like to sell to you.

  39. Re:We keep getting faster processors... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yeah the countryside is bad here in sweden you can only get 100MB /S connection in the countryside.
    Hard to get a decent gigabit connection in the countryside :(

  40. Re:512 384 by ravenshrike · · Score: 1

    Erm, I'm pretty sure the 2699 is the top of the line for their Xeon DPs. At worst it is the 3rd best from what I can tell, and no one has benchmarks that I can find of the two newer processors that might replace it, the E7-8890 and E7-8894. As they were probably able to borrow or rent the 2699's from someone and they weren't going to blow 20,000+ to purchase equipment for a single benchmark, it's unsurprising they didn't go for the two newer chips.

  41. Re:We keep getting faster processors... by gweihir · · Score: 1

    It is corruption, but legalized corruption. I would call that super-corruption or the like, because the corrupt have managed top make their depravity legal.

    --
    Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
  42. Re:We keep getting faster processors... by gweihir · · Score: 1

    Indeed. It actually is much worse than illegal corruption. This state of affairs explains a few things though.

    --
    Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
  43. Re:We keep getting faster processors... by Rockoon · · Score: 2

    Nor does it become corruption because money was thrown at politicians.

    It becomes corruption when politicians pass laws and regulations because of that money.

    I dont live in the Seattle area so I dont know which politicians are responsible for granting the Seattle monopolies without some sort of public compensation (such as contractually good internet service) but I do know that if I lived there I would know exactly who was responsible. Its probably the city council thats holding the keys to the franchise agreements but thats not always the case.

    The current Seattle city council:

    Councilman Lisa Herbold, Democrat
    Councilman Bruce Harrell, Democrat
    Councilman Kshama Sawant, Socialist Alternative
    Councilman Rob Johnson, Democrat
    Councilman Debora Juarez, Democrat
    Councilman Mike O'Brien, Democrat
    Councilman Sally Bagshaw, Democrat
    Councilman Tim Burgess, Democrat
    Councilman Lorena González, Democrat

    If its not the city council then the next most likely person responsible is the cities Mayor or a member of his office:

    Mayor Ed Murray, Democrat

    Vote out the fuckers responsible, even if they are a member of your favorite party. If the State of Washington steps in like they did in Tennessee, then start voting out the State legislature as well. Form a community action group. Spread the word that these franchise agreements are why these fucks are going to lose their next election.

    --
    "His name was James Damore."
  44. Re:512 384 by ravenshrike · · Score: 1

    Incidentally, even assuming that the two Kaby Lakes are better, they're almost certainly not better enough over the 2699 to make up the performance deficit given the Kaby Lake chips' price difference to the 2699.

  45. Always our new vs your old by Glasswire · · Score: 1, Insightful

    A proper comparison would be between AMD's 2017 cpu Naples against Intel's 2017 cpu E5 V5 not 2016 E5 V4, as is done here.

    1. Re:Always our new vs your old by Highdude702 · · Score: 2

      Found the Intel fanboy. How do you expect them to compare to a processor you can't actually get?

    2. Re:Always our new vs your old by ravenshrike · · Score: 1

      More importantly, why would they blow 20,000+ for a single benchmark?

    3. Re:Always our new vs your old by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just because you can't buy a Xeon v5 from a place like Newegg or Amazon, doesn't mean they're not out and about in some of the biggest data centers and being deployed by high profile multinational clients.

    4. Re:Always our new vs your old by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      seriously? they spend billions developing and marketing it and you think they would then skimp on a benchmark to save 20k? the E5V5 CPU's aren't "easily" available and any out there will be working partners of Intel so not likely to loan them for an AMD benchmark otherwise 20k they would not even blink at spending.

  46. Re:We keep getting faster processors... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    cities have no place running a business. name one thing that government does right?

  47. Re:We keep getting faster processors... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The trick is it isn't corruption. The US has completely legalized what many other countries would call corruption. Companies can just throw money at US politicians or their campaigns in various ways and it's all legal.

    You do realize the largest source of political money in the US is union-based, right?

    Six of the top-ten individual political money givers in the US are unions.

  48. These should be good server CPU's by supremebob · · Score: 1

    Based off of what we saw in the Ryzen benchmarks, the new Zen CPU architecture is really good at handling multi-threaded workloads. That doesn't help Joe Sixpack much when he's surfing the web or playing Call Of Duty, but it will help with highly threaded server applications like Java application servers and databases.

    Maybe AMD should have done the server CPU's first and then did the desktop models. There is probably more profit margin in the Enterprise market anyway.

    1. Re:These should be good server CPU's by Hydrian · · Score: 1

      The problem is that AMD never had great adoption in the enterprise market. Before dropping out of the performance market, AMD's enterprise offerings were slim. While the Opteron CPUs (x86_64) were considered decent and worth their money at the time, the bigger issues were the motherboard and chipsets. They had a couple of bad server chipset releases and the number of compatible and available motherboards decreased. This maked it hard to find servers that used AMD server CPUs. This lead to poor adoption rates.

      --
      No good deed goes unpunished.
    2. Re:These should be good server CPU's by cheesybagel · · Score: 1

      AFAIK they did ok with the K8 servers and their derivatives. The issue is they released the high power consumption K10 processors around the time server people started taking notice about power consumption. Other than some HPC applications like supercomputers the K10 it wasn't that popular and eventually not even there.

  49. Re:We keep getting faster processors... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So, what are you trying to prove? That they are getting spectacularly bad ROI?

  50. Re:We keep getting faster processors... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Money will always dominate politics until there is a Constitutional amendment that specifies that money is not speech and the concept of "rights" only applies to biological beings.

  51. Let me get this straight by Thumper_SVX · · Score: 1

    So let me get this straight, in order to show competing platforms they put it up against a 22 core E5-2699A but then hobbled the Xeon with both LESS RAM and SLOWER RAM? Um... that's not really a very fair comparison now, is it?

    Don't get me wrong, I like AMD as much as the next guy and I am very interested in probably making my next home-server build a Ryzen with ECC... but at least compete on a level playing field. The E5-2699A supports DDR4-2400 as well but instead they decided to hobble it with DDR4-1866??? Seriously? That's cheating and really sours me on AMD right now.

    1. Re:Let me get this straight by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      issue is that supported MHz depends on amount of memory inserted, they maxed Intel (and AMD) CPU with memory so both of them used lower memory speed, if there was only half memory chips both would have faster memory speed support than they do now

  52. fabric shrink in the washboard abs by epine · · Score: 1

    There are moments when I understand what other people are griping about.

    AMD Prepares 32-Core Naples CPUs for 1P and 2P Servers: Coming in Q2

    Launching an enterprise product that gains even a few points of market share from the very large blue incumbent can implement billions of dollars to the bottom line, as well as provided some innovation as there are now two big players '''on the field.

    Sad, Ian, sad.

    While not specifically mentioned in the announcement today, we do know that Naples is not a single monolithic die on the order of 500 mm2 or up. Naples uses four of AMD's Zeppelin dies (the Ryzen dies) in a single package.

    But first I had to wade through that other sentence. (I want a Purple Heart!)

    Once upon a time you would have a pair of quad-CPU servers, with two cores per CPU and two threads per core.

    Now you have a pair of quad-die CPUs, with two cores per die, and two threads per core.

    • Box to box latency is replaced by CPU to CPU latency.
    • CPU to CPU latency is replaced by die to die latency within a single CPU package.

    I wonder if AMD is bonding the four die modules using some form of TSV (through-silicon via).

    The last time I had die modules was a dual Pentium Pro 166 MHz (with 512 KB of L2 cache per CPU as a second die module). Fast processors, but the DRAM was dog slow. Eventually replaced it with a dual-cartridge Pentium III 750 (L2 cache as separate chips on the cartridge). I liked the dualies back then. It made for a creamier GUI with the system under load.

    I had a great Opteron system at work (a 24/7 affair) and barely used my home system at all for about four years. Intended to replace it with an AMD system, but then the Opteron product line went insane, and Intel came out with the CoreDuo, and that was all she wrote for my AMD loyalty card.

    It's so nice to see AMD finally back in the game, but presently I can't flop to AMD until they properly validate FreeBSD and get themselves off the FreeBSD shit list.

    Please, AMD, do us a solid and make it rock.

    1. Re:fabric shrink in the washboard abs by cheesybagel · · Score: 1

      No. It's four chips, with 8-cores per chip (i.e. 16 threads per chip), per processor. I assume they're going to use a multi-chip module for that. The thing with multi-chip modules is that you can use a lot faster interconnect than you would otherwise because of the smaller traces and more specialized packaging.

  53. Meanwhile Consumer CPU side is gimped to hell by Khyber · · Score: 1

    "The processors will feature eight-channel DDR4 memory controllers (with up to 16 DIMMs attached per CPU), with support for up to 4TB of memory and 128 lanes of on-chip PCI Express connectivity."

    Meanwhile, Ryzen on the Desktop has a shitty 16 lanes of PCI-E with an additional 8 possible with the mobo manufacturer adding another bridge. Meanwhile, my FX-9350 has over 30 lanes of PCI-E connectivity, for SLI, multiple M.2 drives, and multiple USB connectivity ports and dual gigabit ethernet.

    Ryzen is gimped so fucking hard it's insane. I'll stick with my power-hungry FX-9350, at least it's capable of supporting all the hardware currently installed in my system and giving it the bandwidth they all need.

    --
    Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
  54. Re:The mac pro should move the this give it the la by samwichse · · Score: 1

    While we're dreaming, I'd ask for a Mac Pro in a standard tower chassis that can handle standard PCIe cards. And a pony. But instead we'll keep using Linux boxes.

  55. Re:512 384 by thegreatbob · · Score: 1

    I think what they were driving at ("capacity") is that the Intel supports ~1.5 TB RAM, whereas the AMD supports 2TB.

    --
    There is no XUL, only WebExtensions...
  56. Re:We keep getting faster processors... by gweihir · · Score: 1

    Nor does it become corruption because money was thrown at politicians.
    It becomes corruption when politicians pass laws and regulations because of that money.

    You are right about that. But who keeps throwing money at politicians without getting anything back? At the very least, the recipients would need to do full, public disclosure about everything they got and explain conclusively with any decision they make why they were not influenced by that money.

    --
    Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
  57. ok most of you out there may not understand but. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Does anybody remember the classic, GigaHertz race between Amd and Intel??
    AMD kicked the shit out of Intel then. ( I bought the one of the first Athalon ghz chips) and it was great, assuming you could keep it cool.
    I hope AMD keeps its crown longer this time around..
    I'm also glad to see some one stepping up and showing the recent crop of individuals that Intel is NOT THE ONLY FUCKING GAME IN TOWN, as their commercials with that Weenie of an individual attempt to convey(pooorly I might add, those commercials make some wanna be a bullys to this guy and punk him.) But thats another feeble argument for another day..
    thanks

  58. Re:We keep getting faster processors... by webnut77 · · Score: 1

    cities have no place running a business. name one thing that government does right?

    Capitalize the first letter of their sentences?

  59. Re:We keep getting faster processors... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You're full of crap. Two of the providers, Wave and Comcast, don't offer service in the same areas and have spotty coverage so you can't say there's "two." CenturyLink is doing gigabit trials on one street in Northgate the last I heard. Here's an address for someone I know that is just north of the U District, and their street can only get 1.5 Mbps DSL officially and dial-up in reality since CenturyLink can't get DSL to work:

    http://imgur.com/WgSvnA5

    Are you going to apologize now?

  60. Re:We keep getting faster processors... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So, what are you trying to prove? That they are getting spectacularly bad ROI?

    Nope - GP complained about "companies".

    It isn't "companies" that are the biggest threat to US democracy - it's government employee unions. Look at those big donors - they're public employee unions, and they OWN the Democratic Party.

    Democrats are basically "government by the government for the government." It's hard to be more fundamentally corrupt than that.

    There's a reason why someone as progressive as FDR warned about public employee unions:

    All Government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service. It has its distinct and insurmountable limitations when applied to public personnel management. The very nature and purposes of Government make it impossible for administrative officials to represent fully or to bind the employer in mutual discussions with Government employee organizations. The employer is the whole people, who speak by means of laws enacted by their representatives in Congress. Accordingly, administrative officials and employees alike are governed and guided, and in many instances restricted, by laws which establish policies, procedures, or rules in personnel matters.

    Particularly, I want to emphasize my conviction that militant tactics have no place in the functions of any organization of Government employees. Upon employees in the Federal service rests the obligation to serve the whole people, whose interests and welfare require orderliness and continuity in the conduct of Government activities. This obligation is paramount. Since their own services have to do with the functioning of the Government, a strike of public employees manifests nothing less than an intent on their part to prevent or obstruct the operations of Government until their demands are satisfied. Such action, looking toward the paralysis of Government by those who have sworn to support it, is unthinkable and intolerable.

  61. Re: The mac pro should move the this give it the l by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Its called retro hardware dummy. And if its not retro, it's not cool.

  62. ECC and VM support by phorm · · Score: 2

    As a long-term AMD user, I was blown away when a system was "upgraded" from a dual-core to quad-core chip started behaving even worse with VM's, which led me to discover that the Quad-core chip didn't support VT.

    Looking into it more, I discovered that Intel does this a *lot*, with sprinkles of support for this and that across a huge range of chipsets. With AMD, I haven't found a chip without AMD-V/VT-x in forever.

    Now this was a bit of an older CPU for sure, but it seems that even newer Intel CPU's one has to be very careful that options like VT-D and others aren't neutered out.

    1. Re:ECC and VM support by TeknoHog · · Score: 1

      Looking into it more, I discovered that Intel does this a *lot*, with sprinkles of support for this and that across a huge range of chipsets. With AMD, I haven't found a chip without AMD-V/VT-x in forever.

      Now this was a bit of an older CPU for sure, but it seems that even newer Intel CPU's one has to be very careful that options like VT-D and others aren't neutered out.

      I sometimes pay a little extra to make things easier for me. But with Intel, they make CPU selection harder even when you pay more >.<

      --
      Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
  63. Re:We keep getting faster processors... by Rockoon · · Score: 1

    You are right about that. But who keeps throwing money at politicians without getting anything back?

    Corporations wouldn't. Which is why we know for a fact that the problem isnt corporations. The problem is the politicians selling laws and regulations.

    --
    "His name was James Damore."
  64. Re:We keep getting faster processors... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The aqueducts?

  65. Re:We keep getting faster processors... by HiThere · · Score: 1

    There's plenty of blame to go around. Just because the politicians are corrupt doesn't exonerate those who bribe them, legally or not.

    --

    I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
  66. Re:We keep getting faster processors... by Rockoon · · Score: 1

    Just because the politicians are corrupt doesn't exonerate those who bribe them

    If you refuse to lobby the law maker but your competition does not refuse to do so...

    Everybody but the politicians are exonerated. Everybody but the politicians are victims.

    --
    "His name was James Damore."
  67. Re:We keep getting faster processors... by youngone · · Score: 1

    Thank you for that clarification.

  68. Re:We keep getting faster processors... by erapert · · Score: 1

    EPB offers some of the fastest, most reliable, Internet service at extremely competitive prices.

    Are you including the taxes in those competitive prices or are you just pretending that tax money falls from the sky?

  69. Re:We keep getting faster processors... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    why? this isn't a newspaper. it's not an sms either. you are too dum to understand there are different rules for different places? or do you have so little say in anything at work or at home, due to you being a little pussy, that you pretend you make up rules on a site you don't own? say more things now please - I like laughing at people. people like you.

  70. Re: We keep getting faster processors... by Shirley+Marquez · · Score: 1

    I was shocked to discover that the Seattle train station had no WiFi. The Seattle area is the home of two technology giants, Microsoft and Amazon; they should do better. If Microsoft can sponsor WiFi on the Space Needle campus they can also cover the train station.

    That same station was also a dead spot for T-Mobile cell coverage. That would be bad enough in any major city, but Seattle is the home city of T-Mobile US. It is one of those old stone buildings that eat RF, but it's a location that should get special attention from the home town carrier; put a microcell inside the building if necessary, team purple!

  71. It's an overdue competition... by martinfb · · Score: 1

    It is long overdue that Intel got some real competition.
    Their CPUs are way overpriced. Note their 2016 company profits hit $7.5B on $17.5B revenue! REALLY?!

    AMD has priced Ryzen, their answer to the i7, at less than half the price with higher performance.
    This surely shows that Intel is likely gouging the market; which is unethical monopolistic antitrust behavior.

    --


    Self-importance and self-indulgence is the root of ALL evil.