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AMD Creates Quad Core Zen SoC with 24 Vega CUs for Chinese Consoles (anandtech.com)

An anonymous reader shares a report: AMD has cornered the x86 console market with its handy semi-custom mix of processors and graphics. While we slowly await the next generation of consoles from Microsoft and Sony, today AMD and Zhongshan Subor announced that a custom chip has been made for a new gaming PC and an upcoming console for the Chinese market.

The announcement states that a custom chip has been created for Subor that is based on four Zen cores running at 3.0 GHz and 24 compute units of Vega running at 1.3 GHz. The chip is supported by 8GB of GDDR5 memory, which the press release states is also embedded onto the chip, however it is likely to actually be on the package instead. [...] Assuming that this custom chip is a single chip design, with CPU and GPU, this means that AMD is handily gaining custom contracts and designing custom chip designs for its customers, even for consoles that won't have the mass western appeal such as the Xbox or Playstation.

3 of 93 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Ouch, Sony/Microsoft must be a bit worried by barc0001 · · Score: 2

    But what you describe isn't an architecture problem, it's a content/IP one. The Nintendo Switch is using a Tegra architecture that is very similar to literally billions of Android devices but they're not having the same problems with competition - because of their content and IP libraries. People want to play Mario Odyssey and Fire Emblem, and Smash Bros and Mario Kart and the latest Zelda so they go get the Nintendo product. The PS4/Xbox war on the other hand comes down to both content and price as many games are available cross platform there so some consumers will shop on price alone.

  2. US population is mostly 1%ers, can afford toys by raymorris · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Median household income is about EIGHT TIMES higher in the US that in China.

    Median household disposable income in the US in $47,000, in China $5,271.

    OECD (2018), Household disposable income (indicator). doi: 10.1787/dd50eddd-en (Accessed on 03 August 2018)

    In other words, the US is the rich people, who can spend hundreds of dollars on games.

    98% of the world's population makes less than $25,000/year, so when you're selling expensive toys not all countries are equally important markets.

  3. Re:Xbox One X Still Trounces Them by Z80a · · Score: 2

    The Xbonex GPU is faster, but the CPU gets absolutely demolished.
    Those wimpy, two instruction per cycle mobile toys that the Xbox one/X use are just no match to a real CPU such as a ryzen.