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. Update: AMD has corrected the press release to say that the GDDR5 controller is on the chip, and the 8GB of GDDR5 is installed into the motherboard. Compare this to the specifications of AMD’s current SoC designs, such as the Ryzen 5 2400G, which has four Zen cores and 11 Vega CUs. Or Intel’s multi-chip design featuring four Intel cores and an AMD-based 24 compute unit GPU paired with 4GB of HBM2 memory. There is also AMD’s Vega Mobile chip, which is expected to be in the 24-32 compute unit range, however this is also paired with 4GB of HBM2.

AMD Semi-Custom Comparison
  Zhongshan
Subor
Ryzen 5 2400G
APU
Vega Mobile Intel with
Radeon
RX Vega
Xbox
One X
Sony Playstation
4 Pro
Year 2018 2017 TBD 2018 2017 2016
Cores/Threads 4 / 8 4 / 8 - 4 / 8 8 / 8 8 / 8
CPU uArch Zen Zen - Kaby Lake Jaguar+ Jaguar
Peak Frequency 3.0 GHz 3.8 GHz - 4.1 GHz 2.3 GHz 2.13 GHz
GPU Vega Vega Vega Polaris Polaris Polaris
GPU CUs 24 11 24-32 24 40 36
GPU SPs 1536 704 1536-2048 1536 2560 2304
GPU Freq 1300 MHz 1250 MHz ? 1190 MHz 1172 MHz 911 MHz
GPU DRAM 8 GB GDDR5 System
DRAM
4GB HBM2 4GB
HBM2
12GB GDDR5 8GB
GDDR5
Located Subor PC
Subor Console
Desktops - Hades Canyon NUC Xbox
One X
PS4 Pro


AMD's Scott Herkelman with Vega Mobile (left) and Vega 64 (right)

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.

The demo given at the ChinaJoy event (the Chinese equivalent of E3 it seems) in Shanghai was initially of a PC that Subor plans to launch in late-August with the new chip. An upcoming console, based on the same hardware, is expected to be launched by the end of 2018. AMD cites that this is a key win for its semi-custom division, especially in a key market such as China. In this market, AMD also has semi-custom collaborations with Tsinghua, and a Joint Venture with THATIC.

The new SoC, name unknown, will support FreeSync, the Adrenalin software, and Rapid Packed Math, confirming that this is a true Vega design (unlike the chip used by Intel in its combination product).

Update:

Over at zol.com.cn, there are images of the unit:

Update 2:

AMD has updated its press release to state that it is the GDDR5 controller that is on the chip, and not the 8 GB of GDDR5. The memory is installed on the board elsewhere, as with a normal GPU for example.

Related Reading

Source: AMD

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  • Valantar - Friday, August 3, 2018 - link

    Interesting. Still, I'm more interested in what's happening with Vega Mobile. Considering they showed it off eight months ago, is it somewhat safe to assume that it's been canned? It did look promising in terms of size, area and CU count, but one has to speculate if Nvidia's performance/watt (or at least perf/watt/die area(and as such price), if you downclock Vega to peak efficiency) advantage has the laptop market cornered. I'm glad to see KBL-G getting a foothold, but I'd really like to see Vega Mobile show up at some point. If nothing else, how about making a slim, SFF, portable eGPU out of it? Sized to match an ultrabook, but with ~GTX 1060 performance? That would be sweet.
  • neblogai - Friday, August 3, 2018 - link

    In some AMD slides from ~May/June, 'Vega mobile' was shown as arriving '2018', the same as Vega20 7nm/Instinct.
  • msroadkill612 - Saturday, August 4, 2018 - link

    It has a ring of truth about it.

    If production run slots are scarce for the 7nm process, as seems logical during ramping, then amdS commercial priorities would favor pro gpu & mobile.

    Both are lucrative and efficiency driven.

    12/14nm are proving more than competitive in cpu, sothey are relatively less urgent.
  • Tkan215 - Friday, August 3, 2018 - link

    so the rumor and leak comes out to be true the powerful soc was built for chinese gamer. good job amd
  • iwod - Friday, August 3, 2018 - link

    TMSC or GF, that is the most important question.
  • psychobriggsy - Friday, August 3, 2018 - link

    I'd love to see a photo of this chip.

    I wonder how wide the memory bus is if all the GDDR5 has to be on-package. 128-bit?

    This would sell really well as part of a SFF board in the west.
  • Cooe - Friday, August 3, 2018 - link

    Memory isn't on package. See updated article.
  • mode_13h - Friday, August 3, 2018 - link

    Considering the CU count and clock speed, it should be 256-bit.
  • T1beriu - Friday, August 3, 2018 - link

    >Assuming that this custom chip is a single chip design

    AMD says it's a single chip (SoC): https://community.amd.com/community/gaming/blog/20...
  • T1beriu - Friday, August 3, 2018 - link

    LE: I think they're talking about a package when they say chip.

    Something like this: https://i.imgur.com/PhPIKL7.jpg

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