AMD Ryzen PRO Desktop APU Key Features
Contents
AMD Ryzen PRO Desktop APU Key Features
AMD GuardMI Technology
Even though the Ryzen PRO APU uses the same silicon as its consumer-grade siblings, it has AMD GuardMI Technology enabled.
GuardMI is built into the silicon, which offers OS-agnostic security through :
- Transparent Secure Memory Encryption – DRAM encryption with minimal performance impact
- Secure Boot Process – hardware-based root of trust secures the BIOS from power-on
- Real-Time Intrusion Detection – with support for fTPM and TPM 2.0
Enterprise-Grade Reliability
The AMD Ryzen PRO APU will come with enterprise-grade reliability features like :
- 18 months of planned software stability
- 24 months of planned processor availability
- commercial-grade quality-assurance process
- cherry-picked silicon for long-term reliability and performance
- supports DASH manageability standard
- 36-month limited warranty for system manufacturers
Single CCX Configuration
Unlike the Summit Ridge-based Ryzen CPUs, the AMD Raven Ridge processors use a single CCX configuration. This is a cost-saving measure with a much smaller die size, that also yield some performance benefits – reduced cache and memory latencies.
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Smaller L3 Cache
Using a single CCX configuration halves the Raven Ridge L3 cache size from 8 MB to 4 MB. To compensate, AMD increased their base and boost clock speeds.
New CPU Package
The Raven Ridge APUs also introduce a revised CPU package, and a switch to the traditional non-metallic TIM (thermal interface material). These are again cost-cutting measures, albeit with a side benefit of allowing the Raven Ridge processors to officially support DDR4-2933 memory.
Precision Boost 2
The AMD Ryzen PRO APU also boasts the improved Precision Boost 2, whose more graceful and linear boost algorithm allows them to “boost more cores, more often, on more workloads“. It is now able to change frequencies in very fine granularity of just 25 MHz.
According to AMD, this will allow the AMD Ryzen PRO APU to perform better with apps that spawn many lightweight threads, as opposed to apps with persistent loads (e.g. video editing and 3D rendering).
PCIe x8 For Discrete GPU
The Summit Ridge-based AMD Ryzen 7, Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 3 processors have 16 PCI Express 3.0 lanes dedicated to the PCIe graphics card. In Raven Ridge, that gets cut down to half. That means any external graphics card will only communicate with a Raven Ridge processor at PCIe x8 speed.
This is a cost-saving measure, making the Raven Ridge processor simpler and cheaper to produce. AMD also claims that the move contributed to a smaller and more efficient uncore.
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