AMD announces Epyc, Ryzen embedded families

AMD has announced that it is bringing its Zen architecture to the embedded market, launching two new processor families at the Embedded World conference: Epyc Embedded 3000 and Ryzen Embedded V1000.

Designed as lower-power equivalents to its Epyc and Ryzen families respectively, the Epyc Embedded and Ryzen Embedded parts boast the same underlying architecture and feature set as their bigger brethren but with specifications more suited to cost-, heat-, power-, and space-constrained platforms. The Epyc Embedded 3000 family ranges from four cores to 16 cores with, interestingly, single-threaded options available, and thermal design profiles (TDPs) of 30W through to 100W, with a reduction in IO channels to 64 PCI Express lanes from the traditional Epyc's 128 lanes. The Ryzen Embedded V1000 family, meanwhile, is an accelerated processing unit (APU) range packing Zen central processors and Vega graphics processors with up to four cores and eight threads plus 11 GPU compute units in TDPs from 12W to 54W and up to 16 PCI Express lanes.

'Today we extend the high-performance x86 Zen architecture from PCs, laptops and the data centre to networking, storage, and industrial solutions with the AMD Epyc Embedded and AMD Ryzen Embedded product families, delivering transformative performance from the core to the edge,' crowed AMD's embedded head Scott Aylor at the unveiling. 'AMD EPYC Embedded 3000 raises the bar in performance for next-generation network functions virtualisation, software-defined networking and networked storage applications. AMD Ryzen Embedded V1000 brings together the Zen core architecture and Vega graphics architecture to deliver brilliant graphics in a single chip that provides space and power savings for medical imaging, gaming and industrial systems. With these high-performance products, AMD is ushering in a new age for embedded processors.'

For AMD, the two families are a major push into the lucrative embedded market which has been largely dominated by its rivals - and initial indications suggest success is around the corner. Customer wins announced during the event include integration of the new chips into a new ultrasound system, several casino gaming platforms, a high-performance Computer on Module Express (COM-E) platform targeting multiple industries, a general-purpose mini-ITX motherboard, digital signage system, and - interestingly - the long-delayed crowdfunded handheld gaming PC Smach Z, which compact computing specialist Liliputing reports is making the move from the originally-planned Excavator-architecture AMD Embedded R-Series RX-421BD system-on-chip (SoC) to the Ryzen Embedded V1000.

More information on the new parts can be found on AMD's Epyc Embedded and Ryzen Embedded blog posts.