AMD has announced the Ryzen Embedded 5000 processor series. The four models are almost identical in construction to the previous desktop variants, but are characterized by a promise: AMD wants to deliver the CPUs for at least five years, i.e. until 2028. They are primarily intended for industrial systems, such as powerful gaming machines.
first time AMD introduces a Ryzen embedded series, which is not soldered to mainboards but plugged into CPU sockets. The manufacturer is not launching a new platform for this – the newcomers such as the Ryzen Embedded 5950E fit into commercially available AM4 mainboards, for example with the X570 or B550 chipsets. Mainboard manufacturers only have to offer BIOS updates if necessary. In 2028, the AM4 platform will be 11 years old – the 1000 series Ryzen appeared in summer 2017.
Up to 64 MB L3 cache
Physically, the 16-core 5950E, the 12-core 5900, the 8-core 5800E and the 6-core 5600E are identical to the previous desktop models. The grouping in Ryzen 9, 7 or 5 is omitted, the models are simply called Ryzen Embedded 5xx0E. The two faster processors use two compute dies with a total of 64 MB level 3 cache, the two smaller ones with a 32 MB level 3 cache.
All keep their 24 PCI Express 4.0 lanes. Up to 16 lanes are needed for a graphics card, which is absolutely necessary due to the lack of an integrated graphics unit, unless a manufacturer is soldering a mini GPU like Aspeed’s AST2600 to a mainboard. In the case of mainboards with a chipset, four lanes are also required for the chipset connection. Four can be used for an NVMe SSD.
| Ryzen Embedded 5000 for AM4 | |||||
|
Model |
CPU-Kerne / Threads |
Basistakt / max. Boost |
L3-Cache |
TDP |
Storage |
|
5950E |
16 / 32 |
3,05 / 3,4 GHz |
64 MB |
105 W |
2 × DDR4-3200 |
|
5900E |
12 / 24 |
3,35 / 3,7 GHz |
64 MB |
105 W |
2 × DDR4-3200 |
|
5800E |
8 / 16 |
3,4 / 3,7 GHz |
32 MB |
100 W |
2 × DDR4-3200 |
|
5600E |
6 / 12 |
3,3 / 3,6 GHz |
32 MB |
65 W |
2 × DDR4-3200 |
Low clock frequencies
The thermal design power (TDP) ranges nominally from 65 to 105 watts, just like the desktop variants like the Ryzen 5 5600 or Ryzen 9 5950X. However, the actual electrical power consumption of the embedded CPUs is likely to be significantly lower, since AMD specifies maximum boost clock frequencies of 3.4 to 3.7 GHz (depending on the model). For comparison: AMD specifies 4.9 GHz for the Ryzen 9 5950X, but it actually manages a little more than 5 GHz under good conditions.
The Ryzen Embedded 5000 are of no interest to gamers due to their low clock frequencies. But the announcement proves that AMD will continue to produce the Zen 3 dies for a few more years. Thus, the desktop models for cheap PCs should remain available for a while.
(mma)
