Apparently AMD is now shipping Ryzen 1600 cpus based on the Zen+ architecture and 12nm. They have the same IPC as the 2600 but lower clockspeeds, though boost behavior is still somewhat better than with the original 1600. The new models can be identified by the serial number which is YD1600BBM6IAF compared to YD1600BBM6IAE of the previous variant. https://wccftech.com/first-gen-amd-ryzen-cpus-are-appearing-with-12nm-zen-architecture/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/ecwldi/testing_the_new_12nm_ryzen_5_1600_af_zen_variant/
Well, these 12nm Zen+ dies do match Ryzen 5 1600 frequencies of 3.2/3.6 GHz, as opposed to 3.4/3.9 GHz specified for Ryzen 5 2600 - and since performance improvements over the "real" 14nm Zen based Ryzen 5 1600 are marginal, they probably did not want to confuse customers by creating yet another model designation, as they already have an OEM-only Ryzen 5 2600E rated at 3.1/4.0 GHz.
Probably getting rid of chips that can't hit 2600 specs but are still too good to drop a step. Instead of creating confusion and create another SKU, they box it as an 1600 that still sells good.
Sounds reasonable to me. Nowadays, I don't think anyone is buying a 1600 as an upgrade. Of the people who buy them, I don't think they would be expecting to overclock. Even if they intend to and realize the lack of OC potential, they'd probably think "that's what I get for not buying the better-binned X variant" and be none the wiser. So it's sort-of a win-win: the customers unknowingly get a slightly better CPU than the original (at least at stock speeds) while AMD gets rid of otherwise useless stock that won't capture anyone's attention as another SKU.
I personally would liked to see these get the 2xxx naming but it makes sense to keep naming this way to avoid confusion either way they must be doing this to free up fab space since 7nm is in short supply and 12nm is better than 14nm so may as well move on.
pretty normal, zen and zen+ are basically the same apart form Bugfixes and some tuning, so it would make sense that amd would end 14nm B1 stepping production in favor of a B2 stepping (amd did /does make a 14nm b2 stepping for first-gen epyc, aswell as the b2 stepping on 12nm used for ryzen/threadripper 2XXX)
i am somewhat surprised that they are still producing "fresh" r5 1600 cpus ... i thought with the release of r5 2600 what ever 1600 exists around is left over stock or something
So these are PR chips labelled as SR chips. So it must be Pinnacle Ridge chips that fail to hit the targeted numbers so they still use them but as pretend Summit Ridge 1600 cpus.
Most people do not update the MB BIOS because they do not have any clue about it. Most of 300 series MB do not have the BIOS flash-back feature, most non-retailed OEMs do not provides BIOS update for newer Ryzen versions. Happy cold boot.
In this case, the chances of a person upgrading an oem machine is low, much less upgrading to a 1600. There are also virtually no 300 series boards for sale now that dont have updated bioses, if they arent already low stock or discontinued altogether. There is also the possibility that the cpu may be bootable even with an old bios, because it presumably doesnt support the newer ryzen 2000 series features,and PiR is essentially a bugfixed zen1, really depends on what cpuid it reports.
These new R5 1600 branded processors are cheaper and faster than the original R5 1600AE... only a few % slower than the R5 2600.... Thinking about ordering one. I've been considering an R5 2600 but it's been going for $115 - 125, compared to the R5 1600AF at $85....
