undefined | Better HN

0 pointsmrchicity8y ago0 comments

Check whether your chip is affected by the segfault bug. It affects Ryzen CPUs, but not Threadrippers or Epycs. It's a free RMA: https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/6ubmd1/ryzen_compilati...

If your system is totally new, try checking your RAM with memtest too.

My Threadripper build had similar issues in Linux and Windows. Ended up being my PSU. I tried to save $30 buying a refurb one from Corsair. My system would lock up occasionally at totally stock settings and even shutdown on its own. Works perfectly now after I swapped it out.

FWIW, I'm really happy with the Threadripper/X399. Most of the early Ryzen bugs are worked out. It's a great value for the performance. Compiling large C or C++ code bases is insanely fast.

Still, I'd be wary of buying AMD's first gen mobile offering. When you buy a laptop you're buying a whole system and battery life, no glitches after sleep/wake, heat, noise, etc. trump raw performance. Intel has way more experience there. This Radeon iGPU also sits in a weird market segment. People who don't game/render/3D model on the go do just fine with the weak Intel iGPU. People who really care about that stuff can get a big laptop with faster dGPU or just do 3D on their desktop. So I guess their target is people who casually game but want a thin-ish laptop?

NB: I don't doubt AMD's ability to make a decent mobile platform. Just Intel has shipped hundreds of millions more units, so they've seen every "system crashes after sleep when re-pairing with $OBSCURE_BLUETOOTH_DEVICE" issue on earth. On a desktop you can always swap hardware, but on a laptop you're stuck with what you get.

0 comments

2 comments · 1 top-level

paulmd8y ago· 1 in thread

> On a desktop you can always swap hardware, but on a laptop you're stuck with what you get.

Raven Ridge is the same stepping as Ryzen, i.e. potentially subject to the segfault bug. I'm really curious whether it will manifest there too or not.

It's a pretty generic errata that manifests under load. Compiling happens to be one way that flushes it out pretty reliably (as with many errata), and nerds do a lot of compiling in Linux, but it can and does manifest as general OS and application crashiness even in other operating systems (including in Windows). It's a ticking time-bomb, sooner or later some OS or application update could hit the trigger conditions more regularly.

There's nothing quite like being "the brand that randomly crashes all the time" to build a brand image with your customers. And I'm sure OEMs are going to love handling RMAs for AMD's defective processors.

mrchicityOP8y ago

Laptop RMAs are way more expensive since they have to swap the entire board w/CPU or reflow solder on a new chip. Can't imagine any OEM will willingly take that hit. Since these issues are well known, I'd bet AMD has to fix them; OEMs will mandate it as part of QA. Either that or they'll force AMD to eat the costs like Apple did with NVidia.

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse