CPU/Mobo AMD Ryzen CPUs launched

Not really Ryzen related but FYI compiling the linux kernel on linux takes under 75 seconds on the 1700 using 16 threads with 2133mhz RAM and a fast m.2 NVMe SSD, while under Win10 (Creator's Update Insider Preview) in the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) aka "Bash on Ubuntu on Windows" same compile takes more than 3x the time at around 250 seconds.

And of course after stressing it like that it crashed/rebooted my system again. dammit.
 
Yeah, like I've mentioned before, better to wait for a while for more information/updates to come out about this platform :)

Right now I'm facing the stability (hangs/crashes/reboots) issue where I can usually trigger it via Prime95 or CPU-z stress test and sometimes it even triggers with normal browsing/music playback randomly. And sometimes it goes a long time without issues with normal usage.

Tried investigating/experimenting quite a lot with various BIOS/OS settings like memory/CPU timings/voltages but no luck.

Also replaced the new Corsair vs550 PSU with my old Corsair vx450 which was rock solid without luck.

I had incorrectly not used the motherboard spacers screws the first time I assembled this build so refitted the board with proper spacers - stupid mistake.

So the root problem could be anything of the following (is what comes to my mind) but I'm hoping just a BIOS update will fix things and it's not my bad luck to get defective component(s), hard for me to figure out right now since I don't want to/can't start replacing parts to test.

1. Buggy BIOS - it does not appear to lock in CPU voltage if I manually set it.
2. Incompatible RAM - I have my DDR4 from previous skylake build which is "Command Rate 2T" and some people (like on reddit) suggest AM4/Ryzen defaults or prefers command rate of "1T".
3. Defective CPU or motherboard - hardware fault - yikes I hope not.
4. Electricity sensitivity - either mains voltage fluctuations or my so-called sine wave inverter triggering the problem via PSU or mobo.

I guess I will wait for BIOS updates first, if that doesn't resolve it, might then replace my RAM with G.Skill "Fortis" (specific model qualified for Ryzen platform) and if that doesn't fix things, then, dammit, will try RMA for mobo/CPU!
 
vishalrao said:
First indications of a Ryzen bug? See http://forum.hwbot.org/showthread.php?t=167605

The guy suggesting/experiencing hangs/crash when running FMA3 instructions stress test. Reminds you of Skylake bug with same instruction set which disabling hyperthreading resolved and they later resolved with a BIOS/microcode update (I guess disabled those instructions altogether).

...

Something to keep an eye on...
Click to expand...

There's an update to that forum thread and apparently it's looking like a CPU bug that should be fixed with a (microcode?) "AGESA" update via new BIOS: http://forum.hwbot.org/showpost.php?p=480524&postcount=25
 
Also, it seems like at least the reddit crowd are now starting to report instability issues more and more, different parts and OC or non-OC.
 
Vishal I want to upgrade to Ryzen and use it in place of my current home lab but nothing available on online which tested under VMware workstation OS like VMware Esxi and Linux and other Window os works or not.

Please can you help here by testing some of these things under VMware Workstation / Player.

Although it is not relevant but I just want to add that I am also from Pune.

Thank you in Advance.
 
Hi Deepesh,

If you can't wait a couple of months to upgrade to Ryzen then I strongly recommend getting specific compatible RAM and non-high-speed (stick to 2133mhz) from the motherboard "QVL" (qualified vendors list) or something like Ryzen specific models like GSkill "Fortis" or "Flare X" models of RAM. Also check the RAM product page specifications if your motherboard of choice is listed there too. This seems to be a main issues people are facing at the moment in addition to overclocking and BIOS bugs.

Apparently the full fledged VMware "ESXi" isn't ready for Ryzen yet, see https://www.servethehome.com/amd-ryzen-with-vmware-esxi-a-pink-screen-of-death/

But sure, while I am waiting and praying for BIOS updates to fix my stability issues, I guess I can try VMware Player and Oracle VirtualBox - after all - this is one of the areas this CPU should shine :)

Will report back maybe later today - hopefully I don't face too many reboots/crashes during this which will make it slow.

Linux mostly works (at least on my mobo) - I was able to boot and install from current ubuntu 16.04 and Fedora 25 based OS which have kernel 4.4 and 4.9.13 respectively and was able to update to kernel 4.8 and also 4.10.1 - and seemed fine.
 
So @Deepesh Rajpal I installed VMware Player and tried ubuntu and win10 VMs, seem to be pretty smooth - VM config used was 4GB RAM and 4 vCPU (2c/4t).

Installed the VMware Tools in Win10 VM and the UI was very smooth, didn't try too much performance testing but you should easily be able to run 4 VMs simultaneously (each with 4 vCPUs and 1/4th your actual RAM) - like I said - this is where the Ryzen7 CPUs should shine.

Ran CPUz benchmark inside the Win10 VM, screenshot attached, numbers look very good to me:

cpuz-bench-vmware.jpg
 
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@vishalrao Thank you very much for testing things.
I will install Esxi inside Vmware workstation and not at the physical system. On Physical there will be Win10 and Linux only.
As Windows VM and Linux with old kernel working as per your testing I expect that Esxi also Under VMware Workstation will work fine.

I believe I should upgrade to it now even we have some issues as if I will not get rid of my system yes (2nd gen core i7) I will not get better price for it in near future.
I will plan to get ECC ram on it.

it will be very helpful one again if you can get any version of Esxi either 5 or 6 and install it under vmware. ( which I expect should work without any issue.

vivek.krishnan said:
With ESXi - you need to be one generation behind for best results. The bugs are eventually ironed out.
Click to expand...

Hello Vivek,

I will use Esxi inside VMware Workstation not on physical layer.
 
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If you plan to use Workstation, I don't see any benefits to running inside ESXi on top of Workstation - nested.

Coming to 2nd gen i7 - Yes, with increasing time, the resale value will get lesser. But do bear in mind that your i7 mobo will already be tried and tested, and have VIBs needed, while the AMD one may take some time to gain equal traction - I don't follow VMWare very deeply, however - so I may be wrong too.
 
vivek.krishnan said:
If you plan to use Workstation, I don't see any benefits to running inside ESXi on top of Workstation - nested.

Coming to 2nd gen i7 - Yes, with increasing time, the resale value will get lesser. But do bear in mind that your i7 mobo will already be tried and tested, and have VIBs needed, while the AMD one may take some time to gain equal traction - I don't follow VMWare very deeply, however - so I may be wrong too.
Click to expand...

@vivek.krishnan I am using Esxi in nested mode because I have only one system and I run Windows and Linux on it as base os.

I am used to setup and use a VMware lab so need more than one Esxi servers and for that nested solution I need to use either on Esxi itself or on Workstation / player.

If I deploy Esxi on it as base os then I will be required to dedicate storage etc to it for store vm's.

If I deploy Windows VM on physical Esxi then I will be required to pass through my graphics card and sound card to VM to get real desktop like performance / feeling. I believe it will be too much to take care of although no doubt it is possible.

Also my family also use system so I think Windows or Linux on physical system is best.
 
Another interesting tidbit about ASUS mobo BIOS bug: http://www.passmark.com/forum/memtest86/37283-crash-reboot-early-on-with-ryzen-platform

I was trying memtest86.com free latest version and it was crashing/rebooting during startup part itself while detecting stuff, so posted on their forums. One of the developers/employees responded:

There seems to be a bug in the baseboard's UEFI BIOS firmware during multiprocessor initialization and as such, we have contacted ASUS to have a look at the issue.
Click to expand...

@Deepesh Rajpal I tried ESXi nested inside VMware Player and looks OK to me. Installed Win10 x64 and CPU-z fails during startup so could not run the benchmark there. Tried a few minutes of playing Solitaire and it seemed OK. This is the original version 1607 of Win10 without installing any updates etc. The UI was not totally smooth even after installing VMware Tools but that may be due to being nested or me viewing it via the webconsole in Firefox.

Very impressed with the latest VMware software, especially ESXi has become nifty with it's web console and what not.

Is there anything you want me to run inside this nested Win10 VM like some simple tool to check stability/benchmark?

Screenshots follow:

01-vmware-esxi.jpg

02-esxi-webconsole.jpg

03-win10-webconsole.jpg

04-win10-webconsole.jpg
 
@vishalrao Vishal ... Thank you very much for testing this much on my request and it helps me a lot. You stretched your legs more then I asked for it and expected.

yes the lag in nested Win 10 VM is due to that it is nested inside Esxi server.

Now I can upgrade to Ryzen without a doubt and with cool mind after knowing that everything works. The initial issues will go away with time as expected and that happened to intel x99 platform also.

I was about to upgrade at the Launch and was about to do pre order but some early Linux and Esxi issues holds me back.

Although I was expecting everything should be fine at Virtualization layer but when you make a big investment and architecture changes completely it is safe to confirm that things you want to run are working fine.
 
So the memtest86.com folks provided a modified build of their tool on the forum which works around the Ryzen multi-cpu boot bug on my ASUS mobo which was causing the memtest tool to reboot in the starting part, now the updated custom build works for me, ran a 4 hour (3-pass) test and system was stable but as soon as I booted into Win10 again it hung/rebooted in between while using it.

Looking forward to ASUS BIOS updates - hopefully they should arrive and stabilise things before the Win10 Creator's Update is released so I can wipe out everything and install fresh OSes with peace of mind. Right now it's too much stress for me with the unknowns.
 
vishalrao said:
So the memtest86.com folks provided a modified build of their tool on the forum which works around the Ryzen multi-cpu boot bug on my ASUS mobo which was causing the memtest tool to reboot in the starting part, now the updated custom build works for me, ran a 4 hour (3-pass) test and system was stable but as soon as I booted into Win10 again it hung/rebooted in between while using it.

Looking forward to ASUS BIOS updates - hopefully they should arrive and stabilise things before the Win10 Creator's Update is released so I can wipe out everything and install fresh OSes with peace of mind. Right now it's too much stress for me with the unknowns.
Click to expand...

Buddy, you are really at it, superb stuff! How is the experience in comparison with the Skylake chip? Opening multiple Chrome tabs, playing a game, a video file, etc. Is the experience any better than the interl counterpart, honestly all the above can be handled by my i2500k :)
 
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@Jasku - I am really ? at - what??? Did you miss to type something??? :D

Well basic usage (chrome multiple tabs etc) even my other Dell All-In-One PC which has an i3-4460T with 4GB RAM can handle well.

But skylake introduced this "speed shift" thing which apparently reduces the clock change latency from 20-30 ms down to 1 ms and Ryzen also claims 1 ms clock shifts at intervals of just 25 mhz so it should feel more zippy in the UI. But problem here is internet connection itself is slow/laggy so browsing experience is affected by that mostly.

Actually you mentioned "video file" so that reminds me, I can try out video playback including 4k/UHD files in youtube and VLC local playback, in my i5-6500 it used to struggle with HEVC 4K but MP4/AVC 4K was fine. Also YT 4K playback in browsers was fine with around 30% CPU usage IIRC. Let me check on Ryzen and post back shortly.
 
vishalrao said:
@Jasku - I am really ? at - what??? Did you miss to type something??? :D

Well basic usage (chrome multiple tabs etc) even my other Dell All-In-One PC which has an i3-4460T with 4GB RAM can handle well.

But skylake introduced this "speed shift" thing which apparently reduces the clock change latency from 20-30 ms down to 1 ms and Ryzen also claims 1 ms clock shifts at intervals of just 25 mhz so it should feel more zippy in the UI. But problem here is internet connection itself is slow/laggy so browsing experience is affected by that mostly.

Actually you mentioned "video file" so that reminds me, I can try out video playback including 4k/UHD files in youtube and VLC local playback, in my i5-6500 it used to struggle with HEVC 4K but MP4/AVC 4K was fine. Also YT 4K playback in browsers was fine with around 30% CPU usage IIRC. Let me check on Ryzen and post back shortly.
Click to expand...

Yea, I did, corrected the post. Yes, would really like to see a 4K file playing, Youtube 4k and a game loaded up with multiple Chrome tabs and monitor the CPU usage. Any difference in gamin experience?
 
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