AMD’s new R series processor supports DDR4 memory — for embedded platforms

Intel was the first to use DDR4 memory modules in both consumer and enterprise segments, leaving AMD behind still stuck with DDR3. Even though there are rumors that AMD Carrizo APUs will support DDR4 memory but when it was finally officially released, it only came with DDR3 support.

AMD just announced their new R-series APU which is designed for embedded platforms, and interestingly the R-series is actually from the AMD Carrizo family, and it really comes with DDR4 memory support. But don’t get too hyped about this because the R-series isn’t meant for consumers but for embedded market.

Named AMD Merlin Falcon, it’s a semi-custom chip from AMD which adds DDR4 memory support and is based on the Excavator core, with up to four cores per unit. It will have 8 compute units on the GPU, resulting in a balanced, powerful and efficient performance in HSA enabled applications, as the Merlin Falcon supports the HSA heterogeneous computing standard and ARM TrustZone security technology.

As it is designed for embedded platforms it should have lower TDP figures, and the AMD Merlin Falcon TDPs are between 12 to 35W, with 6 models available.

The Merlin Falcon is not only designed to exclusively support DDR4 memory, but it also has support for 2133 MHz and 2400 MHz DDR3 memory modules. Why does it need fast RAM? AMD APU’s actually need to be paired with faster memory modules.

Compare with its predecessor, Bald Eagle, as a SoC chip the AMD Merlin Falcom has merged the external southbridge, packing it with the APU, unlike the Bald Eagle platform, resulting in a smaller motherboard with a footprint up to 30% compared to the older platform.

Time for performance tables. it’s quite a bold claim by AMD, but they said that the new R-series Merlin Falcon has a big advantage over the Intel Core i7 5650U in terms of GPU performance and is on par in terms of the CPU performance.

Pokdepinion : If you want to get your hands on one of these chips, it’s quite easy actually. You can go to any slot machine in a casino that is using the AMD R-series embedded chip and play with it, hit the jackpot and then what you need to do is just to buy the slot machine.