CybserSecurity News

Tag: AMD Ryzen

  • AMD is considering deeper integration of AI technology in the Ryzen product line

    At the commencement of this year’s CES 2023, AMD unveiled the Ryzen 7040 series APU, one of its highlights being the incorporation of an AI acceleration engine based on the XDNA architecture. This inclusion has notably diminished the utilization of x86 cores and CUs, bearing similarity to Apple’s M2 series chip’s AI engine. AMD intends to leverage the AI acceleration engine for various AI-accelerated tasks, such as image processing, with plans to introduce a standalone SDK for developers.

    David McAfee, AMD’s Vice President and General Manager of the Customer Channel, recently partook in an interview with PC World. He broached the topic of the AI acceleration engine within the XDNA architecture, expounded on current AI hot topics, and elucidated the potential impact on AMD’s future product line.

    AMD Ryzen AI technology
    ASUS ROG Custom Ryzen Z1 APU vs. AMD Phoenix, Source: Engadget/AMD

    With the inclusion of an AI acceleration engine inevitably leading to additional costs, AMD is assessing its value via the Ryzen 7040 series APU. Before extending to other chips, the benefits users garner must be more tangible. AMD envisions AI ascending to a position of equal importance with the CPU and GPU in the future, becoming a third pillar of computing that offers greater value to the platform. However, currently, there is no robust industry standard or benchmark to assist users in understanding, and even application developers are still striving to discern what AI can accomplish.

    The decision to introduce an AI acceleration engine first in mobile platform chips is primarily driven by a desire for energy-efficient computation when frequent calculations of a particular type are required. However, for the desktop platform, which is less concerned with power efficiency, this incentive is relatively weaker. According to McAfee, one of the most crucial challenges to be addressed before the Ryzen product line can integrate AI technology more deeply is the support of client applications and operating systems.

    There are two reasons for choosing to run AI applications on personal computers rather than in the cloud: one is that local acceleration on mobile platforms can yield benefits for battery life; the other is to ensure security, eliminating reliance on the cloud and thereby mitigating potential data leakage. With Microsoft intending to integrate AI more closely with Windows 12, McAfee believes this to be critical in conveying the tangible value of AI as an emerging technology to developers and users.

  • AMD is investigating Windows 11 22H2 performance drop

    AMD and Microsoft are investigating a performance drop in Windows 11 22H2, which may cause slow performance when gaming. Affected are mainly AMD RYZEN 7000 series processors, which seem to have some compatibility issues with Windows 11 22H2.

    Specifically, it may be related to AMD’s new CCD  (Core Compute Die) configurations, and the chip configuration cannot match the Windows 11 22H2 thread scheduler. As for the specific situation, it remains to be investigated. The currently available temporary solutions are mainly to disable the CCD or disable the simultaneous multi-threading of SMT (Simultaneous MultiThreading).

    AMD stated in its latest support bulletin that we are aware of reports of unexpected performance issues with AMD RYZEN processors in certain games. At the same time, some games have large performance differences between Windows 11 and Windows 10, and AMD is still actively collecting data for investigation.

    But based on AMD’s own testing, no performance differences have been observed with different OS versions across various operating scenarios and games. According to AMD, there are many factors that affect game performance, including but not limited to the game engine, CPU architecture, graphics card configuration, and memory configuration.

    Via: windowslatest

  • Tesla announces recall of 130,000 electric vehicles: Caused by overheating of AMD Ryzen

    Tesla has gradually replaced the Intel Atom A3950 processor (quad-core/1.6GHz) used in the past with MCU3 (an infotainment system equipped with AMD Ryzen chips) in Model 3 and Model Y, the same as the 2021 Model S and Model X. It was previously reported that the battery life of Tesla’s Model 3 dropped by an average of 2.4% after it was replaced with an AMD solution.
    Tesla Model S Plaid
    Image: Tesla
    According to Electrek, in some models with AMD’s solution, the center touch display can malfunction due to overheating of the Ryzen chip. After Tesla discovered the problem, it recalled about 130,000 electric vehicles. These vehicles include the 2021 and 2022 Model S and Model X, and the 2022 Model 3 and Model Y.
    According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), this is due to the fact that during fast charging or preparing for fast charging, more of the vehicle’s power for cooling is diverted to the battery in order to prevent excessive temperatures, as a result, the Ryzen chip cannot be sufficiently cooled, causing the processor to slow down or restart.
    Tesla wrote in the recall notice:

    A lagging or restarting CPU may prevent the center screen from displaying the rearview camera image, gear selection, windshield visibility control settings, and warning lights, increasing the risk of a crash.

    It is speculated that this may be a cooling unit shared between the infotainment system and the battery in these Tesla models, infotainment systems with AMD Ryzen chips have higher TDPs than previous Atom processors, and the higher power consumption leads to higher cooling requirements. Tesla said it will solve the problem through OTA software updates, and it is estimated that about 1% of users will actually be affected. Models that used Intel’s solution in the past will not be troubled by the problem.

  • Intel Ocean Cove Architecture Copy AMD Zen Architecture?

    Recently, Twitter user @Underfox3 shared the architecture information of Intel’s Ocean Cove core. This project developed by the Hillsboro team has obtained a patent. What’s surprising are the details of the Ocean Cove architecture, which seem strikingly similar to the Zen architecture presentation AMD shared at HotChips 2017. After the news came out, it immediately aroused the attention of many PC enthusiasts.

    Intel Ocean Cove

    From the patent documents filed by Intel, the framework diagrams quoted in it are almost identical in layout to the Zen architecture, from the bottom-most execution to the top-level hierarchy and chiplet design, just like a replica. Unlike the Zen architecture that uses the 14nm process, the Ocean Cove architecture uses the Intel 4 process, which is the original 7nm process. However, some industry professionals pointed out that this is only a description of the working principle of modern CPU, mainly related to security and monitoring, and has little relevance to the design of the CPU architecture.

    To this end, Intel officially issued a statement clarifying the relevant situation. According to information provided by Wccftech, Intel’s statement is as follows:
    When filing a patent application, citation to existing and relevant technologies in the industry is a common practice. U.S. Pat. No. 11,294,809 discloses Intel innovations in the context of alternative implementations and does not attempt to copy or patent inventions of any other company. Intel respects the intellectual property rights of all parties.

    In the end, this is just a small storm. In fact, there is nothing wrong with Intel’s approach, it is just a misunderstanding by non-professionals. However, it can be seen from this incident that the Intel Ocean Cove architecture may have been inspired by the AMD Zen architecture, drawing design inspiration from it. Learning the strengths of your competitors is not a bad thing, learning from each other can lead to better progress.

  • AMD Ryzen CPU will reduce the battery life of Tesla Model 3

    It was previously reported that Tesla’s Model 3 and Model Y will be equipped with MCU3 with AMD Ryzen’s infotainment system in the future, the same AMD solution will be phased in to fully replace the Intel Atom A3950 processor (quad-core/1.6GHz) used in the past, the same as the 2021 Model S and Model X.
    Tesla Model S Plaid
    Image: Tesla
    At last year’s Computex event, AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su confirmed that Tesla’s new car will use AMD’s custom products. Elon Musk then held a delivery ceremony for the new electric car at the California factory, showing the first model to use the new in-vehicle infotainment system. It is equipped with AMD’s APU, which is a custom Ryzen V180F embedded chip, based on Zen+ architecture, 4 cores and 8 threads, 2MB of L2 cache, and 4MB of L3 cache. The matching Navi 23 core is likely to be equipped with 28 CUs, with 1792 stream processors, with a frequency of around 2.8 GHz.

    According to Wccftech, a report from consulting services firm Teslascope found that Tesla’s Model 3 has experienced a drop in battery life after switching to an AMD solution, with an average drop of 2.4%. Recently, buyers in Australia received a reminder from Tesla after booking the model, Tesla’s message reads as follows:

    We have updated Model 3 vehicles to optimise the touch screen experience with our new car computer. This hardware change requires more power, resulting in a minor drop in range. Your Model 3 range is now 602 kilometers (WLTP), 22 kilometers less than originally communicated.

    While Tesla didn’t directly mention AMD, based on what was prompted, this should have something to do with the new system. Tesla sent the message to customers who pre-ordered in Australia, but not customers around the world, because of stricter consumer protection laws in Australia that require customers to agree to a reduced range before deliveries can continue.

  • Tesla begins to deliver Model 3/Y with AMD Ryzen chips in North America

    Previously, there were reports that Tesla began to deliver Model Y Performance in China, and its manufacturing information showed. This model is equipped with an AMD Ryzen processor, which replaces the Intel Atom A3950 processor (quad-core/1.6GHz) used in the past, which is the same as the 2021 Model S and Model X.

    Recently, according to information released by Twitter user @teslascope, it is shown that the Model 3 and Model Y produced by Tesla’s factory in Fremont, California, are equipped with MCU3 (Infotainment Computer with AMD Ryzen). The first batch of products has been delivered. Tesla should gradually adopt the same AMD solution to fully replace Intel’s chips.

    In the past few years, Tesla has cooperated with Nvidia, Intel, and AMD. Tesla used Nvidia’s SoC in the original model but started to switch to Intel Atom processors on Model 3 and newer versions of Model X and Model S three years ago, and this year began to change to AMD’s customized products.

    At this year’s Taipei Computer Show, AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su has confirmed that Tesla’s new cars will use AMD’s customized products. Subsequently, Elon Musk held the delivery ceremony of the new electric car at the California factory, showing the first model using the new in-vehicle infotainment system. It is equipped with AMD’s APU, which is a customized Ryzen V180F embedded chip, based on Zen+ architecture, 4 cores, and 8 threads, 2MB of L2 cache, 4MB of L3 cache.

  • Tesla currently only uses AMD Ryzen chips for Model Y models in China

    Recently, Tesla began to deliver Model Y Performance in China. Its manufacturing information shows that this model is equipped with an AMD Ryzen processor, which replaces the Intel Atom A3950 processor (quad-core/ 1.6GHz), which is the same as the 2021 Model S and Model X.
    Cyberpunk 2077 PlayStation Store
    Source: r/ElonMusk
    At this year’s Taipei Computer Show, AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su has confirmed that Tesla’s new cars will use AMD’s customized products. Subsequently, Elon Musk held the delivery ceremony of the new electric car at the California factory, where you can play Cyberpunk 2077 using the new in-vehicle infotainment system. After disassembly, the new version of the car infotainment system is equipped with AMD’s APU, which is a customized Ryzen V180F embedded chip, based on the Zen+ architecture, 4 cores, and 8 threads, 2MB of L2 cache, 4MB of L3 cache. The matching Navi 23 core is likely to be equipped with 28 CUs, with 1792 stream processors, and a frequency of about 2.8 GHz.

    According to Brinkwire, Tesla currently only uses AMD Ryzen processors in the Model Y version sold in China. In the past, Tesla generally provided the same chips in similar models, whether it was a standard version or a premium version, but now the situation seems to have changed. Whether Tesla will use the same AMD solution in other regions in the future to fully replace Intel chips is not yet known.

    In the past few years, Tesla has cooperated with Nvidia, Intel, and AMD. Tesla used Nvidia’s SoC in the original model, but it switched to Intel Atom processors on Model 3 and newer versions of Model X and Model S three years ago, and this year it began to switch to AMD’s customized products. Some insiders believe that the semiconductor industry has been facing the problem of insufficient production capacity recently, and AMD is very dependent on TSMC’s 7nm process. At this time, replacing the program and increasing the supply may have potential supply risks.

  • Microsoft fixed an AMD Ryzen L3 caching issue on Windows 11

    After Microsoft officially pushed Windows 11, AMD issued an announcement that when its processors that meet the requirements of Windows 11 are in use, performance may be reduced in some applications. In some e-sports games, there is even an extreme decrease of 10%-15%. Under normal circumstances, the impact is about 3%-5%. AMD said that it is working with Microsoft to resolve these issues, and it is expected that the update and optimization of both parties will be launched within the month.

    AMD Ryzen 7000

    Recently, Microsoft announced that it will release Microsoft Windows 11 Build 22000.282 to Windows Insider members of the Beta and Release Preview channels. This version involves a number of improvements, including fixing the latency issue of the L3 cache on AMD Ryzen series processors. However, this does not mean that the problems encountered by the Ryzen series processors on Windows 11 have been solved. The L3 cache delay problem is only one of them, and there is also the problem of the “preferred core” function.

    The “preferred core” function means that in AMD Ryzen series processors, threads are allocated to the two fastest cores, but in Windows 11 it may not work as planned. In this case, the performance degradation is most obvious in processors with 8 or more cores and a TDP of 65W or higher. AMD has stated that it will release a separate update at the end of October to resolve.

    In addition, Windows 11 Build 22000.282 also includes dozens of fixes to the operating system, including the start menu, PowerShell, Windows remote management, server manager, etc. In view of the fact that Windows 11 has not been officially launched for long, many features are still being adjusted by Microsoft, and there will be various updates to improve performance, fix bugs, and solve user feedback problems.

  • AMD developed CPPC driver for Ryzen processor and Steam Deck, optimized for Linux games

    Valve’s Steam Deck has attracted the attention of many gamers since its release. As a new generation of handheld entertainment systems, it is equipped with Arch Linux SteamOS. Valve and AMD are still making the last effort to build a new driver for the CPU to improve the performance of the Ryzen processor on the Linux platform.

    According to TomsHardware, AMD’s developer Ray Huang shared the details of the driver at the X.Org Developers Conference (XDC2021) last Friday. This driver is due to Valve’s discovery that there is a problem with the ACPI CPUFreq driver used on all Intel and AMD processors running Linux operating systems, which may cause performance problems during the running of the game. Valve hopes that the customized SoC adopted by Steam Deck, Zen 2 architecture CPU, and Linux-based SteamOS can solve this problem.

    Image: AMD
    Valve contacted AMD on this matter, and AMD found more problems related to the old ACPI driver, which would affect the performance of the Ryzen processor in the Linux operating system. Since this driver has been around for a long time and was built by Intel many years ago, AMD solved these problems with the new CPPC driver. In preliminary tests conducted with Ryzen 7 PRO 5750G, AMD found that it can increase the performance per watt of Zen 3 architecture processors by 10%-25%. In TBench and Speedometer 2.0, the power efficiency is increased by 10.6%. In the Gitsource benchmark test, the efficiency increased by 26.6%. In the game test, running “Horizon Zero Dawn” and locking the frame rate at 60FPS, the new driver can greatly reduce the idle core frequency to only 400 MHz, while the old ACPI driver can only drop to 3.8 GHz.

    Image: AMD
    At present, the CPPC driver is still in the development stage, and there is no official release time yet. AMD hopes that the new driver will have a more stable performance in the Linux kernel, and let the CPPC driver enter the official Linux kernel, which is very good news for Linux gamers.

  • AMD chipset driver has a flaw, users to install security updates as soon as possible

    AMD recommends that Windows users who use their Ryzen 1000 to 3000 series processors install a security update as soon as possible because there is a high-risk vulnerability in the processor chipset driver that can be used by criminals to dump system memory to steal sensitive data.

    According to The Report, this vulnerability (CVE-2021-26333) was first discovered by Kyriakos Economou, the co-founder of the cybersecurity company ZeroPeril. It is a vulnerability in the AMD Platform Security Processor (PSP) driver, and this platform security processor can be said to be equivalent to AMD’s technology corresponding to Intel SGX.
    AMD Ryzen Amazon
    AMD’s platform security processor will create a secure enclave in the AMD processor, that is, a trusted execution environment, to allow the operating system to process and encrypt sensitive data in the memory. The Windows operating system generally interacts with the trusted execution environment through a kernel driver called amdsps.sys.

    However, Kyriakos Economou pointed out that he found 2 problems in this driver, which allows non-administrator users to dump system memory and find sensitive data processed by the operating system. Kyriakos Economou, co-founder of security firm ZeroPeril explains:

    The contents of those physical pages varied from kernel objects and arbitrary pool addresses that can be used to circumvent exploitation mitigations such as KASLR, and even registry key mappings of \Registry\Machine\SAM containing NTLM hashes of user authentication credentials that can be used in subsequent attack stages. For example, these can be used to steal credentials of a user with administrative privilege and/or be used in pass-the-hash style attacks to gain further access inside a network.

    Microsoft has introduced monthly security updates, and this update also includes updates to the PSP driver chipset, so AMD also urges users to install it as soon as possible.