The Model 3 and Model Y, after the Model S and X, go from an Intel Atom to an AMD Ryzen for infotainment. But what changes should we expect?
Source: Frandroid
Tesla cars are definitely a technological product, there is no more debate, especially since the Light Show came out and we learned that we could customize it. For a few days, we have also learned that the Model 3 or Model Y now benefit from a new AMD Ryzen processor in France.
What performance differences to expect?
Many have wondered about the performance of this new processor. First, you should know that this is the processor dedicated to infotainment, which is also called mcu (Microprocessor Control Unit), we are not talking here about the processor in charge of driving functions, including Autopilot. These are handled by another processor that Tesla designs directly, the Tesla HW3 (Hardware 3). An in-house ARM processor that allowed Tesla to free itself from its former partner Nvidia (HW2.0 and HW2.5), but above all to differentiate itself from its competitors.
Tesla HW3
On the infotainment side, Tesla has changed three partners, initially there was Nvidia (MCU1), then Intel (MCU2) and now AMD (MCU-Z) since the announcement of the Tesla Model S (Plaid). This processor is in charge of managing the screen (or screens) and many associated functions, as well as third-party applications or the geolocation application based on Google Maps data. It is also this processor that provides the connectivity functions, including Wi-Fi access.
There are few details on the performance of the processor integrated in the Tesla. The American manufacturer communicates only on the series of the processor. Either way, the infotainment system uses a custom GNU/Linux distribution that can theoretically work with different types of processor architectures. The Intel Atom is a low-power x86-64 processor, while AMD Ryzen hints at a much larger family of x86-64 processors, including the processors built into the PS5 and Xbox Series X.
More fluidity and faster loading
This does not mean that the Model 3 and Model Y are equipped with the same processor as the next-gen consoles, the AMD Ryzen is also on embedded systems, but also ultrabooks, as well as desktop PCs. In short, in any case, this processor is already distributed on Tesla’s Model 3 sold in China. So we have comparison videos to better understand the expected changes.
What we can observe is that the interface does not seem faster on the basic functions, nevertheless the change is important when we handle more demanding applications, such as the navigation system, the web browser or the Netflix app. Everything loads much faster with the AMD Ryzen. This is also what we observed on the first Model S and X delivered to the United States, the interface is much more fluid.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPyUm6I4Oyo
On this video above, we can also see that the Wi-Fi function is faster. A priori, the speeds obtained will be higher, obviously it always depends on the source. Nevertheless, the differences are stark.
Will we be able to play Cyberpunk like on the Model S? It’s really not sure that Tesla uses the same AMD Ryzen processor on all the models it sells. When announcing the new Plaid, the Model S and X, Tesla had communicated on a graphics computing power of 10 teraFLOPS, or as much as the next-gen consoles. It is unlikely that the AMD Ryzen processor of the Model 3 and Y will be the same… and therefore can be expected from AAA games.
However, it’s nice to see that Tesla is upgrading components like the processor used for infotainment. These cars will be used for many years, the AMD Ryzen seems more adapted to receive the next evolutions of the Tesla software.
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