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X470 Gaming Pro Carbon AC (Image credit: MSI)

Although AMD has already confirmed Ryzen 5000 compatibility for 400-series motherboards, it’s up to each respective motherboard maker to decide if they will extend backward compatibility to their hardware – AMD has made it optional. It’s encouraging, then, to hear MSI announce its commitment to provide support for the brand’s entire lineup without exceptions.

The list of MSI motherboards includes offerings based on the X470 and B450 chipset as well as the company’s Max and non-Max models. MSI will supply new firmwares for the aforementioned motherboards to accommodate the Zen 3 chips without hiccups. MSI estimates that the firmware should be ready in January 2021. Once AMD has provided the AGESA code to MSI, the motherboard manufacturer will post a more precise release schedule.

Ryzen 5000 chips officially go on sale on November 5, and AMD will not release a new chipset for the Zen 3-based parts. Therefore, AMD 500-series motherboard owners will be the only ones to use the processors at launch. Barring any last-minute changes, 400-series motherboard owners have to wait until January of next year.

Unfortunately, the 300-series motherboards’ future is clear – AMD hasn’t said it wouldn’t extend support to the older chipsets.

After a bit of uproar from the chipmaker’s followers, AMD backpedaled to allow support for Zen 3 processors on the 400-series motherboards. Due to the BIOS chips’ limited capacity, there will be certain compromises for 400-series motherboard owners, like removed support for older Ryzen chips and a one-way ticket with no option to roll back to a previous firmware. Upgraders will also miss out on PCIe 4.0 support; the older chipsets aren’t designed to support the interface. That’s not a problem for gamers, though; PCIe 4.0 has no impact on game loading performance.

AMD did not release a new chipset as a friend of the Ryze 5000 series, which has given Asus a great opportunity to launch a new passively cool X 570 motherboard.

Yesterday, AMD unveiled new Ryzen 5000 series processors based on the Zen 3 architecture. No new chipset was released to support the new processors, but at least Asus has seen the timing as favorable for new motherboard releases.

Asus’ new ROG Crosshair VIII Dark Hero motherboard doesn’t boast so much with new features, but it has one major difference from its predecessors: It lacks the X 570 – a chipset fan typical of motherboards. Motherboards with AMD’s X 570 chipset have so far been almost invariably equipped with a chip boundary fan, although its necessity has been questioned in tests conducted by Der8auer, among others. According to the pictures, the cooling heater of the Dark Heron chipset differs from the previous one mainly in its groove, but according to Asus, the temperature of the chipset is only 2, 25% higher than in the models with a fan.

While the most significant change is the removal of the fan, there is something new on the motherboard as well. The processor power supply is equipped with as many as 16 (14 + 2) 90 amps in the TI power stage. The phases are set to operate in pairs of two Power Stages without a separate phase doubler, which speeds up their operation, in addition to which the phases are placed in a temperature-optimized formation. The motherboard also includes Wi-Fi 6 support, 2.5 and 1 gigabit network controllers with LANGuard technology, and support for the BIOS FlashBack feature. System board back side of the I / O panel can be found in the power and reset buttons, in addition to Wi-Fi antennas, as many as eight USB 3.2 G

Unfortunately, the performance tests run by AMD have been done on its new Ryzen 9 5900 X platform, so no direct comparisons can be made. However, based on Borderlands 3, the performance would be roughly at the level of GeForce RTX 3080.

Although AMD’s unveiling today was specifically for Ryzen processors based on the Zen 3 architecture, the company took the opportunity to release small crumbs of additional information about future RDNA2 graphics cards. AMD will hold a launch event for the RDNA2 architecture and Radeon RX 6000 series graphics cards 28. October, less than three weeks later.

At the Ryzen unveiling ceremony today, Lisa Su unveiled for the first time a game image on the Radeon RX 6000 series with the well-known graphics card “Big Navinak”. According to AMD, the clip recorded from the Borderlands 3 benchmark spun over 12 at FPS speed. Shortly after the demo, the company gave an official reading: 61 FPS with 4K resolution, DirectX 12 interface and BadAss settings. In addition, the company says the graphics card achieves 4K resolution in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 88 in FPS and Gears of War 5 73 FPS average frame rate. Both used the DirectX 12 interface and Ultra-level settings.

The first official performance data, of course, immediately sparked a heated debate on the forums about how performance compares to NVIDIA’s new graphics cards. Unfortunately, however, it is impossible to compare the tests directly to tests run by other sites, as the test platform used is different. Moreover, at least in the case of Call of Duty, the game lacks a standardized test, which would make the comparison unnecessary even on the same platform if the point used for the game test is not known. The closest benchmark at the moment is probably the Borderlands 3 test run by Eurogamer’s DigitalFoundry, which also used the DirectX 12 interface and BadAss settings. According to a Eurogamer test, the average frame rate of the GeForce RTX 3080 is the same 61 FPS as AMD reported by Big Nav. However, also in this test, despite the high resolution, it is worth considering the different test platforms, which may have some effect on the result

. Update: PCWorld According to AMD’s Radeon half-director Scott Herkelman would be a weight

(Image credit: AMD)

AMD’s Ryzen 5000 launch isn’t far off, and hardware detective @Tum_Apisak has dug up some preliminary benchmarks for the Ryzen 9 5950X. Given the timing of the benchmark submissions the chips should be retail samples, but you should still approach the results with caution.

Being the flagship of the Zen 3 family, the Ryzen 9 5950X is nothing short of impressive. The 7nm chip features a 16-core, 32-thread configuration with 64MB of L3 cache, a 3.4 GHz base clock and boost up to 4.9 GHz. At first glance, the Ryzen 9 5950X doesn’t look too different when compared to the current Ryzen 9 3950X. When you really look at it, the Ryzen 9 5950X actually has a 100 MHz lower base clock, but makes up for it with a 200 MHz higher boost clock. However, the real refinement lies with the new Zen 3 microarchitecture. AMD hasn’t spilled all the beans on Zen 3 yet, but you can expect more details around review time.

AMD Ryzen 9 5950X (Image credit: SiSoftware)

The Ryzen 9 5950X put up a respectable Processor Arithmetic score of 611.94 GOPS. The aggregated score for a Ryzen 9 3950X is 562.11 GOPS. The Ryzen 9 5950X is approximately 8.9% faster in this particular benchmark. When it comes to the Processor Multi-Media test, the Ryzen 9 5950X scored 2066.49 Mpix/s. The Ryzen 9 3950X averages 1650.49 Mpix/s in the same benchmark so we’re looking at a remarkable 25.2% difference in the Ryzen 9 5950X’s favor.

So, how does the Ryzen 9 5950X stack against its Intel rivals? The Core i9-10900K has aggregated Processor Arithmetic and Processor Multi-Media score of 400.99 GOPS and 1142.70 Mpix/s, respectively. The Ryzen 9 5950X is up to 52.6% and 80.8% faster, which isn’t a complete shock since AMD’s chip does have six more cores.

The Ryzen 9 5950X benchmarks don’t just stop with the SiSoftware Sandra software either. The unreleased 16-core chip also did a few rounds in Geekbench 5.

Ryzen 9 3900X vs. Ryzen 9 5950X (Image credit: Primate Labs Inc.)

The Geekbench 5 submissions are a bit tricky to decipher. It’s plausible that some extreme overclocking is playing with the Ryzen 9 5950X under liquid nitrogen, which would explain the 6 GHz clock speeds. In order to hide the submissions from prying eyes, the overclock could have masked them as a Hackintosh machine. The other possibility is that it’s simply an error on Geekbench 5’s part to properly detect the clock speeds for the Ryzen 9 5950X.

At any rate, the resourceful tipster found a similar Ryzen 9 3900X submission to shed some light on the situation. The Ryzen 9 3900X operated at 5.89 GHz and the Ryzen 9 5950X, which is an engineering sample, at 6.02 GHz. The clock speeds aren’t exactly identical, but they should give us a fair idea of the level of performance uplift, nonetheless.

The Ryzen 9 5950X had a single-core score of 2,022 points, while the Ryzen 9 3900X raked in 1,696 points. That’s a whopping 19.2% improvement. According to the results, the Ryzen 9 5950X delivered 12.9% higher multi-core performance than the Ryzen 9 3900X.

Ryzen 5000 will hit the retail shelves on November 5. Don’t forget to check back for our review so you’re not left wondering if Zen 3 pans out to what it appears to be.

Ryzen Desktop Processor (Image credit: AMD)

Turkish news publication Technopat has published an alleged AMD slide that shows that DDR4-4000 is the sweet spot for AMD’s upcoming Ryzen 5000-series (codenamed Vemeer) chips. The origin of the slide is unknown, therefore, we recommend you take the information with a pinch of salt.

The last sentence from the slide reads: “DDR4-4000 is to Ryzen 5000 Series as DDR4-3800 was to AMD Ryzen 3000 Series – good luck!”. For the record, the statement is inaccurate since AMD suggested that DDR4-3733 is the performance sweet spot for the existing Ryzen 3000-series (codenamed Matisse) processors. To recapitulate, the Ryzen 3000 parts allow synchronous operation between the Infinity Fabric clock (FCLK) and memory clock (MCLK) up to 1,800 MHz or DDR4-3600. Some really good samples can handle 1,900 MHz (DDR4-3800) before breaking the 1:1 ratio.

If the information is genuine, Ryzen 5000 processors would permit a FCLK up to 2,000 MHz (DDR4-4000). However, it’s important to stress that DDR4-3200 is still the official memory speed supported on the Ryzen 5000 processors so it’ll still depend on the quality of your chip’s integrated memory controller (IMC) that dictates whether you can hit the higher frequencies.

AMD Ryzen 5000 with DDR4-4000 Support (Image credit: Technopat)

Memory vendors will look to cash in on the Ryzen 5000 processors. Assuming that the improved memory support is accurate, the new Zen 3 processors will surely bolster DDR4-4000 sales. However, it remains to be seen whether they will take advantage of what these memory kits have to offer since going up the frequency ladder typically means sloppy timings.

If we look on the current market, the Patriot Viper 4 Blackout DDR4 16GB (2x8GB), which retails for $84.99, is the cheapest DDR4-4000 memory kit in the 16GB category. The timings aren’t as impressive as the frequency though. The memory kit has its timings configured at 19-21-21-41. However, there are some pretty decent DDR4-4000 offerings on the market, but they carry a heavy premium. For example, the G.Skill Ripjaws V DDR4-4000 16GB (2x8GB) boasts timings of 15-16-16-36, but presently retails for $159.99.

AMD will unlock the floodgates for Zen 3 on November 5. There’s already word around town that the Ryzen 5000-series processors will land with substantial instructions per cycle (IPC) improvements. Better memory overclocking capability would certainly be the icing on the cake.

by Jordi Bercial 2 hours ago …

AMD Ryzen 5000

In other times, now I would be in Los Angeles, or elsewhere on the North American continent, watching the announcement of the latest AMD Ryzen processors in the audience, a few meters from the stage. 2020 but it is not that kind of year, as a result, as in the case of the launch event of the RTX series, I watched the launch event at home, in front of the monitor, at just like you.

And for those who have already watched the launch event, today we do not have to show you too many extra things. And for those who did not watch the event, but want to do so, find the registration here. In short, Lisa Su, AMD CEO, Mark Papermaster, AMD CTO, and Robert Hallock, AMD Director of Technical Marketing, respectively, briefly presented the first 4 models in the AMD Ryzen 5000 range, based on Zen 3 architecture, some of the novelties they bring, as well as a series of in-house benchmarks.

We also found out what these models are called, their specifications, the price for which they will be sold and the launch date. Last but not least, we saw a teaser related to the AMD Radeon RX series 6000, the event ending with the invitation to join AMD again, on 28 October, when they will provide similar details about the new AMD video cards.

For those who can’t wait to watch the information in video form, I focused

On October 8 this year, the official presentation of the expected AMD Ryzen processors 5000 based on the Zen architecture took place 3. They are to bring a significant increase in performance over the previous generation, especially in single-threaded performance, and be compatible with the AM4 socket. Shortly after the announcement, manufacturers released the first BIOS versions for motherboards using the new series chipset 500. What about the owners of B 450 and X 2021 ? After ASUS, support for Ryzen 5000 by older motherboards was promised by MSI, this time revealing that the appropriate BIOS will be released for all models with the AMD chipset 400. This is another confirmation of MSI’s support. When will the updates begin?

MSI has officially confirmed all motherboards with AMD chipset 400 will receive a BIOS (beta) that adds support for the latest Ryzen processors 5000. Updates for individual models will be released in January 2021.

ASUS X motherboards 470 and B 450 will handle AMD Ryzen processors 5000

MSI has kept its promise to release AGESA Combo PI V2 1.1.0.0 software for all motherboards mainframes with B 550 and X 570. Users of older designs will have to be patient and – as announced by AMD – BIOSes introducing support for the new Ryzen processors 5000 for B 450 and X 470 will start to appear in January 2021 of the year. They will be available in beta on all MSI motherboards with the series chipset 400 without exception. So this also applies to models without the word MAX with a smaller amount of EEPROM memory. As an aside, we would like to remind you that owners of boards with the AMD chipset 300 (X 370, B 350 and A 320), according to Reds statement, they will not receive Ryzen-enabled BIOSes 5000.

AMD Ryzen 7 5800 X, Ryzen 9 5900 X, Ryzen 9 5950 X – Zen 3 premiere

MSI with the latest press release upheld its official position from a few months ago. We still have to wait for a detailed beta BIOS release plan. MSI will provide a “timetable” for owners of B 450 and X motherboards) after AMD provides them with the BIOS code. Let’s just hope that despite the beta version, it will have no problems with stability after mounting AMD Ryzen processors 5000, and if they do, they will be quickly removed in the next updates . First models of new CPUs from Reds, i.e. Ryzen 5 5600 X, Ryzen 7 5800 X, Ryzen 9 5900 X and Ryzen 9 5950 X, will hit stores on November 5 this year

Last week, AMD unveiled four Ryzen series processors 5000 that use Zen 3 architecture. the debut will take place on November 5. The manufacturer praises, above all, further improvements in the construction of processors, thanks to which we are to receive noticeably higher performance, especially in games. AMD is not afraid to even define its systems as the best also for games, which has been Intel’s bargaining chip so far. Every day, new information about the upcoming Zen 3 processors appears on the web and the new report is directly related to the popular GeekBench 5 benchmark. It tested a new version of the Apple iMac Pro with 16 – AMD Ryzen 9 core processor 5950 X. According to the information extracted from the GeekBench database, the processor during testing was overclocked to 6 GHz.

According to data from the GeekBench 5 performance test, when testing an Apple iMac Pro with an AMD processor Ryzen 9 5950 X has successfully overclocked the unit to 6 GHz.

AMD Ryzen 7 5800 X, Ryzen 9 5900 X, Ryzen 9 5950 X – Zen 3 premiere

The whole message is based on two pieces of information . The first is the mere presence of a next-generation AMD processor in the Apple iMac Pro, which means that Tim Cook is now also working on variants with AMD Vermeer processors. The second is the surprisingly high OC clock speed that was achieved in this device, provided, of course, the presented data is authentic. The entry in the benchmark itself does not reveal the actual core clock, but the information obtained from here clearly shows the timing during the test. It ranged from 5, 92 to 6, 02 GHz and probably such a high OC was possible with the use of appropriate cooling.

Looking at the single-threaded result, we can say that the clock speed was really very high. Over 2,000 points is a result unattainable for virtually any other processor, also the multithreaded result is very high (which is not surprising, after all, Ryzen 9 5950 X supports 32 threads) and is almost 18 thousand points. A really efficient unit is getting ready, which will do great not only in programming

A few days ago, we reported planned BIOS updates for motherboards with AMD chipsets from the 500 once 400 . While the situation was clear to the owners of new models, after reading the entry there, the owners of ASUS designs could be disappointed. It turned out that one of the Reddit users received information from the manufacturer that the leading model of the Crosshair VII Hero (X 470 ) will not be able to support upcoming AMD Ryzen processors 5000. This was against the policy of the Reds, who pledged to provide motherboard manufacturers with the new AGESA code. Fortunately, the whole thing ends well and the described situation turned out to be a misunderstanding.

ASUS, however, will not be different from other manufacturers. So far, we do not know the full list of models waiting for the new BIOS, but we can expect that the manufacturer will not forget about any model with the B chipset 450 and X 470.

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AMD Ryzen 7 5800 X, Ryzen 9 5900 X, Ryzen 9 5950 X – Zen 3 premiere

ASUS however will not be different from other manufacturers and – as we read in the latest statement – will provide an updated BIOS for motherboards with X chipsets 470 and B 450, it will be based on the new AGESA code provided by AMD. Of course, the software will not be available immediately – the Reds have already announced that for the full support of the Ryzens 5000 by older albums we will have to wait until January 2021 of the year (a test version of the BIOS will be available then). So far we do not know the full model list and, but we can expect ASUS won’t forget any of them.

Motherboards A 520, B 550 and X 570 get a BIOS with Ryzen support 5000

Too bad you will have to wait so long, but this is probably AMD’s tactic to persuade the more impatient consumers to buy a motherboard with the A chipset 520 , B 550 or X 570. In any case, the reports so far are untrue and the balance on the motherboard market will not be disturbed. The premiere of AMD Ryzen processors 5000 will take place on November 5 and then we will see if it was really worth waiting. The first rumors, however, indicate that the increase in performance over the series 3000 is quite significant …

Source: TechPowerUp, Guru3D

According to the results collected by CPU-Monkey, all the presented Ryzen 5000 series processors are the first processors 600 to break the dot boundary.

AMD unveiled new Vermeer codenamed Ryzen 5000 series processors based on the Zen 3 architecture last week. According to the company, the new processors will finally seize Intel’s gaming performance.

According to figures presented by AMD at the launch, the new Ryzen processors are once again breaking records in the Cinebench R test). According to the company, Ryzen 9 5950 X gets as many 640 points in the test of one thread and Ryzen 9 5900 X 631 points when no processor has previously violated the 600 point limit.

Now the Cinebench R of all the models presented in the Ryzen 5000 series has appeared on the German CPU-Monkey website, which collects test results from various processors, among other things. results. According to the site, the Ryzen 9 5950 X gets even a harder 641 point score than AMD’s own, but such a small difference is probably just the variance between the different runs. 5900 According to the site, X gets 629 points, which also differs only slightly from AMD’s figures. According to CPU-Monkey, Ryzen 7 5800 X gets one core in the test 618 and Ryzen 5 5600 X 604 points, which would place the entire announced Ryze 5000 family over 600 point record high. According to the site, Intel’s hardest result in a single-core test is the Core i7 – 1185 G7 600 based on the Tiger Lake architecture. points

In the test of all cores, of course, the new processors do not take the lead, but belong to processors with clearly more cores. However, in the category of desktop processors, they go

(Image credit: AMD)

GPU-Z is preparing for the looming GPU launches with update 2.35.0, which adds support for the fast-approaching RX 6000 series GPUs from AMD, also known as Big Navi, and Intel’s DG1 graphics.

The RX 6000 series is AMD’s next generation of GPUs built on the RDNA2 architecture. These new GPUs will go toe-to-toe with Nvidia’s RTX 30 series Ampere GPUs.

AMD teased the graphics cards in its Zen 3 reveal and gave us a brief taste of RDNA2’s performance without revealing which RX 6000 series GPU the company used for the demo. However, results were impressive – the performance figures largely match the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 at a 4K resolution. AMD will share more information at the official reveal on 10/28/2020 at 10am PT.

The update also adds support for DG1 discrete graphics. Intel’s Xe DG1 chip comes mounted in a standard Add-In-Card (AIC) form factor for developers, but it will also come in Tiger Lake-powered laptops as a discrete GPU. Intel has already launched its Tiger Lake processors, but, curiously, the company still hasn’t dished on the expected arrival date for laptops with DG1 graphics. However, we continue to see persistent signs that they are moving closer to market. We expect to hear more from Intel about DG1 around CES or sooner.

Here are the rest of the updates included in GPU-Z’s 2.35.0 update:

Added BIOS saving for NVIDIA Ampere
Fixed memory size reporting on GeForce RTX 3090
Fixed DirectML detection on Windows 10 Insider 20231.1000
Improved fake detection for cards based on NVIDIA GT216 & GT218
Fixed Navi 12 Radeon Pro 5600M detection
On AMD Cape Verde use direct temperature readings if driver temps are broken.
Added support for NVIDIA A100 PCIe
Added support for Intel Comet Lake UHD Graphics (Core i5-10200H)
Added support for AMD Radeon HD 8210E, Barco MXRT-6700

You can go to TechPowerUp’s website here to grab the latest version of GPU-Z.

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

Intel’s 11th-Gen Rocket Lake is headed to the launch pad in the first quarter of 2021, and it couldn’t come at a better time. AMD’s Zen architecture has thundered into the desktop PC market, steadily taking chunks of market share in a segment long dominated by Intel. Now AMD is on the cusp of releasing its Zen 3 chips, upping the ante in the suddenly brutally competitive desktop PC market.

Intel’s response will come in the form of Rocket Lake, but unlike the forward progress we see with the company’s 10nm Tiger Lake chips for laptops, the chips are 14nm’s last hurrah on the desktop. That marks the seventh and final iteration of the longest-lived leading-edge node in Intel’s history.

Intel’s 14nm process may be dated, but the company’s incessant optimizations have wrung out far more extra performance than anyone could have imagined when it debuted back in 2015. Rocket Lake is widely expected to match or exceed the 5.3GHz boost speeds we’ve seen with its Comet Lake processors.

But that’s the boring part of the Rocket Lake story. Rocket Lake could bring Intel’s first new microarchitecture to the desktop PC in five years. Intel has been hamstrung by its inability to economically produce its 10nm node, largely because it tied new chip architectures to new process nodes. As a result, the company wallowed on Skylake-based microarchitectures since 2015. Intel reconsidered this practice and announced in 2018 that it would make its future architectures portable between nodes in a process called backporting, meaning it’s plausible that a design originally intended for 10nm could come back to the 14nm node.

Test results submitted to publicly-accessible databases reveal that Intel is likely to backport a new chip design to 14nm, allowing it to bring a new architecture to the desktop market. A new architecture should offer higher instruction per cycle (IPC) throughput, and paired with the expected blistering 5.3 GHz (+) clock speeds, Intel could deliver larger-than-normal performance gains that help assert its gaming dominance.

Intel’s 10nm delay also left it vulnerable on the graphics front, too. Courtesy of the integrated graphics engine present on almost all of its chips, Intel is the world’s largest GPU producer. However, Intel’s integrated graphics are woefully inadequate for gaming, and we haven’t seen a meaningful iGPU performance boost for desktop PCs since Kaby Lake arrived back in 2016. This changes with Rocket Lake, which is thought to come with Intel’s performant 12th-gen Xe graphics. There’s a bit more to that, which we’ll cover below, but the net-net is an expected doubling of graphics performance over the current-gen chips, bringing 1080p-capable gaming (albeit with reduced fidelity) to Intel’s mainstream chips.

We already know with certainty that Rocket Lake will come with support for the PCIe 4.0 interface, which provides twice the bandwidth as PCIe 3.0. That addresses a key weakness exacerbated by AMD’s now year-long advantage with its uncontested leadership position in I/O connectivity.

So what’s the catch? Early indicators seem to point to an eight-core ceiling for intel’s new chips, which certainly feels inadequate in the face of AMD’s 16-core Ryzen 9 3950X, not to mention Intel’s own Comet Lake roster that tops out at ten cores. If true, that means either Intel is betting heavily on its ability to realize large IPC gains from a new architecture, or that it will have a split product stack with Alder Lake hybrid chips coming in later to address the higher core count segment.

However, Rocket Lake still remains shrouded in mystery. Despite plenty of evidence that the chips do exist, Intel didn’t even acknowledge their existence until after it revealed its next-next-gen 10nm Alder Lake processors and announced their launch by the end of 2021. Now there’s no doubt that Rocket Lake exists, so let’s cover what we know so far.

Intel 11th-Gen Rocket Lake At a Glance

Support for PCIe 4.0
14nm processor
New microarchitecture for the desktop
AVX-512, Thunderbolt 4 support
Intel plans to launch Rocket Lake in Q1 2021
Intel 12th-gen Xe LP Graphics provide step-function increase in integrated graphics performance

Intel 14nm Rocket Lake Release Date

As noted above, Intel has finally given an official release date for the Rocket Lake-S processors, which will land in Q1 2021. A recent leaked roadmap, which lines up largely with Intel’s announced launch date, indicates we will see a full roster 500-series motherboards, including Z590, H570, B560, and H510 variants.

Intel also officially announced that its 10nm hybrid Alder Lake-S chips would launch in the second half of 2021. That timeline indicates that Rocket Lake will likely serve either as a short-lived stopgap, or as part of a split product stack for the mainstream desktop.

Intel 11th-Gen Rocket Lake Specifications and Performance Benchmarks

A test submission to the publicly-accessible 3DMark benchmark database revealed the highest core-count Rocket Lake model we’ve seen to date. This model comes with eight cores and 16 threads and is listed with a 3.2 GHz base frequency and 4.3 GHz boost. However, this early electronic sample (ES) chip was tested on an Intel reference validation platform (RVP), indicating the silicon is still under development. As such, we fully expect the frequencies to change before the chips hit retail. In fact, later results have surfaced with the chips sporting a 5.0 GHz boost.

Intel’s hyper-optimized 14nm process currently boosts to 5.3 GHz on a single core with the 10-core Core i9-10900K, and we expect an eight-core Rocket Lake model to meet or exceed that watermark.

Test results have also emerged for six-core 12-thread Rocket Lake processors, but there are no indications of Rocket Lake chips with more than eight cores. The Rocket Lake processors are said to have a 125W maximum TDP rating, which aligns well with the standard power envelopes we see with Intel’s flagship chips. With that in mind, it certainly feels like a regression for Intel to step back to eight cores, as Comet Lake-S (CML-S) sports up to 10 cores within the same TDP envelope. Given that Rocket Lake will come with a new microarchitecture, it appears that Intel is betting on drastically-improved instruction per cycle (IPC) throughput to offset the lower core counts.

As Intel has now confirmed, the Rocket Lake-S processors will support the PCIe 4.0 interface. Our own sources told us that Intel had planned to add support for PCIe 4.0 to the 400-series Comet Lake chipset, and motherboard makers even designed their products to support the interface. However, issues with the chipset late in the production cycle led Intel to scuttle those plans, instead settling for limited PCIe 4.0 support for the PCIe slots only.

Support for the PCIe 4.0 interface is a curious addition to a platform launched with PCIe 3.0 Comet Lake chips that aren’t compatible with the interface, but those motherboards shipped to the market. Motherboard makers say this is to provide PCIe 4.0 support for “future” Intel processors that will drop into the platform, and our sources indicate those chips are the Rocket Lake models. That indicates Rocket Lake will be drop-in compatible with existing 400-series motherboards.

(Image credit: VideoCardz)

The biggest series of clues comes from a leaked slide outlining the Rocket Lake platform. However, this slide is unconfirmed, so view it with the appropriate level of skepticism.

The slide outlines that the chips support 20 lanes of PCIe 4.0, with four dedicated to direct-attach NVMe storage – just like with the Tiger Lake processors. Intel has also broadened the DMI interface, which connects the processor to the platform controller hub (PCH), from a x4 connection to x8. The slide doesn’t indicate if this bus operates at PCIe 3.0 or 4.0 transfer speeds, but it will certainly help address a massive bottleneck for devices attached to the chipset, like SSD in RAID. However, the lanes that hang off the chipset are still at PCIe 3.0, which tracks well with reports that Intel encountered problems with its chipset design.

The slide notes that Rocket Lake-S will come with a new core architecture, and the purported support for AVX-512 instructions certainly furthers that assertion. We’ll dive into that more in the architecture section.

The slide lists the Rocket Lake processors with the Intel Xe graphics architecture, adding fuel to the rumors that Intel will use a secondary chiplet for the Xe graphics on Rocket Lake processors. The Linux-focused Phoronix website has also spotted code submissions that add support for Intel’s Xe LP graphics for the Rocket Lake processors, all but confirming the switch to a new graphics engine (though the form they come in remains open for debate).

Intel certainly has a broad pallet of chip packaging technologies that can enable a chiplet-based design, and EMIB is already proven in shipping designs. That line of thought is furthered by a series of leaked Intel roadmaps that listed Rocket Lake chips with 10nm graphics for mobile products and 14nm graphics for desktop processors. Shifting to a chiplet design would be a significant departure from Intel’s standard operating procedure, which focuses on chips with a monolithic die for the desktop. Still, the company has repeatedly outlined that chiplet-based designs are in its future plans. Intel also says the EMIB interconnect is mature enough for economical mass production. That said, it is entirely possible that any Rocket Lake chiplet designs are destined for the mobile market only, or that these chips will serve as specialized SKUs that replace the retired Kaby Lake-G models that came with an integrated graphics chip. The roadmaps do indicate 14nm graphics for the Rocket Lake desktop chips and 10nm chiplets for mobile chips only, making this a likely strategy.

Subsequent benchmark submissions have pointed to Rocket Lake having 32 execution units that run at 1.15 GHz on early silicon. Intel’s Gen12 Xe LP graphics are projected to be twice as fast as the existing Gen9.5 graphics, so we can expect a drastic improvement to graphics performance.

Other purported features include enhanced display capabilities with integrated HDMI 2.0b and DisplayPort 1.4a, 12-bit AV1 and HEVC compression, USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 (20G), new overclocking features, and USB audio offload. The chips also support the Thunderbolt 4 interface, but this doesn’t come as an integrated implementation as we see with Ice Lake and Tiger Lake. The slide also lists “increased” DDR4 speed via a dual-channel memory controller.

The test submissions point to DDR4-2933, which is the same speed as Intel’s Comet Lake chips. Naturally, that could increase during the optimization phase of the design process.

Intel Rocket Lake Architecture

It’s clear from the test submissions that the Rocket Lake processors come with a revamped cache hierarchy, and support for AVX-512 further points to a new microarchitecture for the desktop. Add in that the internal PCIe subsystem has been reworked to accommodate a x4 direct connection from the CPU to NVMe storage, and that the DMI lanes have been increased from four to eight, and it’s clear that Intel has made significant alterations to the design.

Intel’s Sunny Cove is the first core microarchitecture that is portable between nodes, while all other following architectures will also be portable. In the more immediate timeframe, Intel has either its Sunny Cove or Willow Cove cores to choose from for Rocket Lake.

Sunny Cove debuted with Ice Lake processors and imparted an 18% IPC gain over Skylake, at least according to Intel. Geekbench test submissions list Rocket Lake’s cache configuration at the same 2MB of L3 cache per core as Sunny Cove, and the L2 is also the same 512KB per core. That suggests Rocket Lake will have Sunny Cove cores, but it isn’t quite that simple.

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(Image credit: Intel)

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(Image credit: Intel)

Intel’s addition of a x4 direct connection to the CPU for NVMe devices didn’t come with Ice Lake, which features Sunny Cove cores. However, that could be a broader optimization, much like the widened DMI connection, that Intel added to an existing Core architecture – and there’s room to add those features to a chip with the Sunny Cove microarchitecture.

Intel’s Ice Lake, which uses Sunny Cove cores, supports 32 PCIe 3.0 lanes, with 16 being dedicated to internal use for integrated Thunderbolt 4 connectivity – and integrated Thunderbolt 4 isn’t present on the Rocket Lake chips. That means there is room/accommodations to plumb in PCIe 4.0 support into the architecture.

Naturally, we expect there will be targeted optimizations to whatever architecture Intel uses to tailor it for desktop PC use. There are unconfirmed rumors that Intel will use a hybrid Willow Cove core and brand it as Cypress Cove to denote that it’s backported to 14nm. That does make some sense, but Intel hasn’t mentioned ‘Cypress Cove’ branding in any form on its roadmaps. It’s also feasible that Cypress Cove could refer to a modified Sunny Cove core.

For now, the jury is out on whether Intel will use Sunny Cove, Willow Cove, or some custom combination of the two. Now, Intel doesn’t claim any IPC gains for the mobile Tiger Lake processors over the existing Ice Lake processors, instead saying it tuned the architecture for higher frequencies rather than a big IPC gain.

That means, regardless of which architecture (or derivative thereof), we’re still looking at the ~18% IPC gains that Ice Lake delivers over Skylake. Our sources say Rocket Lake’s architecture imparts IPC gains in the ~15% range, but do take the IPC predictions with a grain of salt, as that can vary by workload and measurement methodology.

Intel 11th-Gen Rocket Lake Motherboard

Can you use your 400-series motherboard for Rocket Lake processors? Yes.

The Rocket Lake processors will drop into the Socket 1200 interface, so current-gen 400-series motherboards will support the chip. Many Z490 motherboards support the PCIe 4.0 interface, which motherboard vendors indicate is to provide support for the ‘future’ processors that are undoubtedly the Rocket Lake family.

However, in keeping with Intel’s traditional launch strategy, we expect that new 500-series motherboards, like Z590, will come to market with at least some new features, like expanded PCIe 4.0 connectivity, to accompany the Rocket Lake processors. We don’t expect a revolution in terms of features with 500-series motherboards, though.

Socket 1200 motherboards will be short lived. According to Intel’s own documentation, the hybrid Alder Lake-S processors that arrive in the latter half of 2021 will drop into Socket 1700. That means there will be no forward compatibility for Socket 1200 motherboards with future Intel processors.

Intel 11th-Gen Rocket Lake Pricing and Availability

Intel has only painted Tiger Lake in the broadest of strokes with its first announcement, just acknowledging the chips exist and will come in Q1 2021 with PCIe 4.0 support. But there are no firm indicators of its pricing strategy. We do know that the company has steadily reduced pricing-per-thread as it attempts to fend off AMD’s value-centric Zen assault.

However, AMD made some changes to its pricing scheme with the Zen 2 generation. These chips came with higher recommended price points than AMD’s previous-gen chips as the company positions itself as a premium chip supplier as opposed to its long history as the value alternative. The company has also discarded one of the goodies we’ve become accustomed to – the higher-end Ryzen XT models came without bundled coolers. We could see the company take a similar approach with Zen 3 processors.

That means Intel may not have to be as competitive on the pricing front, so we could see per-core and per-thread pricing remain relatively static with the 11th-Gen Rocket Lake processors.

Some unconfirmed signs point to Intel using a next-gen packaging technique, likely EMIB, for some models. That could cause an incremental price increase – advanced packaging techniques do trend towards the expensive – but it remains to be seen if that will have a notable impact on end-user pricing. Not to mention that it seems unlikely EMIB-connected chips will come to the mainstream desktop, instead being relegated to mobile or specialty products.

We’ll update this article as more information becomes available.

(Image credit: Fritchenz Frenz)

AMD has officially announced that the Zen 3 architecture will land this year and outlined the new Ryzen 5000 series, setting the stage for a new wave of powerful CPUs based upon a newer version of AMD’s most successful architecture to date. The new Zen 3 microarchitecture will power AMD’s full lineup of next-gen processors, including the Ryzen 5000 “Vermeer” desktop processors that will soon vie for a spot on our list of Best CPUs, the Ryzen 5000 laptop CPUs, and the EPYC Milan data center processors.

The first four new Ryzen 5000 series models come as processors for the desktop PC, and they stretch from the $299 Ryzen 5 5600X up to the $799 Ryzen 9 5950X. We’ve also learned that AMD will throw in a copy of Far Cry 6, at least on a promotional basis, with the shipping processors. The CPUs will be on shelves on November 5th and could represent a big shift in the AMD vs Intel CPU wars. Early pricing listings, which are not placeholders, indicate that the Ryzen 5000 processors will initially sell at retail for slightly higher pricing than AMD’s recommended price points.

AMD says Zen 3 features a grounds-up rethinking of the architecture that finally allows it to take the 1080p gaming performance lead from Intel. Paired with a 19% boost to instructions per cycle (IPC) throughput and peak boost speeds of up to 4.9 GHz, AMD may just have the magic 7nm bullet that finally upsets Intel from its position at the top of our gaming performance benchmarks. In fact, given what we’ve seen so far, it looks like AMD could soon enjoy a dominating position in the desktop PC market unlike anything we’ve seen since the Athlon 64 days.

Here’s the Zen 3 Ryzen 5000 series processors that AMD has announced thus far, but we expect more to come to market soon:

AMD Ryzen 5000 Series CPUs
Zen 3 Ryzen 5000 Series Processors	RCP (MSRP)	Cores/Threads	Base/Boost Freq.	TDP	L3 Cache
Ryzen 9 5950X	$799	16 / 32	3.4 / 4.9 GHz	105W	64MB (2×32)
Ryzen 9 5900X	$549	12 / 24	3.7 / 4.8 GHz	105W	64MB (2×32)
Ryzen 7 5800X	$449	8 / 16	3.8 / 4.7 GHz	105W	32MB (2×16)
Ryzen 5 5600X	$299	6 / 12	3.7 / 4.6 GHz	65W	32MB (2×16)

AMD’s Zen 3 Ryzen 5000 series begins with the impressive 16-core 32-thread Ryzen 9 5950X that will retail for $799. This chip boosts up to 4.9 GHz, has 64MB of unified L3 cache, and a 105W TDP rating. AMD says this chip is faster than Intel’s 10-core Core i9-10900K in pretty much everything, which isn’t surprising — Intel has no equivalent for the mainstream desktop.

The $549 Ryzen 9 5900X slots in as the more mainstream contender, at least by AMD’s definition of ‘mainstream,’ with 12 cores and 24 threads that boost up to 4.8 GHz. AMD says this chip beats the Core i9-10900K by even more impressive margins in gaming. Further down the stack, we find the 8C/16T Ryzen 7 5800X for $449 and the 6C/12T Ryzen 5 5600X for $299.

Intel is stuck with its Comet Lake CPUs for five long months to try to fend off the Ryzen 5000 series until Rocket Lake arrives in Q1 2021, which doesn’t bode well.

As odd as it sounds, Intel may have one hidden advantage — pricing. AMD now positions the Ryzen 5000 series as the premium brand and says it has the benchmarks to prove it. As a result, AMD has pushed pricing up by $50 across the stack compared to its Ryzen XT models. However, the XT family doesn’t really represent AMD’s best value; its own Ryzen 3000 series, which comes at much lower price points, holds that crown.

As a result, Intel’s Comet Lake CPUs now have comparatively lower price points than AMD’s Ryzen 5000 series. However, AMD says it still maintains the performance-per-dollar lead. We won’t know the full story until the processors land in our labs, but that obviously won’t be long — AMD says the full roster of Ryzen 5000 CPUs will be available at retail on November 5.

If one thing is for certain, the Zen microarchitecture has completely redefined our expectations for mainstream desktop processors, and it’s rational to expect more of the same with Zen 3. Let’s cover what we know about Zen 3 so far.

AMD Zen 3 Ryzen 5000 Series At A Glance

1080p gaming performance leadership
Ryzen 9, 7, and 5 models
CPUs from 6C/12T up to 16C/32T
Same optimized 7nm process as Ryzen XT models
Zen 3 microarchitecture delivers 19% IPC improvement
24% gen-on-gen power efficiency improvement — 2.8X better than 10900K
Higher peak frequencies for most models — 4.9 GHz on Ryzen 9 5950X
Lower base frequency for all models, offset by increased IPC
L3 cache now unified in a single 32MB cluster per eight-core chiplet (CCD)
Higher pricing across the stack (~$50)
No bundled cooler with Ryzen 9 and Ryzen 7 models
Drop-in compatible with the AM4 socket
No new chipset/motherboards launched
Current-gen 500-series motherboards work now (caveats below)
Beta support for 400-series motherboards begins in January 2021
All Zen 3 desktop, mobile, and APU CPUs will carry Ryzen 5000 branding
Same 142W maximum power for AM4 socket as previous-gen
Same 12nm GlobalFoundries I/O Die (IOD)

AMD Zen 3 Ryzen 5000 Series Specifications

AMD Ryzen 5000 Series Processor Competition
Zen 3 Ryzen 5000 Series Processors	RCP (MSRP)	Cores/Threads	Base/Boost Freq.	TDP	L3 Cache
Ryzen 9 5950X	$799	16 / 32	3.4 / 4.9	105W	64MB (2×32)
Core i9-10980XE	$815 (retail)	18 / 36	3.0 / 4.8	165W	24.75MB
Ryzen 9 3950X	$749	16 / 32	3.5 / 4.7	105W	64MB (4×16)
Ryzen 9 5900X	$549	12 / 24	3.7 / 4.8	105W	64MB (2×32)
Core i9-10900K / F	$488 – $472	10 / 20	3.7 / 5.3	125W	20MB
Ryzen 9 3900XT	$499	12 / 24	3.9 / 4.7	105W	64MB (4×16)
Ryzen 7 5800X	$449	8 / 16	3.8 / 4.7	105W	32MB (2×16)
Core i9-10850K	$453	10 / 20	3.6 / 5.2	95W	20MB
Core i7-10700K / F	$374 – $349	8 / 16	3.8 / 5.1	125W	16MB
Ryzen 7 3800XT	$399	8 / 16	3.9 / 4.7	105W	32MB (2×16)
Ryzen 5 5600X	$299	6 / 12	3.7 / 4.6	65W	32MB (2×16)
Core i5-10600K / F	$262 – $237	6 / 12	4.1 / 4.8	125W	12MB
Ryzen 5 3600XT	$249	6 / 12	3.8 / 4.5	95W	32MB (2×16)

Here we can see the full Ryzen 5000 series product stack, and how the new CPUs stack up against Intel’s Comet Lake. The first big thing you’ll notice are the increased Precision Boost clock rates, which now stretch up to 4.9 GHz. However, we also see a broad trend of lower base frequencies for the Ryzen 5000 series compared to the previous-gen processors, but that isn’t too surprising considering the much higher performance-per-watt that we’ll outline below.

AMD obviously leans on its improved IPC rather than raw clock speeds, thus boosting its power efficiency and reducing heat generation. The Ryzen 5 5600X is the best example of that — despite only a slight reduction to the base frequency, the chip drops to a 65W TDP compared to its predecessor’s 95W.

What’s not as impressive? AMD has continued with the precedent it set with its Ryzen XT series: Bundled coolers no longer come with processors with a TDP higher than 65W. That means the Ryzen 5 5600X will be the only Ryzen 5000 chip that comes with a cooler in the box. AMD said it decided to skip bundled coolers in higher-TDP models largely because it believes most enthusiasts looking for high-performance CPUs use custom cooling anyway. AMD also still specs a 280mm (or greater) AIO liquid cooler for the Ryzen 9 and 7 CPUs, which significantly adds to the overall platform costs.

AMD continues to only guarantee its boost frequencies on a single core, and all-core boosts will vary based on the cooling solution, power delivery, and motherboard BIOS. The Ryzen 5000 series CPUs still expose the same 20 lanes of PCIe 4.0 to the user (another four are dedicated to the chipset), and stick with DDR4-3200 memory. We’re told that memory overclocking capabilities remain the same as we see with the Ryzen XT models, so AMD hasn’t changed its guidance on that front.

AMD Ryzen 5000 Zen 3 Performance Benchmarks and Comparisons

AMD Ryzen 9 5950X Gaming and Application Performance Benchmarks

Before we get into the benchmarks, be aware that AMD provided them. Like all benchmarks provided by any company, they could be (and probably are) heavily skewed toward games and applications that favor the company’s products.

Also, AMD tested all processors (both the Ryzen 5000 series and Intel models) with DDR4-3600 memory. For reference, DDR4-3200 is the stock configuration for the AMD processors, and DDR4-2933 is stock for the Core i9-10900K. AMD also used a Noctua NH-D15s, a high-end air cooler, for all tested platforms (which is fine), and an Nvidia GeForce 2080 Ti. (It probably couldn’t buy a GeForce RTX 3080 or GeForce RTX 3090 either.)

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(Image credit: AMD)

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(Image credit: AMD)

What does the 16-core 32-thread Ryzen 9 5950X and its eye watering $799 price tag get you? The first slide pits AMD’s 5950X against the previous-gen Ryzen 9 3950X and shows 20%+ performance gains in the tested games, though the deltas do vary.

AMD also says the Ryzen 9 5950X scores 640 points in the single-threaded Cinebench R20 benchmark, which is much higher than the Core i9-1900K’s 544 points. The content creation benchmarks show the 5950X with solid gains in lightly-threaded apps, like CAD, Adobe Premier, and compilation.

However, performance gains in the heavily-threaded V-Ray application are a bit less pronounced. AMD says the Ryzen 5000 series processors still have to adhere to the 142W power limit of the AM4 socket, which reduces performance gains in heavily-threaded applications.

On the brighter side, AMD says those performance gains come at the same level of power consumption, which means the CPUs are more power-efficient. It will also be interesting to see how that looks when we lift the power limits in our own tests.

The second slide shows the 5950X against the Intel Core i9-10900K in several games and applications. The benchmarks show what is basically a dead heat with the 10900K, but the Ryzen 9 5900X is actually the faster gaming chip, so you’ll see bigger deltas over the Core i9-10900K in the benchmarks below.

Of course, with the RTX 2080 Ti, it could be the main bottleneck even at 1080p ultra. We joked about AMD not having RTX 3080 or RTX 3090 testing results, but in all seriousness, anyone upgrading to Zen 3 for gaming purposes is likely eyeing Nvidia’s Ampere or AMD’s Big Navi as well. That’s something we’ll be testing once we have hardware in our labs.

AMD Ryzen 9 5900X Gaming and Application Performance Benchmarks

(Image credit: AMD)

Here’s a quick look at the improvement in AMD’s favorite single-threaded benchmark, Cinebench R20. AMD like this test because it is extremely favorable to its Zen CPU microarchitecture.

The Ryzen 9 5950X scored 631 points, while the Core i9-10900K weighed in at 544 points. That works out to an outstanding 16% advantage for the Ryzen 9 5900X, but bear in mind this occurs in a single benchmark, so take it with a grain of salt.

We scored 535 points with the 10900K in the same test, albeit obviously with a different test platform and conditions. AMD didn’t show the Ryzen 9 5900X’s multi-threaded CineBench score, but measured the Core i9-10900K at 6,354 points. That’s close enough to call a tie with our own measurement of 6,356 points.

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(Image credit: AMD)

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(Image credit: AMD)

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(Image credit: AMD)

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(Image credit: AMD)

AMD bills the Ryzen 9 5900X as the fastest gaming CPU on the market, which it says it measured from the average fps from 40 PC games at 1920×1080 at maxed-out settings.

Here we see a spate of AMD’s 1080p performance benchmarks with the Ryzen 9 5900X up against the Ryzen 9 3900XT. Overall, the 5900X provides a 26% average fps performance improvement, which is pretty stellar for an in-socket upgrade. Notably, the processor notches higher gains in some titles — to the tune of 50% in League of Legends and 46% in CS:GO. Other titles, like Battlefield V and Total War, see low single-digit gains.

The second slide pits the Ryzen 9 5900X against the Core i9-10900K in a selection of games at 1080p with high fidelity settings. AMD recorded a slight loss in Total War, and some single-digit performance increases in a few titles. However, League of Legends and CS:GO, both of which are older titles, received significantly higher fps measurements.

We’ll obviously have to see these titles tested on our own test systems, and Intel could gain a bit more performance from overclocking. The jury is still out on Ryzen 5000’s overclockability, but the CPUs use the same process as the existing Ryzen XT models, so we don’t expect much headroom.

AMD Ryzen 7 5800X Gaming and Application Performance Benchmarks

(Image credit: AMD)

AMD didn’t share dedicated benchmarks for the Ryzen 7 5800X and Ryzen 5 5600X — the higher-end models are obviously in the spotlight for today’s announcements. However, the company did share performance-per-dollar slides, which you can see above for the Ryzen 7 5800X. We’ll add more benchmarks as we learn more.

AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Gaming and Application Performance Benchmarks

(Image credit: AMD)

Here we can see AMD’s performance-per-dollar projections for the Ryzen 5 5600X. Given that this and the Ryzen 7 5800X are single-chiplet designs, we expect them to be incredibly competitive in gaming at the lower price ranges.

AMD Zen 3 Ryzen 5000 Series Motherboards

(Image credit: AMD)

AMD didn’t launch a new chipset with the Ryzen 5000 series; instead, the CPUs drop right into existing 500-series chipsets, like X570, B550 and A520 models. These boards require an AGESA 1.0.8.0 (or newer) BIOS to boot a Zen 3 processor, but AMD has been shipping silently shipping supporting BIOSes since summer. As a result, every 500-series motherboard on the market should have a downloadable BIOS available.

While the early BIOS revisions ensure the processors will work on the most basic level, you’ll have to update to an AGESA 1.1.0.0 (or better) BIOS for the best performance. These revisions will be available for all 500-series motherboards by the November 5th Ryzen 5000 series launch date. However, many motherboard vendors are already distributing newer BIOS revisions with enhanced functionality.

AMD originally announced it wouldn’t provide Zen 3 support for 400-series motherboards, but due to concerns from the enthusiast community, the company reversed course. Now AMD will also provide support for 400-series chipsets, but the BIOS updates are under development, and the first beta BIOSes will be available in January of 2021.

However, a series of important restrictions apply to 400-series upgraders, which you can read more about here, but here’s the short version:

AMD will add support for select B450 and X470 motherboards, but that comes at the cost of backward compatibility with some older Ryzen processors. Additionally, the upgrade path is only one way: You won’t be able to flash the BIOS back to earlier versions that support all chips, which could be a hindrance if you try to sell your motherboard later. AMD also says the updates will only be given to verified owners of Zen 3 processors, but we’re currently unsure of the mechanics of the verification process. Finally, support for future Zen 4 processors will not be enabled for 400-series motherboards.

Note: You lose support for PCIe 4.0 on 400-series boards, but most gamers will not, and should not, care — PCIe 4.0 makes no meaningful performance difference in gaming.

AMD Zen 3 Ryzen 5000 Series Pricing and Availability

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(Image credit: AMD)

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The Ryzen 5000 series will come to market on November 5th, 2020. We expect to learn more information, like performance benchmarks, for the Ryzen 7 and 5 models in the interim. We also expect to eventually hear about Threadripper 5000 products with the Zen 3 architecture, but we aren’t sure when AMD will bring the new design to its ultra-powerful high end desktop lineup.

The Zen 3 Ryzen 5000 processors do come with a recommended $50 markup across the product stack. AMD’s suggested pricing often has little to do with what we see at retail; you can expect the CPUs to eventually retail for far lower than MSRP.

The change comes as AMD positions itself as a premium chip supplier as opposed to its long history as the value alternative. The continued absence of bundled coolers also serves to drive up the platform cost – in most cases, you’ll need to invest at least $40 to find a cooler that’s as capable as AMD’s stock coolers. The company specs a 280mm AIO cooler (or equivalent air cooler) for the processors, so plan accordingly.

That’s led to plenty of complaints, and Intel’s Comet Lake lineup actually has lower pricing in critical price bands. We do have to take performance into account, though, and we have yet to do our own testing. That means the jury is out on the price-to-performance ratio for the Ryzen 5000 series.

AMD’s Zen 3 pricing in the market will be largely predicated upon how it performs relative to Intel’s CPUs. Given the big performance gains we expect with the Zen 3 generation, it’s possible the numbers could work out in favor of Intel’s competing processors.

If Zen 3 lives up to its billing, it looks like AMD’s only constraint will be production capacity at TSMC. AMD will likely sell every Ryzen 5000 series chip it punches out, at least until Rocket Lake arrives – and we still don’t know if Intel’s new 14nm design can keep pace with AMD’s 7nm CPUs. AMD’s ecosystem of 500- and 400-series motherboard partners have plenty of relatively affordable options, so we don’t foresee any problems with motherboard supply.

On that front, AMD will undoubtedly meet with stiff demand for the Ryzen 5000 series CPUs at launch, and the company says it is working with retailers to avoid the plague of purchasing bots that exacerbated Nvidia’s now-infamous Ampere launch. And AMD hasn’t been free of shortages at launch either, with the Ryzen 9 3950X being relatively difficult to purchase for the first couple of months after it launched.

Should I Buy a Ryzen 5000 Series Zen 3 CPU?

The jury is still out on just how AMD’s Zen 3 Ryzen 5000 series CPUs will perform in the real world: We won’t know until the silicon lands in our labs, but you can bet that will be soon given the November 5th 2020 launch date.

The performance does look promising; AMD has made plenty of alterations that should boost performance significantly. Here’s what we know about the Zen 3 microarchitecture:

AMD Zen 3 Ryzen 5000 Serious Microarchitecture

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AMD shared many new details about the Zen 3 microarchitecture, but the company says it will share even more information in a future briefing, so we’ll have a lot more information for our forthcoming Ryzen 5000 reviews.

AMD embarked on what it describes as a ground-up redesign of the Zen 2 microarchitecture to deliver the gains we would normally see with an entirely new design. In fact, the company’s ~19% increase in IPC represents its largest single-generation increase in the ‘post-Zen’ era (Zen+, Zen 2). We certainly haven’t seen an increase of this magnitude for desktop CPUs from Team Blue in the recent past, either — the initial Skylake architecture achieved a similar boost, but everything since has been nearly static.

AMD calculates its 19% IPC number from the geometric mean of 25 workloads measured with two eight-core processors locked at 4.0 GHz. The impressive IPC gains required a ‘front-to-back’ series of modifications to the design, including (but not limited to) the cache subsystem, front end, branch predictor, execution engine, and load/store elements, all with a focus on boosting single-threaded performance while wringing out better instruction level parallelism (ILP). The result is improved performance across the board in both single- and multi-threaded integer and floating point workloads. However, the 142W power limit imposed by the AM4 socket does restrict the scope of performance gains in heavily-threaded workloads, though there are some advances there, too.

AMD says it uses the same enhanced version of TSMC’s 7nm process node that it used for the Ryzen XT series, but still hasn’t provided specifics. AMD’s ‘special recipe’ for 7nm is largely kept confidential, but the firm specified that it doesn’t use TSMC’s 7nm+ (an EUV node). That means that AMD uses the standard N7 from Zen 2 with improved design rules, or that the CPUs use the N7P node.

AMD’s end goal is to have undisputed best-in-class performance across the full spectrum of applications, and gaming performance was a particular focus, which brings us to the changed cache hierarchy.

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

As with the Zen 2 processors, Zen 3 uses the same 12nm I/O die (IOD) paired with either one or two chiplets in an MCM (Multi-Chip Module) arrangement. In the image above, we can see the large I/O die and the two smaller eight-core chiplets.

AMD chose to stick with this basic design for its Zen 3 Ryzen 5000 processors. And just like we see with the previous-gen Zen 2 CPUs, processors with six or eight cores come with one chiplet, while CPUs with 12 or 16 cores come with two chiplets.

(Image credit: AMD)

While the overall package design is the same three-chiplet design, AMD made drastic changes to the internals of the two eight-core chiplets. In the Zen 2 architecture (left), each Zen compute chiplet (CCD) contained two four-core clusters (CCXes) with access to an isolated 16MB slice of L3 cache. So, while the entire chiplet contained 32MB of cache, not all cores had access to all of the cache in the chiplet.

To access an adjacent slice of L3 cache, a core had to communicate with the other quad-core cluster by issuing a request that traversed the Infinity Fabric to the I/O die. The I/O die then routed the request to the second quad-core cluster, even though it was contained within the same chiplet. To fulfill the request, the data had to travel back over the fabric to the I/O die, and then back into the quad-core cluster that issued the request.

On the right side of the slide, we can see that the chiplet now contains one large unified 32MB slice of L3 cache, and all eight cores within the chiplet have full access to the shared cache. This improves not only core-to-cache latency, but also core-to-core latency within the chiplet.

While all eight cores can access the L3 cache within a single compute chiplet, in a dual-chiplet Zen 3 chip, there will be times that the cores will have to communicate with the other chiplet and its L3 cache. In those cases, the compute chiplet’s requests will still have to traverse the Infinity Fabric via signals routed through the I/O die, which incurs latency.

Still, because an entire layer of external communication between the two four-core clusters inside each chiplet has been removed, the Infinity Fabric will naturally have far less traffic. This results in less contention on the fabric, thus simplifying scheduling and routing, and it could also increase the amount of available bandwidth for this type of traffic. All of these factors will result in faster transfers (i.e., lower latency) communication between the two eight-core chiplets, and it possibly removes some of the overhead on the I/O die, too. We imagine there could also be other advantages, particularly for main memory latency, but we’ll wait for more details. We do know that the default fabric speeds haven’t changed, though.

All of this is important because games rely heavily on the memory subsystem, both on-die cache and main memory (DDR4). A larger pool of cache resources keeps more data closer to the cores, thus requiring fewer high-latency accesses to the main memory. Additionally, lower cache latency can reduce the amount of time a core communicates with the L3 cache. This new design will tremendously benefit latency-sensitive applications, like games — particularly if they have a dominant thread that accesses cache heavily (which is common).

Naturally, power efficiency will improve as a function of reduced traffic on the Infinity Fabric, but that’s probably a small fraction of the performance-per-watt gains AMD has extracted from the architecture. Increased IPC and other SoC-level optimizations obviously factor in here. Still, the net result is that AMD managed to stay within the same TDP thermal and electrical ranges as the Ryzen 3000 series CPUs while delivering more performance.

AMD Ryzen 5000 Zen 3 Power Consumption and Efficiency

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AMD says it has not increased power consumption by a single watt — the maximum power draw for the AM4 socket still stands at 142W — which naturally will lead to impressive efficiency gains. AMD’s chart above uses the first-gen Ryzen 7 1800X as a comparison point, and here we see a 2X improvement by moving to the 7nm Zen 2 architecture. That isn’t too surprising considering the move from the older 14nm process to 7nm with that generation of processors.

The more important reduction comes from extracting more efficiency from the ‘same’ 7nm node, which is far more difficult and requires a combination of both better design methodologies and architectural improvements. As a result of these factors, AMD says it wrung out another 24% gen-on-gen efficiency improvement with the Ryzen 9 5900X over the Zen 2-powered Ryzen 9 3900XT. That’s impressive. Intel’s most recent Comet Lake CPUs had to increase power draw quite a bit and still had far lower performance improvements.

What does that mean to you? Faster, cooler, and quieter performance for your PC compared to AMD’s previous processors – and those models already posed a stiff challenge to Intel’s Comet Lake.

The Ryzen 5000 series Zen 3 CPUs arrive at retail on November 5th, 2020. We’ll update as we learn more.