AMD has finally taken the wraps off it’s upcoming Zen 3 processors, during today’s recorded YouTube presentation. During the event, AMD announced four different processors, ranging from the Ryzen 5, Ryzen 7, and two Ryzen 9 processors. This new line-up is called the Ryzen 5000 series is the next generation of AMD’s desktop processor, the Ryzen 3000 (Zen 2). For those wondering why they skipped a series, the AMD Ryzen 4000 series processors are for mobile devices.
These Zen 3 chips will use the same 7nm process as the previous Zen 2 chips, better IPC (up to 19% over Zen 2), and higher max boost. While the Zen 2 saw a noticeable upgrade over Zen + and Zen 1, we’re seeing a similar upgrade with the Zen 3 from Zen 2.
Number of CPU Cores – 16
Number of Threads – 32
Max Boost Clock – Up to 4.9GHz
Base Clock – 3.4GHz
Thermal Solution (PIB) – Not included
Default TDP / TDP – 105W
Price – $799
Number of CPU Cores – 12
Number of Threads – 24
Max Boost Clock – Up to 4.8GHz
Base Clock – 3.7GHz
Thermal Solution (PIB) – Not included
Default TDP / TDP – 105W
Price – $549
Number of CPU Cores – 8
Number of Threads – 16
Max Boost Clock – Up to 4.7GHz
Base Clock – 3.8GHz
Thermal Solution (PIB) – Not included
Default TDP / TDP – 105W
Price – $449
Number of CPU Cores – 6
Number of Threads – 12
Max Boost Clock – Up to 4.6GHz
Base Clock – 3.7GHz
Thermal Solution (PIB) – Wraith Stealth
Default TDP / TDP – 65W
Price – $299
What about motherboards
AMD’s Zen 3 will continue to utilize AMD 4 motherboards, and existing X570 / B550 boards will support the processors through a Bios update. This is good news, especially for those who recently purchased an X570 or B550 board for access to the PCIe 4.0 lanes. As for X470 and B450 boards, originally we weren’t sure if the 4000 series of boards would support Zen 3. However, AMD has stated they those boards will support Zen 3 with updated bios (per board maker), but we won’t know more about this until 2021.
Big Navi makes an appearance
While this event was all about Zen 3, I was hoping AMD would mention Big Navi and they didn’t disappoint. Not only did we get to see the Radeon RX 6000 series card, and it’s pretty big. AMD also provided some results from testing three games at 4K; Borderlands (61 FPS), Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (88 FPS), and Gears of War 5 (73 FPS).
If these numbers are to be believed, this puts the card right smack next to Nvidia’s RTX 3080 in performance. But that’s just numbers, and as much as I like numbers, I also would have liked to have seen some realtime performance. Thankfully AMD has plans for that at their upcoming gaming event.
Conclusion
This exciting news for AMD, though I am a bit disappointed at the pricing and feel that Zen 3 could be just out of reach for the more budget-minded consumers. While we see improvements all around, there wasn’t much if any talk that might entice existing owners of Zen 2 to make the jump. There doesn’t seem to be a direct replacement for the 3700x, while the 5800x is priced $100 more, in comparison to the smaller price jump from the 3700x to 3800x. There also was no mention of a Zen 3 powered Ryzen 3 processor and that makes me wonder if AMD isn’t planning on one.
We’ll have to wait and see how this goes, but it looks promising. Now we just need to see if AMD can actually get these processors on shelves this November 5th, 2020.
