Chip maker AMD has doubled down on its reputation for speedy processors, announcing the blazingly fast Ryzen 7000 desktop CPUs aimed at power users such as gamers and content creators.
Scheduled to ship this northern hemisphere autumn, the Ryzen 7000 CPUs are the first PC chips to feature 5 nm manufacturing process from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC).
The new processor can boost up to 5.5 GHz clock frequency, making it the fastest desktop chip from the company so far.
With a thermal design power of 170 Watt, the new Ryzen processors use the Zen 4 core to deliver up to 15 per cent better performance than its predecessors.
The companies first announced the 5nm would be featured in the chips back in January. AMD chief executive Lisa Su unveiled the new releases at Computex Taipei 2022.
During her keynote address, Su said the improvements to AMD’s Zen architecture will allow “more performance, more features and more capabilities for our desktop PCs.”
While much of the presentation was focused on performance boosts benefiting the gaming community, the company also stressed advancements for content creators.
Intel and AMD have both broken the 5 GHz speed barrier in laptops, but the Ryzen 7000s will be the first desktop chips to deliver that top-tier performance.
Su demonstrated a 16-core Ryzen 7000 clocking in at 5.5 GHz during a gaming session and showed the chip completing a 3D render in Blender in 31 per cent less time than Intel’s flagship Core i9 chip.
She said the chips will also feature integrated RDNA 2 graphics for the first time.
The company added that the Ryzen 7000 will feature expanded instructions for AI acceleration.
AMD said it also doubled the cache on Zen 4 to include 1 MB to handle large workloads – primarily a plus for data centre work.
A new transition to new AM5 motherboard designs from the older AM4 ones will be required to run the Ryzen 7000 in an LGA 1718 socket, and supporting up to 6 GHz DDR-5 memory.
“As we approached the design (of the AM5), we wanted to create a platform designed for flexibility and built for the future,” said David McAfee, vice president and general manager for client channel business at AMD.
The AM5 platform will also support 6E Wi-Fi connectivity, up to 24 PCIe 5.0 lanes for storage and graphics, up to 14 SuperSpeed USB with 20 Gbps and Type-C connectors for peripherals, and up to 4 HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 2 ports for high-resolution monitors.
