AMD has announced that it will release its first Ryzen 7000 series processors and new AM5 series motherboard platforms at a live event at 4:30 AM IST on August 30 (7 PM EST on August 29). The event will be introduced by Dr. Lisa Su, CEO of AMD, CTO and EVP Mark Papermaster, and other company executives. Fans around the world can tune in to AMD’s YouTube channel and catch the replay shortly after the livestream ends. The chip manufacturer will finally reveal pricing, product specifications, and more details about the Zen 4 architecture that these new CPUs are based on.
AMD confirmed the upcoming launch of the Ryzen 7000 series at Computex 2022 in May this year, promising unparalleled performance for desktop gamers and enthusiasts. Now, the company is ushering in a “new era of high-performance desktops” in its announcement. We can expect Ryzen 7000 series releases for laptops to be announced at a later date.
The Ryzen 7000 series CPUs, codenamed “Raphael”, are based on the new Zen 4 architecture. AMD has so far confirmed at least one model with up to 16 cores, manufactured by TSMC on a new 5nm process arranged in modular “chips” allowing for scalable designs and cost-effective integration. The clock speed increase should be “well above 5GHz”, according to previous announcements. A new central input-output die fabricated at 6nm will also be introduced.
Ryzen 7000 series CPUs will use a new LGA (Ground Network Kit) CPU package with pads instead of pins, requiring the motherboard socket to have pins to connect to. Also, AMD said that for the first time all of these CPUs will feature integrated graphics capabilities, based on the RDNA2 architecture. Other changes include doubling the L2 cache and new guidelines for accelerating AI workloads. AMD promises a 15 percent increase in single-thread performance over the previous generation, as well as significant gains in power efficiency.
The new socket and AM5 platforms break upgrade compatibility with AM4 motherboards, which have been in use since the launch of the original Ryzen desktop CPU in 2017. This was necessary to introduce support for DDR5 RAM and the transition to the PCIe 5.0 standard. However, the coolant holder and clearance remain the same, ensuring compatibility with all existing liquid and air coolers.
There will be at least three layers of desktop motherboards at launch time. The one based on the X670 Extreme chipset will target the “most demanding enthusiasts” who want to use multiple PCIe 5.0 devices with overclocking capabilities thanks to advanced power delivery features. The X670 chipset is intended for “most enthusiasts and gamers” and will allow PCIe 5.0 lanes for at least one graphics card as well as one M.2 storage device. Motherboards based on the B650 chipset will only support PCIe 5.0 for storage devices, which is fine for most casual users.
Recent leaks indicate that AMD has announced models with the Ryzen 9, Ryzen 7, and Ryzen 5 labels. As the new platform is positioned, it’s likely that previous generation products or even new AM4 products will continue to serve price-conscious customers for some time.