AMD has revealed cost, performance, and release dates with the upcoming RDNA 3 graphics cards and Ryzen 7000 series processors during its “together we advance PCs” Livestream.
Four CPUs using the new Zen 4 desktop processing architecture (codenamed “Raphael”) will launch on September 27th, 2022. The flagship Ryzen 9 7950X chip will cost $699 at launch and features 32 threads, a boost clock of 5.7GHz, and 16 cores.
The three other processors include the Ryzen 9 7900X with 12 cores, 24 threads, and a 5.6GHz boost, the Ryzen 7 7700X with 8 cores, 16 threads, and a 5.3GHz boost, and the Ryzen 5 7600X has 6 cores, 12 threads, and a 5.3 GHz boost.
In addition, AMD claimed during the presentation that the Zen4 processors have a 13 percent IPC uplift over the previous Zen 3 (Ryzen 5000 series) generation, up from the 8-10 percent uplift claimed when the architecture was teased at Computex 2022.
Other claims include up to a 29 percent increase in single-thread performance, but take these predictions with a pinch of salt until they’re publicly released and available for external benchmarking. In addition, some of the estimated increases are vague, such as a 6 to 35 percent performance boost in games when comparing the new Ryzen 9 7950X to its predecessor, the Ryzen 9 5950X.
As for how long-time market rival Intel fits into this, AMD compared its latest flagships performance to that of the Intel i9-12900K in the V-Ray benchmark, where the Zen 4 processor displayed up to 47 percent better performance per watt and a potential improvement of 57 percent in raytracing.
Remember, this is a single benchmark out of many, and it’s within AMDs interests to make this launch attractive to consumers looking to upgrade their desktop PCs. But, of course, we will get a more accurate picture of performance comparison when impartial benchmark tests can be carried out.
While absent from the presentation, the AMD website confirms that all four Ryzen 7000 SKUs will have integrated Radeon RDNA 2 graphics. Each Raphael CPU will feature 2 graphics cores, each with 64 stream processors, with a boost clock of up to 2.2GHz. However, before anyone gets excited about its gaming capabilities, you’ll unlikely want to snub a full desktop graphics card in favor of this built-in alternative. The integrated GPU will only be sufficient for basic content creation and display outputs.
There are a few essential things from the presentation to note if you plan to upgrade or build a new PC soon. Firstly, this generation of AMD processors will use the AM5 socket platform, so you’ll have to upgrade your motherboard. AM5 motherboard pricing will start from $125 and will be supported at least until 2025, coinciding nicely with the predicted launch of Zen 5 in 2024.
That doesn’t mean that AM4 is finished, though. “We expect AM4 and AM5 to coexist for quite some time,” Lisa Su said during the presentation. “You should expect that, like with AM4, we’ll build out the entire AM5 stack, but it will take some time to build out, and we want to ensure the cost points are right, as always.” It does mean that you’ll also need to plan to upgrade your system memory, though, as AM5 is adopting DDR5 RAM and dropping support for DDR4.
Processors weren’t the only announcement, as we also saw the next generation of Radeon graphics cards. The AMD Radeon RX 7000 series will be based on a 5nm process node. The flagship model will supposedly feature the Navi 31 GPU with 12288 stream processors and up to 24 GB of GDDR6 memory, though this is still speculative information. Unfortunately, AMD’s generosity for details on its new processors didn’t extend to its upcoming graphics cards.
AMD CEO Lisa Su reaffirmed previous claims that the new GPU architecture will offer a 50 percent performance per watt increase over RDNA 2 and confirmed this during the presentation. In addition, at least one Radeon 7000 is operating and running tests, stating that its performance looks “absolutely wonderful.”
The design is seemingly identical to the flagship cards from the previous generation, with an all-black color scheme and a hint of RGB illumination similar to the Radeon RX 6950XT. Unfortunately, the next-gen model being teased during the presentation was not named, nor was the power connector displayed, though the triple fan design and thickness of the card suggest this will be a high-end model.
Other features are advanced chipset packaging, re-architected compute units, an optimized graphics pipeline, and a next-Gen AMD Infinity Cache. The next generation of AMD Radeon graphics cards is also set to arrive by the end of the season, though no date for the takeoff has been announced.
AMD is an American global semiconductor company established in Santa Clara, California. It designs computer processors and related technologies for business and consumer markets. While it initially fabricated its processors, the company later outsourced its manufacturing, a practice comprehended as going fabless, after GlobalFoundries was turned off in 2009. AMD’s primary products include embedded processors, microprocessors, motherboard chipsets, graphics processors, and FPGAs for personal computers, servers, workstations, and embedded system applications.
Jerry Sanders and a few of his coworkers from Fairchild Semiconductor formally blended Advanced Micro Devices AMD on May 1, 1969. Sanders, an electrical engineer who was the head of marketing at Fairchild, had grown frustrated with the increasing deficiency of support, possibility, and flexibility within the organization. He later chose to leave to form his own semiconductor company, following the footsteps of Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore, who together founded the semiconductor company Intel in July 1968.
AMD moved from its temporary site in Santa Clara to Sunnyvale, California. To immediately secure a customer base, AMD initially became a second source supplier of microchips designed by Fairchild and National Semiconductor.
AMD first focused on creating logic chips. The company certified quality control to United States Military Standard, an advantage in the early computer industry since microchips’ unreliability was a problem that customers – including computer manufacturers, the telecommunications industry, and instrument works – desired to avoid.