For some time now, all signs have pointed to AMD causing quite the stir at this year’s Computex, and we weren’t disappointed. With AMD CEO Lisa Su taking to the stage to announce a whole new line of 3rd-generation Zen 2 core-based CPUs and GPUs, the star of the show was undoubtedly the beastly Ryzen 9 3900X.
The Ryzen 9 features 12 cores allied to 24 threads and a 105W TDP. These are capable of a base frequency of 3.8GHz and max boost of 4.6GHz. To highlight the generational leap, AMD alleges an IPC boost of 15%. Total cache measures in at 70MB and the CPU includes the brand new X570 chip whose main allure is PCIe 4.0 lane compatibility.
In keeping with the tradition of slashing prices in comparison to direct competitor Intel, the Ryzen 9 will retail at a comparatively affordable $499.00 and ships from July 7th onward.
With the “world’s 1st 12-core gaming CPU” tagline, the Ryzen 9 is sure to give the Intel equivalent i9 9920X a run for its money claiming a 14% increase in single-thread performance and 6% multi-thread performance.
Alongside the Ryzen 9, AMD also unveiled the Ryzen 7 3800X (8 core, 16 threads, 3.8GHZ base, 4.5Ghz boost, $399.00) and Ryzen 7 3700X (8 core, 16 threads, 3.6GHz, 4.4 GHz boost, $329.00) geared towards desktop gaming rigs. Lower budget alternatives were also shown some love with the new Ryzen 5 3600X (6 core, 12 threads, 3.8GHz base, 4.4GHz boost, $249.00) and Ryzen 5 3600 (6 core, 12 threads, 3.6GHz base, 4.2 GHz boost, $199.00).
All these use Zen 2 cores that have an average 13% IPC uplift from the previous gen, two times the cache size, and two times the floating point. Showcased benchmarks placed each of these above their direct Intel competitor, but as always a degree of skepticism is best as manufacturers often pick and choose results to suit their needs.
AMD signaled that no less than fifty motherboards and a handful of PCIe 4.0 SSDs from a variety of heavy hitter manufacturers, including MSI and ASUS among others, were set to be 3rd-gen Ryzen compatible.