The Zen 3 processors from AMD will be getting a Linux update before they’re released later this year. This update looks like it will be bringing a big change to the existing Zen CPU architecture.
What Do We Know About The Linux Update?
This Linux patch was first brought to light by Twitter user Komachi who has a history of being pretty accurate about tech leaks.
Komachi revealed three different Family 17h devices preparing for the same level of support as the two brand new Family 19h devices we know about.
This is assumed to refer to Zen 3 as we already know that 17h refers to Zen 2 CPUs and APUs. So far, all Zen processors have come under the Family 17h label, which makes the Zen 3 chips coming under Family 19h interesting. It suggests that there will be a brand new design applied to Zen 3 and that AMD is making some significant changes from previous generations.
This has been further supported by what Forrest Norrod said late last year about Zen 2:
“[Zen 2] was more of an evolution of the Zen microarchitecture that powers first-gen EPYC CPUs – Zen 3 will be based on a completely new architecture.”
AMD’s New Naming Structure For Ryzen 4000
It’s safe to say that the 17h chips refer to the Ryzen 4000 APUs with Zen 2 design – which should be released fairly soon this year.
However, there has been a bit of confusion over the Ryzen 4000 chips because AMD looks like it’s changing its entire naming structure for the Zen 3 architecture models.
Some have suggested that this new architecture will be much faster and efficient with 7nm+ process nodes using Zen CPU design.
There have been reports that Zen 3 will offer significantly boosted IPC performance. So it looks like the Ryzen 4000 processor generation will give Intel and other competitors something to worry about over the next year.
As a lot of this is based on speculation, we can’t say any of this for certain. However, Komachi has been right plenty of times so far so we wouldn’t be surprised if this all proves to be accurate too. When we find out more about AMD’s Zen 3 architecture, we will be sure to let you know and keep you updated.