AMD’s gains in this new generation of desktop CPUs are a combination of architectural improvements underpinning the Zen 4 architecture, as well as moving production of CPU core chiplets to TSMC’s cutting-edge 5nm process. The combination of which will allow AMD to deliver what they say is now a 13% increase in IPC over the Zen 3 architecture – up from an 11% claim from Computex – as well as a significant increase in CPU clock speeds. The flagship Ryzen 9 7950X will have a maximum turbo clock speed of 5.7GHz, 800MHz (16%) higher than the equivalent Ryzen 9 5950X. As a result, AMD expects to deliver a 29% generational increase in single-threaded performance and even more in multi-threaded workloads. Coupled with the new Ryzen 7000 series chips will be AMD’s AM5 platform, which will be the cornerstone of AMD’s consumer desktop platform until at least 2025. AM5 introduces DDR5 and PCIe 5.0 support for AMD’s chips , as well as a new LGA socket. So far 4 chipsets are planned – X670 Extreme, X670, B660 Extreme and B660 – with X670 series boards available for September release and B660 series boards to follow in October.
Ryzen 7000 Family: 4 Zen 4 SKUs
For regular AnandTech readers and AMD fans, AMD’s product stack for next month’s release should look very familiar. AMD has done pretty well for itself by kicking things off with an enthusiast-focused desktop launch built around a group of four high-end processors, and for the Ryzen 7000 generation, AMD isn’t deviating from that. . As established by AMD back at Computex, the Ryzen 7000 chips exceed 16 cores. So across AMD’s product stack, the core counts are the same this generation versus the last. AMD’s flagship SKU will offer 16 cores, followed by 12, 8 and finally 6 CPU cores. And as before, AMD builds its chips using up to two Zen 4 CPU core chiplets (CCDs), each containing 8 Zen 4 CPU cores. AMD Ryzen 7000 Series ProcessorsZen 4 Microarchitecture AnandTech CoresThreads BaseFreq TurboFreq L2Cache L3Cache TDP MSRP Ryzen 9 7950X 16C / 32T 4.5GHz 5.7GHz 16MB 64MB 170W $699 Ryzen 9 7900X 12C / 24T 4.7GHz 5.6GHz 12MB 64MB 170W $549 Ryzen 7 7700X 8C / 16T 4.5GHz 5.4GHz 8MB 32MB 105W $399 Ryzen 5 7600X 6C / 12T 4.7GHz 5.3GHz 6MB 32MB 105W $299 Furthermore, AMD is not revealing more details about its integrated RDNA2 architecture GPU at this time. So while all Ryzen 7000 chips come with iGPUs, we still don’t have any specs to speak of. However, AMD has made it clear in several places that the iGPU for these desktop chips is a relatively small configuration for basic desktop work and is not designed to be a high-performance GPU like in AMD’s APUs. Ryzen 9 7950X: The world’s fastest CPU Leading the pack is the Ryzen 9 7950X. The best of AMD’s Zen 4 architecture will use two fully enabled CCDs to deliver a total of 16 CPU cores. Thanks in large part to TSMC’s 5nm process, it comes with some very high clock speeds as well. the base clock speed alone is 4.5 GHz and the turbo clock speed will go up to 5.7 GHz for a single thread. The latter is actually 200 MHz higher than AMD’s Computex presentation, where the company only hit 5.5 GHz. AMD advertises this chip as coming with 80MB of cache. This breaks down to 64MB of L3 cache – 32MB in each CCD – as well as 1MB of L2 cache paired with each Zen 4 CPU core. This is the same amount of L3 cache found in the Ryzen 5000/Zen 3 family, but the amount of L2 cache per core has been doubled compared to the previous generation.
The 7950X will also be AMD’s most demanding entry-level desktop Zen chip. The TDP for the chip is 170W, and as we know from AMD’s previous disclosures, the Packet Power Tracking (PPT) threshold for these chips will be 230W. This is one of the major reasons why AMD is seeing such significant gains MT performance gains – exceeding average ST performance gains – as previous Ryzen 5000 chips were often TDP limited when all CPU cores were under heavy load, resulting in them not being able to achieve the higher clock speeds they could otherwise support. Since AMD is the first CPU vendor out of the gate with this generation of parts, the 7950X has no direct competition – even if you’re considering an Intel Core i9 12900K, AMD will be happy to upsell you to a 7950X instead. According to AMD’s figures, the fully featured Zen 4 chip should easily be the world’s most powerful desktop CPU, which of course we’ll have to confirm during the review, but it’s not hard to believe given the architecture updates and improvements of AMD. TSMC’s 5nm process. However, a little further down the line, it will eventually do battle with Intel’s Raptor Lake processors once they are released. AMD is, somewhat curiously, pricing its new flagship chip at $699. That’s actually $100 lower than the 5950X’s launch price in late 2020, which hit the streets at $799. The higher price of this chip was not very well received, but nevertheless for some time AMD sold everything it could make. However, chip shortages have eased and AMD has more access to both wafers and substrates, and the company won’t be without competition for the chip’s lifetime. Ryzen 9 7900X One step below the 7950X we have the Ryzen 9 7900X. This is another two-CCD part, but with only 6 cores enabled on each CCD for a total of 12 CPU cores and 24 threads. This part also retains the full 64MB of L3 cache that comes with the 7950X, which is identical to how the L3 cache is reduced (or rather not) in the Ryzen 5000 series. With its TDP set at the same 170W as the 7950X, the 7900X actually gains quite a bit in base clock speeds. This part will offer 4.7GHz at its base, 200MHz higher than the 7950X. However, the maximum turbo clock speed is 5.6GHz – just below the 7950X – so if you want the absolute best single-threaded performance, the 7950X is positioned and configured to be the fastest choice for ST and MT workloads. The Ryzen 9 7900X will be priced at $549, which is the same price as AMD’s previous 12-core part, the 5900X. So for a true apples-to-apples comparison of generation efficiency gains at constant price, this will be a point to consider.
Ryzen 7 7700X Moving further down AMD’s Ryzen 7000 product stack, we have the Ryzen 7 7700X. This is the 8-core Zen 4 equivalent of AMD’s 5800X in the previous generation. Like its predecessor, AMD only uses a Zen 4 CCD here, but it’s a fully enabled CCD. Base clock speeds will be 4.5 GHz, while the maximum turbo clock speed will peak at 5.4 GHz. Since it’s only one CCD, this also means that the L3 cache has been halved to 32MB. Couple that with the 8MB of L2 cache shared between the Zen 4 CPU cores, and you’ll see AMD touting this chip as offering a total of 40MB of cache.
Meanwhile, unlike the 12- and 16-core chips, the 7700X will have a more traditional TDP of 105 Watts. This makes the chip easier to power (and cool), although it will be interesting to see what this means for turbo clocks under heavy MT workloads. With fewer CPU cores overall, there’s less silicon to light up, but that means AMD also doesn’t have the additional electrical headroom to increase clock speeds. The 7700X will hit the streets at $399, which like the 7950X, is a slight price drop from the previous generation (where the 5800X was priced at $449). Ryzen 5 7600X Moving up the bottom of the Ryzen 7000 entry stack is the only Ryzen 5 class chip, the Ryzen 5 7600X. Like its predecessor, this is a 6-core component, allowing a total of 12 threads. Driving is a single Zen 4 CCD with 2 of the CPU cores disabled. The chip’s base clock speed will be at 4.7 GHz (seeing a similar boost to the 7900X), while the turbo clock speed will be the lowest of all the entry-level Ryzen 7000 chips at 5.3 GHz. And yet, even as the slowest of the Zen 4 processors, AMD boldly claims that the 7600X should, on average, be 5% faster in gaming than Intel’s Core i9 12900K (never mind the cheaper chips ). However, this chip has a TDP spike. While AMD’s flagship 6-core chip in the previous generation was 65W, now even the bottom of the stack starts at 105W. So this shouldn’t be considered a diminutive chip – AMD expects it to pump out and deliver plenty of power.
Zen 4 Architecture Tease: +13% Desktop IPC & AVX-512
The basis of these new chips is of course AMD’s Zen 4 architecture. At just half an hour, AMD’s presentation wasn’t long enough to dive deep into the Zen 4 architecture (AMD has to save something for the release). But CTO Mark Papermaster took the stage to offer a number of additional technical details about the Zen 4 architecture. First and foremost, AMD revised the IPC estimate for Zen 4. As they continued to tune the chips and firmware, in “typical desktop applications” they are now seeing an average (geometrical) 13% increase in IPC over the Zen…
