Monday, June 20th 2022
AMD Ryzen 7000 "Zen 4" Launch Date and Lineup Revealed, Spectacular AM4 Rumor Surfaces
15th September, 2022, is when AMD will debut its Ryzen 7000 "Zen 4" desktop processors. The launch strategy of these chips looks similar to that of the Ryzen 5000 series. The company is preparing a lean launch lineup with just four SKUs—the Ryzen 9 7950X, the Ryzen 9 7900X, Ryzen 7 7800X, and the Ryzen 5 7600X. These SKUs succeed the 5950X, 5900X, 5800X, and 5600X, which made up the previous launch lineup. AMD in its recent interview with us, made it clear that 16-core/32-thread is the maximum core-count for the 7000 series, which would make the 7950X such a chip. The core-counts of the other SKUs are not known. All these models are built in the Socket AM5 package, featuring PCI-Express Gen 5 and DDR5 interfaces. But wait, there's more.
Although AMD led us to believe that it's going all-in with DDR5, we're hearing a spectacular rumor that suggests otherwise. Apparently, the company is designing Socket AM4 processors with "Zen 4" chiplets, possibly paired with the existing cIOD that supports PCI-Express Gen 4 and DDR4 interfaces. The rumor surfaced among sources lower down the supply-chain (resellers). It seems like AMD isn't convinced it could target the lower-end of the market with AM5 just yet, and isn't 100% confident that affordable DDR5 memory will come through in time. The "Zen 4" + AM4 processors would compete with Intel 600-series chipset motherboards that have DDR4 and PCIe Gen 4 connectivity. Trouble is, you can upgrade your Intel LGA1700 motherboard to one that has DDR5+PCIe Gen5 while keeping your processor; but you can't do so with an AM4 Zen 4 processor (you're stuck on AM4). AMD still gets to sell some processors, and those with AM4 platforms can rejoice.
Sources:
Greymon55 (Twitter), HotHardware
Although AMD led us to believe that it's going all-in with DDR5, we're hearing a spectacular rumor that suggests otherwise. Apparently, the company is designing Socket AM4 processors with "Zen 4" chiplets, possibly paired with the existing cIOD that supports PCI-Express Gen 4 and DDR4 interfaces. The rumor surfaced among sources lower down the supply-chain (resellers). It seems like AMD isn't convinced it could target the lower-end of the market with AM5 just yet, and isn't 100% confident that affordable DDR5 memory will come through in time. The "Zen 4" + AM4 processors would compete with Intel 600-series chipset motherboards that have DDR4 and PCIe Gen 4 connectivity. Trouble is, you can upgrade your Intel LGA1700 motherboard to one that has DDR5+PCIe Gen5 while keeping your processor; but you can't do so with an AM4 Zen 4 processor (you're stuck on AM4). AMD still gets to sell some processors, and those with AM4 platforms can rejoice.
73 Comments on AMD Ryzen 7000 "Zen 4" Launch Date and Lineup Revealed, Spectacular AM4 Rumor Surfaces
AM5 requires the 6nm TSMC IOD... which is supply constrained.
Zen 4 with vcache + DDR4 IOD probably makes extremely good sense sales wise.
Assuming there's enough uplift to warrant upgrading the whole AM4 desktop stack to either "6000 Desktop Series" or "5X25 / 5X75 Half-step Series", the AM5 versions would still have the overall advantage of faster DDR5 speeds as those mature, and extra future-proofing now that storage is getting onboard the bandwidth PCIe train with ever faster R/W speeds, and with GPUs slowly following behind (whether it's mandatory like the low-end Radeons reliant on hard-wired 8x 4.0 or future 5.0, or optional).
Otherwise, like you said, it could result in a mixed Zen3/Zen4 offering on AM4, similar to how there was some oddball mixed Zen1+ and Zen2 in AMD's earlier Ryzen offerings (some of the earlier APUs when they were a version behind, and one of the more recent Mobile versions; with older Zen2 on Even-Numbers (400/600/800) and Zen3 on Odd-Numbers (500/700/900)).
So i can see the arguments for and against this rumor.
But again, the benefits of DDR5 are becoming apparent (at least for Intel), faster than any other RAM transition I can remember.
The crazy part is i can actually see it as possible, with the modular design of their CPU's and their new push for backwards compatibility both technical support and motivation seem to be there
So top-end Zen4 is unlikely on AM4.
I can envision something like this:
- Zen 4 plus different I/O die for DDR4/AM4
- targeting platform cost unreachable by 7xxx DDR5
- naming could be 6xxx as that would show it's tier below 7xxx
- likewise no confusion with existing Zen3 lineup, as only laptops have 6xxx
- most probably without iGPU same as current high end AM4
But I do expect this as sort of half-gen to help the transition, and I do hope that AM5 will get R3 and APUs before Q2 2023, otherwise Intel will stomp all over them. They HAVE to have a response to next gen Intel across the range, because they already lack proper response for Alder Lake in some segments, and Raptor Lake will be hard to counter with just 4 SKUs in 7xxx series and trying to plug holes with 5xxx (desktop) and 6xxx (laptop) against even a minor revision let alone a good showing of Raptor Lake.
Well, just 2 more months until full reveal, or so they say :)
I don't think AMD wants to discontinue B550 just yet, with the sheer ease BIOS flashing new CPU support onto older boards these days, they can keep B550 alive longer instead of trying to make a B650/A620 out of the gates
While we're at it why not sell 96c/128t TR for 2k, after all dreams cost nothing :laugh: