AMD Zen 6 Powers "Medusa Point" Mobile and "Olympic Ridge" Desktop Processors

[john_]

Good to see AMD trying to defend it's market share with something like a 12 core CCD and an RDNA4 iGPU. Intel could make a come back with it's 18A processors, if that node is working, while having again an advantage in CPU core count. An advantage that will be huge considering they and OEMs will be advertising up to 52 cores. We know that OEMs love Intel and it's fabs, so we can expect them to throw all their marketing advertising cores, many cores. AMD needs to remain the option for gamers and Ryzen needs to remain the option of choice for those who know a thing or two about CPUs. The average Joe will rush to buy the OEM system with the most cores anyway.
Good to see RDNA4 and hope it offers at least 4-8 GPU cores because Intel is becoming competitive in graphics, especially integrated graphics. Also an NPU of 50+ TOPS is a necessity now that Microsoft tries to push Windows on ARM in cooperation with Qualcomm and soon Mediatek/Nvidia.

 

[Jtuck9]

Also an NPU of 50+ TOPS is a necessity now that Microsoft tries to push Windows on ARM in cooperation with Qualcomm and soon Mediatek/Nvidia.

Doesn't that still pale in comparison to a modern GPU? Which supposedly will support the AI functions in Windows at some point. Would be interested to see the implementation on a desktop machine. I wonder if they could use AI for better scheduling on dual CCDs for example?

 

[JWNoctis]

Good to see AMD trying to defend it's market share with something like a 12 core CCD and an RDNA4 iGPU. Intel could make a come back with it's 18A processors, if that node is working, while having again an advantage in CPU core count. An advantage that will be huge considering they and OEMs will be advertising up to 52 cores. We know that OEMs love Intel and it's fabs, so we can expect them to throw all their marketing advertising cores, many cores. AMD needs to remain the option for gamers and Ryzen needs to remain the option of choice for those who know a thing or two about CPUs. The average Joe will rush to buy the OEM system with the most cores anyway.
Good to see RDNA4 and hope it offers at least 4-8 GPU cores because Intel is becoming competitive in graphics, especially integrated graphics. Also an NPU of 50+ TOPS is a necessity now that Microsoft tries to push Windows on ARM in cooperation with Qualcomm and soon Mediatek/Nvidia.

I somewhat doubt it is mostly about Intel making a comeback at this point, but x86 remaining relevant in its current form, and not falling by the wayside like 68k and Power did in the personal computing segment.

 

[john_]

Doesn't that still pale in comparison to a modern GPU? Which supposedly will support the AI functions in Windows at some point. Would be interested to see the implementation on a desktop machine. I wonder if they could use AI for better scheduling on dual CCDs for example?

That "at some point", when talking about good support of AMD hardware on Windows systems, usually translates to
- after Nvidia or Intel support
or
- in a few years

AMD will lose sales and it will damage the Ryzen brand if they decide to cheap out on the NPU because "people will use the GPU" or "people don't care yet about an NPU".
Their RX 7000 series, in my opinion, wasn't a success because they thought that "people don't care yet about RT performance".

 

[Tek-Check]

Ryzen 5 11600X 8 cores
Ryzen 7 11709X 12 cores
Ryzen 9 11900X 16 cores
Ryzen 9 11950X 24 cores

I'd like to see new SKUs, now that there are more cores to play with.

Ryzen 4 11400X 6 cores
Ryzen 5 11500X 8 cores
Ryzen 6 11600X 10 cores
Ryzen 7 11700X 12 cores
Ryzen 8 11800X 16 cores
Ryzen 9 11900X 20 cores
Ryzen 10 11960X 24 cores

 

[Jtuck9]

That "at some point", when talking about good support of AMD hardware on Windows systems, usually translates to
- after Nvidia or Intel support
or
- in a few years

AMD will lose sales and it will damage the Ryzen brand if they decide to cheap out on the NPU because "people will use the GPU" or "people don't care yet about an NPU".
Their RX 7000 series, in my opinion, wasn't a success because they thought that "people don't care yet about RT performance".

I think when the NPUs were announced, Strix Halo might have been the context, they mentioned desktop support, so its supposedly been on their mind since then. I'm more intrigued by what it brings to the "desktop experience".

AMD Reiterates Belief that 2025 is the Year of the AI PC

AI PC capabilities have evolved rapidly in the two years since AMD introduced the first x86 AI PC CPUs at CES 2023. New neural processing units have debuted, pushing available performance from a peak of 10 AI TOPS at the launch of the AMD Ryzen 7 7840U processor to peak 50+ TOPS on the latest...

www.techpowerup.com

The idea of AI noise cancellation intrigues me if it offers real time active cancellation. Generally, not specific to the "desktop experience".

 

[john_]

I somewhat doubt it is mostly about Intel making a comeback at this point, but x86 remaining relevant in its current form, and not falling by the wayside like 68k and Power did in the personal computing segment.

Intel needs to make a come back to keep x86 relevant. Because with their huge fab capacity they can warranty strong supply to big OEMs, meaning big OEMs will keep building mostly x86 systems. But those systems need to have CPUs made with manufacturing competitive to TSMC's best. I mean a working 18A node. Intel's offerings can't remain competitive when made on 7nm and Intel, as anybody else, can't have unlimited capacity from TSMC to cover OEM needs. So, if Intel fails to have a working 18A node, Qualcomm and later other ARM SOC manufacturers/designers will find an opening. OEMs will start making more and more ARM based systems to cover the consumer needs if Intel's 18A fails to become a valid process for mass production.

 

[Contra]

An advantage that will be huge considering they and OEMs will be advertising up to 52 cores.

You better stop fantasizing about this in public) Intel has huge problems with output on its processes. And what you are talking about is impossible without upgrading the architecture, unless you want to say that such a chip will consume 600+ W from the socket. As you know, changing the process and architecture at the same time is too difficult. Especially for Intel. There are no precedents. The first chips expected with 18A maximum will be a limited supply of low-power systems like Lunar Lake / Panther Lake. At the very least, there will be no release at all and all this will turn out to be an outright lie, like 20A for Arrow Lake - this is real precedent.

 

[Space Lynx]

Well, I paid $196 for my brand new 7800x3d, so I guess I will upgrade to Zen 6 x3d on launch day and sell my 7800x3d for like $170, and slot it in same mobo. Since it is a gen 5nvme and gen5 pcie slot, I will slot in a graphics card upgrade whenever 2nm or 3nm node gpu's arrive in 2-4 years. Excellent.

 

[Zach_01]

They could go x960 for 24cores, x950 for 16-20cores, x900 for 12-16cores, x800 for 8-12cores and who knows how low this CCD can go.
If yields are good enough we may not see 6core variation.

 

[Wirko]

If yields are good enough we may not see 6core variation.

That's if they want to leave up the entire OEM market to Intel without a fight.

They could go x960 for 24cores, x950 for 16-20cores, x900 for 12-16cores, x800 for 8-12cores and who knows how low this CCD can go.

As for the naming scheme, AMD will ask their AI for advice and the AI will spit out some random long name which includes "AI", possibly twice, and has some 3-digit number, seemingly unimportant, hidden near the end. Good instinct, right?

 

[Denver]

Well, I paid $196 for my brand new 7800x3d, so I guess I will upgrade to Zen 6 x3d on launch day and sell my 7800x3d for like $170, and slot it in same mobo. Since it is a gen 5nvme and gen5 pcie slot, I will slot in a graphics card upgrade whenever 2nm or 3nm node gpu's arrive in 2-4 years. Excellent.

Who did you steal? I've never seen the 7800x3d even close to that price. @-@

 

[Space Lynx]

Who did you steal? I've never seen the 7800x3d even close to that price. @-@

bro, you have a lot to learn about Microcenter and the parties they throw.

[US] - Ryzen 7800x3d $196 with bundle at Microcenter

add Mobo and ram of your choice to cart. and price will automatically change on CPU. Microcenter just price adjusted me too since I just picked mine up two days ago.

www.techpowerup.com

also, my apologies to the e-core dude in post three of that thread, I did not expect Intel to fall so hard at the time.

 

[Zach_01]

That's if they want to leave up the entire OEM market to Intel without a fight.

No argument there. Let me rephrase that…

“If yields are good enough we may not see 6core variation for desktop DIY market. At least not in the beginning for like 1-2 years until they have enough stock of scrap silicon”.

Maybe they have APUs only for OEM market?

 

[AusWolf]

Finally, something interesting on the CPU front!

No point to damage the Ryzen 9 name with 12 cores, more likely

Ryzen 5 11600X 8 cores
Ryzen 7 11709X 12 cores
Ryzen 9 11900X 16 cores
Ryzen 9 11950X 24 cores

Maybe finally new Ryzen 3 with 6 cores?

I hope they'll change the naming scheme, though, and not follow Intel's idiocy with the 10/11 thousand series numbering.

 

[teck]

Q4 2026 RELEASE DATE

 

[chaissunified]

AMD's Zen 6 roadmap resembles a dazzling PowerPoint fireworks show - spectacular at first glance, but upon closer inspection, it's just recycled pyrotechnics. The mobile "Medusa" platform's forced 12-core chiplet design makes us wonder: since when did AMD think laptops are Transformers? Even TSMC's sweet 3nm process can't cure chiplet's congenital defects in mobile - power consumption and latency constraints aren't magically solved by brute-force core stacking.

The desktop "Olympus" platform's obsession with Samsung 4LPP IOD is laughable, as if AMD forgot their chipsets' notorious space heater heritage. Promising DDR5-10000 memory support while current AM5 boards crawl through POST like arthritic tortoises? Priorities, people.

The 12-core CCX with 48MB L3 cache looks impressive on spec sheets, but exposes AMD's core-count cult mentality - cache contention and cross-core scheduling will have gamers riding frametime rollercoasters. That "low-latency" inter-CCD bridge? Just another band-aid for their multi-die Frankenstein architecture. Intel's ring bus has become muscle memory, while AMD still forces threads to detour through memory suburbs.

RDNA 4 iGPUs maxing out at 16 CUs? Xe-LPG is chuckling behind its architectural diagrams. XDNA 2 NPU's 50TOPS flex might satisfy Microsoft's Copilot+ checkbox warriors, but consumers aren't lining up to pay for speculative AI vaporware. And mobile 3D V-Cache? Let's just say we're pre-ordering cooling pads for these thermal nightmares.

Dragging AM5 into Zen6 era reeks of AMD's socket-change phobia. The "future-proof" AM4 magic now struggles in DDR5/PCIe5 currents. Truth is, Zen6 looks like Zen5 leftovers reheated in a 3nm microwave with AI seasoning. When served, expect the classic AMD special: "Specsheet hero, real-world zero" performance theater.

 

[Frick]

“If yields are good enough we may not see 6core variation for desktop DIY market. At least not in the beginning for like 1-2 years until they have enough stock of scrap silicon”.

Fine as long as the higher core stuff actually replaces the hexacores in pricing, but I assume that will not happen and that the base Zen6 stuff will cost even more than the Zen5 stuff (which is about €300).

 

[Aretak]

Someone mentioned that they have CUDIMM working on an ASUS X870E board at over 8000 (in bypass mode). So it will be interesting to see what happens once you add a ZEN 6 processor into the mix.

Intel's chances of winning drastic go down.

 

[Zach_01]

Fine as long as the higher core stuff actually replaces the hexacores in pricing, but I assume that will not happen and that the base Zen6 stuff will cost even more than the Zen5 stuff (which is about €300).

Depends on what they will call Ryzen 5, 7... and so.
Or they will change it completely just like Intel did. But they still have the 9, 7, 5 designation so AMD also "needs" that too I guess.

 

[Chrispy_]

Nobody seems to have mentioned yet that these are still rumours and MLID had someone knock up these renders based on their own info source(s) only.

MLID is quite often accurate since he does seem to genuinely have a lot of industry contacts, but this is still very much rumour/guesswork territory rather than a leak.

 

[JustBenching]

Freaking finally. Gimme 12cores + 3d cache on one CCD and 8 Zen 6c cores on the 2nd CCD, ill be happy. God bless you

 

[john_]

You better stop fantasizing about this in public) Intel has huge problems with output on its processes. And what you are talking about is impossible without upgrading the architecture, unless you want to say that such a chip will consume 600+ W from the socket. As you know, changing the process and architecture at the same time is too difficult. Especially for Intel. There are no precedents. The first chips expected with 18A maximum will be a limited supply of low-power systems like Lunar Lake / Panther Lake. At the very least, there will be no release at all and all this will turn out to be an outright lie, like 20A for Arrow Lake - this is real precedent.

You better change the way you post. Try to be less aggressive and less arrogant thinking that you are correct and the other person "fantasizing in public".
Also if you want to lecture someone, try to quote the whole post, not cut most of that post and then repost what the other person already posted as your own argument.

I wouldn't lose time replying to you about your... arguments that are mostly predictions and opinions that favor your fantasy..

As for the naming scheme, AMD will ask their AI for advice and the AI will spit out some random long name which includes "AI", possibly twice, and has some 3-digit number, seemingly unimportant, hidden near the end. Good instinct, right?

Probably they will copy the current Ryzen AI Max name. I believe next series will be Ryzen AI Max 400, not just for laptops but also desktops, to stay ahead of Intel.
AMD keeps coping the naming format from Intel and Nvidia believing that a similar naming with higher numbers will give them the edge in the eyes of the average consumer who knows close to nothing about CPUs. And it's not only AMD that does it. Intel abandoned the Core i naming after 15 years to copy Apple's naming.

 

[Wirko]

Maybe they have APUs only for OEM market?

Yes, that's possible. But whatever AMD has in its collective mind, I somehow expect them to start making an additional, smaller version of the 12-core CCD, one with 8 or 6 cores. Large cores, not "c", and without the 3D option. The smaller die could go into CPUs and APUs with 4-8 cores. The marginal cost of development, simulation, verification etc. should be low enough to make it worthwhile. It's what Intel did with the 6+0 Alder Lake chip.

 

[Punkenjoy]

The dies that had more than 25% of cores disabled (so a 6 core CPU on a 8 core CCD) were on very volume as they were binned chips. Why selling a perfectly working 8 core or 6 core chip as a 4 core ?


I bet it would be the same on Zen 6 if they can. Having a lot of less than 8 cores volumes would probably mean they have a lot of defect.

There is way more chance that the Mid range is 1 full CCD, then we might have 1 or 2 sku bellow that are sold in volume, probably 10 and 8 cores. I wouldn't be surprised if there is just 1 really available in volume.

Same thing for 2 CCD system.

Also remember that if this leak is true, the CCD and I/O die are on silicon instead of on substrate. This mean an increase in manufacturing cost. The tradeoff is they would be able to deliver much improved performance for CCD to IOD communication. That mean the margin on a low core count CPU aimed at the lower end will probably be very low or unprofitable.