AMD today announced the much-awaited 2nd generation Ryzen quad-core socket AM4 processors, in addition to two new E-series (energy-efficient) variants of its existing processor models. To begin with, the company announced the 4-core/8-thread Ryzen 5 2500X and the 4-core/4-thread Ryzen 3 2300X.

Unlike their predecessors that are carved out of the "Summit Ridge" silicon by disabling 2 cores per compute complex or CCX (2+2 CCX config), the 2500X and 2300X feature a 4+0 config, or an entire CCX in the "Pinnacle Ridge" silicon being disabled. This also means that the 2500X has just 8 MB of L3 cache (its predecessor has 16 MB). The 2300X is clocked at 3.50 GHz with 4.00 GHz boost, while the 2500X ticks at 3.60 GHz with 4.00 GHz boost. The TDP of both chips is rated at 65W.

AMD also released the "E" brand extension for its 2nd generation Ryzen series, with the new Ryzen 5 2600E, and the Ryzen 7 2700E. Both these chips sacrifice clock speeds for an impressive 45W TDP. The 2600E is clocked at 3.10 GHz, with 4.00 GHz (compared to 3.60 GHz ~ 4.20 GHz of the 2600X); while the 2700E ticks at 2.80 GHz, with 4.00 GHz boost (compared to 3.70 GHz ~ 4.30 GHz of the 2700X). The company didn't reveal pricing of the four chips.

Lenovo put up an updated specs sheet of its ThinkCentre M725 small form-factor desktop, with more processor options. Notable additions to these include the upcoming AMD Ryzen 3 2300X and Ryzen 5 2500X quad-core socket AM4 processors. The two chips succeed the 1300X and 1500X, respectively, and are designed to capture sub-$150 price-points, competing with Intel's Core i3 "Coffee Lake" quad-core processor series. It's rumored that the 2300X could even be priced close to the $100-mark, making it competitive with the i3-8100, while the 2500X could be priced competitively with the i3-8300.

AMD is giving these quad-core chips all its innovations it can muster to make them competitive with Intel's chips - the two feature unlocked base-clock multipliers, Precision Boost (Intel's Core i3 chips lack Turbo Boost), and XFR 2.0, which automatically overclock beyond the max boost frequencies. You also get the latest Precision Boost 2.0 algorithm that ensures each of the four cores gets varying degrees of boost clocks. Based on the 12 nm "Pinnacle Ridge" die, the two chips feature a 2+2 CCX configuration. The 2300X has 4 MB of L3 cache enabled per CCX (8 MB total), while the 2500X gives you the full 8 MB per CCX L3 cache, for a total of 16 MB. TDP of both chips are rated at 65W, and AMD could bundle the Wraith Stealth cooler with the two.

As AMD is moving closer towards completing its staggered Ryzen 2000 series' launch, first benchmarks and silicon photos have surfaced. AMD's Ryzen 3 2300X is a quad-core solution that leverages the Zen+ architecture on the 12 nm process, improving performance and power consumption over the original Ryzen 3 1300X. Alongside the new CPU line, AMD is also expected to refresh its chipset offerings, with a revised B450 superseding the B350 chipset - though users can drop in their Ryzen 2000 series processors on 300-series chipsets, provided they have the adequate BIOS already installed.

The Ryzen 3 2300X, paired with a BIOSTAR X370 motherboard, was put through its paces under CPU-Z (where it scored 509 and 2020 points in the single and multi-thread benchmarks respectively), as well as in Cinebench (where it scored 690 points). The 2300X can seemingly boost up to 4.2 GHz without any manual overclocking from its 3.5 GHz base clock - an improvement of around 500 MHz in the XFR-enabled boost over its predecessor, which only hit 3.7 GHz.

It looks like AMD has some more Ryzen 2000 models coming out soon. Two benchmark runs were posted to Geekbench showing off the capabilities of these two new processors.

The Ryzen 3 2300X runs at 3.5 GHz base, with turbo reaching up to 4.0 GHz. It comes with four cores and four threads, ie it lacks SMT. This is slightly surprising as all Ryzen 2000 non-APU processors so far came with SMT enabled to double their thread count. The Ryzen 5 2500X on the other hand does feature SMT and a higher base clock of 3.6 GHz. Highest turbo is set to 4.0 GHz too. Both processors feature the X suffix, which means Precision Boost and XFR is available, to boost the processor's operating frequency to the highest clock possible depending on load and cooling capabilities.

AMD inadvertently put out model numbers of several Ryzen processor model numbers, before redacting the page with them. They reveal pretty much AMD's entire second wave of Ryzen 2000 series processors. To begin with, AMD will finally introduce Ryzen 3 series desktop processor SKUs based on the 12 nm "Pinnacle Ridge" silicon, with the new Ryzen 3 2100 (YD210BC6M2OFB) and the Ryzen 3 2300X (YD230XBBM4KAF). The Ryzen 3 2000 series includes quad-core parts without SMT. Since the Ryzen 3 2100 lacks integrated graphics, it end-user model numbering below the Ryzen 3 2200G. The Ryzen 3 2300X succeeds the Ryzen 3 1300X covering AMD's entry-level lineup.

The Ryzen 5 2000 series is augmented by the Ryzen 5 2500X (YD250XBBM4KAF). This likely 4-core/8-thread chip could feature higher clock speeds and L3 cache amount than the Ryzen 5 2400G, justifying its model number, despite the lack of integrated graphics. AMD's Ryzen Threadripper 2000 series are multi-chip modules of the 12 nm "Pinnacle Ridge" die, and AMD has three models in store, the Ryzen Threadripper 2900X (YD290XA8U8QAF), Ryzen Threadripper 2920X (YD292XA8UC9AF), and the top-dog Ryzen Threadripper 2950X (YD295XA8UGAAF), succeeding the TR-1900X, TR-1920X, and TR-1950X. Like the rest of the Ryzen 2000-series, the three new Threadripper chips could feature increased clocks and new features from "Zen+" to hold onto the existing price-points, and turn up the heat on Intel SKUs priced above $999, such as the 12-core i9-7920X, or even the 16-core i9-7960X.