AMD is looking to launch a substantial lineup of HEDT and workstation processors before the end of 2021, based on its latest "Zen 3" microarchitecture. These processors are categorized in two distinct lines—the Ryzen Threadripper 5000X targeting HEDTs, and the Ryzen Threadripper Pro 5000WX targeting workstations. Both are based on different sockets, sTRX4 and sWRX8, respectively, with the latter featuring 8-channel DDR4 memory, compared to the former's 4-channel. Two Ryzen Threadripper Pro 5000WX series chips surfaced on the Milky Way@Home distributed computing database, the 5945WX and 5995WX.

The application identifies the 5945WX as a 12-core/24-thread processor, while the 5995WX is the top-dog 64-core/128-thread part. AMD maintains lower core-count Threadrippers to target the section of the market that seeks I/O capabilities over core-counts (memory bandwidth, a large number of PCIe lanes supporting NVMe RAID or multiple AIC compute accelerators, etc,). The lower core counts also come with higher CPU clock-speeds, benefiting less-parallelized applications. At this point it's not known if the Threadripper 5000 family features the conventional "Zen 3" CCD chiplet, or the new "Zen 3+" chiplets with 64 MB 3D Vertical Cache (3DV cache), but the company is planning to monetize the new chiplet across its EPYC enterprise line as the additional cache benefits certain applications with large streaming data-sets. It's conceivable that the Threadripper Pro series could benefit from 3DV cache, too.

AMD CEO Dr Lisa Su, in the company's Q2-2021 financial results call, confirmed that the company is on-track to launch the Zen 4 CPU microarchitecture and RDNA3 graphics architecture, in 2022. Zen 4 would herald the first major desktop platform change since the original Zen architecture, with the introduction of a new CPU socket, and support for DDR5 memory. The RDNA3 graphics architecture, meanwhile, is expected to nearly triple SIMD resources over the previous generation, and introduce even more fixed-function hardware for raytracing.

In the meantime, AMD is preparing a counter to Intel's 12th Gen Core "Alder Lake-S" processor, in the form of Zen 3 with 3D Vertical Cache, which is also being referred to as the Zen 3+ architecture. These processors feature additional last-level cache, and the company claims a 15% gaming performance uplift, which should help it close the gaming performance gap with Intel, and win on sheer core-count of its big cores. It remains to be seen if Zen 3+ remains on Socket AM4 or if it debuts AM5, as AMD will be under pressure to match "Alder Lake" in platform I/O, which includes DDR5. Dr Su also confirmed that AMD has started shipping the Instinct MI200 "Aldebaran" compute accelerator based on the CDNA2 architecture. AMD's first MCM GPU with two logic dies, "Aldebaran" takes the fight to NVIDIA's top A100 series compute accelerators, and has already scored wins with ongoing HPC/supercomputing projects.

AMD via its official YouTube has shared a video that goes into slightly more detail on their usage of V-Cache on the upcoming Zen 3+ CPUs. Firstly demoed to the public on AMD's Computex 2021 event, the 3D V-Cache leverages TSMC's SoIC stacking technology, which enables silicon developments along the Z axis, instead of the more usual footprint increase along the X axis. The added 3D V-Cache, which was shown in Computex as being deployed in a prototype Ryzen 9 5900X 12-core CPU, adds 64 MB of L3 cache to each CCX (the up-to-eight-cores core complex on AMD's latest Zen design), basically tripling the amount of L3 cache available for the CPU. This, in turn, was shown to increase FPS in games quite substantially (somewhere around 15%), as games in particular are sensitive to this type of CPU resources.

The added information explains that there is no usage of microbumps - instead, there is a perfect alignment between the bottom layer (with the CCX) and the top layer (the L3 cache) which enables the bonding process to occur naturally via the TSVs (Through Silicon Vias) already present in the silicon, in a zero-gap manner, between both halves of the CPU-cache sandwich. To enable this, AMD flipped the CCX upside down (the core complex now faces the bottom of the chip, instead of the top), shaved 95% of the silicon on top of the upside-down core complexes, and then attaches the 3D V-Cache chips on top of this formation. This also has the added bonus of decreasing the distance between the L3 cache and the CCX (the distance between both in the Z axis is around 1,000 times smaller than if the L3 cache was deployed in the classical X axis), which decreases power consumption, temperatures, and latency, allowing for further increases to system performance. Look after the break for the full video.

AMD is expected to debut its next-generation "Zen 4" microarchitecture and RDNA3 graphics architectures around the same time, in 2022, according to internal company roadmaps seen by Broly_X1 on Twitter, who has leaked AMD roadmaps before. The "Zen 4" microarchitecture in particular sees AMD debut processors based on the 5 nm silicon fabrication process, and the company's first implementation of an EUV node. With "Zen 4" in 2022, the company could target a so-called "Zen 3+" microarchitecture launch later in 2021, which combines the "Zen 3" CCD with 64 MB of 3D Vertical Cache, a feature that enables a 15% gaming performance uplift, the company claims.

The RDNA3 graphics architecture could see a greater deal of effort toward improving real-time raytracing performance, with more fixed-function hardware dedicated to raytracing. The architecture could see an even bigger generational performance uplift than the one seen between RDNA and RDNA2, according to a PCGamesN report. Across the fence, "Zen 4" and RDNA3 will be squaring off against Intel's "Meteor Lake" and NVIDIA's "ADA Lovelace" architectures, respectively. RDNA3 finishes tape-out toward the end of 2021, as the 5 nm EUV node is already available to AMD for prototyping.

AMD CEO Dr Lisa Su takes centerstage to demonstrate the latest from AMD. These include announcements from nearly all of the company's business lines, including Ryzen processors, EPYC enterprise processors, Radeon graphics, and more.02:14 UTC: AMD is all about high-performance - Dr Su02:15 UTC: Nearly 100 EPYC based server solutions, and over 400 EPYC-powered cloud instances, by 2022

AMD's second processor microarchitecture on the Socket AM5 platform, the Ryzen 7000 "Raphael," could introduce a 20% IPC gain over its predecessor, according to a report by Moore's Law is Dead. The processor debuts the company's "Zen 4" microarchitecture, which clocks IPC gains over the rumored "Zen 3+" microarchitecture that the Ryzen 6000 "Rembrandt" processor debuts with, on Socket AM5. The upper limit of AMD's core-counts appear to remain at 16-core for the flagship part. With "Zen 4" CCDs (8-core chiplets) being built on 5 nm, the source predicts a 50% performance/Watt gain. The chips could also introduce AVX-512 support. The Ryzen "Raphael" processor is due for 2022.

AMD's roadmap for notebook processors from 2020 - 2022 has recently been leaked and it reveals some interesting information for the launch of Zen 3+ and Navi 2. AMD will release the Rembrandt "H" series for mobile workstations in 2022 manufactured on the 6nm node with Navi 2 graphics and a Zen 3+ core design. These chips will include PCIe 4.0, LPDDR5/DDR5, and USB 4 support and will come with a power target of 45 W while a 15 W lineup of U series processors will also be released with identical specifications. The roadmap also shows the launch of Dragon Crest processors for tablets and handheld devices in 2022 with Navi 2 graphics and Zen 2 core designs. AMD is also set to launch the Barcelo "U" series for ultrathin laptops with very similar specifications to Cezanne "U".