As we explained in our older article about the new ASUS ROG Crosshair XII Dark Hero, AMD's Ryzen 5000 series Socket AM4 processors based on the "Zen 3" microarchitecture are unlikely to be accompanied by a new chipset, presenting motherboard makers with the opportunity to refresh their AMD 500-series chipset product stacks with new products. ASUS has a new premium product based on the AMD X570, in the form of the ROG Crosshair VIII Dark Hero. The company also unveiled a premium product based on the AMD B550 chipset—the ROG Strix B550-XE Gaming. While the Dark Hero is an incremental upgrade over the original Crosshair VIII Hero while retaining the PCB design, this particular board appears to be largely based on the ROG Strix B550-E Gaming.

ASUS has traditionally used the "XE" brand extension for ROG Strix series motherboard refreshes to denote improved CPU VRM, and this appears to be the case with the B550-XE Gaming, too. The board features a meatier 16-phase CPU VRM, with a more elaborate VRM cooling solution that uses larger heatsinks, which are interconnected by a flat heat-pipe, and unless we're mistaken, a 40 mm fan underneath the rear I/O shroud. The rest of the board's feature-set appears to be identical to that of the B550-E Gaming.

AMD is expected to announce its 5th Gen Ryzen Socket AM4 processors based on the "Zen 3" microarchitecture later today, and it's rumored that these chips will not be accompanied by a new chipset. Motherboard vendors aren't missing the opportunity to refresh their product-stacks with new boards based on existing AMD X570 and B550 chipsets. ASUS has a new premium Socket AM4 product in the works, the ROG Crosshair VIII Dark Hero. We know this board is based on the X570 from its unchanged generation number "VIII," for this chipset.

From what we can tell, the ROG Crosshair VIII Dark Hero is based on an identical PCB design to the original Crosshair VIII Hero/WiFi. The changes appear to be cosmetic, with all of the board's heatsink design and color schemes aligning with the company's latest ROG generation (eg: the Maximus XII Hero). Another interesting spot by our readers is that the board lacks a chipset fan, and makes do with passive cooling for the X570. Dark, diagonal ridges replace the smooth brushed metal with chrome-like accents of the original. It remains to be seen if the new wave of AM4 motherboards come with out-of-the-box support for Ryzen 5000 series, since the data-sheet for the Dark Hero only mentions 2nd- and 3rd-Gen Ryzen chips. In any case, the board supports USB BIOS Flashback, and all AMD 500-series chipset motherboards are expected to receive Ryzen 5000 support through BIOS updates.Update 12:32 UTC: ASUS mentions the two key areas of development for the Dark Hero are a completely fanless chipset cooling solution, and the use of 90 A DrMOS in the CPU VRM (compared to 60 A on the original).

AMD earlier today made public its YouTube live-stream link for its next-generation Ryzen desktop processor. Its title reads "Where Gaming Begins | AMD Ryzen 5000 Series Desktop Processors." This confirms the Ryzen 5000 series nomenclature for the company's Socket AM4 desktop processors based on the "Zen 3" architecture, based on a multi-chip module codenamed "Vermeer." This would effectively make these chips "5th Generation Ryzen." Rumors of the 5000 series nomenclature first surfaced in mid-September, when the running theory was that with the "Zen 2" based "Renoir" taking up many of the model numbers in the 4000 series (eg: 4700G, 4750G, etc.,) AMD would want to segment its next-generation chips in a higher number series. The AMD Ryzen 5000 series "Zen 3" launch event is set to go live in under 13 hours from now.

Intel VP and GM of Client Computing Group Desktop, Workstations and Gaming, John Bonini, in a Medium blog post renewed the company's commitment to gaming, by announcing the tentative launch timeline of the company's next-generation Core desktop processors. The 11th Gen Intel Core "Rocket Lake" processors will launch in Q1-2021. "I'm also happy to confirm that the next generation 11th Gen Intel Core desktop processors (codenamed "Rocket Lake") is coming in the first quarter of 2021 and will provide support for PCIe 4.0. It'll be another fantastic processor for gaming, and we're excited to disclose more details in the near future," he said.

It's important to note the timing of this post. AMD later today (8th October) will announce its next-generation Ryzen processors based on the "Zen 3" microarchitecture, and is widely expected to push the IPC envelope even further. This would mean that from the near-parity AMD enjoys with Intel's "Skylake" based "Comet Lake" processor, AMD would begin to achieve a clear IPC lead over Intel for the first time in over 15 years. An alleged Intel 500-series chipset motherboard launch-related slide leaked earlier this week pins the chipset's launch in mid-March 2021. Given that Intel tends to launch new processors and chipsets in tandem, this would possibly put the launch of "Rocket Lake" toward the very end of Q1-2021. "Rocket Lake" is expected to introduce Intel's first IPC gains in the desktop segment since 2015. The chips use new "Cypress Cove" CPU cores, which are a 14 nm backport of "Willow Cove."

With AMD expected to announce its 5th Generation Ryzen "Vermeer" desktop processors next week, the rumor-mill is grinding the finest spices. This time, an alleged CPU-Z Bench score of a 12-core/24-thread Ryzen 9 5900X processor surfaced. CPU-Z by CPUID has a lightweight internal benchmark that evaluates the single-threaded and multi-threaded performance of the processor, and provides reference scores from a selection of processors for comparison. The alleged 5900X sample is shown belting out a multi-threaded (nT) score of 9481.8 points, and single-threaded (1T) score of 652.8 points.

When compared to the internal reference score by CPUID for the Ryzen 7 3700X 8-core/16-thread processor, which is shown with 511 points 1T and 5433 points nT, the alleged 5900X ends up with a staggering 27% higher 1T score, and a 74% higher nT score. While the nT score is largely attributable to the 50% higher core-count, the 1T score is interesting. We predict that besides possibly higher clock-speeds for the 5900X, the "Zen 3" microarchitecture does offer a certain amount of IPC gain over "Zen 2" to account for the 27%. AMD's IPC parity with Intel is likely to tilt in its favor with "Zen 3," until Intel can whip something up with its "Cypress Cove" CPU cores on the 14 nm "Rocket Lake-S" processor.

There's been much chatter in the social media about a new piece of AMD APU silicon, codenamed "Lucienne." It's being rumored that "Lucienne" is a refresh of the current-generation "Renoir" silicon, and is an APU with eight "Zen 2" CPU cores and eight "Vega" NGCUs. One of the first SKUs based on the die is the Ryzen 7 5700U, which surfaced on the AoTS benchmark database.

The 5700U is possibly a 15 W ultra-portable processor, and according to the AoTS benchmark screenshot, it comes with an 8-core/16-thread CPU (the 4700U is 8-core/8-thread). The addition of SMT helps the 5700U shore up much of its performance lead over the 4700U. It also turns out that the Ryzen 5000 will see two APU dies driving AMD's product-stack, with "Lucienne" powering the Ryzen 5 5500U and Ryzen 7 5700U; while the newer "Cezanne" die, which introduces "Zen 3" CPU cores, powers the Ryzen 5 5600U and the Ryzen 7 5800U.

AMD is allegedly preparing to market its next-generation Socket AM4 desktop processors based on the "Vermeer" MCM, under the Ryzen 5000 Series. The "Vermeer" MCM implements the company's "Zen 3" microarchitecture in the client segment. It features up to two 7 nm-class CPU complex dies with up to 8 cores, each, and a refreshed cIOD (client IO die). AMD has allegedly improved the cIOD with a new memory controller and several new toggles that improve memory bandwidth. The cIOD combines a PCI-Express Gen 4 root complex with a dual-channel DDR4 memory controller. With "Zen 3," AMD is also introducing an improved boosting algorithm, and an improved SMT feature.

Coming back to AMD's rumored nomenclature, and we could see the company bumping up its processor model numbers to the 5000 series for equivalent core-counts. For example, the Ryzen 9 5900X is a 12-core/24-thread part, much like the 3900X; whereas the Ryzen 7 5800X is an 8-core/16-thread part. This flies in the face of rumors that AMD could take advantage of the 8-core CCX design of the "Zen 3" microarchitecture by carving out 10-core parts using two CCDs with 5 cores enabled, each. The reason AMD is skipping the 4000 series numbering with "Vermeer" probably has something to do with "Renoir" taking up many of the 4000-series model numbers. "Renoir" is based on "Zen 2," and recently made its desktop debut, albeit as an OEM-exclusive. The company is planning to introduce certain 4000G series models to the DIY retail segment. AMD is expected to announce its first "Zen 3" client-segment processors on October 8, 2020.

AMD CEO Dr Lisa Su on Twitter just announced AMD's next-generation Ryzen processors based on the "Zen 3" microarchitecture, and next-generation Radeon RX graphics cards based on the RDNA2 graphics architecture. AMD is promising a "red" October, with next-generation Ryzen "Zen 3" launch on October 8, and next-generation Radeon RDNA2 launch on October 28. We know for sure that AMD is referring to Ryzen and not EPYC, looking at the Socket AM4 MCM animation being used. The teaser picture for Radeon RDNA2 also hints at a new reference cooling solution with large axial fans.

Update 16:54 UTC: In a separate Tweet, AMD announced the Radeon RX 6000 series graphics cards, based on the "breakthrough" RDNA2 graphics architecture.

Yuri "1usmus" Bubliy, author of DRAM Calculator for Ryzen and the upcoming ClockTuner for Ryzen, revealed three pieces of juicy details on the upcoming 4th Gen AMD Ryzen "Vermeer" performance desktop processors. He predicts AMD turning up CPU core counts with this generation, including the introduction of new 10-core SKUs, possibly to one-up Intel in the multi-threaded performance front. Last we heard, AMD's upcoming "Zen 3" CCDs (chiplets) feature 8 CPU cores sharing a monolithic 32 MB slab of L3 cache. This should, in theory, allow AMD to create 10-core chips with two CCDs, each with 5 cores enabled.

Next up, are two features that should interest overclockers - which is Bubliy's main domain. The processors should support a feature called "Curve Optimizer," enabling finer-grained control over the boost algorithm, and on a per-core basis. As we understand, the "curve" in question could even be voltage/frequency. It remains to be seen of the feature is leveraged at a CBS level (UEFI setup program), or by Ryzen Master. Lastly, there's mention of new Infinity Fabric dividers that apparently helps you raise DCT (memory controller) frequencies "slightly higher" in mixed mode. AMD is expected to debut its 4th Gen Ryzen "Vermeer" desktop processors within 2020.

According to a report courtesy of Hardwareluxx, where contributor Andreas Schilling reportedly gained access to OEM documentation, AMD's upcoming EPYC Milan CPUs are bound to offer up to 20% performance improvements over the previous EPYC generation. The report claims a 15% IPC performance, paired with an extra 5% added via operating frequency optimization. The report claims that AMD's 64-core designs will feature a lower-clock all-core operating mode, and a 32-core alternate for less threaded workloads where extra frequency is added to the working cores.

Apparently, AMD's approach for the Zen 3 architecture does away with L3 subdivisions according to CCXs; now, a full 32 MB of L3 cache is available for each 8-core Core Compute Die (CCD). AMD has apparently achieved new levels of frequency optimization under Zen 3, with higher upward frequency limits than before. This will see the most benefits in lower core-count designs, as the amount of heat being generated is necessarily lesser compared to more core-dense designs. Milan keeps the same 7 nm manufacturing tech, DDR4, PCIe 4.0, and 120-225 W TDP as the previous-gen Rome. It remains to be seen how these changes actually translate to the consumer versions of Zen 3, Vermeer, later this year.

ASUS today announced the new A520 chipset motherboards for its TUF Gaming, Prime and Pro series. The AMD A520 chipset is the successor to the A320 chipset, and features PCIe 3.0. Designed to cater to a wide range of needs, these motherboards feature a 32 MB BIOS flash ROM, and support future AMD Ryzen Zen 3 architecture CPUs and APUs.

ASUS A520 motherboards can be paired with an AMD APU to create a budget-friendly gaming rig or workstation, making them ideal for DIY PC users and small to medium-sized businesses. ASUS is also pleased to announce that its R&D team broke the existing world memory frequency record, setting DDR4- 6666 on ROG Strix B550-I Gaming, using the AMD Ryzen 4700GE processor and Crucial Ballistix MAX memory.

A May 2020 report put together with info from multiple sources pointed towards AMD's client-segment product roadmap going as far into the future as 2022. The roadmap was partial, with a few missing bits. VideoCardz attempted to reconstruct the roadmap based on new information from one of the primary sources of the May leak, @MeibuW. According to the roadmap, 2020 will see AMD debut its 4th Gen Ryzen "Vermeer" desktop processors featuring "Zen 3" CPU cores, built on TSMC N7e or N7P silicon fabrication process, and offering PCIe Gen 4. The "Renoir" APU silicon combining up to 8 "Zen 2" CPU cores with a 512-SP "Vega" iGPU debuted on the mobile platform, and recently launched on the desktop platform as an OEM-exclusive. It remains to be seen if AMD launches this in the DIY retail channel.

2021 is when three new codenames from AMD get some air-time. "Warhol" is codename for the 5th Gen Ryzen part that succeeds "Vermeer." Interestingly, it too is shown as a combination of "Zen 3" CPU cores, PCIe Gen 4, and 7 nm. Perhaps AMD could innovate in areas such as DRAM (switch to PC DDR5), and maybe increase core counts. DDR5 could herald a new socket, after 4 years of AM4. The second silicon bound for 2021 is "Van Gogh," an APU that combines "Zen 2" CPU cores with an RDNA2 iGPU. Interestingly, "Cezanne," bound for the same year, has the opposite CPU+iGPU combination - a newer gen "Zen 3" CPU component, and an older gen "Vega" iGPU. The two chips could target different markets, looking at their I/O, with "Van Gogh" supporting LPDDR5 memory.

The leading global motherboard manufacturer, ASRock, proudly introduce the new motherboard lineup for AMD A520 chipset, a new value solution to join the AMD 500 series family. The newly launched ASRock AMD A520 motherboards brought the support of latest AMD 3rd Gen Ryzen Desktop Processors along with stunning performance to the masses.

"At AMD, our goal is to provide every PC user with the most powerful, flexible and reliable user experience across all verticals," said Chris Kilburn, corporate vice president and general manager, client component business unit, AMD. "We are pleased to introduce the AMD A520 chipset, offering a robust platform for the award-winning 3rd Gen Ryzen Desktop Processors alongside a promise for future support of the upcoming "Zen 3" architecture. With creative designs in a range of form factors from Mini-ITX to full size Micro-ATX coupled with an abundance of connectivity options from our partners at ASRock, the A520 chipset will offer a streamlined and trusted platform to satisfy even the most demanding home and office PC users."

GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd, a leading manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards, and hardware solutions, today announced the launch of AMD A520 chipset motherboards primed to unleash the potential of 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen Desktop Processors and planned support for the next-gen Ryzen Desktop Processors. The GIGABYTE A520 motherboards are designed to deliver abundant functions to fulfill all kinds of needs for families and offices. From digital power design which provides the processors and chipset a stable power supplement, to GIGABYTE Ultra Durable technology, GIGABYTE A520 series motherboards deliver users the most delightful PC experience.

GIGABYTE A520 motherboards comprise AORUS and UD series, which provides various size options of ATX, Micro ATX, and the user-favorite mini ITX size in recent years. Enhanced by pure digital PWM components, GIGABYTE A520 motherboards deliver the promise of a stable power supply. The mini motherboard A520I AC which is specially designed for small systems equips Direct 6 Phases Digital VRM Solution with 55A DrMOS, allowing for ultimate performance with a stable and sufficient power supply when overclocking on 3rd Gen AMD Ryzen Desktop Processors.

AMD's 5th Generation Ryzen "Cezanne" APU sprung up on SiSoft SANDRA database, with big hints as to the areas where the company could innovate next. Apparently, "Cezanne" is a very similar silicon to "Renoir." It appears to feature the same iGPU solution, based on the "Vega" architecture. We're now learning that the iGPU even has the same core configuration, with up to 512 stream processors, and a likely bump in iGPU engine clocks over the Ryzen 4000 "Renoir" chips.

Much of the innovation is with the CPU component. Although the CPU core count is not yet known, the company is deploying its "Zen 3" microarchitecture, which sees all cores on the silicon sharing a large common slab of L3 cache. The "Vega" based iGPU should still perform better than the solution on "Renoir," as it's assisted by higher engine clocks, and possibly a higher IPC CPU component. In the SANDRA screenshot, the iGPU was shown bearing 1.85 GHz engine clocks, which amounts to a 100 MHz speed-bump compared to the engine clocks of the Ryzen 4000H and 4000U.

AMD is preparing to launch its next-generation Ryzen 4000 series of desktop processors based on Zen 3 architecture, codenamed Vermeer. Thanks to the sources over at Igor's Lab, we have some new information about the clock speeds of a rumored Ryzen 9 4950X Vermeer model. Featuring 16 cores and 32 threads, the Ryzen 9 4950X is reportedly going to feature boost frequency of at least 4.8 GHz. Given that this is only an engineering sample, the final frequencies could be higher. In the report, the base frequency of the CPU is said to be 3.5 GHz. This is a very good frequency for a CPU that has that many cores. All of this information is coming from decoding the OPN code which states "100-000000059-52_ 48/35 _ Y". The 48 number indicates the boost, and 35 the base frequency. In the previous reports, we got OPN codes "100-000000059-14_46/37_Y" and "100-000000059-15_46/37_N" which suggested 4.6 GHz boost and base of 3.5 GHz, indicating that this is a new stepping.

AMD late Tuesday released its Q2-2020 financial results, which saw the company rake in revenue of $1.93 billion for the quarter, and clock a 26 percent YoY revenue growth. In both its corporate presentation targeted at the financial analysts, and its post-results conference call, AMD revealed a handful interesting bits looking into the near future. Much of the focus of AMD's presentation was in reassuring investors that [unlike Intel] it is promising a stable and predictable roadmap, that nothing has changed on its roadmap, and that it intends to execute everything on time. "Over the past couple of quarters what we've seen is that they see our performance/capability. You can count on us for a consistent roadmap. Milan point important for us, will ensure it ships later this year. Already started engaging people on Zen4/5nm. We feel customers are very open. We feel well positioned," said president and CEO Dr Lisa Su.

For starters, there was yet another confirmation from the CEO that the company will launch the "Zen 3" CPU microarchitecture across both the consumer and data-center segments before year-end, which means both Ryzen and EPYC "Milan" products based on "Zen 3." Also confirmed was the introduction of the RDNA2 graphics architecture across consumer graphics segments, and the debut of the CDNA scalar compute architecture. The company started shipping semi-custom SoCs to both Microsoft and Sony, so they could manufacture their next-generation Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 game consoles in volumes for the Holiday shopping season. Semi-custom shipments could contribute big to the company's Q3-2020 earnings. CDNA won't play a big role in 2020 for AMD, but there will be more opportunities for the datacenter GPU lineup in 2021, according to the company. CDNA2 debuts next year.

AMD Executive VP for Computing and Graphics, Rick Bergman, in a company blog post, confirmed that the first client-segment processors based on the next-gen "Zen 3" microarchitecture will launch within 2020. "So, what's next for AMD in the PC space? Well, I cannot share too much, but I can say our high-performance journey continues with our first "Zen 3" Client processor on-track to launch later this year. I will wrap by saying you haven't seen the best of us yet," Bergman writes, in a blog post detailing AMD's renewed efforts to capture the consumer and commercial desktop segments with the new Ryzen 4000G and Ryzen PRO 4000G processor series launched this Tuesday.

A lot seems to be riding on the success of the Ryzen 4000G and Ryzen PRO 4000G segments, so much so, that the new processors are launched exclusively to the high-volume OEM channel, and will be available only through pre-builts from the likes of Lenovo, HP, and Dell. AMD in a recent press meet revealed that it finds the OEM segment about 5 times the size of the retail DIY segment, and the 4000G-series chips, with their integrated graphics and CPU core-counts of up to 8, are more relevant for pre-builts, at least initially. The company does intent to bring these chips to the DIY retail channel, although it didn't give out any tentative dates. Having launched the Ryzen 4000H and 4000U series mobile processors through 1H-2020, and now 4000G series desktop chips, the company hopes to make a dent with upcoming retail crests such as "Back to School," Black Friday/Cyber Monday, and Holiday. AMD had earlier disclosed in its Ryzen 3000XT press meet that "Zen 3" is coming this year, and earlier this month in a tweet by CEO Dr Lisa Su.

Intel just sent out press invites to what is likely an online media event slated for September 2, 2020. The spells nothing other than a one-liner "We have something big to share..." with the September 2 date. Everyone has a theory as to what this could be, depending on who you ask. The Verge has a valid theory pointing to this being a formal launch of the 11th Gen Core "Tiger Lake" mobile processors on the basis of several notebook manufacturers slating their "Tiger Lake" based notebook launches on "Fall 2020."

We believe this could be a desktop-related unveil, possibly a performance preview or teaser of the company's 11th Gen "Rocket Lake-S" processor. Why September? Because September 2020 is going to be a busy month for AMD and NVIDIA, with both launching their next-gen consumer graphics architectures, product lines; and more interestingly, AMD rumored to launch its "Zen 3" microarchitecture in some shape or form. A Ryzen 4000 "Vermeer" product launch could trigger Intel to at least preview "Rocket Lake-S," as it's the first client-desktop microarchitecture in 5 years to introduce IPC gains on the backs of new "Cypress Cove" CPU cores that are a 14 nm back-port of "Willow Cove." It wouldn't surprise us if Intel shed more light on the performance throughput of its big new Xe graphics processors.

ASUS today announced that the new BIOS with AMD AGESA 1.0.0.2 update for X570 and B550 series motherboards are now available for download. While the existing BIOS support Ryzen 3000XT processors, the new BIOS optimize the performance of the latest AMD Ryzen 3000XT series processors (Ryzen 9 3900XT, Ryzen 7 3800XT, and Ryzen 5 3600XT). The UEFI BIOS updates are available from the respective motherboard support pages, and can be accessed via the ASUS Support website.

In a video message posted on her Twitter timeline, AMD CEO Dr Lisa Su confirmed that the company's next-generation "Zen 3" microarchitecture is coming out "later this year." Speaking in context of 7/7 (a year since AMD debuted high-performance CPU- and GPU- architectures on the same day, leveraging 7 nm), and the Ryzen 3000XT series processor announcement, Dr Su stated "As you know with Ryzen, we're always on a journey, a journey to push the highest performance that we can for our users and our fans. So Zen 3 is exactly that. Zen 3 is looking great in the labs, we're on track to launch later this year, and I can't wait to tell you more about it." Watch the video in the source link below.

The earliest reports on AMD's next-generation "Cezanne" APU silicon pointed at the possibility of the chip combining "Zen 3" CPU cores with a next-generation iGPU solution based on RDNA2 ("Navi 2#"). AMD plans to launch "Cezanne" in 2021, which makes it the immediate successor to "Renoir." A report by Igor's Lab has fresh details on "Cezanne." Apparently the chip sticks with the "Vega" graphics architecture on its iGPU. This doesn't necessarily mean that it's the same exact iGPU as the 8 CU version on "Renoir."

On the other hand, the "Van Gogh" silicon slated for 2021 is expected to receive RDNA2 graphics. It's important to note here that "Van Gogh" and "Cezanne" sit in the same product stack, and "Van Gogh" does not succeed "Cezanne." Rather, it's the codename for an entry-level APU, succeeding "Dali" (Athlon 3000G), which also means the RDNA2-based iGPU will be a lot slimmer than the "Vega" based one on "Cezanne." It's only by 2022 that AMD will have a performance-segment APU with RDNA2-based iGPU, with "Rembrandt." Find our older article getting into AMD's roadmaps here.

AMD in an official briefing call with us confirmed that the company's "Zen 3" client processors are on-track for launch within 2020. This refutes rumors that "Zen 3" based Ryzen processors had been delayed to 2021 in favor of giving the upcoming Ryzen 3000XT reign over the rest of the year. The call was chaired by AMD's client-segment product managers who were speaking purely in context of their product segment, which is how we deduce that they were referring to "Vermeer" and not [just] "Milan." They were responding to speculation that "Zen 3" has been delayed to 2021, forcing AMD to refresh its existing IP.

In the call, AMD told us that the information about "Zen 3" launching in 2020 is not under embargo, and so here we are. An AMD spokesperson told us that "the rumor on Zen 3 delay is inaccurate." AMD recently also refuted rumors of "Zen 3" being based on 5 nm, by putting out microarchitecture roadmap slides on the occasion of a recent investor relations event, which reaffirmed "Zen 3" as a 7 nm-class microarchitecture.

AMD has a lot riding on RDNA2, its first graphics architecture that meets the DirectX 12 Ultimate logo requirements, introducing real-time ray-tracing to the lineup. RDNA2 is confirmed to be part of the SoC that powers next-gen consoles PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. The company is simultaneously readying its own Radeon RX discrete graphics cards based on the Navi 2# silicon, based on RDNA2, with a leading part unofficially called the "Big Navi" given its alleged lofty specs increase over the "Navi 10." Turns out, that this GPU, and not next-gen consoles, will debut RDNA2.

AMD is planning a big gamer-specific event in late-Q3/early-Q4, likely September, where it plans to announce its 4th generation Ryzen desktop processors based on the "Zen 3" microarchitecture, and Radeon RX graphics cards based on RDNA2, including the "Big Navi." Speaking at the Bank of America Securities Global Technology Conference, AMD CFO Devinder Kumar confirmed that "Big Navi" will be a halo product and not merely a lofty performance increase over the RX 5700 XT to make AMD competitive against GeForce "Ampere." He states "there's a lot of excitement for Navi 2, or what our fans have dubbed as the Big Navi," adding "Big Navi is a halo product." He goes on to state that "enthusiasts love to buy the best, and we are certainly working on giving them the best." AMD's product stack so far is application-specific, rather than competition-specific. The RX 5700 XT was designed for 1440p gaming, and ended up competitive to the RTX 2070. "Big Navi" could hence have a lofty design goal: 4K gaming with ray-tracing.

Earlier this week, we brought you a report about codenames of AMD processors that won't launch before 2022. It referenced "Raphael" being distant 5 nm "Zen 4" based successor to today's "Matisse." At the time, the codename for the 2021 release of AMD's mainstream desktop processor wasn't known. We're now getting a pointer as to what it is - "Warhol."

Named after American artist and filmmaker Andy Warhol, this processor combines CPU chiplets based on the "Zen 3" with a cIOD that retains PCI-Express gen 4.0, just like "Vermeer," but still qualifies as a new generation (and not a refresh). What's more, "Warhol" apparently sticks to a 7 nm-class silicon fabrication process. This means that "Warhol" could see AMD innovate on other fronts, such as leveraging an even more advanced version of TSMC's 7 nm node (such as N7+), to increase core counts over the chiplet that makes it to "Vermeer, "Genesis Peak," and "Milan."