Cheaper Ryzens?

The Ryzen 7000 desktop processor family starts at $200, leaving AMD with nothing cheaper to offer on the Socket AM5 platform. Are there plans to fix this with cheaper processor models to compete with Intel's 13th Gen Core i3?
We're going to constantly continue expanding our AM5 processor lineup. I think you'll see that come from us in the not-too-distant future as we're looking at expanding our options. We've introduced our A620 motherboards, bringing down motherboard prices. I think you'll see some announcements from us in the not-too-distant future around expanding that into the pro space as well. And I think you'll see other products come into the portfolio that just expand the range of options that we have for different price point coverage. Over time AM5 will take over the entire space that's occupied by AM4 and we're already seeing that memory ecosystem get into the right place. We're seeing the motherboard prices get into the right place. I think we've got to have all those pieces converged, to make sure that we've got all the ingredients in place to make a lower priced processor the right choice for AM5 vs AM4.


Zen 4 processors

Future of Chiplets

AMD's chiplet approach has been fundamental for Ryzen's tremendous success. Where do you see the tech heading? What's next for chiplets?
We constantly look at chiplets and how chiplets get applied to both mobile and desktop processors. How we do that in a way that provides the best benefit of flexibility in process technology as well as flexibility in chip construction. I think that technologies like X3D have been very transformational for us in the desktop space. We're always looking at new technologies for packaging, at stacking, as well as new technologies for chiplets, for our mobile and desktop processors that make us more competitive, more flexible and faster in execution and that's constantly balanced against the cost of adopting some of those new technologies. So, I think that that's the one thing that slows us down a bit. If these new technologies were more affordable it would be a lot easier to make those transitions quickly. You'll see us using chiplet technology going forwards, in as many ways as we possibly can.

X3D Overheating

What do you tell gamers who heard about the thermal issues of X3D CPUs and are are scared of buying one?
We've been working very, very closely with our ODMs in Taiwan on these issues. Our latest BIOS update that limits SoC core voltage to 1.3 V was a necessary step to make sure that processors will operate within the specification limits. Especially true for things like one-click memory overclocking with XMP or EXPO, just ensuring that these processors are operating within their limits. Now that those BIOSes are out from the ODMs, we have been doing extensive testing to ensure that the safety, the reliability, the performance of the products is all where they need to be. We have the root cause fully nailed down and understand exactly what happened. Future BIOS releases that you see from our partners from here are going to be more about driving more enhancements in memory overclocking and compatibility with higher-speed memory kits. We and our ODM partners feel like this is something that we now have gotten control of completely and put behind us and now it's just about making the platform better going forward.

Core Count Increases

AMD has kept core counts constant in past few years (since "Zen 2"). Aren't you repeating Intel's mistake of stagnating at a certain core count? "Raptor Lake" has caught up with you in multi-threaded productivity performance. Is the core-count race already over?
What we have been careful about with our AM5 platform is attempting to balance core count and memory bandwidth. There does become a point where core count outstrips memory bandwidth so significantly that while a higher core count processor with two memory channels is maybe an interesting spec on paper, it doesn't deliver the benefit to the end-user. As memory speeds go up, as we have higher bandwidth memory technologies coming into the platform, it's something we're looking at also. I think there will be a point in time where we bring more core counts and more memory capability to our platforms and they have to go hand-in-hand. I don't think we want to build a Ryzen roadmap where core count is just a marketing ploy. We want to make sure that the users are getting the full benefit out of those cores and they'll be able to use them for whatever applications they want to.

Zen 5 Preview

Any hints on the improvements you're working on for the Zen 5 architecture?
What we are looking for with Zen 5 is to bring it into the desktop space as quickly as we possibly can. As excited as we are about Zen 4, I think what you've seen from AMD is that every step in that processor core architecture gives us just such an amazing uplift in terms of capability, in terms of IPC, in terms of performance across every possible workload that you see in desktop and mobile applications. We're working very, very hard to get it into the market as fast as possible, I know that Mark has talked in the past about how Zen 5 is on-track, it's in-design, it's taped-out etc so we are working very hard on it and I think you're going to be very excited when you see that product come to market.