AMD’s cpu sales is going through the roof if we may believe the sales figures of German retailer Mindfactory. We have great respect for the way AMD came out of nothing and build such a competitive cpu line up as Ryzen 3000 (Matisse gen.) today. But don’t expect AMD to lean back and rest on their laurels. On the contrary they continue developing their architecture. With Zen 3 probably launching already in 2020 the gains could be significant if rumors are true. Since Intel is about to launch Comet Lake next month, the Zen 3, 7nm+ architecture could mean a definitive lead for AMD In the CPU market.
AMD has shared it’s AM4 road map for the coming years mentioning the release of Zen3 in 2020, which is based upon the same architecture as Zen2 but with a refined process 7nm+. This is followed by Zen 4 in 2021 in 6nm or 5nm.
- Zen 4: possibly 6nm or 5nm, in design, expected to launch in 2021 (Ryzen 5000 series?)
- Zen 3: 7nm+, design is completed, expected to launch in 2020 (Ryzen 4000 series?)
- Zen 2: 7nm, launched in July 2019 (Ryzen 3000)
- Zen+: 12nm, launched in April 2018 (Ryzen 2000)
- Zen: 14nm, launched in February 2017 (Ryzen 1000 series)
But what about the IPC lift then? The news comes via Redgamingtech that cites they have inside information (still rumors) that the IPC uplift of Zen 3 is not in the range of 5-8% over Zen 2, but greater due too a change in the cache arrangement. Zen 2 cores (CCX’s) have access to a part of the L3 cache per CCD/CCX, but Zen 3 could have access to the whole cache, increasing speeds and reducing latency. Zen 3 engineering samples have been spotted on a Chinese forum showing a possible Zen 3 cpu hitting 100-200 Mhz higher clocks than Zen 2. Another rumor floating around is the increase of maximum cores per CCX from four to eight. We think it is very optimistic to believe this will happen at Zen 3. Maybe AMD pulls something out of it’s magical hat.
Source: Redgamingtech, Chiphell, Hothardware
