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AMD's 3rd Gen Ryzen Is The Most Exciting Processor Launch In A Decade

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There have been a fair amount of rumors surrounding AMD's 3rd Gen Ryzen 'Zen 2' processors over the last few weeks covering specifications, performance and pricing. I wrote just yesterday about the latest rumor of a supposed 16-core mainstream Ryzen CPU obtaining a huge Cinebench score and a few days ago I discussed why AMD might be considering getting rid of its low-end Threadripper CPUs too. However, leaks and rumors aside, there are far more important and genuine reasons to be excited by 3rd Gen Ryzen and what AMD will be announcing next week at Computex and after that at E3 in June.

Even better than the 1st Gen Ryzen launch?

In short, yes. No one really knew what to expect back in 2017 as AMD had been promising good things for a decade, yet lay in a distant second place next to Intel. However, everyone was pleasantly surprised and for content creators especially, the likes of the Ryzen 5 1600X were incredible leaps compared to Intel's similarly-priced offerings.

Antony Leather

However, lightly-threaded performance was a little lacking and combined with a lack of optimization, there was plenty of software including many games that were much faster with Intel CPUs. This was compounded by poor support for fast memory - something that would have improved that situation given the Zen architecture's Infinity Fabric is tied to the memory speed, so the faster the better.

Getting closer to Intel-beating performance

By the time 2nd Gen Ryzen hit the shelves, memory support had improved and CPUs such as the Ryzen 7 2700X were not only cheaper than their 1st Gen Ryzen counterparts but were faster too. AMD solved the frequency boosting issues present with 1st Gen Ryzen, resulting in much better lightly-threaded performance and higher frequencies offered big gains in multi-threaded performance too.

Antony Leather

Coupled with fast memory, AMD was now tantalizingly close to matching Intel in those lightly-threaded tasks including games, where the blue team still holds a lead. That lead is critical too because at several price points, if you're building a purely gaming-focussed PC, Intel is the better bet. It would only need small improvements here for AMD to take away that advantage.

3rd Gen Ryzen looks set to solve lots of previous issues

AMD could finally match or even beat Intel with Zen 2 and 3rd Gen Ryzen as lots of these issues are rumored to be solved. Memory speeds will apparently increase significantly and given the impact we've seen from relatively small boosts in memory speed, this could well see 3rd Gen Ryzen CPUs offer sizeable performance gains. Thankfully, memory prices are in AMD's favor too with kits of 16GB 3,600MHz memory retailing for less than $125 - when just before Christmas that same kit would have cost you nearly $260.

We're also expecting higher frequencies with Zen 2 CPUs, with some rumors hitting 5GHz on lightly-threaded workloads. The most you could hope for with 2nd Gen Ryzen CPUs was 4.4GHz with the Threadripper 2950X and 4.3GHz with the Ryzen 7 2700X so this is a huge leap that along with faster memory support, could see those gaps between AMD and Intel in games disappear.

It's going to be great for the consumer

Increased competition means two things: better performance and better value for consumers. The former we've already spoken about to some degree, but there's plenty of evidence out there that we could see 16 core 3rd Gen Ryzen CPUs - twice the number of cores compared to the current mainstream flagship, the Ryzen 7 2700X. As a result, AMD's mainstream platform could cater for everyone from super-budget gamers building their first PC, to high-end content creators that need plenty of CPU horsepower.

Antony Leather

The latest rumor of a Cinebench score of such a CPU puts this 16-core monster on par with Intel's Core i9-9980XE - a $2,000 CPU that requires Intel's high-end desktop motherboards, yet rumors of the supposed Ryzen 9 3850X put that CPU as retailing for less than $600. While we might not see those lofty 5GHz numbers from that CPU, they might appear lower down the stack with a 12-core model, which is likely to be a favorite for general purpose users and gamers alike.

Intel has been way up there with its own CPU launches too. Its move to 6-core CPUs saw the Core i5-8400 and Core i7-8700K go on to become incredibly popular and its huge core increases at the high-end with CPUs such as the Core i9-9980XE have meant that huge amounts of power are now available on the desktop PC. It still has some very strong offerings too, with the supremely cheap Core i3-9100 retailing for just $130, the Core i5-9400F sitting at $150 while the Core i7-9700K, which matches the Ryzen 7 2700X in multi-threaded performance and is faster in some games retails for $400. However, the vice has already begun to turn, which AMD cutting prices of the 2700X, which now sits at just $285. While 3rd Gen Ryzen is only around the corner, there bargains to be had in the lead up to the launch, that's for sure.

AMD

The fact is, that 1st and 2nd Gen Ryzen didn't deal a death blow to Intel. It was still faster in some areas and while its CPUs and platforms usually cost more, that doesn't always matter, especially if the differences are mere 10's of dollars and you'll be using your PC for the next few years, reaping the benefits. However, with 3rd Gen Ryzen, all the signs are that we could finally be looking at reviewers like myself recommending AMD's CPUs across the board, and not just for certain workloads.

I'll be reporting from Computex next week and E3 in June where AMD is expected to reveal all so make sure you follow me at any of the social media links below.

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