AMD has announced its second generation AMD Ryzen processor lineup.
The new Ryzen second generation CPUs tout improved performance and faster and smoother computing experiences for PC gamers, creators, and hardware enthusiasts alike.
Jim Anderson, Senior Vice President and General Manager at AMD explained that “Second generation Ryzen desktop processors take everything that made the original Ryzen so groundbreaking and makes it better – great performance combined with advanced technology to deliver an amazing experience for the most demanding users”.
While the talk is big, AMD has had their work cut out for them with Intel’s 8th Coffeelake CPUs being made available close to the end of last year. More Coffeelake processors have just launched about a week ago too. Benchmark testing by enthusiasts in the coming weeks will reveal just how much of an improvement has actually been made by AMD over their first generation Ryzen chips and how well they fare against their Coffeelake competition from Intel.
At the high end of the Ryzen spectrum is is the eight-core Ryzen 7 2700X, which replaces the 1800X and the slightly lower 1700X from last year. The 2700X sports a base clock of 3.7GHz, and a boost speed of 4.3Ghz. Comparatively the 1800X ran between 3.6Ghz and 4Ghz.
The newer chip is also priced better at $329, compared to the $399 and $499 launch prices of the Ryzen 1700X and 1800X. This places the Ryzen in a better spot in the market since Intel’s six-core i7-8700K sells for around $350 in the US market. To sweeten the deal AMD is throwing in free “Wraith” coolers with every CPU, a move that aims to make it a better choice against Intel.
South African pricing has yet to be confirmed.
MODEL | CORES | THREADS | CLOCK SPEED MAX BOOST/ BASE (GHZ) | SMART PREFECT CACHE | TDP | COOLER | SEP (USD) |
Ryzen™ 7 2700X | 8 | 16 | 4.3/3.7 | 20MB | 105W | Wraith Prism (LED) | $329 |
Ryzen™ 7 2700 | 8 | 16 | 4.1/3.2 | 20MB | 65W | Wraith Spire (LED) | $299 |
Ryzen™ 5 2600X | 6 | 12 | 4.2/3.6 | 19MB | 95W | Wraith Spire | $229 |
Ryzen™ 5 2600 | 6 | 12 | 3.9/3.4 | 19MB | 65W | Wraith Stealth | $199 |
AMD is keeping further details for the official launch on the 19th of April 2018 but has explained that these new Zen+ architecture based chips run on their new X470 AM4 chipset. The CPUs will also support its StoreMI technology, which can help speed up disk performance by linking together SSDs, traditional hard disks and RAM.