AMD has been struggling to overcome and overpower Intel across a number of hardware facets for ages. They always come close and then fall short in some way, or get an edge but rarely capitalize on it. However, with the Ryzen series of CPUs AMD has attempted to fight to reclaim the throne and not only give Intel competition, but attempt to leave them in the dust. Many gamers and computer enthusiasts are excited about that possibility coming into thorough fruition with the newly announced Ryzen 9 product line utilizing the Zen 2 microarchitecture, further evolving AMD’s already impressive Ryzen line-up.
Anandtech did a thorough breakdown of the new Ryzen 9 series, which includes PCIe 4.0 compatibility, and processor speeds of up to 4.6GHz.
There’s a chart highlighting how the Ryzen 9 3900X supports 12 cores spread across 24 threads with a base frequency of 3.8GHz and boost capabilities of up to 4.6GHz per core. It sports an L2 cache of 6MB and an L3 cache of 64MB, with PCIe. 4.0 support at 105 watts. You get all of this for just $499. It’s definitely competitive in comparison to the i9-9900KS series, which sports eight cores across 16 threads. The base frequency is 200 megahertz higher, with a boost frequency that scales to about 400 megahertz more than AMD’s Ryzen 9, but it seems far less impactful than AMD’s offering, especially in the multithreaded arena, as outlined in a recent article by Anandtech.
Nevertheless, the new AMD CPUs utilize the AM4 socket so there’s a moderate measure of backwards compatibility present. However, as pointed out by Tom’s Hardware, not every AM4 motherboard is compatible with the new third-generation Ryzen processors. In fact, you’re only guaranteed full support from the B450 line up to the X570 boards. Anyone with an A320 may as well not even bother gunning for AMD’s new Ryzen 9 series. The board simply doesn’t support it.
In addition to the Ryzen 9 series, there are also more affordable options on the lower end of the table, such as the Ryzen 5 3600 series that features six cores and 12 threads for $199. The low-powered CPU only consumes 65 watts. There’s also the higher clocked version of the 3600 called the 3600x that gives you a little bit more headroom in the frequency space for $50 extra. And then there’s the Ryzen 7 3700X with eight cores and 16 threads for $329, and the Ryzen 7 3800X that clocks close to 4.0GHz while consuming 105 watts for $399.
There’s a little bit of something in there for everyone. It’s a nice price to power ratio, especially if you’re looking to upgrade to something that can play all the latest and greatest games, even though most games look like trash these days and hardly have graphics worth maxing out due to being made for the lowest common denominator in the home consoles, but I digress.
You can look for the new Ryzen line of CPUs to drop on July 7th, this summer at retailers and e-tailers near you.
(Thanks for the news tip johntrine)
