At CES 2019, AMD presented preliminary information about the third generation of AMD Ryzen CPUs, which are expected to be available in mid-2019. Most notably, the new Ryzen CPUs will be built on a 7nm process, putting AMD significantly ahead of rival Intel. Intel has struggled significantly launching products built on a 10nm process, with low yields and complications converting fabrication plants leading to shortages constraining PC OEMs in shipping new systems on time.
CES 2019: AMD's third generation Ryzen desktop processors will debut in mid-2019. The processor runs with the 7nm Radeon VII GPU, which AMD also unveiled in a keynote presentation. AMD has taken advantage of CES 2019 to present its new GPUs. The Radeon VII with the second generation of Vega and for the first time with the architecture of 7nm is now official. This new model competes directly with the RTX 2080 of NVIDIA and allows to comfortably play video games in 4K with ultra.
More from CES 2019
Specifications regarding third-generation Ryzen processors—internally codenamed Matisse—are scarce, as the company is still testing production samples. AMD CEO Lisa Su noted in her presentation at CES that frequencies will be announced at a later date, as these have not been finalized. However, the new processors support PCI Express 4.0, beating Intel to market in support for the expansion bus standard. This provides 16 GT/s, doubling the maximum speed of PCI Express 3.0. The prototype previewed during AMD's presentation is an 8-core, 16-thread CPU, though it is unclear if this is the highest-end SKU which will be available at launch.
SEE: CES 2019 news, photos, videos, and more (TechRepublic on Flipboard)
Second-generation AMD EPYC CPUs were also discussed at CES. The second-generation Rome design was first publicly announced in November 2018, though the company notes that release is on track for mid-2019. AMD claims 4x floating-point performance and 2x performance per socket compared to current generation Intel Xeon 8180 CPUs. AMD EPYC CPUs are said to be available with up to 64 cores and 128 threads per socket.
![Amd Amd](/uploads/1/2/5/8/125830306/246622148.jpg)
Both the third-generation Ryzen and second-generation EPYC CPUs are built around AMD's Zen 2 microarchitecture. The new parts use existing AM4 and SP3 sockets, allowing for in-place upgrades on existing hardware without the need to buy new motherboards.
A live benchmark during the keynote from CineBench 15 between a sample third-generation Ryzen CPU and an Intel Core i9-9900K returned scores of 2057 and 2040, respectively, though the Ryzen system used 133W, while the Intel system used 180W. This is achieved primarily through the use of a 7nm manufacturing process, though AMD has also made other changes to power management compared to previous generations of the Zen microarchitecture.
Other changes present in the Zen 2 microarchitecture include improvements to the branch predictor and prefetcher, as well as increased cache size and bandwidth. Careful attention should be paid to how branch prediction and prefetching are performed following last year's revelations of the Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities. While AMD processors are slightly more resistant to transient execution attacks, silicon-level fixes necessarily have lower performance impacts than microcode-level fixes deployed for existing hardware in the wake of those disclosures. Likewise, applying higher level fixes for vulnerabilities already addressed at a silicon level would result in negative performance impacts.
SEE: CES 2019: The Big Trends for Business (ZDNet Special Feature)
The big takeaways for tech leaders:
- AMD plans to ship the 7nm new processors in mid-2019, while Intel's 10nm processors are anticipated for late 2019.
- The third-generation Ryzen and second-generation EPYC CPUs are built around AMD's Zen 2 microarchitecture, and can be upgraded in-place on compatible motherboards.
Top Story of the Day Newsletter
If you can only read one tech story a day, this is it. Delivered Weekdays
Sign up today Sign up today Also see
- 3D printing: A cheat sheet (TechRepublic)
- Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+: An insider's guide (TechRepublic download)
- Hardware decommissioning policy (Tech Pro Research)
- How to securely erase hard drives (HDDs) and solid state drives (SSDs) (ZDNet)
- Best 2-in-1 laptops, convertibles, and hybrid laptops for business 2018 (ZDNet)
- Best cell phone trade-in options for iPhones and Android phones (CNET)
- Clean out junk files in Windows 7, 8.1, and 10 (Download.com)
- Raspberry Pi: More must-read coverage (TechRepublic on Flipboard)
AMD's been on a roll for the past couple of years since Ryzen and products derived from the same architecture saw the light of day. Not coincidentally, AMD was the S&P 500's top performing stock of 2018, catching everyone's attention as an up and coming tech leader that is seriously challenging the likes of Intel and Nvidia.
Update: AMD Radeon VII: world's first 7nm gaming GPU is 25-35% faster than Vega 64, ships February 7 for $699
CEO Lisa Su is set to take the stage today at one of CES 2019's most awaited keynotes. AMD just happens to be getting a high profile spot at the show for the first time ever. Earlier this week AMD launched new Ryzen Mobile processors, some aimed at entry level gaming laptops and other budget oriented chips aimed at Chromebooks. However everyone's assumption is that the most interesting announcements have been reserved for the keynote.
Plenty of discussion around 7nm will take place, as well as AMD’s datacenter and mobile products. Expect teasers and roadmap updates for Ryzen 3000 and next-gen Navi GPUs. There’s also a chance AMD will announce a consumer 7nm Vega II GPU, so we’ll have to wait and see what’s in store.
The keynote starts at 9am Pacific time (12pm ET, 5pm GMT) and you can watch it live right here. Later in the day we'll provide additional coverage related to the keynote and our analysis on what's coming from AMD.