Category: Techradar

Expected in mid- to late-2020, news, rumors and leaks surrounding the AMD Zen 3 architecture have been stacking up. For example, AMD has already confirmed that AMD Zen 3-based processors in the Ryzen 4000 lineup will officially support X570 and B550 motherboards. So, even though Zen 2 is still going strong, it’s time to start looking at what AMD has in store with its successor.

AMD simply crushed it in 2019. By moving to its 7nm Zen 2 architecture for its processors, Team Read has gotten a big boost in performance, earning it major market share. Naturally, people have high expectations from its improved 7nm+ CPU architecture – specifically, a potential 20% increase in transistor density and higher clock speeds while a 10% dip in power consumption.

Of course, there isn’t a lot of information out there just yet, but we should get more details as we inch closer to the release date. Though when that will be is still up in the air. AMD announced its Zen 2 architecture at CES 2019 last January, and then unveiled the Ryzen 3000 processors, which are built on the Zen 2 design, at Computex 2019 the following May. If AMD is going to follow a similar timeline for Zen 3 this year, then we’ve got to get ready right away.

Here’s everything we know about the AMD Zen 3 architecture so far. Keep this page bookmarked as we’ll update it as soon as new information reaches our desks.

Cut to the chase

•  What is it? AMD’s improved 7nm+ CPU architecture 
•  When is it out? Likely in mid- or late-2020 
•  How much is it? Prices will likely stay in line with Zen 2, starting at $99 (£94, AU$144) 

 AMD Zen 3 release date 

We’ve seen a recent leak suggesting Dr. Lisa Su, AMD’s CEO, could talk about Ryzen 4000 processors at CES 2020 in a move that would keep the pressure on Intel. It seems a bit early for AMD to go deep into details on next-generation Ryzen processors, but any details Su may provide on Zen 3 will tell us plenty about the Ryzen 4000 processors to come.

Given we’re expecting a 2020 release for Zen 3, it would only be fitting that AMD more or less repeat the same debut as it did for Zen 2 in 2019. So, at the very least, we’re expecting more details on Zen 3 and what it brings to the table at CES in the coming days.

We’ve heard rumors suggesting Zen 4 would arrive in 2021, which would all but demand that Zen 3 come out in 2020, helping dispel any doubts about that timeline. But that rumor conflicts with other details suggesting Zen 4 would arrive in 2022. A 2020 launch for Zen 3 still seems likely, but AMD could aim to bridge the gap between Zen 2 and Zen 4 by releasing Zen 3 toward the end of 2020. 

If we mapped out a launch trajectory based on previous Ryzen launches, it would make sense for Zen 3-based processors to come later into 2020. The first batch of Ryzen processors came out in March 2017, with Ryzen 2000 following in April 2018 and Ryzen 3000 in July 2019. That gives each generation a little over a year on the market before, and points to a Zen 3 launch with Ryzen 4000 processors toward August 2020. 

AMD Zen 3 price 

We don’t have any reason to expect that processors built on the Zen 3 architecture will be priced any differently than their Zen 2 counterparts. Given that expectation, it is useful to consider the prices of AMD’s Zen 2 processors. These were the prices of AMD’s first run of Zen 2-based Ryzen processors:

•  AMD Ryzen 9 3950X: $749 (about £590, AU$1,080) 
•  AMD Ryzen 9 3900X: $499 (about £390, AU$720) 
•  AMD Ryzen 7 3800X: $399 (about £310, AU$580) 
•  AMD Ryzen 7 3700X: $329 (about £260, AU$480) 
•  AMD Ryzen 5 3600X: $249 (about £200, AU$360) 
•  AMD Ryzen 5 3600: $199 (about £160, AU$290) 
•  AMD Ryzen 5 3400G: $149 (£139, AU$240) 
•  AMD Ryzen 3 3300G: $99 (£94, AU$144) 

If the process used to manufacture Zen 3 processors proves to have higher yield or better efficiency, it’s possible AMD could even lower its prices. That would keep the competition with Intel fierce, but AMD already has a strong price advantage against Intel and may not need to go lower. 

 AMD Zen 3 specs 

We learned in mid-2019 that AMD had already finished the Zen 3 design, which is expected to be based on a 7nm+ process, offering some slight improvements on the existing 7nm process found in Zen 2 hardware. This new design is expected to be the product of a shift to 7nm EUV (extreme ultraviolet) lithography. That should allow for a potential 20% increase in transistor density while lowering power consumption by 10%.

The improved 7nm+ process would also offer new chips higher clock speeds while maintaining lower power consumption. The new process may also come with an 8% to 10% increase in IPC (instructions-per-clock). Topping that off, rumors have suggested that AMD will introduce a new level of simultaneous multithreading in Zen 3 chips that would allow a single core to handle four threads (e.g., a 4-core/16-thread CPU or a 16-core/64-thread CPU).

Even more cache is another potential upgrade we could see in Zen 3-based processors. AMD packed Ryzen 3000 processors with cache, and that abundance of extra fast memory may have played a part in the excellent gaming performance across the board for Ryzen 3000 processors. 

While we may be looking at upgrades to DDR5 RAM and PCIe 5.0 support further down the line with Zen 4, we have no indications that Zen 3 will move away from DDR4 and the only recently introduced PCIe 4.0 standard.

Altogether, we should be looking at Zen 3-based processors with boosted clock speeds paired with increased IPC for a decent performance boost (especially in multithreaded workloads) over their Zen 2 counterparts all while staying within or below the power budgets of their predecessors. The potential to keep high performance while lowering the power budget could be especially promising for mobile applications.

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After their unveiling at CES 2020, the AMD Ryzen 4000 processors for laptops are out in the world. And, they’re already nearly as fast as their desktop counterparts, delivering hugely improved performance across the board. They’re certainly changing the gaming laptop scene forever, with compelling laptop releases like the Asus Zephyrus G14 championing the chips with their desktop-class performance.

That’s only the tip of the iceberg. Even though Team Red is already sitting on top of the CPU world, selling 40% more processors than its rival, it’s going for the knockout. It’s not only preparing to add a new flagship APU, Ryzen 9 4900U to the lineup. We’ve aslo heard plenty of whispers about the AMD Zen 3-equipped Ryzen 4000 processors for desktops, which could be coming in October. 

Based on a 7nm+ manufacturing process, these could potentially push clock speeds high enough to really make Intel hurt, especially if Team Blue stays stuck at 14nm on desktop. AMD also confirmed that these processors will officially support X570 and B550 motherboards. Although it’s also entirely possible that rather than pushing its Ryzen 4000 lineup to compete with the top-end Comet Lake chips, AMD could roll out a couple of budget-friendly Ryzen 3000 processors.

There’s no stopping AMD Ryzen 4000 from demolishing Intel. And, with so much information and gossip regarding the next generation of Ryzen for laptops and desktops, we gathered all the most important bits right here to help you stay ahead of the Ryzen 4000 curve. Be sure to bookmark this article and keep checking in, as we’ll update it with all the latest news that comes our way. 

Cut to the chase

• What is it? AMD’s next lineup of processors for laptop and desktop
• When is it out? Laptops are out, desktop to come out in October
• What will it cost? TBA

AMD Ryzen 4000 release date

Right out of the gate, the next-generation of Ryzen processors for desktop haven’t seen an official release date. We know that Lisa Su said AMD Ryzen 4000 for desktop will be coming in 2020. And, a new rumor suggests that they are set to go on sale in October 2020, alongside the RDNA 2 graphics cards. 

Last year, AMD took its Ryzen 3rd Generation processors to Computex 2019 for a preview, and announced more details later at E3 2019. Back at CES 2019, AMD announced Zen 2, the microarchitecture that would later be behind Ryzen 3rd Generation, Threadripper 3rd Generation and Epyc 2nd generation. We expected Team Red to follow suit by announcing Zen 3 with some vague details at CES 2020, but that didn’t happen. 

While E3 2020 has been cancelled, Computex 2020 has simply gotten a later date: September 28-30, 2020. If all goes well, we could see AMD giving us a sneak peek at the desktop chips at the conference, like last year, before rolling them out in October.

We did get something at CES 2020, at least, when AMD CEO Lisa Su unveiled the AMD Ryzen 4000 processors for laptops. Prior to their release, the much-anticipated 7nm mobile processors have since shown up in product listings on Amazon for multiple Asus gaming laptops in China and Canada. 

Now, these chips are out in the wild and ready to power a new generation of thin and light laptops that boast incredible performance and impressively long battery life. The newly-released Asus Zephyrus G14 is leading that charge. We should start seeing more laptops rocking AMD Ryzen 4000 processors by the end of Q2 2020 across both ultraportables and gaming laptops.

AMD Ryzen 4000 Price

As far as the laptop chips, the prices of the processors themselves are not relevant to most people, as laptop manufacturers will absorb the price and repackage them. Still, we will probably see prices increase over last-generation AMD laptops, due to the fact that AMD’s processors will be behind flagship-class laptops like the upcoming Lenovo Yoga Slim 7.

We’ll probably see Ryzen 3 laptops starting around the $600 mark, with laptops rocking the Ryzen 7 4800H or 4800U hitting the premium market above $1,000. However, we can be a bit more specific with our speculation on the desktop lineup. 

AMD Ryzen 3rd Generation saw higher prices than Ryzen 2000, largely due to the introduction of Ryzen 9 processors with up to 16 cores. However, the Ryzen 7 3700X did launch at the same $329 (£319, AU$519) price point as the Ryzen 7 2700X that came before it. 

Due to the success of chips like the Ryzen 9 3900X and 3950X, however, we fully expect AMD to follow suit with the Ryzen 4000 lineup. For reference, we included the pricing of AMD Ryzen 3000 processors below. We expect the pricing to stay roughly the same for the next generation. 

• AMD Ryzen 9 3950X: $749 (about £590, AU$1,080)
• AMD Ryzen 9 3900X: $499 (about £390, AU$720)
• AMD Ryzen 7 3800X: $399 (about £310, AU$580)
• AMD Ryzen 7 3700X: $329 (about £260, AU$480)
• AMD Ryzen 5 3600X: $249 (about £200, AU$360)
• AMD Ryzen 5 3600: $199 (about £160, AU$290)
• AMD Ryzen 5 3400G: $149 (£139, AU$240)
• AMD Ryzen 3 3300G: $99 (£94, AU$144)

AMD Ryzen 4000 Specs

Right now we know the most about the AMD Ryzen 4000 mobile lineup, so that’s where we’re going to start. These will be the first 7nm processors to make their way to laptops, and with that they bring some huge benefits. 

The biggest of these is, just like Ryzen 3000 desktop before it, core counts. Even with ultraportable laptops, which have previously been limited to 4 core/8 thread configurations, you’re getting 8 cores and 16 threads. 

This is a huge improvement, and even though clock speeds are limited to 4.2GHz – or a bit higher with 25W configurations – users should see massive gains in productivity workloads. If recent leaks are any indication, AMD Ryzen 4000 mobile chips really won’t be much slower than the desktop processors.

However, what’s odd is that only every other SKU has hyperthreading. For example, the AMD Ryzen 7 4700U has 8 cores and 8 threads, whereas the 4800U has 8 cores and 16 threads. Both of the announced H-Series chips for mobile have hyper-threading however, along with higher base clock speeds. 

One of the key features of this AMD Ryzen 4000 series for laptops is going to be the integrated graphics performance. Now, we haven’t had a chance to test this yet, of course, but AMD is promising a boost of up to 28% over Intel’s Ice Lake when it comes to graphics performance. These chips will not be in gaming laptops, however, but when you just want to get in a quick Overwatch match on your lunch break, it will make a major difference. 

We went ahead and listed the core specs of each of the laptop processors. 

• AMD Ryzen 7 4800U: 8 cores, 16 threads | 1.8GHz base, 4.2GHz boost | 12MB cache
• AMD Ryzen 7 4700U: 8 cores, 8 threads | 2.0GHz base, 4.1GHz boost | 12MB cache
• AMD Ryzen 5 4600U: 6 cores, 12 threads | 2.1GHz base, 4.0GHz boost | 11MB cache
• AMD Ryzen 5 4500U: 6 cores, 6 threads | 2.3GHz base, 4.0GHz boost | 11MB cache
• AMD Ryzen 3 4300U: 4 cores, 4 threads | 2.7GHz base, 3.7GHz boost | 6MB cache
• AMD Ryzen 7 4800H: 8 cores, 16 threads | 2.9GHz base, 4.2GHz boost | 12MB cache
• AMD Ryzen 5 4600H: 6 cores, 12 threads | 3.0GHz base, 4.0GHz boost | 11MB cache

We know far less about desktop, however. Beyond the fact we know it’ll be revealed in 2020, Zen 3 is largely an enigma wrapped in mystery. It will be based on a refinement of the 7nm process found in Zen 2, but any more specific information is purely in the realm of rumor. 

Benchmarks for a desktop-based variant have shown up online recently, but that chip is a Zen 2-based Renoir APU. That means that it won’t deliver the same level of performance as the high-end SKUs. 

There are rumors that it will be based on TSMC’s new 7nm EUV (extreme ultraviolet) process, similar to what’s rumored to be seen with Nvidia Ampere. If this is true, the processors could be much more power efficient, which could see clock speeds see a sizable bump – which could seriously threaten Intel’s chips in the gaming scene. 

Another thing that could make Intel start sweating is the rumor that with Ryzen 4000, AMD may introduce more powerful hyperthreading, with each physical core having four simultaneous processing threads, as opposed to the two found on today’s silicon. This is a rumor we’d definitely take with a grain of salt, but if it’s true it could even further widen the gap between AMD and Intel when it comes to multi-threaded workloads.

It’s unlikely that we’ll see huge core count bumps with this generation, like we did last year. Instead, AMD will probably use the EUV process to boost performance while cutting power consumption. This does mean that there likely won’t be much of a reason to upgrade if you already have a Ryzen 3000 chip. 

Still, we won’t know what AMD Ryzen 4th Generation processors will look like until we see them announced by Team Red. We’ll be sure to update this article as soon as we hear more about AMD’s next desktop chips and once we’ve been able to actually test the laptop models. 

• We’ll show you how to build a PC

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Staying at home doesn’t have to mean staying still. While there are some fantastic home workouts available (like PE with Joe) and a wealth of great exercise apps, we’ve also come up with some ideas of our own to keep active in lockdown.

If you’re tired of the treadmill or feel like something different to your regular yoga app, here are some tried and tested alternatives.

Keith Walker, managing director

‘Low impact’ workouts have become the norm for me in lockdown. Not because I struggle with burpees, star jumps etc. but because I live in a top floor flat and the neighbours downstairs don’t appreciate ‘squat jump’ reps on their ceilings at 7am…

Cat Ellis, fitness and wellbeing editor

My regular running club has been replaced with a virtual one on Strava, and our pub socials are now weekly Zoom chats (bonus points for having a collection of medals in the background). I set up a virtual Land’s end to John O’Groats run on My Virtual Mission, thinking it would easily last until the end of lockdown, but it turns out I vastly underestimated how long a pandemic might last.

We’ve all been taking part in virtual races too, where you log your time with a fitness tracker and receive a medal in the post. It’s been great, except for the Easter run where the organizer sent everyone chocolate eggs, which arrived smashed to pieces and tasting of envelope glue.

Tom Bedford, staff writer, phones

My gym closing turned out to be a blessing in disguise – while a treadmill encouraged me to run the same distance in better and better times, I’ve found running outdoors pushes me to see how far I can go, no matter the timing. What began as a quick run to see how long the queues were in my local shops, when lockdown started, has quickly grown to a 10km dash every other day just to get out, and of course I’m using Strava to boast about it all too.

Mark Wilson, cameras editor

After picking up a lockdown running injury, I’ve had to resort to the distinctly less preferable home bodyweight exercises and dreaded foam roller. But this had led to one positive – me and my girlfriend now have a column each in a Google Sheets exercise tracker. This is working well, because neither of us want to suffer the humiliation of breaking our streak. I’ve also been enjoying Sky’s Fit in 5 workouts, mainly because the guests always seem to be as knackered as I am.

Samuel Roberts, senior entertainment editor

I bought myself an Ultrasport F-Bike back in January, because I know I’ll never, ever be motivated to join a gym (also, I’m too cheap for a monthly membership). I’ve loved using it, and I cycle 11km on it per day, on an average of six days a week. I only burn 250 calories per go, but the mental health benefits are obvious.

Since I have to write about Netflix and Disney Plus for this website on a near-constant basis, too, putting the bike in front of the TV is a great way to catch up on shows I haven’t seen yet.

Mackenzie Frazier, deals editor

Since I can no longer go to a pilates class, I downloaded the Melissa Wood Health app. She has hundreds of guided workout videos and meditations  – the best part is you don’t need any equipment, you use your own body weight. The workouts are short – 20 to 30 minutes, and I look forward to doing a class every day. I plan on sticking with the app even when gyms open back up. 

Henry St Leger, staff writer, home tech

Oddly, lockdown has me exercising a lot more than usual! I used to stagger half-heartedly to the gym once a week, with the odd jog to get some fresh air, but with my local gym closed – and not much else to do – I’ve taken to using my excursion to get a good 30-minute run in a few days a week.

I’ve found evenings better for not running into other people on the sidewalk (or in local parks), and will take the opportunity to run in windy or wet weather for the same reason – but I wouldn’t blame anyone for sticking to short runs at sunny times too.

• How and where to buy a treadmill: these retailers still have stock

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