As CES 2018 kicks off, AMD is preparing fans for the future of Ryzen with a look at its roadmap for the years ahead. In addition, the company has announced a pair of low-cost desktop APUs that combine a Zen core with Vega graphics, new mobile processors with Vega graphics, and more.
The most timely reveal is that of the first Ryzen desktop chips to integrate graphics built on AMD's latest, the Vega architecture. The two chips, dubbed Ryzen 5 2400G and Ryzen 3 2200G, offer up budget options for those looking to build a low-cost gaming PC. The two chips won't appeal to anyone wanting to push modern games to their fullest, but, at $169 for the Ryzen 5 chip and $99 for the Ryzen 3 chip, they do represent a good option for fans of Team Red on the low end.
In terms of specs, the Ryzen 5 2400G with Radeon Vega Graphics is outfitted with 4 CPU cores, 8 threads, and a boost clock of 3.9GHz. In terms of graphical power, you're looking at 11 compute units and a max GPU clock of 1250MHz. The Ryzen 3 2200G with Radeon Vega Graphics, on the other hand, packs 4 CPU cores and 4 threads, with a max boost clock of 3.7GHz. That's padded by 8 graphics compute units and a 1100MHz max GPU clock. Both chips are expected to be available starting February 12.
In terms of what's coming down the pike, AMD says that we can expect the Vega family to expand to include a new Radeon Vega mobile GPU for ultrathin notebooks in 2018. Likewise, a Vega GPU build specifically for machine learning applications will be the first 7nm AMD product, the company says. Looking forward, work on the next Zen core, Zen 2, is already well underway. AMD says the design is complete and it will "improve on the award-winning Zen design in multiple dimensions." As for what that means in terms of a performance increase over current Ryzen CPUs, we'll have to wait and see. Expect Zen 2 to debut sometime in 2019. In the meantime, PC World reports that an interim update, Zen+, is planned for later in 2018, but official details are light.
If you're looking to pick up Ryzen processors that are available now, there's good news asa well. AMD has announced permanent price cuts (via PC World) to products in its Threadripper, Ryzen 7, and Ryzen 5 lines, dropping some prices significantly. For example, the high-end Threadripper 1900X is now $449, down from $549. Likewise, the Ryzen 7 1800X has dropped from $499 to $349, while the Ryzen 5 1600X has moved from $249 to $219. You can view the full cuts in the chart below.
With those price drops, AMD has substantially upped the ante against Intel in terms of price for performance.
Dan Thorp-Lancaster is the Editor in Chief for Windows Central. He began working with Windows Central as a news writer in 2014 and is obsessed with tech of all sorts. You can follow Dan on Twitter @DthorpL and Instagram @heyitsdtl. Got a hot tip? Send it to daniel.thorp-lancaster@futurenet.com.
