What you need to know
- At Computex 2019, AMD announced its new Ryzen 3000 series CPUs.
- AMD creates the new Ryzen 9 family of CPUs.
- The new Ryzen 3000 series is based on AMD's Zen 2 architecture.
- The new CPUs will be available in July, starting from $199.
Updated July 7, 2019: The Radeon 3rd Gen Ryzen 3000 Series is now available at Amazon.
AMD used its Computex keynote to celebrate the company's 50th anniversary by announcing new 7nm processors. The Ryzen 3000 series of CPUs, based on the new Zen 2 architecture, will be compatible with old AM4 motherboards, as well as the newly announced X570 chipset, which itself unlocks PCIe 4.0. You can expect to see core counters to hit 12 and base speeds to max out at 4.6GHz from the factory.
Zen 2 is an important next step for AMD, improving single and multi-core processing performance, as well as reduced power draw. Comparing the performance numbers of the new Ryzen 3000 series against the previous generation Ryzen CPUs shows some serious gains in gaming and general computing. What to take away from the new architecture:
- Double floating point with a redesigned engine.
- Double the amount of cache.
- 15 percent IPC (instructions per-clock) uplift.
This is what allows the processors to provide much more performance with the refreshed line-up. Acer and ASUS were on-stage to showcase some 3rd-gen Ryzen powered desktop and laptop PCs, with Acer going so far as to include Ryzen and Radeon in the same laptop.
AMD showed off a system running an X570 motherboard, Ryzen 7 3800X and RX 5700 against another with an Intel Core i9-9900K and RTX 2080 Ti and it was clear to see the difference. It'll be interesting to carry out our own tests between the two companies, but things are getting exciting for system builders.
What's particularly interesting is the formation of the Ryzen 9 family to compete against Intel's own Core i9 series. It's the perfect option for those who need more performance than what's offered with the Ryzen 7 series, but don't wish to splash out on Threadripper, nor invest in a new motherboard.
| Header Cell - Column 0 | Ryzen 5 3600 | Ryzen 5 3600X | Ryzen 7 3700X | Ryzen 7 3800X | Ryzen 9 3900X |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Architecture | Zen 2 | Zen 2 | Zen 2 | Zen 2 | Zen 2 |
| Cores | 6 12 | 6 12 | 8 16 | 8 16 | 12 24 |
| Clock speed | 3.6GHz 4.2GHz | 3.8GHz 4.4GHz | 3.6GHz 4.4GHz | 3.9GHz 4.5GHz | 4.6GHz 4.8GHz |
| Cache | 35MB | 35MB | 36MB | 36MB | 70MB |
| TDP | 65W | 95W | 65W | 105W | 105W |
| Price | $199 | $249 | $329 | $399 | $499 |
The pricing for the new Ryzen 3000 series CPUs is incredibly aggressive, with AMD wanting to get as many gamers, creators and general consumers going to the red team's camp as possible. All the new CPUs will be available on July 7. The first 7nm desktop CPU available on 7/7, cute.
AMD's latest batch of Ryzen processors are here, and they're expected to bring quite a performance bump over the previous generation wiht support for PCIe 4.0 to boot.
Cheap PC accessories we love
Take a gander at these awesome PC accessories, all of which will enhance your Windows experience.
Anker 4 port USB 3.0 hub ($10 at Amazon)
Whether on a desktop or laptop PC, you always need more ports to connect things to. This hub gives you an additional four USB 3.0 Type A ports.
Ikea Fixa Cable Management System ($11 at Amazon)
This IKEA cable management kit is your ticket to a clean setup. It's simple and functional.
NZXT Puck ($20 at Amazon)
This clever little accessory has powerful magnets on the rear to make it stick to any of the metal panels on your PC case or anything else. It's great for hanging accessories like headsets.
