Ryzen 7000 Upgrades to Zen 4 and 5nm

AMD’s Ryzen 7000-series processors for high-end desktops employ the new Zen 4 CPU to achieve greater performance and power efficiency.

Joseph Byrne

Born in the fiery depths, demons tolerate heat. So too it is with AMD’s newest speed demons, the fifth-generation (Raphael) Ryzen 7000 processors for enthusiasts. Following Intel’s power-be-damned approach to capturing the performance crown, AMD has raised the power limits of its high-end desktop processors by 60%. Along with design improvements, it increased base clock rates by about 30% and peak rates by about 16%. Burnishing its brainiac reputation, the new Zen 4 CPU boosts IPC by 13% and adds AVX-512 support.

While announcing the Ryzen processors this month, AMD also revealed the AM5 socket. Promising support through at least 2025, AMD mandates DDR5 memory and implements PCIe Gen5 with AM5. To deliver these changes, the company integrated a new I/O die in the 7000 and has introduced four new core-logic chips.

Instead of dancing the once popular tick-tock two-step—changing process technology in one generation and CPU microarchitecture in the next—AMD is altering both simultaneously. The Ryzen 7000 employs Zen 4 in 5nm.

Released in 2020, the Ryzen 5000 introduced Zen 3 in 7nm technology. Facing supply constraints, the company scrubbed the 2021 launch of a 5nm refresh of the 5000, code-named Warhol and presumably to have been called the Ryzen 6000X. This time, AMD expects no 5nm supply constraints. Ryzen 7000 chips and associated motherboards should reach stores by the end of September.

Although desktop systems account for only about 20% of the PC market, they’re important to gamers and other aficionados. Keen to upgrade and a resource to ordinary consumers wanting PC advice, these customers are important for chip vendors to please. By offering the 7000, AMD is providing a major upgrade, giving them plenty to talk about. And that conversation will continue once Intel discloses details of its Raptor Lake processors, which are scheduled to ship at about the same time as the 7000.