AMD Zen 5 CPU Alleged Launch Details Surface Including 3D V-Cache Chips
Posting on Xwitter, High Yield runs down the list of what we think we know about AMD's next-generation desktop CPUs: they'll be on Socket AM5 and use the same fundamental CPU package as Ryzen 7000, but they'll be called the Ryzen 9000 family despite AMD referring to them as the Ryzen 8000 family in previous slides.
AMD's Zen 5-based Granite Ridge processors are expected to use the same cIOD as Zen 4, which means no upgrades in terms of connectivity (PCIe, USB, etc) nor in terms of integrated graphics. Likewise, the core counts will likely continue to cap out at 16 cores, and clock rates should be similar to what we see with the extant Ryzen 7000 series. However, the Zen 5 architecture is expected to bring a "double-digit" IPC uplift—between 10 and 20% depending on the workload, according to AMD's own predictions.
High Yield also engages in some speculation of his own. According to the YouTuber, the next-generation CPUs are "very likely" to launch sometime between April and June. Many outlets have speculated that the new CPUs could be announced or launched at Computex in May, which of course falls into that window. We'd be surprised if we see them before then.
In a reply, High Yield notes that variants of the Zen 5 CPUs equipped with 3D V-Cache may not come at the same time as the standard chips, and that he expects the red team to drop those parts just as Intel's about to launch its Arrow Lake desktop CPUs. Replying to that reply, regular leaker Kepler gets specific and says that "X3D is CES 2025."
That's a long time from now, and a long time after Computex, but he might just be right. The initial Socket AM5 platform and CPUs launched in September of 2022, and then the X3D versions were announced at CES in 2023 but didn't become available until April. We might see a similar situation, where Zen 5 X3D is announced at CES 2025 and available later in the year. It will be interesting to see if Zen 5 CPUs are competitive against Zen 4 X3D in gaming.
