AMD has taken the first step with Ryzen 7000 to (try to) beat Intel in the next battle for the PC. This is your strategy

We are about to witness a new chapter in the particular battle that Intel and AMD have had for decades. But it is not at all a chapter more. We have good reason to anticipate that the virulence with which these two giants of the semiconductor industry will compete in the PC playing field it will be more intense than ever.

For the last two years AMD has received very positive reviews thanks to the favorable performance/watt ratio that their Ryzen 5000 microprocessors with Zen 3 microarchitecture offer us. In fact, some of these models have stood out in our analyses. Intel, however, has followed other paths.

Its 12th generation Core processors with Alder Lake microarchitecture are committed to a hybrid architecture that combines high-efficiency and high-performance cores in a clear commitment to scalability. In our tests some of these chips stood out for its single-wire performancealthough they also showed high consumption and a remarkable thermal energy dissipation capacity.

This is the context in which we find ourselves now. There is no doubt that the starting point of both companies is very different, and in all likelihood their short-term bet will be too. We’ll be digging into Intel’s in a few weeks, when we have solid news about the 13th generation of Intel Core processors, but AMD’s strategy it’s already on the table. Their Ryzen 7000 chips will hit stores on September 27, and we already know for sure what weapons they are going to wield to try to beat their competitors.

TSMC’s 5nm lithography is crucial to lead in performance/watt

Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturer TSMC is a valuable ally for AMD. Its imminent Ryzen 7000 microprocessors will maintain the architecture of chiplets which has given such good results during the last generations, although its CCD will be produced using the 5nm node from which other TSMC customers are also benefiting.

There are two kinds of chiplets: IOD (Input Output Die) and CCDs (Core Complex Die). CCDs include the nuclei and the cache memory subsystem, among other essential elements of the CPU, while the IOD contains the main memory access logic and handles the interfacing of the CCDs and communication with the motherboard chipset. In Ryzen 5000 microprocessors the CCDs are manufactured using 7nm FinFET photolithography, but the IOD is produced using 12nm integration technology.

The next Ryzen 7000 will maintain this same organization scheme, but the photolithography that TSMC is already using to manufacture them is more advanced. In fact, as we have seen, the CCD is being produced using the same 5nm integration technology that this semiconductor manufacturer is already using to produce chips for Apple or Huawei, among other companies, and the IOD uses 6nm integration technology.

Ryzen 7000 processors use a new LGA-1718 type socket known as AM5. This physical interface is capable of delivering up to 230 watts of power to the CPU.

Much of the refinement introduced by AMD engineers in the Zen 4 microarchitecture is aimed at increase your performance in both single-threaded and multi-threaded scenarios, but this is only one of the ingredients of the equation.

The photolithography used in the manufacture of these processors is crucial in a context in which many users expect that the CPU of our PC squeeze all the juice out of every precious watt that supplies the power supply. Let’s cross our fingers that the new Ryzen 7000 will be up to the task when we have the opportunity to thoroughly test them.

The other essential ingredient of AMD: exceed the barrier of 5 GHz

At the end of last May, AMD anticipated us that its Ryzen 7000 processors will give us an increase in performance in single-thread scenarios of more than 15% vs. comparable chips in the Ryzen 5000 family. Sounds great. The most ambitious processors of this last family have stood out in our tests for their multi-thread productivity, but there is no doubt that the Ryzen 7000 will benefit from a boost in their single-thread performance.

If this improvement finally materializes, one of the usage scenarios in which these CPUs will be reinforced are the games. This software rarely takes advantage of the ability to deal with a large number of execution threads that some CPUs have, but nevertheless, when one or a few cores can work at a very high clock frequency, the performance of some games tends to suffer. clearly favored.

We knew that the new Ryzen 7000 would be capable of working at a maximum clock frequency of more than 5 GHz, but until a few hours ago we did not know if these chips would barely overcome this border, or if they would do so with authority. We already have the answer, and, fortunately, it is exciting. And it does so because AMD has confirmed that its ambitious Ryzen 9 7950X will be able to reach 5.7 GHz. Quite a milestone in a CPU of this type without putting on the board advanced techniques of overclock.

The maximum frequency of the other processors in the Ryzen 7000 family also looks very good. The Ryzen 9 7900X will reach 5.6 GHzthe Ryzen 7 7700X will flirt with 5.4 GHz, and even the most modest Ryzen 5 7600X will be able to work at an absolutely negligible 5.3 GHz.

This improvement adds to the innovations that the Zen 4 microarchitecture proposes (we investigate some of them in this other article) to put on the table a family of processors that a priori looks very good.

Now the ball is in Intel’s court. Whatever happens, we users can be sure that a stage is approaching with a firm step in which both AMD and Intel necessarily have to put all the meat on the grill.

In a context of economic instability such as the current one, tempting us is more difficult than ever, and there is no doubt that the way to achieve it is to propose solutions that really add value. That they are worth it without ambiguities. No sweeteners. Let’s cross our fingers that both brands are up to the task.