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AMD reveals 5nm Ryzen 7000 powered by Zen 4 cores

AM5 socket to bring desktop CPUs to life in late 2022, mid-range laptop CPU to follow

AMD has revealed some more details about its forthcoming Ryzen 7000 family of Zen 4 desktop processors and the socket they'll use.

CEO Lisa Su said the chips' CPU dies will be built using a 5nm process by TSMC, will double the cache per core to 1MB, will include instructions tuned to the needs of artificial-intelligence applications, and will boast clock speeds than can top 5GHz.

The CPU chiplets will sit next to a 6nm IO die that integrates RDNA 2 graphics with silicon needed to talk to DDR5 memory and drive PCIe 5.0 interfaces. The chips are due to arrive in Q4 2022.

The processors will find a home in AM5 sockets – AMD's first socket since 2017's AM4. AM5 uses land grid array (LGA) tech and boasts 1,718 pins. Motherboards using the kit will offer up to 24 PCIe lanes and 14 USB interfaces – some at 20GB/s and all capable of handling USB-C. In her Computex keynote, Su focused on the Ryzen 7000 family, and name-checked ASRock, ASUS, Gigabyte, Biostar, and MSI as making AM5 motherboards.

Another nugget of news from the keynote was a project named Mendocino – an effort to craft a PC processor aimed at laptops priced from $399 to $699. AMD defines that price range as spanning entry-level to midrange. Su said this silicon will use a 6nm TSMC process, offer four Zen 2 cores and RDNA 2 graphics, and deliver ten hours of battery life for modest notebooks.

The CEO suggested the market is ripe for an upgrade, as buyers would prefer more than the four-to-six hours of unplugged operations that are currently common on lower-priced laptops. Mendocino kit will debut in Q4 2022.

Su also emphasized that some 200 AMD-powered laptop designs will go on sale during 2022, across gaming, consumer, and enterprise kit. She suggested that's a sign of important momentum, and an indicator that OEMs believe AMD positively differentiates their products.

Intel's not delivering a Computex keynote this year – an unusual omission. Nvidia has a Tuesday slot that The Register will attend as our APAC bureau keeps its eye on the conference. ®

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