Ryzen 2 set to launch in February 2018, according to reports

AMD's Ryzen roadmap on track

AMD's Ryzen 2 CPUs will be launched from February 2018, according to reports, with Ryzen 7 update coming first, followed by the Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 3. The Ryzen overhaul will see AMD's well-regarded CPUs given a clock speed boost and overclocking capabilities improved.

That's according to WCCTech, which reports that the upgraded range of CPUs will be built using the 12nm fabrication processes. The CPU will plug-in to the same AM4 socket and run on the same A320/B350/X370 motherboards as AMD's current Ryzen 3, 5 and 7s - making upgrading easy and relatively inexpensive.

Motherboards should require no more than a bios upgrade to accommodate the new chip.

The Ryzen 2 family will feature AMD's Zen+ CPU architecture, which is set to offer more power efficiency alongside beefier speeds and support for DDR4 memory running at higher frequencies.

Dubbed 'Pinnacle Ridge', the wave of second-gen Ryzen chips will start predictably with the flagship Ryzen 7 in February, followed by its lesser number siblings in March.

With up to eight cores and clock speeds reckoned to hit up to 4.4GHz, the Ryzen 2 CPUs are not only set to butt heads with Intel's eighth-generation processors, but also take on Intel's 9000 series CPUs set to make a splash mid next year.

The first bout of Ryzen CPUs made their debut earlier this year and offered enough performance on tap to give people a good alternative to Intel, which had enjoyed a clear technical and performance superiority over AMD for some ten years or so.

At this moment, there's not a vast amount of extra information about Ryzen 2, but the release will cement AMD's return to the top table and, perhaps, pull-in more PC builders.

Next year, we can also expect upgraded ‘Threadripper' CPUs built on the same Zen+ architecture on 12nm fabs, but offering a ridiculous number of cores in the £500-£1,000 sector of the market for high-end workstations and highly enthusiastic enthusiasts.