AMD reveals next-gen Ryzen 3000 processors and RX 5700 graphics card at Computex 2019

AMD will launch five new Ryzen 3000 processors, based on the Zen 2 architecture, in July this year

Computex 2019 kicks off in Taipei today after AMD CEO Dr Lisa Su used a pre-show keynote to unveil details to attendees about AMD's forthcoming Ryzen 3000 CPUs and 7nm GPUs.

In her keynote, Su made several announcements, including new Ryzen processors, Navi graphics cards, and Epyc Rome processors. But the biggest announcement was arguably that of AMD's 7nm Ryzen 3000 series.

AMD claims that the performance of the Ryzen 9 3900x will be comparable to that of the Intel i9-9920x for about half the price

"We made significant strategic investments in next-generation cores, a breakthrough chiplet design approach, and advanced process technologies to deliver leadership 7nm products to our high-performance computing ecosystem," Su said.

Su revealed that AMD will launch five new processors, based on AMD's Zen 2 core architecture, in July this year.

The flagship CPU in this line-up is Ryzen 9 3900x, the first mainstream 12-core processor that will be launched with a price tag of $499 (about £500 including VAT). The specifications of the Ryzen 9 3900x include 24 threads, a 3.8GHz base clock-speed (boosting to 4.6GHz), 70MB of total cache, and a 105-watt TDP.

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AMD claims that the performance of the Ryzen 9 3900x will be comparable to that of the Intel i9-9920x for about half the price. The company also ran a demo of the Blender benchmark, claiming a 16 per cent performance gain over its rival.

Ryzen 9 3900x (and all the other processors in the Ryzen 3000 series) will also support the PCIe 4.0 motherboard connectivity standard, promising faster throughput for graphics cards and network cards. It's the first mainstream appearance for PCIe 4.0 outside of the data centre.

AMD's Ryzen 7 3700x will cost $329. It offers eight cores, 16 threads, a 3.6GHz base clock speed (boosting to 4.4GHz), 36MB of total cache and a 65-watt TDP.

The specifications of the Ryzen 7 3800x, costing $399, are even higher. It features eight cores, 16 threads, a 3.9Ghz base clock speed, boosting to 4.5GHz, 36MB of total cache, and a 105W TDP.

Su also revealed AMD's plans to launch second-generation Epyc microprocessors, codenamed 'Rome', in the third quarter of 2019. She claimed that Epyc Rome has the potential to "revolutionise the data centre", by offering up to twice the performance per socket compared to first-generation Epyc models.

She also highlighted that the new Frontier supercomputer, which will be the most powerful or one of the most power computers when it is delivered, will be powered by Epyc and Radeon Instinct.

AMD's 7nm long-awaited Navi-based Radeon GPUs, meanwhile, will come with faster clock speeds. They will be world's first PCIe 4.0 GPUs.

These can't come too soon, with AMD widely regarded as trailing at least a generation behind Nvidia in GPU and graphics card technology.

First out of the door will be graphics cards based on AMD's RX 5700 GPU, which the company claims will offer 10 per cent better performance compared to Nvidia's RTX 2070. While the company launched its first 7nm GPUs last year, they weren't produced in large volumes. However, TSMC's 7nm process node is now mature enough for the mass market.

During the event, Su also unveiled RDNA, the brand for the Navi gaming architecture. The company claims RDNA will offer up to 1.5 times better performance-per-watt compared to the previous Graphics Core Next architecture.

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