AMD Ryzen 4000 desktop processors are seemingly on schedule to release in 2020, with Zen 3 consumer chips confirmed for later this year by an AMD executive, who also hinted that this silicon is going to be something special.
Rick Bergman, who is executive VP of computing & graphics at AMD, made the comment at the end of a blog post: “So, what’s next for AMD in the PC space? Well, I cannot share too much, but I can say our high-performance journey continues with our first ‘Zen 3’ Client processor on-track to launch later this year. I will wrap by saying you haven't seen the best of us yet…”
- There's a whole world of PC components out there
- These are the best gaming laptops
- Check out the best rival Intel processors
The reference to Zen 3 ‘client’ processors refers to those targeting consumers (as opposed to server CPUs), and this is the first time one of AMD’s top brass has explicitly referred to the Zen 3 consumer launch happening in 2020.
With previous statements from the likes of CEO Lisa Su, this had been implied, but not actually stated (leading to some theorizing that AMD could potentially prioritize Epyc server chips over Ryzen products in 2020, if there were difficult production decisions to be made).
So it’s a new confirmation in this respect, and as mentioned, Bergman’s final line suggests that Zen 3 is really going to step things up, which is very much the chatter we’ve heard from the CPU rumor mill already. Lisa Su has also previously indicated that Zen 3 is shaping up ‘great’, of course.
Mobile or desktop?
As Tom’s Hardware, which spotted this, points out, technically a Zen 3 consumer launch for late 2020 could just consist of new laptop chips, with Ryzen 4000 ‘Vermeer’ desktop coming later.
That’s a fair point – of course at this stage, we just don’t know for sure – but the expectation has always been that we will see ‘Vermeer’ pitch up later this year, and we’ve no reason to doubt that any less following this statement.
Indeed, seeing as Bergman mentions “it is incredible to think how far we have come from our initial ‘Zen 2’ PC product launch in July 2019, with the 3rd Gen Ryzen Desktop Processors,” directly before talking about what’s next in the PC space, that could be read as another hint that he’s talking about Vermeer chips.
Rumor has it that Ryzen 4000 desktop CPUs could land in September or October, but that really is just guesswork at this point. The processors are expected to deliver a major performance boost, possibly to the tune of 15% or more in terms of IPC (instructions per clock) gains – which really would be exciting (for everyone except Intel).
- These are the best graphics cards
