AMD Announces Ryzen "Zen 3" and Radeon "RDNA2" Presentations for October: A New Journey Begins
by Ryan Smith on September 9, 2020 5:30 PM ESTAMD today has announced that they will be making a pair of consumer product presentations in October. The chipmaker, who has been fairly quiet since the spring, will be holding events for both their consumer Ryzen CPU and Radeon GPU product segments. Dubbing the events “A New Journey Begins”, the company will be announcing the first products based on their eagerly anticipated Zen 3 CPU architecture and RDNA 2 GPU architecture.
Leading the charge will be AMD’s CPU division. On October 8th at noon Eastern, the company will be presenting their Zen 3-based Ryzen desktop processors. AMD’s CEO, Dr. Lisa Su, will be among the presenters.
Following that up just under 3 weeks later will be AMD’s Radeon presentation, which again is at noon Eastern. There the company will be showing off its first products based on the company’s forthcoming RDNA 2 GPU architecture. Meanwhile, tipping their hand a bit early on naming, AMD has confirmed that this will be called the Radeon RX 6000 series.
Next Generation Ryzen Desktop Processors – 10/8, 12 p.m. ET
We are incredibly excited to invite you to learn more about the next wave of Ryzen desktop processors with “Zen 3” architecture, taking our PC gaming and content creation leadership to new heights. Dr. Lisa Su and other AMD senior executives will kick-off this new journey for “Zen 3” and AMD Ryzen at 12 p.m. ET, October 8th.
Next Generation Radeon Graphics – 10/28, 12 p.m. ET
Preparing to delight gamers globally with the next horizon of Radeon Graphics, we invite you to learn more about our RDNA 2 architecture, Radeon RX 6000 series graphics cards, and our deep collaboration with game developers and ecosystem partners who will help us bring the best of Radeon to gamers. Tune in for the reveal of the future of Radeon PC gaming at 12 p.m. ET, October 28th.
AMD hasn’t disclosed any other details about these events at this time, but over the last several months the manufacturer has shared bits and pieces of information relating to its upcoming chip architectures. Based on AMD’s roadmaps, Ryzen Zen 3 processors will be built on an improved version of TSMC’s 7nm process, most likely TSMC’s N7P process given AMD’s comments clarifying that they aren’t committing to EUV for 7nm. Otherwise, for the moment AMD is remaining tight-lipped on the Zen 3 architecture itself, though given that AMD isn’t going to get the benefits of a full node shrink, we’re expecting Zen 3 to deliver some interesting and meaningful architectural improvements over Zen 2.
Meanwhile on the graphics front, AMD and partners have previously confirmed that RDNA 2 will be a DirectX 12 Ultimate (feature level 12_2) compliant GPU architecture, meaning that AMD will be making significant changes to the graphics side of their GPU designs. The Navi 2x family of GPUs will gain support for ray tracing, variable rate shading, and other features that will put AMD’s new GPUs at parity with the competition, both for consoles and PCs. Meanwhile from a performance standpoint, AMD is aiming for a hefty 50% jump in performance-per-watt, which could potentially eliminate the efficiency gap with NVIDIA. As well, the company has previously promised a high-end "top-of-stack" GPU for 4K gaming, so we're expecting some ambitious performance goals from AMD.
Be sure to check in on October 8th and October 28th for more details on AMD’s next generation of consumer parts!
It’s going to be an exciting fall for gamers... time to start a new journey with @AMDRyzen Zen3 and @Radeon RDNA2 pic.twitter.com/O9SXvLo4y0
— Lisa Su (@LisaSu) September 9, 2020
Source: AMD
143 Comments
View All Comments
Spunjji - Friday, September 11, 2020 - link
Sounds like what I'm planning. I had to do an emergency purchase to replace a failed system and ended up going for a Ryzen 3 3100 and second-hand RX580 to hold me over until I'm ready to build a proper new system - likely some time early next year.Whatever I end up with - Zen 2 or 3, RDNA 1 or 2, or Ampere - it's going to kick the arse out of the Skylake / Maxwell system I've been running up until now. Hell, this last-minute build is already a noticeable improvement 😅
schujj07 - Friday, September 11, 2020 - link
I'm waiting until both Ampere and Big Navi are released before I upgrade my GPU. I'm still rocking a 4770k & R9 285. The 4770k will still be enough until DDR5 Zen 4 comes out. I don't want to be on the end of a RAM cycle again so I'm not going Zen 3.Spunjji - Tuesday, September 15, 2020 - link
That's fair! I prefer to land somewhere near the middle - after the initial price hikes have faded, but before the platform gets binned entirely.austinsguitar - Wednesday, September 9, 2020 - link
grabs popcornsilencer12 - Wednesday, September 9, 2020 - link
Grab me a pumpkin beer would you.coburn_c - Wednesday, September 9, 2020 - link
Wake Me Up When September EndsMrVibrato - Thursday, September 10, 2020 - link
...and so he kept slumbering to eternity.wr3zzz - Wednesday, September 9, 2020 - link
Nothing about new chipset? I have been waiting for a successor to x570 not needing active cooling to begin my new build.shabby - Wednesday, September 9, 2020 - link
Go with the b550 then, i doubt newer x570 chipsets will have passive cooling.inighthawki - Wednesday, September 9, 2020 - link
I think they were hoping for an x670 that was perhaps built on a smaller node that didn't require active cooling.B550 may not suffice for many users who are expecting to use more gen 4 lanes.