New leaks suggest the second generation Ryzen chip is on its way which builds upon the popular Zen architecture. The new chip goes by the name of Ryzen 7 2700X and seems to be the descendant of the Ryzen 7 1700X as it comes with a similar configuration to that chip. One major difference is the significantly better turbo clock at 4.2 GHz, more than what the Ryzen 7 1700X can offer.
AMD’s Ryzen 7 series changed the landscape of computer performance when it was introduced. The new Zen architecture was much better than many other options out there in the market enabling it to be more competitive than the rest. AMD has already promised a new Zen CPU core to be released sometime soon.
However, for now, the Ryzen 7 2700X seems to improve upon what the Zen architecture started. The new chip builds upon the existing chip built on GlobalFoundries tuned 14nm process (now known as 12nm). The performance jumps are small but overall performance will become much better.
The leak comes via Futuremark’s 3DMark database which revealed some of the new chip’s specifications. The new 2700X will have 8 cores and a 16 thread CPU equipped with a 20 MB cache (16 MB L3 + 4 MB L2). The TDP rating is 95W. The specs, as mentioned are similar to the Ryzen 7 1700X but the 2700X has higher turbo clock speed. Precision Boost 2.0 technologies are also said to debut along with the new Ryzen chip generation which would definitely make performance enthusiasts happy.
There’s not much information on how the new chip’s clock-for-clock performance will fare against the existing Ryzen 7 1800X but it seems that the newest cores will see a small boost to clock speed especially if AMD remains adamant on holding turbo clocks at high ratios.
If the leaks turn out to be true, then given past trends and the current information we have, a few guesses can be made regarding the specifications of the Ryzen 7 2800X which would likely follow the 2700X. Perhaps a 3.9 GHz base clock with a 4.3 GHz boost clock combined with 4 GHz all-core boost that would result in a decent clock boost. If AMD finds a way to clean up small issues along with the new improvements, then there could be a significant increase in overall performance in the next Ryzen generation.
The Ryzen 7 2700X is part of the Zen family but an improved version. It’s said to be a part of the new Zen+ family which changes from the 14nm process to a 12nm process. There will be several optimizations for power efficiency, performance, and clocks etc.
What’s the purpose of introducing these new chips?
The boosts to performance aren’t that significant that would give existing Ryzen users an incentive to upgrade. However, AMD still chooses to roll these upgrades out, why? It’s because AMD released a completely new architecture not too long ago and for people to make the transition from other architectures to AMD’s latest one, they need to be able to trust AMD. PC users like to frequently upgrade and if the Zen architecture cannot be improved upon then it’s of no use.
Therefore, small improvements like these show that AMD can build on and improve its current architecture and that it knows what it’s doing. There’s still some time for the Zen2 architecture to be released, thus it’s best if AMD continues to improve the current one. Moreover, the clock improvements AMD is making will help reduce the impact of performance differences that are prevalent in Intel and AMD in different tests.
At this stage with unofficial specs, nothing can be said with certainty. However, if the leaked specifications for the Ryzen 7 2700X are true, then it’s doing all the right things. The chip would help give a significant boost to performance and would help AMD get a more competitive edge in the market.