AMD Releases New Ryzen Processors

Last year, AMD made a successful re-entry into the high-performance world of desktop computing with their Ryzen processors. Now, they have announced the second generation of their fiercest competition to Intel in years.

Ryzen Generation 2

At the upper end of the new Ryzen chips is the Ryzen 7 2700X. The 2700X replaces both the 1700X and 1800X chips from the first-generation Ryzen processor lineup – those two older chips were extremely similar.

The base clock of the 2700X is 3.7GHz with a boost up to 4.3GHz, which makes it up to 300Mhz faster than the 1800X. The price has also come down, with the 2700X selling at $329 compared to the 1800X’s $499 price point. This puts the price close to Intel’s six-core i7-8700K.

Their budget offering is the Ryzen 5 2600, a six-core chip with will sell for $199. The base clock on the 2600 is 3.4GHz with a boost up to 3.9GHz. The most similar Intel chip is the Core i5-8500.

The Lineup

Ryzen 7 2700X – 8 cores, 16 threads, 3.7 to 4.3GHz, $329

Ryzen 7 2700 – 8 cores, 16 threads, 3.2 to 4.1GHz, $299

Ryzen 5 2600X – 6 cores, 12 threads, 3.6 to 4.2 Ghz, $229

Ryzen 5 2600 – 6 cores, 12 threads, 3.4 to 3.9GHz, $199

Up Next?

AMD will debut their new platform, Zen 2, next year. So far, they have been mum on details but there are a few knowns. The new Zen chips will run on their new 470 AM4 chipset and they’ll support its StoreMI technology which links SSDs, platter hard drives and RAM together, increasing performance.