AMD Confirms Zen 4 Ryzen & EPYC CPUs For 2022, Showcases Next-Gen 3D V-Cache Stack Chiplet Design With 64 MB L3 Prototype Cache on Ryzen 5900X

AMD has confirmed that its next-generation Zen 4 powered Ryzen and EPYC CPUs will be launching next year. In addition to the announcement, AMD also demonstrated its latest 3D V-Cache tech that will be coming to future generations of processors.

AMD Confirms Zen 4 Ryzen & EPYC CPUs Coming Next Year - Will Feature 3D V-Cache Stack Chiplet Design, Demos 64 MB L3 Cache Ryzen 9 5900X Prototype

We know that AMD's next-generation Ryzen and EPYC CPUs will be powered by the brand new Zen 4 core architecture but Lisa Su confirmed that those are headed for launch next year in 2022. We'll detail those chips again but before that, we need to talk about a brand new technology which AMD showcased during its Computex 2021 keynote.

Hope you guys enjoyed all the new tech we announced at #computex 2021. So proud of our @AMD Ryzen desktop APUs, @Radeon mobile GPUs, FidelityFX Super Resolution, and our brand new 3D chiplet technology - bringing the best to high-performance computing!! pic.twitter.com/0memR0kPLu

— Lisa Su (@LisaSu) June 1, 2021

AMD also revealed its next-generation 3D stacking design for its chiplet architecture-based CPUs. The technology is expected to stack several IPs on top of each other but the prototype that was showcased by AMD included the Ryzen 9 5900X with a 3D V-Cache with 64 MB of L3 SRAM. The prototype features a standard Zen 3 CCD sitting next to a 3D packaged CCD which measures at 6mmx6mm. The size of the CCD is the same as before but there's another package on top of the CCD which features 64 MB of cache, adding on to the 32 MB of L3 cache already featured on the Zen 3 CCD.

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This rounds up to a total of 96 MB of L3 cache per CCD or 192 MB of total L3 cache on the whole Ryzen 9 5950X CPU. The 3D V-Cache is connected to the CCD through several TSV's. AMD states that this hybrid bond approach enables more than 200 times the interconnect density with 3X the overall efficiency.

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AMD went as far as to demo this prototype which means the technology is indeed working and not just a paper showcase. The Ryzen 9 5900X prototype was running Gears V and delivered up to 12% faster performance thanks to the increased game cache size. On average, AMD is claiming a 15% performance increase with the 3D V-Cache design. AMD already offers exceptional gaming horse-power compared to Intel's Rocket Lake Desktop CPU lineup so this additional performance bump could simply demolish everything that Intel has bet for its next-gen Alder Lake CPUs.

AMD 3D Chiplet Technology: A packaging breakthrough for high-performance computing.

— AMD (@AMD) June 1, 2021

AMD didn't confirm which exact CPU generation this new stacking technology will be coming to but considering they showcased a prototype based on Zen 3 CPUs, we cannot rule out the possibility of a Ryzen 5000 'Zen 3' refresh with 3D V-Cache however, considering that production on these chips is expected later this year, a launch in early 2022 will mean a smaller shelve time with Zen 4 pitted for 2H 2022. AMD will definitely have this tech on its Zen 4 Ryzen CPUs and they will go one step ahead to package Milan-X with stacked Zen 3 CCDs as reported in recent rumors.

Here's Everything We Know About AMD's Raphael Ryzen 'Zen 4' Desktop CPUs

The next-generation Zen 4 based Ryzen Desktop CPUs will be codenamed Raphael and will replace the Zen 3 based Ryzen 5000 Desktop CPUs that are codenamed, Vermeer. From the information we currently have, Raphael CPUs will be based on the 5nm Zen 4 core architecture & will feature 6nm I/O dies in a chiplet design. AMD has hinted at upping the core counts of its next-gen mainstream desktop CPUs so we can expect a slight bump from the current max of 16 cores and 32 threads.

AMD Ryzen Raphael 'Zen 4' Desktop CPU Expected Features:

• Brand New Zen 4 CPU Cores (IPC / Architectural Improvements)
• Brand New TSMC 5nm process node with 6nm IOD
• Support on AM5 Platform With LGA1718 Socket
• Dual-Channel DDR5 Memory Support
• 28 PCIe Gen 4.0 Lanes (CPU Exclusive)
• 105-120W TDPs (Upper Bound Range ~170W)

The brand new Zen 4 architecture is rumored to deliver up to 25% IPC gain over Zen 3 and hit clock speeds of around 5 GHz.

‘Mark, Mike, and the teams have done a phenomenal job. We are as good as we are with the product today, but with our ambitious roadmaps, we are focusing on Zen 4 and Zen 5 to be extremely competitive.

‘There will be more core counts in the future – I would not say those are the limits! It will come as we scale the rest of the system.’

AMD CEO, Dr. Lisa Su via Anandtech

AMD's Rick Bergman on Next-Gen Zen 4 Cores For Ryzen CPUs

Q- How much of the performance gains delivered by AMD’s Zen 4 CPUs, which are expected to use a 5nm TSMC process and might arrive in early 2022, will come from instructions per clock (IPC) gains as opposed to core count and clock speed increases.

Bergman: “[Given] the maturity of the x86 architecture now, the answer has to be, kind of, all of the above. If you looked at our technical document on Zen 3, it was this long list of things that we did to get that 19% [IPC gain]. Zen 4 is going to have a similar long list of things, where you look at everything from the caches, to the branch prediction, [to] the number of gates in the execution pipeline. Everything is scrutinized to squeeze more performance out.”

“Certainly [manufacturing] process opens an additional door for us to [obtain] better performance-per-watt and so on, and we'll take advantage of that as well.”

AMD EVP, Rick Bergman, via The Street

As for the platform itself, the AM5 motherboards will feature the LGA1718 socket which is going to last quite some time. The platform will feature DDR5-5200 memory, 28 PCIe Gen 4.0 lanes, more NVMe 4.0 & USB 3.2 I/O, and may also ship with native USB 4.0 support. The lineup is stated to get CPUs up to 170W (120W base TDP) on the AM5 platform.

The Raphael Ryzen Desktop CPUs are also expected to feature RDNA 2 onboard graphics which means that just like Intel's mainstream desktop lineup, AMD's mainstream lineup will also feature iGPU graphics support. The Zen 4 based Raphael Ryzen CPUs aren't expected till late 2022 so there's still a lot of time left in the launch. The lineup will compete against Intel's Raptor Lake 13th Gen Desktop CPU lineup.

AMD Zen CPU / APU Roadmap:

Zen Architecture	Zen 7	Zen 6C	Zen 6	Zen 5 (C)	Zen 4 (C)	Zen 3+	Zen 3	Zen 2	Zen+	Zen 1
Core Codename	TBA	Monarch	Morpheus	Nirvana (Zen 5) Prometheus (Zen 5C)	Persphone (Zen 4) Dionysus (Zen 4C)	Warhol	Cerebrus	Valhalla	Zen+	Zen
CCD Codename	TBA	TBA	TBA	Eldora	Durango	TBC	Brekenridge	Aspen Highlands	N/A	N/A
Process Node	TBA	3nm/2nm?	2nm/3nm	3nm	4nm	6nm	7nm	7nm	12nm	14nm
Server	TBA	EPYC Venice (6th Gen)	EPYC Venice (6th Gen)	EPYC Turin (5th Gen)	EPYC Genoa (4th Gen) EPYC Siena (4th Gen) EPYC Bergamo (4th Gen)	N/A	EPYC Milan (3rd Gen)	EPYC Rome (2nd Gen)	N/A	EPYC Naples (1st Gen)
High-End Desktop	TBA	TBA	TBA	Ryzen Threadripper 9000 (Shamida Peak)	Ryzen Threadripper 7000 (Storm Peak)	N/A	Ryzen Threadripper 5000 (Chagal)	Ryzen Threadripper 3000 (Castle Peak)	Ryzen Threadripper 2000 (Coflax)	Ryzen Threadripper 1000 (White Haven)
Mainstream Desktop CPUs	TBA	TBA	Ryzen **** (Olympic Ridge)	Ryzen 9000 (Granite Ridge)	Ryzen 7000 (Raphael)	Ryzen 6000 (Warhol / Cancelled)	Ryzen 5000 (Vermeer)	Ryzen 3000 (Matisse)	Ryzen 2000 (Pinnacle Ridge)	Ryzen 1000 (Summit Ridge)
Enthusiast Mobile CPUs	TBA	TBA	Ryzen **** (Gator Range)	Ryzen 9000HX (Fire Range)	Ryzen 7000HX (Dragon Range)	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Mainstream Desktop . Notebook APU	Ryzen AI 500 (Sound Wave)?	Ryzen AI 500 (TBA)	Ryzen AI 400 (Medusa Point / BB)	Ryzen AI 300 (Strix Point) Ryzen *** (Krackan Point)	Ryzen 7000 (Phoenix)	Ryzen 6000 (Rembrandt)	Ryzen 5000 (Cezanne) Ryzen 6000 (Barcelo)	Ryzen 4000 (Renoir) Ryzen 5000 (Lucienne)	Ryzen 3000 (Picasso)	Ryzen 2000 (Raven Ridge)
Low-Power Mobile	TBA	TBA	TBA	Ryzen *** (Escher)	Ryzen 7000 (Mendocino)	TBA	TBA	Ryzen 5000 (Van Gogh) Ryzen 6000 (Dragon Crest)	N/A	N/A

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