AMD Ships Ryzen 7 Processors

On March 2, AMD Inc. began shipping its new Ryzen 7 family of desktop processors to OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) and e-tailers such as Amazon and Newegg. AMD says that its three-member Ryzen 7 series is the the first in a line of processors based on its new AMD Zen core architecture. The Zen architecture, AMD says, delivers a 52 percent improvement in instructions-per-clock cycle over its previous generation core, without increasing power.

AMD’s new 8-core Ryzen 7 desktop processors are based on the company’s AMD Zen core architecture, which, AMD says, delivers a 52% improvement in instructions-per-clock cycle over its previous generation core, without increasing power. Image courtesy of AMD Inc.

The three low-power, eight-core, 16-thread Ryzen 7 CPUs available now are the 65-watt 1700, the 95-watt 1700X and the 95-watt 1800X. Each CPU offers DDR4 (double data rate fourth-generation) memory support and two memory channels. They provide 768KB of L1 cache, 4MB L2 cache and 16MB L3 cache.

The Ryzen 7 1700 has a base clock speed of 3GHz with a maximum turbo core speed of 3.7GHz whereas the 3.4GHz Ryzen 7 1700X has a 3.8GHz maximum turbo core speed. The Ryzen 1800X clocks in with a 3.6GHz base speed and up to 4GHz turbo. Additionally, the Ryzen 1700 comes bundled with AMD’s newly re-engineered Wraith Spire thermal cooling solution.

All Ryzen processors support AMD’s AM4 infrastructure, a new unified socket infrastructure for USB, graphics, data and other I/O. AMD reports that motherboard designs are either anticipated or already available from original design manufacturers such as MSI.

AMD Ryzen Master utility provides tools to personalize the performance Ryzen processors. Image courtesy of AMD Inc.

The processors also support AMD’s new SenseMI technology as well as the company’s Ryzen Master utility. AMD SenseMI technology comprises a set of learning and adapting features that help AMD Ryzen processors customize their performance according to usage and applications.

AMD reports that Ryzen processors ship from the factory multiplier-unlocked. The freely downloadable Ryzen Master utility provides users tools for overclocking control. This, says AMD, enables users to personalize the performance of a Ryzen processor. Among the features of the Ryzen Master utility are the ability to store custom clocks and voltage adjustments for both the Ryzen CPU and DDR4 memory as well as real-time monitoring and a histogram of per-core clock rates, temperature and average and peak readings.

AMD also reports that it expects to launch six- and four-core Ryzen 5 processors during the second quarter of this year as well as Ryzen 3 processors at a later date. The company says that the Ryzen 3 is designed to bring more performance to mainstream applications. The Ryzen 5 processors will offer 12 and 8 threads and base processor speeds of 3.6GHz and 3.5GHz with turbo speeds of 4GHz and 3.7GHz.

AMD says that the suggested pricing for Ryzen 7 processors are $329 for the Ryzen 7 1700, $399 for the Ryzen 7 1700X and $499 for the Ryzen 7 1800X. The company adds that it anticipates that complete Ryzen-based systems will be available in the coming months from such manufacturers as Dell, HP and Lenovo.

For more details on the Ryzen 7 processor series, visit AMD.

Click here for the AMD Ryzen 7 1700 landing page.

Click here for the AMD Ryzen 7 1700X landing page.

Click here for the AMD Ryzen 7 1800X landing page.

Learn more about AMD’s SenseMI Technology.

Learn more about AMD’s Ryzen Master Utility.

See why DE‘s Editors selected the AMD Ryzen 7 series of desktop processors as their Pick of the Week.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.