Updated | AMD rumored to break the 5 GHz boost barrier with improved Zen 3 CPUs, announcement coming next week

Update: Bubliy rectified in a comment that there will be no official announcement from AMD. He is probably referring to a new CTR version that can allow Ryzen 5000 CPUs to easily overclock to 5 GHz +.

Intel is ready to unleash its 11th gen Core desktops CPUs, and, according to some preliminary tests, the upcoming top-of-the-line Rocket Lake models beat AMD’s similar competitors in most synthetic tests thanks to boost clocks that can reach 5.3 GHz, although these CPUs barely match Team Red’s 8-core Ryzen 5000 processors in select games. Granted, these preliminary reviews were using Intel engineering samples, and retail products may end up overall faster, so AMD could be facing some fierce competition, especially if Intel comes with some enticing MSRPs, as well. But AMD is not sitting on its hands. According to a recent tweet from Yuri Bubliy, the developer of the highly acclaimed Clock Tuner for Ryzen overclocking tool, AMD plans to counter Intel’s Rocket Lake launch with some improved Zen 3 processors that should be announced on February 15.

Not much is known about these new AMD processors. Bubliy only mentioned that these will be the first models to break the 5.0 GHz barrier for boost clocks. Even though AMD’s desktop CPUs are now overall faster than Intel’s models, the single core boost clocks have never been Team Red’s strongest suit. However, if what Bublyi claims turns out to be indeed true, AMD might have held back a bit, to see what Intel brings to the table. At this point, Intel seems to focus on securing the advantage in single-core workloads with high boost clocks, since AMD’s multi-core performance will not be beaten with only 8 cores. By finally figuring out how to break the 5.0 GHz barrier, AMD has a real chance of rendering the whole Rocket Lake launch pointless. Provided that AMD can offer relevant supplies, that is.

Hopefully, AMD will not slap the 5 GHz+ clocks on an even more expensive version of the Ryzen 9 5950X, as this would hardly compete with Intel’s Rocket Lake models when it comes to pricing. A better solution would be to offer the increased clocks starting with an improved Ryzen 7 5800X model.

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