Benchmark spotted for possible AMD Zen CPU

A recently spotted update to the benchmarked CPU list on blenchmark.com shows what could be a new AMD processor based on the upcoming Zen architecture. Blenchmark.com is a site that measures the time it takes for CPUs or GPUs to render a custom scene in Blender (an open-source 3D modeling software suite). Lower render times indicate better performance in this benchmark.

The AMD CPU rendered the scene in 69 seconds, putting it in league with Intel Xeon processors. The possible Zen sample tied with the Intel Xeon E5-2680 v2 (a 10-core server-grade processor clocked at 2.8 GHz with a 3.6 GHz boost clock) and scored slightly lower than the Intel Xeon E5-2530 v4 (a 10-core CPU released earlier this year). The 2.2 GHz E5-2530 rendered the scene in 64 seconds, slightly edging out the AMD CPU.

Perhaps most interestingly, the AMD sample deftly beat out Intel’s i7-6950X and i7-6900K CPUs, which clocked in at 84 and 99 seconds, respectively. The i7-6950X is a 10-core processor clocked at 3.0 GHz (3.5 GHz boost), while the i7-6900K is an 8-core CPU with a 3.2 GHz base clock and a 3.7 GHz boost.

The processor is labelled as an “AMD Engineering Sample,” which doesn’t tell us much about the actual specifications of the CPU. AMD will be releasing Zen-based processors with 8 cores (for Summit Ridge variants) up to 32 cores (for Naples server processors) on the CPU die, and the core count on the tested CPU could fall anywhere in this range. In addition to core count, the clock speed of the benchmarked sample could not be specified at this time. It should be noted that the tested system was running a 64-bit version of Windows 2008 Server R2, which might suggest the processor is a server-grade CPU, placing it in the Naples line.

AMD is planning to release the Zen line of CPUs and APUs in early 2017 and late 2017, respectively.

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