Zen 4, Zen 5, RDNA 3, and RDNA 4: AMD reveals key details about upcoming CPU and GPU architectures

AMD’s RDNA 3 GPUs are closer than ever with the many leaks pointing towards incredible performance uplifts over RDNA 2 boards with a similar power budget. For instance, we previously reported that AMD’s entry-level RDNA 3-based Navi 33 chip allegedly packs more power than the RDNA 2-based Navi 21 featured in the RX 6900 XT while only consuming between 220-250 W.

AMD’s David Wang confirmed these efficiency claims about RDNA 3 cards at the Financial Analyst Day 2022 briefing. Per Wang, RDNA 3 GPUs will provide more than 50% better performance-per-watt than the current RDNA 2 chips. Remember, AMD already claims that RDNA 2 has much better performance-per-watt than Nvidia RTX 30-series cards. With Nvidia’s RTX 40-series rumored to be more power-hungry than ever, RX 7000 series boards are looking set to keep the efficiency crown.

How is AMD getting a more than 50% jump in performance-per-watt? According to the company, it is achieving this using a 5 nm process node, advanced chiplet packaging, rearchitected Compute Units, an optimized graphics pipeline, and the new AMD Infinity Cache.

During the presentation, AMD also hinted at RDNA 4 using an “Advanced Node”, coming in 2024.

Additionally, Team Red also shared some more details about the AMD CDNA 3 architecture meant for data centers. The company mentioned that, by packaging both the CPU and GPU chiplets on a single die, CDNA 3 will give rise to the world’s first exascale APU. AMD is getting ready to launch the CDNA 3-based Instinct MI300 series in 2023.

AMD Zen 4 and Zen 5

AMD further revealed some details about the Ryzen 7000 series desktop processors based on the Zen 4 architecture. The company touted the Ryzen 7000 "Raphael" chips as having close to 8% IPC uplift in desktop workloads, north of 5.5 GHz clock speed, more than 15% increase in single-threaded performance, and >25% better performance-per-watt. Combined, AMD estimates that Zen 4 will offer a >35% overall performance uplift.

Aside from specifications, AMD also shared a roadmap of its upcoming CPU releases. Per the roadmap, the 5 nm Zen 4 chips will release later this year followed by Zen 4 with 3D V-Cache. Zen 4 and RDNA 3-based “Phoenix Point” APU is scheduled to come out early 2023. Rounding out the lineup are the Zen 4-based Threadripper processors that will launch sometime next year.

Finally, AMD mentioned that Zen 5 “Granite Ridge” CPUs and “Strix Point” APUs with RDNA 3+ will be based on a mysterious “Advanced Node” and will break cover in 2024.

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