AMD's 3rd Gen Ryzen line-up is now complete and the company is set to release six new CPUs spanning 6 to 16 cores, courtesy of the recently announced Ryzen 9 3950X. However, there’s far more to the story than just the CPUs: nearly everything has changed from memory support, to new drivers and Windows scheduler tweaks, all of which are inbound and will help offer huge performance gains over 2nd Generation Ryzen Processors. You can read all about it below.
| Model | Cores/Threads | TDP (Watts) | Boost/Base Freq | Total Cache | SEP (USD) | Availability |
| Ryzen 9 3950X | 16/32 | 105W | 4.7/3.5GHz | 72MB | $749 | September 2019 |
| Ryzen 9 3900X | 12/24 | 105W | 4.6/3.8GHz | 70MB | $499 | July 7, 2019 |
| Ryzen 7 3800X | 8/16 | 105W | 4.5/3.9GHz | 36MB | $399 | July 7, 2019 |
| Ryzen 7 3700X | 8/16 | 65W | 4.4/3.6GHz | 36MB | $329 | July 7, 2019 |
| Ryzen 5 3600X | 6/12 | 95W | 4.4/3.8GHz | 35MB | $249 | July 7, 2019 |
| Ryzen 5 3600 | 6/12 | 65W | 4.2/3.6GHz | 35MB | $199 | July 7, 2019 |
Zen 2 is up to 21% faster than Zen +
From the top, Zen 2 represents up to 21% better performance than Zen 2, and thankfully that’s not just measured in a multi-threaded Cinebench score, but rather the slightly more interesting and important 1T test, which indicates single core performance. This is an area it has traditionally trailed behind Intel, but it’s made huge gains here, as that 21% figure suggests.
That comes largely from IPC improvements – tweaks to the architecture to lower latency and improve performance, but around 40% of the improvements come from the higher frequencies on offer as well as benefits of the 7nm manufacturing process. While some may dismiss the usual Cinebench scores, the single core score is often indicative of performance in games and lightly-threaded workloads and big gains here will hopefully translate into gains in areas Ryzen has lagged behind Intel CPUs in the past.
New memory controller brings improved memory overclocking
How does 5100MHz memory overclocking on air cooling sound? That’s right: 3rd Gen Ryzen is blasting those memory support issues of previous generations and much, much higher frequencies will now be supported bringing huge performance boosts. This is all courtesy of an improved memory controller, which will mean better memory support should come to older motherboards too.
Now, there are a couple of things to be aware of. Firstly, AMD is introducing dividers to hit extreme frequencies and these will start at 3733MHz, which is maximum memory frequency that’s supported without using the divider – in other words using a 1:1 ratio with Infinity Fabric. Clearly, straight above this, you’ll likely see slower performance until you ramp things up significantly, but with Infinity Fabric scaling with the memory up to this speed, it’s definitely worth investing in memory as close to 3733MHz as possible.
What’s the best memory for 3rd Gen Ryzen?
This is all completely new and we’re now no longer looking at 3000MHz or 3200MHz as the sweet spots for 3rd Gen Ryzen, especially as memory prices are so much cheaper now than a year ago. Memory latency will probably be a factor too, but AMD has told me that 3600MHz CL16 memory will likely be the sweet spot in terms of price, but those wishing to get the very most out of their systems might consider 3733MHz C17 kits for the absolute best performance.
I’d imagine that some 3600MHz kits may well overclock to that frequency anyway, but 3733MHz kits are already available. In short, above 3733MHz is only really for extreme overclockers. For the rest of us, you’ll want to get as close to 3733MHz as you can for the best performance.
Improved Windows scheduler and drivers
We’ve heard plenty about Windows scheduler’s poor performance with AMD CPUs, but Microsoft and AMD have been working on fixes and these will arrive in time for 3rd Gen Ryzen’s launch. they comprise scheduler updates for Windows, which will are part of Windows 10′s May 2019 update and also a new Ryzen driver from AMD.
Specifically, these will change the way that the scheduler interacts with Ryzen CPUs. Process threads will try to stick to a single core complex (CCX) and not spill over into nearby CCX’s, which will cut latency and improve performance, also making use of a more aggressive clock speed boost.
Better overclocking, new Precision Boost Overdrive with Auto OC option
The well-known feature XFR2 is being retired and in its place is Precision Boost 2, which will offer up to 200MHz extra frequency and will maintain those higher frequencies for longer with better cooling. There’s an automatic overclocking tool too and motherboard manufacturers have revamped their BIOS suites with setting descriptions and more options
Huge Gamecache lowers latency
Zen 2 offers far large cache pools than Zen+ and this means less local memory accessing and reduced latency. Every CCX has 2MB L2 cache – the same as most Zen+ CPUs, but the L3 cache has been boosted from 4MB per 4-core CCX to 8MB. That means that the 8-ore Ryzen 5 3800X has 32MB L3 cache compared to 16MB for the 8-core Ryzen 7 2700X, while the Ryzen 9 3950X, which has 16 cores has a massive 64MB L3 cache.
X570 is not an X470 replacement
Interestingly, AMD also addressed concerns over X570 motherboard pricing and stated that X570 is not a replacement for X470 and is instead designed for those that want to opt into new technologies such as PCI-E 4.0. It’s worth remembering that 3rd Gen Ryzen CPUs are slated to perform the same on X470 and B450 motherboards as they do on X570.
I’ll be back with full reviews of 3rd Gen Ryzen CPUs so be sure to follow me here on Forbes, add my channel to your bookmarks, or follow me using the social media links below.
