AMD Ryzen 3000 release date, news and rumors

With the AMD Ryzen 3000 chips finally hitting the shelves, Team Red is now on a fast track to the top of the processor game. The first generation Ryzen chips have changed the market for the better and the Ryzen 2nd-generation managed to double Intel’s sales in 2018, so there’s a lot riding on these 3rd-generation chips. And, they’ve certainly lived up to the hype, exceeding everyone’s expectations.

It’s all thanks to the 7-nanometer (nm) Zen 2 architecture that the AMD Ryzen 3000 CPUs are bringing to the mainstream for the very first time, all while keeping the cost approachable to the mass consumer. These new AMD Ryzen processors have introduced, for example, up to 16-cores and 32-threads to the mainstream market in the Ryzen 9 3950X, which has broken world overclocking records when it came out. 

With Intel having a lot of issues introducing 10nm Cannon Lake chips and its next HEDT lineup staying on 14nm, the AMD Ryzen 3000 processors certainly came at the right time and with exactly what consumers have been needing for quite a while. And, even with the Ryzen 4000 CPUs for laptops coming soon, these chips will be favored by gamers, content creators and regular users for a long time. For everything you need to know about Ryzen 3000, we put everything on this page. 

Cut to the chase

• What is it? AMD’s 3rd generation of mainstream processors for laptops and desktops
• When is it out? Out since July 7, 2019
• What will it cost? Starting at $199 (about £160, AU$290)

AMD presenting the AMD Ryzen 3rd Generation at CES 2019. (Image Credit: TechRadar)

AMD Ryzen 3rd Generation release date

The AMD Ryzen 3rd Generation processors, first announced at CES 2019, are out now. Many of them finally hit the streets on July 7. The Ryzen 9 3900 and Ryzen 5 3500X, on the other hand, both came out on October 8. The AMD Ryzen 9 3950X, the surprise reveal of E3 2019, came out later on November 25. 

AMD presenting the AMD Ryzen 3rd Generation at CES 2019. (Image Credit: TechRadar)

AMD Ryzen 3rd Generation price

At AMD’s Computex 2019 keynote, Team Red showcased several processors from the Ryzen 5 3600 to the Ryzen 9 3900X. These CPUs offer seriously impressive options from the mid-range to the high-end. Curiously, there have been no announcements of any 7nm Zen 2 processors for the budget sector, but at least AMD launched new APUs in the Ryzen 3 3300G and Ryzen 5 3400G at $99 (£94, AU$144) and $149 (£139, AU$240), respectively.

• AMD Ryzen 9 3950X: $749 (about £590, AU$1,080)
• AMD Ryzen 9 3900X: $499 (about £390, AU$720)
• AMD Ryzen 7 3800X: $399 (about £310, AU$580)
• AMD Ryzen 7 3700X: $329 (about £260, AU$480)
• AMD Ryzen 5 3600X: $249 (about £200, AU$360)
• AMD Ryzen 5 3600: $199 (about £160, AU$290)
• AMD Ryzen 5 3400G: $149 (£139, AU$240)
• AMD Ryzen 3 3300G: $99 (£94, AU$144)

The AMD Ryzen 3rd Generation delivers significant performance bumps, with power consumption taking a nosedive. (Image credit: TechRadar)

AMD Ryzen 3rd Generation specs

Now that the AMD Ryzen 3rd Generation lineup has been released, we know exactly what’s inside these new 7nm processors for consumers. You should experience perceptible performance bumps, with power consumption taking a nosedive. Improvements all around.

The 7nm Zen 2 architecture found in AMD Ryzen 3rd Generation processors allows AMD to bring TDP down to just 65W in the Ryzen 5 3600, for one. It also implements a considerable 15% improvement to IPC (instructions per clock) performance. This should see performance go up, resulting in some of the best processors for gaming.

With the Ryzen 5 3600X, AMD takes the performance of the budget-minded Ryzen 5 2600X to another level, increasing IPC (instructions per clock) performance and clock speed while keeping the same price point.

On the high-end, there’s the Ryzen 9 3950X, an absolute monster of a processor sporting 16-cores and 32-threads, with a 4.7GHz boost clock. These specs are stunning in their own right, but what really takes it to the next level is that it manages to do it with a relatively low 105W TDP. 

Then, there’s the AMD Ryzen 9 3900X, and while it’s not as impressive as the 3950X – at least on paper – it still packs 12-cores and 24-threads of high-performance power. With boost clocks up to 4.6GHz, it’s an impressive amount of power for that 105W TDP, even if temperatures get a little high. And, for about the same price point, the Ryzen 9 3900X is between 25%-40% faster than the Intel Core i9-9900K in multi-threaded loads.

And there’s the AMD Ryzen 7 3700X, which boasts 8-core, 16-thread and a TDP of just 65W. Just like the Ryzen 9 3900X, it’s also an absolute beast when it comes to multi-threaded workloads.

As far as the rumored new wave of Ryzen 3000 processors, well, the AMD Ryzen 9 3900 would be a lower-powered version of the excellent AMD Ryzen 9 3900X, with a similar relationship between the Ryzen 7 3700 and the Ryzen 7 3700X. They apparently will have the same core and thread counts as their X counterparts, only with a 65W TDP.

However, AMD Ryzen 3rd Generation is more than just the mid-range and the top-end. We went ahead and listed out all the specs below:

• AMD Ryzen 9 3950X – 16-cores, 32-threads | 4.7GHz boost, 3.5GHz base | 105W
• AMD Ryzen 9 3900X – 12-cores, 24-threads | 4.6GHz boost, 3.8GHz base | 105W 
• AMD Ryzen 7 3800X – 8-cores, 16-threads | 4.5GHz boost, 3.9GHz base | 105W
• AMD Ryzen 7 3700X – 8-cores, 16-threads | 4.4GHz boost, 3.6GHz base | 65W
• AMD Ryzen 5 3600X – 6-cores, 12-threads | 4.4GHz boost, 3.8GHz base | 95W
• AMD Ryzen 5 3600 – 6-cores, 12-threads | 4.2GHz boost, 3.6GHz base | 65W
• AMD Ryzen 5 3400G – 4-cores, 8-threads | 4.2GHz boost, 3.7GHz base | 65W

At every level, AMD Ryzen 3rd Generation brings better performance and concurrently lowers power consumption over the previous generation. Of course, AMD boasted some benchmarks where it flexed on the competition, but that’s par for the course.

The X570 chipset also marks a generational improvement in computing. Along with the faster processors, the biggest improvement is the support for PCIe 4.0, exclusive to AMD. This new generation of PCIe brings faster graphics cards and SSDs to AMD’s platform. It delivers up to 51% faster SSD performance, along with 69% faster graphics performance – though that will be exclusive to AMD Navi graphics cards for now.

X570 also brings native support to four SuperSpeed USB ports, with a maximum bandwidth of 10Gbps. This will support both USB-A and USB-C connections, and while it’s not as fast as Thunderbolt 3, the native support should lead to wider adoption across desktop motherboards.

Ryzen isn’t just about desktop components. At E3 2019, Microsoft revealed that its follow up to the Xbox, Project Scarlett, will be powered by a custom SoC made of a Zen 2 processor and an AMD Navi GPU. Slated for a "Holiday 2020" release, Project Scarlett is rumored to be four times more powerful than the Xbox One X having the ability to run games at 120FPS and potentially 8K resolutions.

Michelle Rae Uy also contributed to this article.

Images Credit: TechRadar

• AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3rd Generation HEDT processors could be even more impressive

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