One of the more frequent rumors in recent weeks has been that AMD would have some new Ryzen 3000 processors to launch. Today AMD is announcing three new processors into the Ryzen 3000 family, each with the XT name, offering higher frequencies and further filling out the their CPU product stack. Each of these processors will be available on shelves in primary regions on July 7th.

The new 3000XT family of processors focuses mostly on boosting the turbo frequency by 100-200 MHz for the same power. AMD states that this is due to using an optimized 7nm manufacturing process. This is likely due to a minor BKM or PDK update that allows TSMC/AMD to tune the process for a better voltage/frequency curve and bin a single CPU slightly higher. 

An update in this range could be indicative of a ~10 mV better voltage for a single core, although this would normally be in the binning noise - for it to be statistically relevant would need a lot of CPUs, so this could just be better binning. However, base frequencies haven’t moved much, so performance-per-watt benefits are going to be somewhat minimal. The biggest uptick would be in 1T scenarios.

Each of the new XT processors is the highest speed variant of its respective class.

AMD 'Matisse' Ryzen 3000 Series CPUs
AnandTech Cores
Threads
Base
Freq
Boost
Freq
L3
Cache
PCIe
4.0
TDP Price
(SEP)
Ryzen 9 3950X 16C 32T 3.5 4.7 4x16 MB 16+4+4 105W $749
Ryzen 9 3900XT 12C 24T 3.8 4.7 4x16 MB 16+4+4 105W $499
Ryzen 9 3900X 12C 24T 3.8 4.6 4x16 MB 16+4+4 105W $499
Ryzen 9 3900 12C 24T 3.1 4.3 4x16 MB 16+4+4 65W OEM
Ryzen 7 3800XT 8C 16T 3.9 4.7 2x16 MB 16+4+4 105W $399
Ryzen 7 3800X 8C 16T 3.9 4.5 2x16 MB 16+4+4 105W $399
Ryzen 7 3700X 8C 16T 3.6 4.4 2x16 MB 16+4+4 65W $329
Ryzen 5 3600XT 6C 12T 3.8 4.5 2x16 MB 16+4+4 95W $249
Ryzen 5 3600X 6C 12T 3.8 4.4 2x16 MB 16+4+4 95W $249
Ryzen 5 3600 6C 12T 3.6 4.2 2x16 MB 16+4+4 65W $199
Ryzen 5 3500X 6C 6T 3.6 4.1 2x16 MB 16+4+4 65W OEM
Ryzen 3 3300X 4C 8T 3.8 4.3 1x16 MB 16+4+4 65W $120
Ryzen 3 3100 4C 8T 3.6 3.9 2x8 MB 16+4+4 65W $99

Users should note that the prices listed are official SEP (Suggested Etailer Price). In March, AMD did announce a temporary AMD-focused price drop, but that has since passed. Retailer pricing will vary with local sales practices.

The top new processor is the Ryzen 9 3900XT which offers +100 MHz turbo over the 3900X, for the same official price as the 3900X. The 3800XT offers +200 MHz on single core turbo over the 3800X for the same price. The final new processor is the 3600XT, with +100 MHz on the turbo frequency, again for the same price over the 3600X.

In each three cases, the XT processors give slightly better frequency than the X units, so we should expect to see an official permanent price drop on the X processors in order to keep everything in line.

AMD’s announcement today also includes information about thermal solutions. The Ryzen 5 3600XT, with six cores, will come bundled with AMD’s Wraith Spire cooler. For the other two CPUs, AMD’s own press release states that the company ‘is recommending the use of an AIO solution with a minimum 280mm radiator or equivalent air cooling to experience these products at their best’. This does seem somewhat overkill for 105 W processors, especially if the package power tracking on these parts should be ~142 watts, notwithstanding any trickery that the motherboard manufacturers are doing.

These new processors will be supported in any motherboard that already supports Zen 2-based Ryzen 3000 hardware (the cost in BIOS space to add a CPU of the same family is negligible). Retail for these parts is expected on July 7th, 2020. Which happens to be 7/7, a year to the day that AMD launched 7nm Zen 2.

A520 Motherboards

Supplementary to today’s announcement on processors is a few words on a new chipset from AMD. The new A520 chipset is designed to be the budget option below B550, and will be set to replace A320 in this market, with a focus on supporting the Ryzen 3000 CPUs and newer.

Specifications on A520 are going to be announced at a later date, with a full launch from board partners due in August. We suspect that A520 will mirror A320, probably with the same PCIe 2.0 support from the chipset to keep costs and power down. More information as it comes.

StoreMI 2.0

Also in AMD’s bucket of news is an update to StoreMI. AMD launched its first generation Zen product with a new software package designed to help users streamline the co-dependence of small fast drives with large slow mechanical drives, and perhaps a super-fast bit of DDR in there as well. In April 2020, the company announced that it would be halting the distribution of the StoreMI software, presumably indicating that its relationship with Enmotus, the company behind the feature, was coming to an end. In that news, AMD stated it was working on an internal tool to replace StoreMI. The new StoreMI 2.0 would appear to be AMD’s in-house design.

We’ve asked for more details on StoreMI, however we were told that more information will be disclosed at a later date. This might be a preparatory announcement for the software, and we might expect to see a fuller launch with next-generation Ryzen.

To Sum Up

  • New AMD Ryzen 3000XT CPUs on July 7th. This is likely the review embargo date as well.
  • New AMD A520 Chipsets in August. More detail to come.
  • New StoreMI 2.0 (at some point).

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  • Deicidium369 - Wednesday, June 17, 2020 - link

    They are straining to get somewhat decent clocks to release - there is no head room... you get a pre overclocked CPU from AMD
  • Spunjji - Wednesday, June 17, 2020 - link

    That's a weird framing for a product where you don't need to fiddle to get the best performance from the silicon you pay for, and it outperforms the competition at stock.
  • Fataliity - Wednesday, June 17, 2020 - link

    The recent chips have been already clocking this high for 3600X / 3700X. Versus chips released last year.
  • R3MF - Tuesday, June 16, 2020 - link

    Re: StoreMI 2.0

    Hopefully designed to solve a different problem, i.e.

    How to keep up with the massive throughput advantage of the new consoles (h/ware + s/ware combined)?

    Hopefully using a spare M.2 drive as a asset cache somehow...
  • Colin1497 - Thursday, June 18, 2020 - link

    I definitely feel like StoreMI was solving this problem. I built a new gaming PC and decided to use it so that I could just put in a massing mechanical drive and never worry about space, but so that games I'm actively playing would be on the M.2 drive...
  • Colin1497 - Thursday, June 18, 2020 - link

    Ug, no edit. I actually didn't StoreMI my M.2. I had a SATA SSD I was rolling over to the new build that I did that with, so I still did some active selection to put some games on my M.2 and then the bulk of my library on the StoreMI drive...

    I wasn't THAT confident in how it would work. :)
  • WaltC - Tuesday, June 16, 2020 - link

    These XT CPUs are meant for people who haven't bought yet, imo. According to the chart here, only the 3800XT gets a 100MHz bump for the base clock. It will be interesting to see how these bench...;) But I'm not likely to buy one as my 3900XT hits 4.65GHz single-core boost regularly--I have seen it as high 4.699GHz, but only once. I don't overvolt or overclock except through PBO. I wonder what else has changed internally, if anything. We shall see soon, I hope.
  • Makaveli - Tuesday, June 16, 2020 - link

    There is no bump on the base clock for the 3800XT both are at 3.9ghz. These chips will need a FLCK of 2000 with the turbo boost + Paired with DDR4 4000 memory to be worth anything if you ask me.
  • scineram - Tuesday, June 16, 2020 - link

    StoreMI completely pointless. Stop wasting money.
  • Stochastic - Tuesday, June 16, 2020 - link

    This gives me another reason to delay building my new PC until 2021. With new CPUs, GPUs, and SSDs on the horizon, mid to late 2021 should be a pretty good time to build a new system.

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