Skip to main content

AMD rumored to be working on a 16-core, 32-thread Ryzen CPU due later this year

AMD Ryzen 7 1700 review
Bill Roberson/Digital Trends
AMD is rumored to be working on more Ryzen CPUs that add even more cores and threads to the equation. Their release is said to be several months away, so it may not be long before AMD reveals a 16-core, 32-thread Ryzen CPU with support for quad-channel DDR4 memory.

Although AMD’s Ryzen CPUs have received some criticism for their single-core performance and gaming ability, they have excelled in applications and settings where the full power of their many cores and threads can be utilized. The rumored CPUs that AMD may have in the works would up the ante even more, making them even more capable than the competition in those settings.

The main source for this latest AMD rumor is French PC magazine Canard PC Hardware, which said the chip would have 16 cores and 32 threads, be a high-end desktop (rather than server) processor, and support AMD’s rumored X399 chipset, as well as four channel DDR4 memory.

Get your weekly teardown of the tech behind PC gaming
Check your inbox!

Its socket is reported to be LGA SP3r2, have a TDP of 150w, and clock in at 2.4GHz base frequency, boosting to 2.8GHz. That is a rather low frequency for most consumer-grade hardware, but such a chip would not be designed with gaming or typically low-core/thread count tasks in mind. It would instead excel at multiple threaded tasks, such as video editing and rendering.

Backing up PC Canard’s original Tweet, Chinese site Chiphell (via Digiworthy) has its own sources to cite. They claim that AMD will reveal the rumored CPUs in a couple of months and confirm that the flagship version will be a 16 core, 32 thread monster. The reported purpose of this lineup is to bridge the gap between AMD’s top-of-the-line consumer hardware and its more performance-focused server platform.

The Chinese sources also claim the problems that led to somewhat erratic gaming performance with Ryzen CPUs have been ironed out, suggesting that, with overclocking, these rumored Ryzen CPUs could also be excellent at gaming.

Pricing for the flagship chip is expected to be around the $1,000 mark.

The potential release date of AMD’s new chips, sometime within the next four to six months, would put them in position to compete with Intel’s expected Skylake-X and Kaby Lake-X chips, which are slated for an August 2017 release.

Editors' Recommendations

Jon Martindale
Jon Martindale is the Evergreen Coordinator for Computing, overseeing a team of writers addressing all the latest how to…
AMD may be sticking to a controversial choice with Ryzen 8000
AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D held between fingertips.

Zen 4 still feels quite new, but AMD is already preparing to launch its Zen 5 architecture in 2024, with AMD Ryzen 8000 processors now on the horizon.

New leaks shed some light on the upcoming chips, and while a lot is still uncertain, one thing is clear -- AMD is sticking to a somewhat controversial design choice that sets it apart from Intel: keeping the same core counts.

Read more
Between AMD’s Ryzen 7 7800X3D and Ryzen 9 7950X3D, there’s no contest
AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D sitting on a motherboard.

It's no secret that AMD's 3D V-Cache CPUs top the list of the best gaming processors, but the new Ryzen 7 7800X3D puts AMD shoppers in a precarious position. As you can read in our Ryzen 7 7800X3D review, it tops the charts in gaming performance even if it takes a backseat in productivity power. Is that gap enough to justify spending more on the Ryzen 9 7950X3D?

Even with around $300 separating the Ryzen 7 7800X3D and Ryzen 9 7950X3D, the performance gap between them is much closer than their prices would suggest. I threw them both on my test bench to see if spending up is worth it, and there's a clear answer -- the Ryzen 7 7800X3D is the CPU to buy.
Two different tiers

Read more
AMD Ryzen 7000: availability, pricing, specs, and architecture
A group shot of Ryzen 7000 CPUs.

AMD's Ryzen 7000 CPUs are here, and there are plenty of them to go around. AMD started out strong by introducing the best processors in the Zen 4 lineup, including the flagship Ryzen 9 7950X, and then followed up by launching even more CPUs. Now, the Ryzen 7000 family includes a whole host of desktop and mobile CPUs, and even the 3D V-Cache versions of AMD's chips.

We've already had the chance to test some of AMD's latest and greatest, and with more to come, we've kept our ears to the ground to not miss any details about the latest AMD CPUs. Here's everything we know about Ryzen 7000.
Pricing and availability

Read more