AMD’s Ryzen 5 processors set to launch in second quarter of 2017

By Brad Jones Published April 3, 2017

amd ryze 5 release date ryzen feat — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Earlier this week, AMD opened pre-orders on certain models of its hotly anticipated Ryzen processors — but the company has yet to spill any more information about the midrange and entry-level versions of the CPU. Now, information has leaked about the Ryzen 5 series, giving us a little more insight in what to expect from the components.

The midrange Ryzen 5 processors will apparently be made available in the second quarter of 2017, while the entry level Ryzen 3 series will launch in the second half of the year, according to a report from PC Perspective. These parts are priced to give PC builders plenty of options, a strategy that’s surely intended to draw attention away from Intel’s suite of CPUs.

Recommended Videos

The Ryzen 5 1600X will apparently retail for $259, while the Ryzen 5 1500X will come in at $229. These are pretty competitive prices, given the capabilities of the hardware.

Get your weekly teardown of the tech behind PC gaming

The 1600X and the 1500X are equipped with six cores and twelve threads, with the former boasting support for AMD’s XFR (Extended Frequency Range) technology. Both processors are unlocked, and lend themselves to overclocking, which is sure to be appreciated by PC gamers looking for peak performance. AMD’s 1600X is set to go head to head with the Intel Core i5-7600K CPU, and the 1500X is being touted as a direct competitor to the i5-7500.

There’s also some new information regarding how AMD plans to construct its six-core processors. The company will disable one core from each of the component’s two four-core complexes, maintaining a balance and ensuring that the full 16MB L3 cache is enabled, according to a report from Forbes.

AMD certainly looks poised to give PC builders some compelling new options over the course of 2017. Expect to hear plenty more about the Ryzen 5 series over the coming months, as we draw nearer to the rumored second-quarter release date.

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Brad is an English-born writer currently splitting his time between Edinburgh and Pennsylvania. You can find him on Twitter…

Computing

Ryzen AI nearly hits 60 fps in Black Myth: Wukong, but it’s not that simple

OneXFly F1 Pro gamig handheld.

Although AMD APUs appear in some of the best gaming handhelds, the latest Strix Point chips are still hard to find in new releases. However, the new OneXFly F1 Pro gamin handheld is making its debut with the Ryzen AI HX 370 chip in tow, and according to a benchmark in Black Myth: Wukong, it managed to average an impressive 58 frames per second (fps) at a 15-watt thermal design power (TDP). That's an impressive result, but digging deeper reveals that AAA gaming on the go is still not without any sacrifice.

The OneXFly F1 Pro comes with the Ryzen AI HX 370, which sports a total of 12 cores -- four Zen 5 and eight Zen 5c -- as well as 24 threads. The maximum boost clock on the Zen 5 cores reaches 5.1GHz, but the smaller Zen 5c maxes out at 3.3GHz. The default TDP was rated at 28 watts, but it can be configured between 15W and 54W. For an APU, the AI HX 370 delivers solid graphics capabilities, as it's equipped with the AMD Radeon 890M. It also sports a 7-inch OLED screen with a refresh rate of 144Hz.

Computing

AMD’s Ryzen 7 9800X3D is official, and it shakes things up in a big way

Pads on the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D.

We all knew it was coming. A string of rumors over the past several months has pointed to AMD releasing the Ryzen 7 9800X3D on November 7, but the company itself just confirmed the new CPU. It's looking for a spot among the best processors, packing 3D V-Cache on top of an eight-core Zen 5 CPU in order to improve gaming performance.

True to rumors we've seen this week, AMD is pricing the CPU at $479, which is nearly $30 more expensive than the Ryzen 7 7800X3D. AMD claims that the new chip provides an average gaming increase of 8% over the last-gen CPU, and 20% faster gaming performance compared to Intel's recent Core Ultra 9 285K. In addition, AMD says that minimum frame rates are up, with the Ryzen 7 9800X3D improving 1% lows in The Last of Us Part One by 31%.

Computing

AMD vs. Intel: which makes the best CPUs?

Pads on the bottom of the Ryzen 9 7950X.

When it comes to desktop and laptop processors, the two biggest names in town are Intel and AMD. Qualcomm is making inroads, but if you want peak performance, Intel and AMD make the best processors for gaming and serious productivity.

Still, it's not all sunshine and rainbows for these industry titans. AMD's most recent Ryzen 9000 CPUs were met with a lukewarm reception, but then Intel's Core Ultra 200-series were even less impressive. It may be up to X3D CPUs and turbo modes to save the day.