The release of AMD’s Zen 5 based Granite Ridge family of processors seems to be on the horizon, as Asus has initiated the rollout of support for the next-gen chips to its latest enthusiast tier X670E motherboards. The availability of supporting BIOSes suggests that the launch of the chips could happen at any moment. The discovery of seven BIOS releases, all for Asus ROG boards, including the latest AGESA update named FireRangePi, was made by the vigilant hardware leaker HXL.
Potential Zen 5 Release Timeline
While AMD has officially stated that it is aiming for a launch in the second half of 2024, there are indicators that the company could unveil the Zen 5 processors at the Computex keynote by AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su on June 3. Similar to the unveiling of Zen 2 at Computex in 2019, it would not be surprising if Zen 5 makes its debut at this event. If Zen 5 indeed appears, it is expected that all motherboard vendors will showcase their next-generation motherboards alongside it.
Impact on the Competition
The potential earlier release of Zen 5 poses a challenge for Intel as its next-gen Arrow Lake chips are projected to arrive in late 2024 or CES 2025 at the earliest. Should Zen 5 outperform Intel’s 14th Gen desktop offerings, it could result in a challenging period for the blue team in the market. Leaks from reputable sources suggest that Zen 5 could be over 40% faster than its predecessor, Zen 4, based on the SPEC benchmark. While the specifics of this improvement are still unknown, the prospect of such a significant leap in performance is promising.
Apart from the new core architecture, Zen 5’s Granite Ridge processors will retain a chiplet design, with models offering up to 16-cores. Additionally, these processors are expected to include an integrated AI engine, enhanced memory support, and possibly the integration of RDNA 2 graphics, similar to Zen 4. It is anticipated that AMD will also release X3D versions later in the year to compete with Intel’s Arrow Lake CPUs.
With the emergence of new BIOSes supporting Zen 5 in the market, it is likely that more leaks and information will surface in the coming weeks. The unveiling of Zen 5 is highly anticipated, as enthusiasts are eager to see the advancements that AMD has been developing in its laboratories. Exciting times lie ahead as the tech community awaits the reveal of AMD’s next-generation processors.
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