AMD previews Zen 4 and AM5 motherboards at Computex 2022

Today marks the beginning of Computex 2022 and AMD is hosting the first major keynote of the week. During the event, AMD has given us a preview of what's to come, confirming new details about Zen 4 processors, and the upcoming X670E, X670 and B650 motherboards, the first to use the new AM5 socket. 

With Zen 4, AMD will be utilising 5nm process technology for all new processors, including the Ryzen 7000 series. If you're wondering what a Ryzen 7000 series CPU looks like, then check out this image below:

As we can see, the new processors will have a unique design, which AMD says allows it to retain compatibility with coolers originally designed for Socket AM4. Under the hood, the Zen 4 architecture will also double the amount of L2 cache, provide more than 15% more single-threaded performance, introduce new AI acceleration technologies and have a max boost clock speed of over 5GHz.

The first Zen 4 processors will be launching this autumn, so we should have more information on Ryzen 7000 series desktop processors by the end of September. Once those new processors arrive, we'll also need to make the jump to new motherboards.

AMD has three chipsets planned, X670 Extreme, X670 and B650. All three will use the new AM5 socket, which is a 1718 pin LGA socket, a major design shift for AMD's processors and motherboards. The socket has native support for up to 170W TDP, DDR5 and PCIe 5.0, and is compatible with AM4 CPU coolers.

The new platform will support up to 24 PCIe 5.0 lanes split between storage and graphics. As you may expect, the exact number of lanes available will depend on the chipset. Aside from that, the new motherboards also support SuperSpeed USB at up to 20Gbps speeds and Type-C. The new platform also supports WiFi 6, and HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 2.0 inputs.

The X670 Extreme chipset is the flagship, offering full PCIe 5.0 capabilities and support for ‘extreme overclocking'. These will be top-end motherboards, reserved for those looking to put down the cash on a PC that will achieve pinnacle levels of performance. The standard X670 chipset is for enthusiasts, and will offer PCIe 5.0 storage, but supporting PCIe 5.0 graphics lanes on X670 is optional, so not all motherboards will include this. Finally, B650 is the mainstream chipset – these motherboards will be available at “mainstream price points” and deliver PCIe 5.0 storage lanes.

Some of the first AM5 motherboards you can expect to see include the ASRock X670E Taichi, the ASUS ROG Crosshair X670E Extreme, the Gigabyte X670E Aorus Xtreme, the MSI MEG X670E Ace and the Biostar X670E Valkyrie.

The Ryzen 7000 series will debut this autumn and will include the ‘world's most advanced gaming processors', packing the Zen 4 architecture, 5nm process technology, as well as the benefits of PCIe 5.0 and DDR5. We can expect to see the first Socket AM5 motherboards launching simultaneously.

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KitGuru Says: AMD revealed quite a bit more about Zen 4 and its new motherboard platform than we expected. Are you looking forward to the Ryzen 7000 series? Will you be looking to upgrade later this year? 

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