AMD showed off its new lineup of Ryzen 5000 series processors for desktops, marking a most impressive jump ahead for the AMD lineup. The chipmaker claims that the new Ryzen 5900X alone is "the world's best gaming CPU" — something PC gamers will be eager to test out.
Here's everything you need to know about the Ryzen 5000 series, including price, release date and performance info for the new chips.
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AMD Ryzen 5000 release date
Gamers won't have to wait long to get their hands on Ryzen 5000. The first chips come out Nov. 5, 2020 with the basic Ryzen 5 5600 X out on the line first.
AMD Ryzen 5000 price
CEO Lisa Su took the stage during AMD's online event on Thursday (Oct. 8) to show off the official CPU lineup: the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X model with 16 cores, 32 threads, and a boost speed of 4.9GHz for $799, the Ryzen 9 5900X with 12 cores, 32 threads, and a max boost speed of 4.8GHz for $549, the Ryzen 7 5800X with 8 cores, 16 threads, and a max boost speed of 4.7GHz for $449, and the Ryzen 5 5600X with 6 cores, 12 threads, and a max boost speed of 4.6GHz for $299.
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AMD Ryzen 5000 performance
The new line promises about an average performance improvement of 26% for most customers, though TDP and core counts will still be the same. The 5000 series processors will continue to utilize AMD's 7-nanometer process, with a 19% increase in instructions per cycle. You can expect these new chips to replace last year's Zen 2-based Ryzen 3000 desktop options, as the chip has been completely redesigned in terms of layout and boost speed.
AMD Ryzen 5000 benchmarks
During the reveal, AMD also discussed a series of benchmarks, revealing that the Ryzen 9 5900X bested chips like the Intel i9-10900K in titles like Dota 2 and League of Legends, though there were a couple instances where Intel's chip ended up winning out instead. Given that these are first-party benchmarks, we'll have to wait until the chips debut for a peek at what performance really looks like here.
AMD claimed that the 16-core Ryzen 9 5950X itself boasts "the highest single-thread performance of any desktop gaming processor” as well as the "most multi-core performance of any desktop gaming processor," which are pretty big words to issue out of the gate
Of course, Intel is already hard at work on its new 11th gen Rocket Lake CPUs, which are currently on track for early 2021. Wccftech reports that the Rocket Lake processors will be 14-nanometer chips, but they'll likely launch with a different CPU core architecture. It's expected that they might utilize a back port of the 10nm Willow Cove of Sunny Cove designs. Intel hasn't shared much about the new line just yet.
As we inch closer to Intel's launch, it should be interesting to see how the two lines compare. We'll be seeing a lot more from the company in the months ahead.
