AMD recently rolled out more details about its upcoming Zen x86 core processor technology during this week's Hot Chips 28 convention.
The company partially unveiled its plans earlier this year, simultaneously with Intel's San Francisco developer forum. However, the recent reports aim to shower AMD fans with all the technical details about Zen, which shapes up as a strong rival to Intel's Kaby Lake desktop processors.
In resonance with previous reports, Zen cores will sport 40 percent extra instructions per clock compared with anterior Excavator chips.
Each core will rely on two threads (lanes), and will tap into 8 MB of shared L3 cache, a consistent quantity of "private" L2 cache, as well as a micro-op cache. Other noteworthy mentions are the two AES encryption units that will boost security and transistors crafted using the novel, energy-saving FinFET tech.
AMD calls Zen a "clean sheet" design, which means that almost all the thinking and the manufacturing methods deployed by the company are new. One aspect that AMD aims to accomplish in the Zen family is to boost performance per clock, while cutting the energy required for each cycle.
AMD has some experience in balancing wide performance with smart energy necessity, as seen in the Excavator cores. However, Zen appears to take a leaf from Excavator and write a whole new book.
During the Hot Chips 28 convention, AMD showcased a long list of power and performance records that come with Zen. Among them are a faster L2 and L3 cache, a 500 percent increase in L3 bandwidth, larger instruction schedulers and a significant Op Cache.
According to AMD, Zen was crafted with "low power design methodologies," meaning the chipset can rank to top levels of performance as it maintains low power consumption.
AMD spilled the beans in terms of specific power needed to run its upcoming chipsets. The OEM notes that its high-end desktop parts will sport a thermal design power ranging from 95 to 100 watts. That puts AMD toe to toe with Intel, which stayed in the 90 watts area with its latest generations of chips. Additionally, AMD is looking to deploy the mobile version of Zen to notebooks, which could come with a 15-watt power demand.
The first processors to feature the novel Zen cores are the Summit Ridge series.
Earlier this year, AMD affirmed that the first Zen-based CPUs will be part of the premium desktop market and although an official release date is yet to be revealed, early 2017 sounds about right.
