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Alder Lake, Intel’s 12th generation CPU line, came out in 2021. in October 2022, Raptor Lake, the 13th generation CPU line, took its place. AMD has already released the Ryzen 7 5800X3D and the new Ryzen 6000 laptop chip, but the new Ryzen 7000 CPU is the the first real competitor. Here’s what you want to know about AMD’s Zen 4 CPUs and whether you should buy one.
AMD Zen 4 processors use the new AM5 socket.
The AM4 socket, which has been in use since 2016 (yes, that’s a long time), will be phased out. This is one of the biggest changes that Zen 4 will bring. the AM5, a brand new socket, has taken its place. This is the biggest change to the way AMD CPUs are made. There are two important things you need to know about AMD’s new AM5 socket.
The first thing is that with AM5, AMD chips are moving from the CPU pins they have been using to an LGA design, similar to what Intel has done. This means that the bottom pins have been replaced with contact pads and the pins are now on the motherboard socket.
AMD can add more contact points to the Zen 4 chips with this conversion. As a result, AM5 will have 1,718 contacts instead of AM4’s 1,331, which does not make the chip larger. Now we can talk about our second point.
AMD says users should be able to use their old AM4 coolers on AM5 chips because the chips are almost identical in size and the mounting system is the same. If your computer already has a reliable air cooler or AIO, you can use it on your brand new Ryzen 7000 system.
AMD New socket, new motherboard
Yes, in case you were wondering. Since AMD is releasing its new AM5 socket, you will need a new motherboard that supports it. AMD’s new Ryzen 7000 chips use the new X670, X670E, B650 and B650E chipsets.
AM5 has a completely different design and feature set than AM4, so you can’t put an AM5 CPU on an AM4 motherboard, nor can you put an AM4 chip on an AM5 motherboard. We have good compatibility between AM4 generations, but we need to move on in some areas.
DDR5 and PCIe Gen 5.0 are on the board
The 5000 series is the original model of Ryzen desktop chips that connect to DDR4 memory and PCI Express Generation 4.0. But that was yesterday’s news. Intel’s 12th generation CPUs recognize DDR5 memory and PCIe Gen 5.0, as you would expect. the same is true for Raptor Lake.
These technologies are still young, but the new Zen 4 CPUs fully support them. In terms of memory, Zen 4 AMD CPUs only work with DDR5 memory, unlike Intel chips. So if you want to save money by buying DDR4 compatible motherboards and memory, you’ll have to use DDR5 across the board instead.
As for PCI Express Gen 5.0, the Ryzen 7000 CPU can handle it just fine. Whether you can take advantage of it or not depends on the motherboard you choose. If you want full PCIe Gen 5.0 support, you will need an X670E or B650E motherboard instead of a regular motherboard. This will allow you to use an SSD with Gen 5.0 speeds.
EXPO is AMD’s response to XMP.
AMD is also fighting back against Intel in other ways. Memory overclocking is usually done with Intel XMP, but now that we have DDR5, AMD has the opportunity to bring its technology to users. EXPO is its true response to XMP, and the Zen 4 chips come equipped with it.
EXPO works with a variety of DDR5 memory sticks such as those from Corsair, ADATA, G.Skill and Kingston. Since it only overclocks the memory, it should work pretty much the same as XMP. Now, however, we don’t have to use third-party technology to accelerate memory. Instead, we have a solution made by AMD.
3D V-Cache may be on its way, but not at launch.
With the Ryzen 7 5800X3D CPU, AMD is showing what its 3D V-Cache technology can do. The technology gives the chip 96MB of L3 cache, giving gamers very good results. No, not yet, but that could change in the future.
There are rumors that the Ryzen 7000 chip will never have 3D V-Cache, but that may not be the case. Twitter user Greymon55 says the 5800X3D keeps the line busy, but the Zen 4 chip could come in 3D flavors in 2023.
Some people think the Ryzen 7 5800X3D is the best gaming CPU money can buy, even though the Zen 4 chip is already on the shelves. This is because 3D V-Cache gives a big performance boost to games. So the idea of a Ryzen 7000 CPU with 3D V-Cache is very exciting. If you ask us, the Ryzen 7000X3D CPU will be on store shelves before you know it.
Zen 4 is a major step forward
We’ve been preparing and waiting for AMD’s next big advance for almost two years now, and so far it looks like the wait may have been worth it. the Ryzen 7000 and Zen 4 are big improvements over Zen 3, continuing to support new technologies and showing that AMD isn’t afraid to do things differently whenever it needs to topple Intel again.
Zen 4 chips are in stores now, from the mid-range Ryzen 5 7600X with 6 cores and 12 threads to the top-of-the-line Ryzen 9 7950X. They’re a good addition to your next PC build for gaming.
