AMD Zen CPU release date, specs news: AMD to preview Summit Ridge at New Horizon event on Dec. 13
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) has announced that the new Zen-based Summit Ridge central processing unit (CPU) will be introduced at a New Horizon event scheduled for next week. The performance demonstration will preview the upcoming Zen core architecture before it is released in 2017.
The event will be streamed live from Austin, Texas on Tuesday, Dec. 13, at 4 p.m. EST. It will be hosted by video game journalist and TV presenter Geoff Keighley. AMD president and CEO Lisa Su will also be in attendance, aside from other special guests. Those interested to view the event will have to sign up for the livestream on the official New Horizon website.
The Zen microarchitecture is highly anticipated and while AMD has yet to reveal specific details about what will be unveiled at the upcoming event, the rumor mill has been in overdrive with what consumers might expect from the next-generation processors created by the semiconductor company.
According to HotHardware, there will be three chipsets for Zen: the premium "X370" model, the midrange "B350" variant, and the entry-level "A320" version. They will be based on the AM4 platform. The new unified infrastructure will have support for DDR4 random access memory (RAM), PCI Express Gen 3, USB 3.1 Gen 2, NVMe and SATA Express. This platform will allow says that this platform will allow users to enjoy a more responsive and powerful computing experience.
With its new Zen-based products, AMD is said to have started from scratch as it left behind its longstanding Bulldozer architecture. The Zen CPUs will be built using a 14 nm FinFET process making them more energy efficient. Alongside Zen, consumers are also looking forward to the introduction of AMD's Vega-based graphics processing units (GPUs).
With the Zen architecture's introduction this month, it is expected that the new processors will already be showcased by different motherboard manufacturers at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show (CES) scheduled in Las Vegas on Jan. 3–7, 2017.