The AMD Ryzen 4000 mobile processors unveiled to quite a bit of fanfare at CES 2020. And, they may be revolutionizing the gaming laptop scene with almost the kind of performance that one might expect from desktop processors.
Actual proof exists in the form of such laptops like the Asus Zephyrus G14. This impressive portable combines a great boost in performance with more power efficiency, delivering power on par with desktops thanks to these mobile chips.
When AMD Ryzen 4000 mobile processors were introduced this past summer, it was alongside the business desktop line of the AMD Ryzen Pro 4000-series processors. The Pros are now available from multiple retailers in Europe as well as being listed in the US.
As for the Ryzen 4000 desktop processors will arrive, it looks like we’ll be getting a keynote announcement on October 8, with a release likely coming in the following weeks. Based on a 7nm+ manufacturing process, AMD Ryzen 4000 desktop processors could be tremendously powerful and potentially push clock speeds high enough to really make Intel hurt, especially if Team Blue stays stuck at 14nm on desktop.
New leaks suggest that AMD could skip the Ryzen 4000 desktop processors altogether, launching its Zen 3-based processors with the Ryzen 5000 instead. This Ryzen 5000 series will be led by the rumored 5800X and 5900X that are said to be released on October 20. However, those are still speculations at this point.
Either way, Team Red is going for the knockout. That’s saying something as it’s already sitting on top of the CPU world right now, selling 40% more processors than its rival.
Because AMD Ryzen 4000 exists across mobile, with desktop processors likely arriving on October 8, there’s a ton of information and rumors out there right now. So, we gathered up all the latest news and rumors in one spot.
Cut to the chase
- What is it? AMD’s next lineup of desktop and mobile processors
- When is it out? Mobile is out, desktop processors to launch on October 8, 2020
- What will it cost? TBA
AMD Ryzen 4000 release date
AMD CEO Lisa Su unveiled the AMD Ryzen 4000 processors for laptops at CES 2020. Prior to their release.
Now, these chips are out in the wild and powering a new generation of thin and light laptops that boast incredible performance and impressively long battery life. The newly-released Asus Zephyrus G14 is leading that charge, and we should start seeing more laptops rocking AMD Ryzen 4000 processors across both ultraportables and gaming laptops.
As for the next-generation of Ryzen processors for desktop, AMD just released a short teaser video with an October 8 date. Whether or not that’s just a launch date or the chips will hit the streets then remains to be seen. However, it does confirm a more recent rumor that suggests they are set to go on sale in October 2020, alongside the RDNA 2 graphics cards.
AMD Ryzen 4000 price
As far as the laptop chips, the prices of the processors themselves are not relevant to most people, as laptop manufacturers will absorb the price and repackage them. Still, we will probably see prices increase over last-generation AMD laptops, due to the fact that AMD’s processors will be behind flagship-class laptops like the upcoming Lenovo Yoga Slim 7.
We’ll probably see Ryzen 3 laptops starting around the $600 mark, with laptops rocking the Ryzen 7 4800H or 4800U hitting the premium market above $1,000. However, we can be a bit more specific with our speculation on the desktop lineup.
AMD Ryzen 3rd Generation saw higher prices than Ryzen 2000, largely due to the introduction of Ryzen 9 processors with up to 16 cores. However, the Ryzen 7 3700X did launch at the same $329 (£319, AU$519) price point as the Ryzen 7 2700X that came before it.
Due to the success of chips like the Ryzen 9 3900X and 3950X, however, we fully expect AMD to follow suit with the Ryzen 4000 lineup. For reference, we included the pricing of AMD Ryzen 3000 processors below. We expect the pricing to stay roughly the same for the next generation.
- AMD Ryzen 9 3950X: $749 (about £590, AU$1,080)
- AMD Ryzen 9 3900X: $499 (about £390, AU$720)
- AMD Ryzen 7 3800X: $399 (about £310, AU$580)
- AMD Ryzen 7 3700X: $329 (about £260, AU$480)
- AMD Ryzen 5 3600X: $249 (about £200, AU$360)
- AMD Ryzen 5 3600: $199 (about £160, AU$290)
- AMD Ryzen 5 3400G: $149 (£139, AU$240)
- AMD Ryzen 3 3300G: $99 (£94, AU$144)
AMD Ryzen 4000 specs
Right now, we know the most about the AMD Ryzen 4000 mobile lineup, so that’s where we’re going to start. These will be the first 7nm processors to make their way to laptops, and with that they bring some huge benefits.
The biggest of these is, just like Ryzen 3000 desktop before it, core counts. Even with ultraportable laptops, which have previously been limited to 4 core/8 thread configurations, you’re getting 8 cores and 16 threads.
This is a huge improvement, and even though clock speeds are limited to 4.2GHz – or a bit higher with 25W configurations – users should see massive gains in productivity workloads. If recent leaks are any indication, AMD Ryzen 4000 mobile chips really won’t be much slower than the desktop processors.
However, what’s odd is that only every other SKU has hyperthreading. For example, the AMD Ryzen 7 4700U has 8 cores and 8 threads, whereas the 4800U has 8 cores and 16 threads. Both of the announced H-Series chips for mobile have hyper-threading however, along with higher base clock speeds.
One of the key features of this AMD Ryzen 4000 series for laptops is going to be the integrated graphics performance. Now, we haven’t had a chance to test this yet, of course, but AMD is promising a boost of up to 28% over Intel’s Ice Lake when it comes to graphics performance. These chips will not be in gaming laptops, however, but when you just want to get in a quick Overwatch match on your lunch break, it will make a major difference.
We went ahead and listed the core specs of each of the laptop processors.
- AMD Ryzen 7 4800U: 8 cores, 16 threads | 1.8GHz base, 4.2GHz boost | 12MB cache
- AMD Ryzen 7 4700U: 8 cores, 8 threads | 2.0GHz base, 4.1GHz boost | 12MB cache
- AMD Ryzen 5 4600U: 6 cores, 12 threads | 2.1GHz base, 4.0GHz boost | 11MB cache
- AMD Ryzen 5 4500U: 6 cores, 6 threads | 2.3GHz base, 4.0GHz boost | 11MB cache
- AMD Ryzen 3 4300U: 4 cores, 4 threads | 2.7GHz base, 3.7GHz boost | 6MB cache
- AMD Ryzen 7 4800H: 8 cores, 16 threads | 2.9GHz base, 4.2GHz boost | 12MB cache
- AMD Ryzen 5 4600H: 6 cores, 12 threads | 3.0GHz base, 4.0GHz boost | 11MB cache
We know far less about desktop, however. Beyond the fact we know it’ll be revealed in 2020, Zen 3 is largely an enigma wrapped in mystery. It will be based on a refinement of the 7nm process found in Zen 2, but any more specific information is purely in the realm of rumor.
Benchmarks for a desktop-based variant have shown up online recently, but that chip is a Zen 2-based Renoir APU. That means that it won’t deliver the same level of performance as the high-end SKUs.
There are rumors that it will be based on TSMC’s new 7nm EUV (extreme ultraviolet) process, similar to what’s rumored to be seen with Nvidia Ampere. If this is true, the processors could be much more power efficient, which could see clock speeds see a sizable bump – which could seriously threaten Intel’s chips in the gaming scene.
Another thing that could make Intel start sweating is the rumor that with Ryzen 4000, AMD may introduce more powerful hyperthreading, with each physical core having four simultaneous processing threads, as opposed to the two found on today’s silicon. This is a rumor we’d definitely take with a grain of salt, but if it’s true it could even further widen the gap between AMD and Intel when it comes to multi-threaded workloads.
It’s unlikely that we’ll see huge core count bumps with this generation, like we did last year. Instead, AMD will probably use the EUV process to boost performance while cutting power consumption. This does mean that there likely won’t be much of a reason to upgrade if you already have a Ryzen 3000 chip.
However, a recent leak of the AMD Ryzen 9 4950X boasting 16-core, 32-thread and a 4.8GHz boost clock could still have Intel’s gaming crown sweating.
Still, we won’t know what AMD Ryzen 4th Generation processors will look like until we see them announced by Team Red. We’ll be sure to update this article as soon as we hear more about AMD’s next desktop chips and once we’ve been able to actually test the laptop models.
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