THE NEWS
Red vs. Blue
Two new chip families get ready to go head-to-head
Here we go again. Intel and AMD’s latest processors are set to meet head-on this fall. Can AMD get back on top again?
© INTEL, AMD
THIS FALL we have the pleasure of two new processor architectures landing pretty much simultaneously. First up, Red team. AMD is preparing its 7000-series Raphael chips using the new Zen 4 core architecture and a 5nm process. This is a whole new chip, motherboard, socket, and GPU. We get integrated RDNA 2 graphics, DDR5 memory (no DDR4 support), PCIe 5.0, and a new AM5 socket. There’s even a new 6nm I/O chip, replacing the older 12nm example with enhanced low power modes, which is responsible for most of the improved energy efficiency. AI is improved by support for AVX-5112 instructions. AMD says it will “try to make a big splash with overclocking” too.