AMD Ryzen to Break 24-Core Barrier, Zen 6 Slated for 2027
AMD's next-generation Ryzen desktop CPUs are expected to break the 24-core barrier for the first time in the consumer market. Further reports suggest the company's "Olympic Ridge" Zen 6 chips are slated for a 2027 launch, continuing the company's aggressive roadmap for scaling thread counts and performance for both desktop and embedded systems.
- The move to over 24 cores will be enabled by a redesigned Core Complex Die (CCD) for Zen 6, which is rumored to hold up to 12 cores, a significant increase from the 8-core maximum on Zen 4 and Zen 5 CCDs. - Leaked configurations for the "Olympic Ridge" lineup suggest a wide range of stock-keeping units (SKUs), including single-chiplet designs with 6, 8, 10, and 12 cores, and dual-chiplet designs with 16, 20, and a maximum of 24 cores. - Zen 6 is expected to be manufactured on TSMC's 2nm process node, a shrink from the 4nm process used for the Zen 5 architecture. - Each Zen 6 CCD is rumored to feature 48 MB of L3 cache, which would give the 24-core flagship a total of 96 MB of L3 cache before any potential 3D V-Cache additions. - The preceding Zen 5 architecture, which powers the Ryzen 9000 series, provides an average Instructions Per Cycle (IPC) increase of 16% over Zen 4. - While AMD pushes core counts, Intel's roadmap includes its "Nova Lake" architecture, with rumors pointing to a potential 52-core flagship CPU, indicating a continued aggressive push for multi-core performance in the consumer market. - The increase in CPU cores is a key trend in high-performance embedded computing, where multi-core processors are essential for handling the parallel processing demands of applications in networking, automotive systems, and industrial control. - AMD is expected to maintain the existing AM5 socket for the Zen 6 desktop platform, continuing its promise of socket longevity for users who adopted it with the Ryzen 7000 series.
