AMD’s Ryzen certainly took the world by storm last year, as the US technology company launched its first line of processors capable of challenging Intel’s finest in ages.
And even though Intel hit back with its speedy Coffee Lake CPUs, it’s clear that the Santa Clara company will be facing serious competition in the processor arena from now on, as processors like AMD’s Ryzen 5 1600 are phenomenal value for many users.
AMD looks set to continue its assault on the Intel camp this year too, and after launching its first Ryzen models with integrated graphics and the high-end Ryzen 7 2700X, will now be adding new models to its Ryzen 2000 line.
Two of these processors have leaked out already, courtesy of Chinese computer manufacturer Lenovo, which is known for its world-conquering line of consumer laptops. Actually, specs for several new Ryzen processor models recently surfaced on its website, only to be taken down later.
However, Hexus.net (via PC Gamer) did take a screenshot of Lenovo’s website prior to the removal, and thanks to this we now know the specs of these two unreleased AMD processors, named the Ryzen 5 2500X and Ryzen 3 2300X.
The Ryzen 5 2500X will be the successor to last year’s Ryzen 5 1500X. Like its forebear, this will be a four core processor capable of handling eight simultaneous threads. It will be clocked higher, though, and will also support faster memory.
The other processor which AMD is likely to be launching soon is the Ryzen 3 2300X. This replaces the Ryzen 3 1300X, and is also a four core processor. This will be clocked at the same speed, but like the Ryzen 5 2500X can work with faster memory too (DDR4 clocked at 2933 MHz vs 2667 MHz DDR4 memory).
Pricing information is yet unknown, although we expect these CPUs to ship for no more than their predecessors did at launch ($189 US dollars for the Ryzen 5 1500X, and $129 for the Ryzen 3 1300X).
Either way, this looks like it could end up being another exciting year for processors releases, and those looking to get hold of a budget gaming CPU will be spoilt for choice when AMD and Intel launch their new processors this year.
Ryzen chip (Advanced Micro Devices)