Is this 16-core cpu amd's new flagship?
A leaked slide may have just revealed AMD's massive new 'Zen' CPU. The news comes from Fudzilla, who somehow got their hands on the image below.
Could this be AMD's answer to the latest range of Intel CPUs?
To kick things off, the Zen architecture allows for up to 16 physical x86 cores and supports up to 32 threads using a technique similar to Intel's hyperthreading technology. These specs align the new, leaked CPU architecture with those found in a server environment, but that won't stop anyone from using it for more exciting applications.
Every core has access to 512KB of L2 cache and 2MB of L3 cache (with 8MB being shared between every Zen core cluster of four), adding up to a massive 8MB of L2 cache and 32MB of L3. This means that 4-8 core CPUs will also benefit greatly from the new architecture.
Additionally, the APU supposedly also comes with support for the new Greenland Graphics and Multimedia Engine, which packs up to 16GB of HBM(High-Bandwidth Memory) with a ridiculous speed of 512GB/s. This is a ridiculous amount of memory for any GPU, let alone an on-board setup.
The more believable section of this leak, surprisingly, is that the new architecture will support 4-channel DDR4 memory with speeds of up to 3200 MHz and a max capacity of 256GB of memory per channel.
How would this in any way apply to gaming, you may ask? In order for so much power to actually be utilised effectively, we'll have to put a lot of faith in DX12. You can find more details of how DX12 can do so here, but, to summarise, DX12 makes far more dynamic usage of multiple CPU cores, and spreads operations out over all available cores. You can see where this is going.
If the reports are true, this means that AMD is hot on the tail of Intel's new range of CPUs, and could even surpass it with its flagship 16-core monstrosity. However, hardware leaks are rarely 100% legit, so skepticism is probably a good stance to have on these rumours.
Although, if the news has any truth to it, AMD's Zen CPUs may just be the comeback that the company needs.
Source: IGN
