AMD has two new sets of Ryzen chips for desktop computers launching soon. The high-power Ryzen Threadripper line of chips are set to hit stores shelves in early August with prices starting at $799 for a 12-core/24-thread model.
But if you need something cheaper (and less powerful), the first Ryzen 3 quad-core chips are coming July 27th. Prices for those models haven’t been revealed yet, but with Ryzen 5 chips going for as little as $160, it’s a fair bet that Ryzen 3 chips will be even more affordable.
All of AMD’s Ryzen processors are unlocked, which means that folks who know what they’re doing are free to attempt to overclock them. So you may theoretically be able to get Ryzen 5-level performance out of a Ryzen 3 chip… or insane performance from a Threadripper chip, at the cost of increased power consumption.
The Threadripper chips are obviously aimed at high-end desktop computers, and they feature high clock speeds, 64 lanes of PCI Express, and quad channel DDR4 memory support. You’ll be able to buy the chips on teir own starting in August, but starting July 27th you’ll also be able to pre-order Dell’s Alienware Area 51 Threadripper Edition gaming desktop.
Here’s a run-down of the new Ryzen chips launching in the coming weeks:
- Ryzen Threadripper 1920X – 12 cores/24 threads/3.5 GHz base/4 GHz boost for $799
- Ryzen Threadripper 1950X – 16 cores/32 threads/3.4 GHz base/4 GHz boost for $999
- Ryzen 3 1200 – 4 cores/4 threads/3.1 GHz base/3.4 GHz boost
- Ryzen 3 1300X – 4 cores/4 threads/3.5 GHz base/3.7 GHz boost
As PC World notes, AMD’s new top-of-the-line consumer desktop chip may be expensive, but at $999 it’s actually just half the price of Intel’s new Core i9-7980XE 18-core processor.
I’m not up to speed on Ryzen 3, is this the laptop-bound variant or a cheaper desktop chip?
Desktop. AMD hasn’t officially launched any mobile/laptop Ryzen chips yet.
Will you be covering the Ryzen 3 chips?
I’m interested to see how they compare to the:
G4560, Core i3-7350k, Core i5-7500, and Core i5-7600k.
And maybe even the Z8750, M-5Y10, i7-7Y75 performance of mobile units.
So glad to see AMD back in the game.