AMD Enthusiast Zen CPU Set For Hands-On Debut At December 13 New Horizon Event And Livestream
There are a lot of questions surrounding Zen, the new and potentially game changing CPU architecture that AMD has been working on. The biggest one on everyone's mind is will it live up to the hype and offer competitive performance with Intel's top end parts, or are we destined to be disappointed? We'll have our answer in the first quarter of next year, but in the meantime, AMD is planning to livestream a preview of Zen in a couple of weeks.
The livestream event is called New Horizon. It will take place on December 13 starting at 3 PM Central (1 PM Pacific, 4 PM Eastern) with Canadian video game journalist Geoff Keighley hosting the event. Viewers will also see former esports star "PPD" (Peter Dager) "put Zen through its paces," which we suspect to mean he'll be playing games using a Zen-based setup. In addition, AMD promises appearances from special guests and giveaways throughout the live preview.
"This is the first time the public will be able to try it themselves and see its capabilities. If you’re serious about gaming, this is an event you do not want to miss," AMD says.
Zen is a brand new CPU architecture from AMD that is being manufacturing on a 14-nanometer FinFET process. According to AMD, Zen boasts a 40 percent IPC (instructions per clock) improvement over its existing Excavator core. Zen will occupy different performance tiers, though all eyes will on its performance Summit Ridge offerings that will feature up to 8 CPU cores and 16 threads.
A all new AM4 desktop platform will accompany Zen. Even less is known about AM4, though AMD boss Dr. Lisa Su made clear that the upcoming platform represents a "return to desktop for our enthusiasts and performance fans."
Hit the source link to sign up for the livestream event.