AMD Ryzen Processor Launch Likely Arriving In February Before GDC Optimization Breakout Session
The description for the session, entitled “Optimizing for AMD Ryzen CPU”, originally read:
Join AMD Game Engineering team members for an introduction to the recently-launched AMD Ryzen CPU followed by advanced optimization topics.
We know this because AnandTech was able capture a screenshot of the errant text before AMD quickly wised up and removed it. Now, the text innocently reads:
Join AMD Game Engineering team members for an introduction to the AMD Ryzen CPU followed by advanced optimization topics.
The original wording concerning the “recently-launched” Ryzen indicates that the processor family would have been launched anytime between February through the early March time frame. Given that there will likely be a slew of announcements coming out of GDC, it’s unlikely that AMD would want to use that as a venue to launch Ryzen. So, let’s rule out February 27th through March 3rd. In addition, the Mobile World Congress runs from February 27th through March 2nd, which means even more headline-grabbing competition for a Ryzen launch.
That leaves us with a February launch window for Ryzen, which seems highly plausible. AMD has stated emphatically that Ryzen will ship during Q1 2017 and a February launch gives AMD plenty of room to work with.
Regardless of when AMD chooses to launch Ryzen, it stands to be the most competent challenger to Intel “Core” dominance in years. AMD has outlined a 4-year product roadmap for Ryzen, which is based on 14nm FinFET Zen architecture, with processors available in 8-core/16-thread configurations operating at 3.4GHz+ frequencies. As we’ve seen in video demos, when paired with AMD’s upcoming Vega graphics architecture, Ryzen has the potential to be a hot ticket with hardcore gaming enthusiasts in the coming months.
