AMD Zen 7 Ryzen CPUs Could Signal The End Of Socket AM5

If you read that headline and thought, "so?" then you're on the right track. AMD's Socket AM5 has already had a pretty good run, with four distinct processor families spanning two different CPU architectures and three different GPU designs inhabiting the socket. If we get two more CPU generations, that's going to be a pretty solid lineup, and it does look like that's what's going to happen, based on what AMD has said both at Computex and at its recent Advancing AI event.

We already know beyond a shadow of a doubt that desktop CPUs sporting Zen 6 CPU cores are on the way for Socket AM5. We know that because motherboard vendors have already started shipping BIOS updates for their boards to add support for the upcoming processors, and even crowing about it. So why do we think Zen 7 is definitely also coming? It has to do with the fact that AMD has already committed to a 2029 roadmap for Socket AM5, and the fact that AMD plans to release it next-generation (because Venice is out now, remember?) "Florence" EPYC CPUs based on Zen 7 in 2028.

We didn't really cover it in our coverage of AMD's Advancing AI event because we were focused on the product announcements, but AMD did reveal some of its future plans at the show. The most interesting details were that the 7th-generation EPYC CPUs are codenamed "Florence," while the 8th-genration EPYC chips are called "Ravenna".


AMD didn't share anything about Ravenna besides that it will use Zen 8 cores and that it is targeted for 2030, but there were a few details about "Florence": they'll use a "next-gen process node," they'll support the AI Compute Extensions developed in tandem with Intel via the x86 Ecosystem Advisory Group, and they'll use "Next Gen Memory: MRDIMM & LPDDR". But wait, doesn't the mention of "next-gen memory" imply that Zen 7 might be built for DDR6, requiring a new socket? (AM6?)

Not necessarily. For one thing, AMD's Venice processors currently support "second-generation MRDIMMs." As far as we can find, there is no MRDIMM standard for DDR6 yet, so this likely refers to the already-planned third-generation MRDIMMs. While there are no similar developments for LPDDR5, AMD just announced families of EPYC chips that include both processors with MRDIMM support and processors with LPDDR support. It's entirely possible that "Florence" could move to LPDDR6 while the rest of the ecosystem remains on DDR5. Remember, the memory controller isn't on the same piece of silicon as the cores in these chips.

While it's a bit of a bummer for the folks (like me) who enjoy integrated graphics gaming, it does look like we probably won't be seeing Socket AM6 until 2029 at the earliest. Of course, the way things are going for Socket AM4, we may be seeing fresh shipments of familiar Socket AM5 CPUs as late as 2032.