AMD Zen 2 Architecture Explored: What Makes Ryzen 3000 So Powerful

All told, AMD is claiming that 62 percent of the performance improvements coming with Zen 2 are the result of architectural enhancements, and the remaining 38% comes from frequency and tuning benefits that come by way of the 7nm manufacturing process.


We should also mention that AMD has hardened parts of the chip to enhance security and the company has been working closely with Microsoft to ensure Windows 10 performs optimally on AMD’s upcoming hardware. Windows 10 is now better optimized for Zen, Zen+ and Zen 2 with the May 2019 update, which now features better topology awareness and faster clock ramping. The updated scheduler in Windows 10 fills a CCX before leveraging another and support for UEFI CPPC2 (Collaborative Power And Performance Control) results in up to 20x faster clock selection. Improvements in clock selection mean jumping from idle (low) to higher frequencies that could previously take approximately 30ns can now be done in only 1-2ns. These changes show a 15% realized performance improvement in a game like Rocket League due to the better topology awareness. And the PCMark 10 app launch workload shows an improvement of 6% thanks to the UEFI CPPC2 support.


Arriving alongside the Ryzen 3000 series is the new X570 chipset and a wide array of enthusiast motherboards built around it. X570 motherboards are going to include a new, universal BIOS overclocking menu that’s somewhat of a one-stop-shop for overclocking and tuning options, which will also include 50+ tool tips that help explain what each option does.


The X570 chipset itself is actually the same chip that's used for the I/O die on Ryzen 3000 series processors, but it is manufactured at 14nm. The X570 adds support for up to eight 10Gbps USB ports, up to 4 Hi-Speed USB ports, up to 12 SATA ports, and up to an additional 16 lanes of PCIe 4.0 connectivity.

AMD provided an array of expected performance data for the Ryzen 5 3600X, Ryzen 7 3800X, and Ryzen 9 3900X processors. We've presented all of the data above, but have not independently run any of our own tests just yet. We are providing this data for reference only, and because we're sure many of you are eagerly awaiting some benchmarks with these processors. AMD is claiming performance leadership versus Intel at every price point, with better power efficiency as well.


AMD also stated during our briefing that it has no plans to slow down and that Zen 3 -- which will offer additional IPC improvements -- is on track to debut some time in the 2020 - 2021 time frame. Zen 3 will still be produced on a 7nm process, but will likely be optimized in the same way that 2nd Generation Ryzen processors were over the original first gen Ryzen family.


In the meantime, there are also some new APUs coming down the pipeline. The new AMD Ryzen 3 3200G and Ryzen 5 3400G are still based on the same silicon as current-gen APUs. Their frequencies and bundles have been tweaked, however.  We should also mention that moving forward, all AMD Ryzen 5, 7, and 9 series processors will be able to leverage Precision Boost Overclocking, or PBO. PBO debuted with the 2nd Generation Threadrippers and allows for easy 1-click overclocking, without having to sacrifice any of the clock-gating and power optimizations that go away when manually overclocking and locking the cores are a specific multiplier. 

There is a lot more to cover with Zen 2 and the Ryzen 3000 series processors, but time constraints meant summarizing as much as we could here. Rest assured, our full review of the Ryzen 3000 series processors and X570 chipset will be coming soon, so stay tuned for our hands-on analysis in the days ahead.