Something to look forward to: AMD is reportedly planning an initial launch of four Zen 5 CPUs ranging from 6 to 16 cores. The Ryzen 9 9950X flagship will be a 16-core / 32-thread CPU, followed by the 12-core / 24-thread Ryzen 9 9900X, the 8-core / 16-thread Ryzen 7 9700X, and the 6-core / 12-thread Ryzen 5 9600. The TDPs range from 65W for the 9600 to 170W for the 9950X.

An internal document from motherboard maker Gigabyte appears to reveal details about AMD's forthcoming Ryzen 9000 series desktop processors, codenamed "Granite Ridge." If the leak is legitimate – which we can probably confirm in just a few days when Computex 2024 kicks off – we can expect a significant performance boost.

These new Ryzen 9000 chips will be manufactured using TSMC's cutting-edge 4nm EUV technology. This represents a full node shrink from the 5nm process used for the current Zen 4 processors.

Smaller transistors typically translate to higher clock speeds and better efficiency. AMD has a strong relationship with TSMC and has been utilizing their N4 node for recent Phoenix and Hawk Point mobile chips. Therefore, it is not surprising that this process is being adopted for the new chips again.

The Ryzen 9000 series will also feature an all-new Zen 5 microarchitecture, which is expected to bring significant improvements in IPC (Instructions Per Clock) and power efficiency. According to SPEC benchmarks from April, Zen 5 cores could be over 40 percent faster than Zen 4, making the next-gen chips a substantial upgrade.

AMD appears to be sticking to its "chiplet" design approach. Instead of a monolithic die, these CPUs will utilize multiple compact core chiplets (CCDs) linked to a central I/O die. Each core CCD can house up to eight cores, enabling configurations ranging from six cores up to a flagship 16-core model.

Rather than designing an all-new I/O die from scratch, rumors indicate that AMD will likely reuse the 6nm client I/O die (cIOD) employed in the previous generation Raphael processors. This cIOD integrates an RDNA 2-based GPU with two compute units, a dual-channel DDR5 memory controller, a 28-lane PCIe 5.0 root complex for high-speed connectivity, and other SoC features.

Regarding memory, there are whispers that the Ryzen 9000 series could support DDR5 speeds beyond the 6,000MHz ceiling of the current Zen 4 chips. Feeding these CPUs with really fast RAM could unleash their full performance potential. AMD has identified DDR5-6000 as a "sweet spot" for Raphael, so Granite Ridge may push DDR5 support even higher.

Since these chips have yet to be announced, there's no specific timeline for release or details on pricing as of yet. However, they have already entered mass production, with the launch set to follow in the second quarter of the year.