AMD reconfirms its commitment to AM5 – Support through 2025
Don’t expect to see a new mainstream CPU socket from AMD until at least 2026
In a new interview with Overclockers UK, AMD’s David McAfee has confirmed AMD’s plans to support their AM5 CPU socket long-term. When asked about AMD’s future plans for AM5 and their Ryzen CPU lineup, McAfee reconfirmed that AMD plans to support AM5 through 2025. That means that we should not expect to see a new mainstream CPU socket from AMD until at least 2026.
AMD’s Ryzen 7000 series of Zen 4 processors launching in 2022 alongside AM5 motherboards. Assuming that AMD plans to support AM5 until (at a minimum) end of 2025, the socket will have a life cycle of more than three years. During this time, AM5 users should be able to upgrade their AM5 based systems with new Ryzen processors. We expect both Zen 5 and Zen 6 processors to arrive within AM5’s intended lifespan.
David McAfee, AMD’s Corporate Vice president and General Manager of their Client Channel Business, sees AM4’s longevity is a critical aspect of AMD’s success with Ryzen. As such, AMD wants to continue using their AM5 socket as long as possible. That said, technological innovations will eventually force AMD to move onto something new.
AMD expects to support AM5 beyond 2025
When AMD announced that they would be supporting their AM5 CPU socket through 2025, we felt that the company were setting expectations as low as possible. AMD has always talked about supporting AM5 through 2025 and beyond, and that could mean many things. Are AMD going to launch a next-generation socket a month or two into 2026? Are AMD planning to stick with AM5 for an unknown number of years beyond 2025? Could AM5 be supported until 2027 or 2028?
AMD’s support plans for AM5 will depend on many factors. For starters, the arrival of DDR6 memory or another DDR5 DRAM replacement would create the need for a new CPU socket from AMD. There is also the potential for other innovations that may force AMD to move away from AM5.
If you have ever wondered why AMD never created DDR4-compatible AM5 motherboards, the reason is simple. Supporting DDR5 only allows AMD to, potentially, support AM5 for the lifespan of DDR5 memory. Had AMD opted to support both DDR4 and DDR5, they would have been locked into supporting both memory types for the lifespan of the socket (on both their CPUs and motherboards). Intel had to do this with LGA 1700, and that CPU socket is due to be replaced next year.
AMD wants to repeat the success of AM4 with AM5. That means that AM5 users should expect to receive new upgrade options in the form of new Zen 5 CPUs at some point in the future. Will we see some Zen 5 teasers at CES?
You can join the discussion on AMD’s socket AM5 support plans on the OC3D Forums.
