AMD 2nd Gen Ryzen (Zen+) 2600X 2700X Preview

Conclusion

What many of you have been waiting for is the official release date for AMD’s Ryzen 2nd Generation processors, which will be on April 19th. Starting today, pre-orders for these CPUs will be available at all major retailers for all four of AMD’s Ryzen 2000-series SKUs.

If anything summarises this last year with AMD’s Ryzen architecture, it is the term “get more for less”. Ryzen has transformed the market since its release, with AMD lowering their prices over time to deliver a better value proposition to their users. 

The same thing can be said for Ryzen’s 2nd Generation, offering higher base/boost clock speeds, improved clock speeds at intermediate core counts using Precision Boost 2 and the inclusion of a stock cooling solutions with their entire processor lineup. 
 
When compared to Ryzen’s original outing, AMD’s pricing structure has changed significantly, with their Ryzen 2700X launching for the same price as their last-generation Ryzen 7 1700 upon its release, providing users with much higher clock speeds and their latest Wraith Prism RGB cooling solution. This pricing showcases what Ryzen has accomplished over the past year, placing more processing cores into the hands of gamers with lower price tags. 

The first thing that many of you will notice is AMD’s lack of a Ryzen 7 1800X successor, with AMD’s 2nd Generation lineup topping out with their Ryzen 7 2700X. Even so, the 2700X already offers speeds that surpass AMD’s last-generation flagship, both in terms of base and clock speed, making the 2700X a 1800X successor in all but name. 

While there is more to AMD’s Ryzen 2nd Generation processors than a mere clock speed bump, we cannot discuss these changes in great detail until AMD’s Review embargo lifts, which will be on the same day as Ryzen 2nd Gen’s official release. While this isn’t Zen 2, Zen+ does offer some much-needed improvements to AMD’s processor design, addressing many of the issues with Ryzen’s original release.  

Waiting until the 19th for additional Ryzen 2nd Gen content is an arduous task, so we have created previews for several of AMD’s new X470 motherboards from ASUS, MSI and Gigabyte. 

You can join the discussion on AMD’s Ryzen 2nd Generation processors on the OC3D Forums.