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Ryzen 4000 for the desktop, DDR5 finally formalized, and more

AMD CONTINUES its quest to reach every segment of the PC market with the Ryzen Zen 2 by releasing a new set of processors aimed at one of the few remaining targets: OEM desktops with integrated graphics. AMD’s current crop of 3000-series chips don’t carry graphics, putting them at a disadvantage against Intel’s. The 4000-series offerings are essentially desktop versions of the 4000-series laptop parts, complete with the integrated Radeon GPUs, code-name Renoir. This means it doesn’t follow the 3000-series Chiplet design: It’s a single slice of silicon, and it lacks PCIe 4.0. AMD claims them as the world‘s first and most advanced 7nm x86 desktop processors with integrated graphics. It also boasts of enthusiast-level performance for gaming, with smooth 1080p gaming “right out of the box.”

The main consumer version comes in two groups. There is a trio of 65W TDP chips: The Ryzen 7 4700G, Ryzen 5 4600G, and Ryzen 3 4300G. The top chip has eight processor cores, eight graphics cores, and a base clock of 3.6GHz, a maximum boost of 4.4GHz, and a GPU speed of 2.1GHz. The 4600G has six processor cores and seven graphics cores, a base clock of 3.7GHz, with a boost of 4.2GHz. The 4300G has four processor cores and six graphics cores, a base clock of 3.8GHz, and a boost of 4.0GHz.

Then we have a similar trio of 35W TDP chips that are signified by an “E” suffix. These have the same core counts, but run a little slower. The 4700GE has a base clock of 3.1GHZ—500MHz slower than its big brother. The 4600GE loses 400MHz, and the 4300GE just 300GHz. There appears to be relatively little sacrifice to cut 30W from the TDP, although AMD’s bizarre calculations for TDP are a law unto themselves. Lastly we have a corresponding range of 4000 “Pro” versions, which add various business-orientated security technologies such as Memory Guard, but are the same for cores and speeds.

As usual, AMD offered some comparisons with Intel’s chips. It estimates that the 4700G is up 31 percent faster in multi-threaded performance against a Core i7-9700. More tellingly, it claims a graphical performance that is up to 202 percent faster, which even if only half true is impressive. The pricing is said to be aggressive, according to the usual round of leaks. Reportedly the 4000 is as overclockable as any AMD chip, and all come unlocked. A Ryzen 7 4700G has already been seen running at over 4.8GHz on all cores.

Want one? Well for now the new chips are for OEMs and System Integrators only, so you’ll have to buy a whole system. However, this won’t last for ever—AMD hinted as much by stating “do not take today’s announcement of the 4000 series for pre-built desktops as something that we are not doing for consumer motherboards.” There will be APUs for 400 and 500-series motherboards soon. We expect the first 4000-powered desktops to arrive this fall, from Lenovo, HP, Dell, and the usual OEM suspects.

These chips are an important release for AMD, as it pitches the Ryzen right into the heart of the massmarket. It has been building APUs for years, but with the 4000 series you can at last have one with eight cores— previously, going AMD meant you were limited to four at the most. AMD has done nicely in the more specialist markets, but reaching the big sales numbers means going OEM, which is five times bigger than the “enthusiast” sector.

AMD is certainly having a good year. Its second-quarter revenue hit $1.93 billion, 23 percent better than last year’s figures. The third quarter promises to be even better, with a projected rise of 42 percent. Strong sales of laptop chips have helped (revenues have doubled thanks to the 4000 series), but it’s still the EPYC server chips that are drawing in the big profits. It is doing well, but it’s still a long way from Intel’s market share; it has (roughly) about 15 percent of the x86 market. If the 4000 series makes even moderate headway in the sizable OEM, it will eat into Intel’s numbers.

AMD is certainly having a good year. Its second-quarter revenue hit $1.93 billion.