The leaked slides include a set of colour enhanced photomicrographs of the new Ryzen CPU die. The die shots have been labeled to help make some sense of what can be seen. The above image is the Ryzen floating point and integer engine, as an example. AMD has previously talked about its very impressive smart branch prediction to help in minimising command pipeline stalling. This particular CPU component is in the upper left of the above image.
The above image is of four Zen cores and also shows the communication paths between the cores and with the L3 cache sitting in the middle.
Intriguingly Hot Hardware also discusses the comparison between AMD GlobalFoundries 14nm FinFET and rival Intel’s 14nm chips. Intel has supposedly managed to create denser chips but, as we have seen before, the cluster size of AMD Zen cores is smaller and more compact, implying AMD has a lower design complexity requiring a fewer number of transistors.
The higher single threaded performance comes as a result of AMD moving to a more traditional SMT design due to its single larger integer cluster, explains the source Hot Hardware.
And finally, the above Precision Boost slide provides more information about this frequency control feature. This technology works alongside the AMD Pure Power technology which monitors all the important statuses for temperatures, frequencies, and voltage, to provide optimum boost levels at any given time for maximum performance without pushing the CPU past its limits.
So what do you think, will AMD rise up like Phoenix from the ashes or has Intel secured their foothold on the market completely. My hopes are that Ryzen is the come back AMD need but only time will tell once the CPU has launched.
