Leak indicates potential, but also leaves questions

AMD’s Ryzen 4000 CPUs are expected to have 100 to 200 MHz higher clock speeds than Ryzen 3000.

Unofficial data on AMD’s upcoming Ryzen 4000 processors for the desktop is currently circulating on the Internet.

The latest details come from the well-known German hardware experts Igor Wallossek (igor’s LAB) and concern the core numbers and clock rates of the CPUs, which are code-named »Vermeer«. As exciting as the latest information is, it still leaves open questions.

What does Igor say about Ryzen 4000?

According to Igor, who uses sources that are not specified, the first engineering samples (A0 steppings) of the Ryzen 4000 CPUs are in the test.

In addition to their BIOS signatures, CPUIDs and the new Unified L3 cache, the so-called OPNs (Ordering Part Numbers) catch the eye, because they contain information on core numbers and clock rates:

• Name: Vermeer (VMR)
• Family: 19h
• Models: 20h-2Fh
• CPUID: 0xa20f00

• OPN 1: 100-000000063-07_46 / 40_N
• OPN 2: 100-000000063-08_46 / 40_Y
• OPN 3: 100-000000063-23_44 / 38_N
• Revision: A0
• Cores: 8
• Threads: 16

• OPN 1: 100-000000059-14_46 / 37_Y
• OPN 2: 100-000000059-15_46 / 37_N
• Revision: A0
• Cores: 16
• Threads: 32

A total of five models can be selected, three with eight cores and 16 threads, two with 16 cores and 32 threads. Up to 4.6 GHz boost clock and 4.0 GHz base clock (46/40, 44/38) are specified for the eight-core CPUs, and 4.6 / 3.7 GHz (46/37 ).

Comparison to Ryzen 7 3700X & 3800X: The popular Ryzen 7 3700X officially reaches 3.6 GHz (versus 3.8 GHz OPN3) in the base, while in Turbo mode it is 4.4 GHz (versus 4.4 GHz OPN3). The slightly more powerful R7 3800X comes to 4.5 / 3.9 GHz (versus 4.6 / 4.0 GHz OPN 1 & 2).

Comparison to Ryzen 9 3950X: AMD’s current flagship for the mainstream desktop also brings it to 16C / 32T. The base clock is slightly lower at 3.5 GHz (versus 3.7 GHz), but the R9 3950X is slightly ahead at 4.7 GHz (versus 4.6 GHz).

All information, leaks and rumors about Ryzen 4000 can be found in the following article:

Then what about the supposedly higher clock rates?

So far there has been talk of 100 to 200 MHz increased clock rates with Ryzen 4000. This also seems to be the case for the eight-core models with the designation OPN 1 & 2, the same applies to the base clock of the remaining chips. However, the situation is different for the boost values ​​of the possible Ryzen 7 3700X and the Ryzen 9 3950X successor.

It must be borne in mind here that A0 stepping is the very first iteration of a CPU. Later versions (A1, B0, B1, etc.) could therefore clock significantly higher.

For the Ryzen 9 3950X, for example, 4.7 GHz was under discussion long before the official announcements, and the first engineering samples had even reached 5.0 GHz (which then turned out to be wrong). As a result, it remains open which clock rates the new Ryzen 4000 processors can deliver.

The data also does not provide new information on the performance per clock cycle. It is currently assumed that it will increase in the range of 10 to 20 percent. On the one hand through an improved design and on the other hand through an optimized manufacturing process (7nm, possibly with EUV technology).