AMD will be officially announcing their 3rd Generation Ryzen processors in a few weeks and it seems like there will be a major upgrade to the memory controller which would allow for faster memory support, theoretically.
AMD Ryzen 3000 CPUs Can Possibly Feature Support For Up To 5000 MHz DDR4 Memory Speeds
The information comes from the author of the DRAM Calculator for Ryzen processors 1usmus or Yuri Bubliy. He has mentioned on his Twitter feed that the maximum value of the frequency of the AMD Zen 2 generation of processors or Ryzen 3000 series is 5000 MHz and the UCLK is half of that so it should be set at 1250 MHz effective. The difference between the memory clock and UCLK is that the memory clock is specific only to the internal and external memory clock while the UMC clock is specific to the unified memory controller. Following is a set of clock domains for Zen based Ryzen CPUs (via WikiChip):
- UClk – UMC Clock – The frequency at which the Unified Memory Controller’s (UMC) operates at. This frequency is identical to MemClk.
- LClk – Link Clock – The clock at which the I/O Hub Controller communicates with the chip.
- FClk – Fabric Clock – The clock at which the data fabric operates at. This frequency is identical to MemClk.
- MemClk – Memory Clock – Internal and external memory clock.
- CClk – Core Clock – The frequency at which the CPU core and the caches operate at (i.e. advertised frequency).
I think it’s time to start
The maximum value of the frequency of RAM Zen 2 generation is 5000 MHz mode UCLK == MEMCLK / 2.
🙂
— Юрий (@1usmus) May 10, 2019
Now as a reference, the Ryzen 7 1700 had a core clock of 3000 MHz with 2400 MT/s memory and a UClk of 1200 MHz (600 MHz effective). Now the one thing to consider is that the Infinity Fabric clock is also tied to the memory clock and since Infinity Fabric cannot hit 5000 MHz, it will actually run at half the speed of the memory clock.
Now one thing to consider is while up to 5000 MHz is the maximum speed that can be achieved on the upcoming generation of Ryzen processors, not all CPUs may be able to hit those speeds. There are still some things to consider as currently, 2nd Generation Ryzen processors have a max speed of 4000 MHz listed but they can’t reach those speeds. Only overclockers might be able to hit the 5 GHz memory speed limits using LN2 but from a consumer perspective, these speeds may be far from reachable.
However, the X570 motherboards should allow for better memory clocks and support using Zen 2 processors compared to existing X470 and X370 products. The memory speeds supported by the new chips would indeed be better than what we got from the 1st and 2nd Gen Ryzen chips. That would definitely stir up some interest from the masses along with the added support for PCI-e Gen 4.0 which is something that the consumer market has been looking forward to for years now.
AMD CPU Roadmap (2018-2020)
| Ryzen Family | Ryzen 1000 Series | Ryzen 2000 Series | Ryzen 3000 Series | Ryzen 4000 Series | Ryzen 5000 Series |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Architecture | Zen (1) | Zen (1) / Zen+ | Zen (2) | Zen (3) | Zen (4) |
| Process Node | 14nm | 14nm / 12nm | 7nm | 7nm+ | 5nm/6nm? |
| High End Server (SP3) | EPYC ‘Naples’ | EPYC ‘Naples’ | EPYC ‘Rome’ | EPYC ‘Milan’ | EPYC ‘Next-Gen’ |
| Max Server Cores / Threads | 32/64 | 32/64 | 64/128 | TBD | TBD |
| High End Desktop (TR4) | Ryzen Threadripper 1000 Series | Ryzen Threadripper 2000 Series | Ryzen Threadripper 3000 Series (Castle Peak) | Ryzen Threadripper 4000 Series | Ryzen Threadripper 5000 Series |
| Max HEDT Cores / Threads | 16/32 | 32/64 | 64/128? | TBD | TBD |
| Mainstream Desktop (AM4) | Ryzen 1000 Series (Summit Ridge) | Ryzen 2000 Series (Pinnacle Ridge) | Ryzen 3000 Series (Matisse) | Ryzen 4000 Series (Vermeer) | Ryzen 5000 Series |
| Max Mainstream Cores / Threads | 8/16 | 8/16 | 16/32 | TBD | TBD |
| Budget APU (AM4) | N/A | Ryzen 2000 Series (Raven Ridge) | Ryzen 3000 Series (Picasso 14nm Zen+) | Ryzen 4000 Series (Renior) | Ryzen 5000 Series |
| Year | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021? |
The Next-Gen X570 Chipset – A New House For Ryzen 3000 Series CPUs
As we saw with X470, there were a few features for the Ryzen 2000 series processors which were only supported by new motherboards such as Precision Boost Overdrive and XFR 2.0. There’s no doubt that AMD’s Zen 2 based Ryzen mainstream processor family would come with new features but the main highlight would be support for PCIe Gen4. The X570 platform will be an all PCIe Gen4 solution, which means this would most probably be the first consumer platform to feature support for the new PCIe standard.
A teaser shot of an upcoming ASRock X570 Phantom Gaming motherboard which is expected to be unveiled at Computex 19.
That, however, doesn’t mean that AMD Ryzen 3000 series would only be compatible on X570 boards since just like last time, the new CPUs will be backward compatible with X470 & X370 boards too.
Can you decode the hidden meanings of the unmber 5,6,7 here? Have a guess before our upcoming big reveal!#MSI #Computex2019 #Gamingmotherboard pic.twitter.com/ktBoPDQVMb
— MSI Gaming (@msitweets) May 9, 2019
They certainly won’t display the same feature set that will be available on the newly launched X570 lineup but will feature fully stable functionality for users who just want to drop in a new CPU and continue using their PCs without the hassle of upgrading the motherboard and everything from scratch. Expect more to hear at Computex 2019 which commences on 27th May 2019.