AMD Ryzen Processors: Everything You Need to Know

What processor does your computer currently have? Most likely an Intel processor. Yes, Intel has long dominated the desktop and laptop computer markets. And to deal with it, AMD has already launched a Ryzen processor. With AMD Ryzen processors, AMD is firmly against intel's dominance while addressing the challenges of computer enthusiasts.

In this article, we will try to discuss AMD Ryzen Processors: Everything You Need to Know. Here, you'll find out what Ryzen is, what features it offers, what kind, and more.

Zen Microarchitecture by AMD Ryzen

It's been a long time since AMD missed out with Intel in terms of processor performance. Intel's market is vast and includes desktop and mobile lines such as laptops. In fact, Intel has tried its luck on smartphones despite failing and that's what AMD never tried.

To face intel that continues to dominate, AMD finally released Zen Microarchitecture. This architecture is a completely new design and replaces amd's previous Bulldozer architecture. If you have a laptop with amd processors such as A6, A8, A10, A12, or FX series, then all of those processors use bulldozer architecture.

Are you confused by the term microarchitecture? Let's try to talk a little bit about this.

You can imagine microarchitecture like how to cook a meal. Let's say you cook chicken soup. You must cut the ingredients first. Everyone also has a different way of cutting and cooking it. Although it has a different way, the end result will still be chicken soup.

Well, so is microarchitecture. So, Microarchitecture is an instruction or way embedded in the processor to manage the given information and produce something from the information processed. This information if associated with the example above is how to cook.

Every microarchitecture that processor manufacturers have has a different way. Intel until this article went down having microarchitecture Coffee Lake. Coffe Lake is certainly different from AMD's Zen. And AMD is optimistic about the performance provided by Zen compared to Intel's.

If Zen is an instruction to process information and produce something, then of course someone should use that instruction. Well, the first processor to use this microarchitecture is the Ryzen processor (read: rai-zen).

Ryzen is AMD's answer to rival Intel in high-level processor lines. In this case, the Intel Core family line became its rival. There are many new features offered at AMD Ryzen. Here are some of the technologies embedded in Ryzen that are incorporated in AMD SenseMi Technology:

1. Pure Power: Measures hundreds of sensors in chips for temperature optimization and power usage while adjusting processor performance.
2. Precisiont Boost: Improves processor performance by adding processor clock speed with a 25 MHz increase (versus the 100MHz used by Intel). With minimal increase, AMD can improve performance without adding too much power usage.
3. Extended Frequency Range (XFR): Automatic performance improvements for those with premium systems with better cooling solutions. This cooling system can be from air, water, or LN2.
4. Neural Net Prediction: Ryzen can recognize the applications you are running and can anticipate the next steps needed. With these predictions of artificial intelligence, Ryzen can improve its performance by knowing the fastest path in the processor, making applications and games faster.
5. Smart Prefetch: Working with Neural Net Prediction, Smart Prefetch can provide predictive data, making artificial intelligence performance faster.

Of course, there are many more technologies embedded in Ryzen and above are the larger technologies. With these technologies, the AMD Ryzen processor line is well worth a look.

All Ryzen processors are based on 14 nm process technology. Where each transistor in Ryzen has only a distance of 14 nm (nano meters).

What makes AMD Ryzen even more attractive is its relatively affordable price compared to Intel which has long monopolized the desktop and notebook processor market. Thus, it can be concluded that the price per performance of Ryzen will be higher compared to Intel processors.

How to read the name of an AMD Ryzen processor

Broadly, the name of the Ryzen processor consists of 4 numbers and 1 letter. 1 letter is optional, so there are processor names that have letters, some that don't. For example: AMD Ryzen 7 1700 and AMD Ryzen 7 1700X. Ryzen 7 is a sub-family of amd ryzen families. While the next 4 numbers show the serial number. The serial number also shows the performance of the processor. The Ryzen 7 1700 is more powerful than the Ryzen 7 1800X.

Then, the 1 letter behind it shows the characteristics of the processor. Until the moment the article goes down, there are only 2 letters used by AMD. There is an "X" and a "U". The letter X indicates that the processor can be overclocked. The example of the processor is like the previous example ryzen 7 1800X.

Meanwhile, the letter U indicates that the processor is a power-saving processor (range of 15 watts only). When compared to Ryzen processors that do not have the letter U, the power consumption is the lowest 65 watts. An example of a power-saving processor is the Ryzen 5 2500U.

Once you understand the naming model, of course we will discuss 2 AMD Ryzen platforms launched, namely on Desktop and also Mobile. Let's discuss the desktop first.

AMD Ryzen Processor Family Line: Desktop

In its launch in March 2017, AMD introduced processors for desktops first. There are 3 processor family lines introduced for Ryzen. Here are 3 Ryzen processor family lines for desktop:

1. AMD Ryzen – for commercial users
2. AMD Ryzen Pro – for commercial and business users
3. AMD Ryzen Threadripper – for high-level commercial and business users

Let's start from the first family line first 

AMD Ryzen

AMD Ryzen 3

AMD Ryzen 3 is intended for entry-level consumers. Although entry-level, the performance given is actually further than you think. If you are a gamer, Ryzen 3 is actually enough to meet that need, as most of the games on the market have not been able to maximise processor performance over 4 Cores.

This is all because the entire Ryzen 3 line has 4 Cores and 4 Threads and a TDP (Thermal Design Power) of 65 watts. If you've been using intel processors for a long time, then you're immediately surprised to see this information because Intel Core i3 for desktop usually only has 2 Cores and 4 Threads.

Here's a list of AMD Ryzen 3 lines:

Nama	Number of Cores/Threads	Clock Speed Dasar	Clock Speed Turbo	TDP
Ryzen 3 1200	4/4	3.1 GHz	3.4 GHz	65 W
Ryzen 3 1300X	4/4	3.5 GHz	3.7 GHz	65 W

AMD Ryzen 5

AMD Ryzen 5 is for those of you who frequently edit videos, create games, and others that require more performance. If you work in that environment, then Ryzen 5 is perfect for you.

Ryzen 5 is designed to rival the Intel Core i5 even the Core i7. This is all because broadly, all Ryzen 5 lines have Cores 4 – 6 Cores and 8 – 12 Threads and all have 65 watt TDP, except Ryzen 5 1600X which has a 95 watt TDP.

Here's a list of AMD Ryzen 5 lines:

Name	Number of Cores/Threads	Clock Speed Dasar	Clock Speed Turbo	TDP
Ryzen 5 1400	4/4	3.2 GHz	3.4 GHz Precision Boost	65 W
Ryzen 5 1500X	4/4	3.5 GHz	3.7 GHz Precision Boost	65 W
Ryzen 5 1600	6/12	3.2 GHz	3.6 GHz Precision Boost	65 W
Ryzen 5 1600X	6/12	3.6 GHz	4.0 GHz Precision Boost	95 W

AMD Ryzen 7

AMD Ryzen 7 is here for those of you who work as video editors, game developers, high-resolution movie making, and various other heavy-duty. Ryzen 7 competes closely with the Core i7 by offering a higher price per performance than Intel's Core i7.

Broadly enough, the entire Ryzen 7 family has an 8 Core/16 Thread with a TDP of 95 watts. An exception to the Ryzen 7 1700 which has a TDP of 65 watts.

Here's a list of Ryzen 7 lines:

Nama	Core / Thread	Clock Speed Dasar	Clock Speed Turbo	TDP
Ryzen 7 1700	8/16	3.0 GHz	3.6 GHz Precision Boost	65 W
Ryzen 7 1700X	8/16	3.4 GHz	3.8 GHz Precision Boost	95 W
Ryzen 7 1800X	8/16	3.6 GHz	4.0 GHz Precision Boost	95 W

Once you recognize the AMD Ryzen family, we will now move on to the next family, AMD Ryzen Pro.

AMD Ryzen Pro

Ryzen Pro is a processor equipped with high performance and higher security features when compared to regular Ryzen. Ryzen is perfect for those of you who have business and security is a very important factor.

All Ryzen Pro features built-in security directly from the chip, making it perfect for maintaining your business data.

Here's the AMD Ryzen Pro family line:

Name	Core / Thread	Basic Clock Speed	Clock Speed Turbo	TDP
Ryzen 3 PRO 1200	4/4	3.1 GHz	3.4 GHz	65 W
Ryzen 3 PRO 1300	4/4	3.5 GHz	3.7 GHz	65 W
Ryzen 5 PRO 1500	4/8	3.5 GHz	3.7 GHz	65 W
Ryzen 5 PRO 1600	6/12	3.2 GHz	3.6 GHz	65 W
Ryzen 7 PRO 1700	8/16	3 GHz	3.7 GHz	65 W
Ryzen 7 PRO 1700X	8/16	3.4 GHz	3.8 GHz	95 W

AMD Ryzen Threadripper

Ryzen Threadripper is a processor family line that has the most Number of Cores and Threads when compared to other families. In the highest series, you can get 16 Cores and 32 Threads.

If you ask, what is the number of Cores that much. The answer depends on your job. Some work does require a lot of Core, such as video rendering, 3D modeling processing, complex game creation, video editor for 4K resolution, and much more. These jobs do require a lot of cores.

If you are the person, then Ryzen Threadripper is the solution. Here's a list of Ryzen Threadripper's family lines:

Name	Core / Thread	Basic Clock Speed	Clock Speed Turbo	TDP
Ryzen Threadripper 1900X	Aug-16	3.8 GHz	4 GHz	180 W
Ryzen Threadripper 1920X	Dec-24	3.5 GHz	4 GHz	180 W
Ryzen Threadripper 1950X	16 / 32	3.4 GHz	4 GHz	180 W

AMD Ryzen Family Line: Mobile

AMD Ryzen for mobile has just launched in October 2017. In this mobile category, of course what is meant is the processor for laptops. Ryzen Mobile also uses the same microarchitecture that is Zen.

What's interesting about Ryzen Mobile is that AMD integerizes its latest VGA, Vega Graphics. This latest GPU from AMD promises to be more powerful than previous GPUs with considerable differences. This is what makes Intel cautious, as the laptop market is one of the largest markets and Ryzen Mobile's presence is very threatening to Intel's monopoly because the prices offered are highly competitive with higher performance offerings than 8th generation Intel processors.

When this article went down, only 2 processors were offered by AMD for Ryzen Mobile. Here's the 

list:

Name Core / Thread Basic Clock Speed Clock Speed Turbo TDP GPU GPU Core Ryzen 5 2500U 04-Aug 2 GHz 3.6 GHz 15 W Radeon Vega 8 Ryzen 7 2700U 04-Aug 2.2 GHz 3.8 GHz 15 W Radeon Vega 10
To date, there are 3 vendors that provide laptops with Ryzen Mobile. And all of them had not yet entered Indonesia at the time this article went down.