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As expected, AMD has taken the wraps off of its next-generation Zen x86 micro-architecture. The high-performance chip will be powering the majority of its processors from 2016 and beyond, delivering impressive performance gains over its current Excavator cores.
AMD’s chief technology officer, Mark Papermaster, claimed the Zen x86 processor cores will be capable of 40% more instructions per clock in comparison to the current-gen Excavator cores. This roughly translates to a 40 per cent increase in performance at like-for-like clock speeds on Excavator and Zen cores, the largest leap AMD has ever made in processor performance
The chart indicates AMD intends to follow up Zen's arrival in 2016 with 'Zen+', presumably in 2017. This will offer even higher instructions per clock, suggesting further architectural improvements.
When it arrives Zen will be available in at least 8-core, 16-thread designs, with a number of more expansive processors potentially coming for the server market.
Its trump card is putting the power back into the individual cores, using Simultaneous Multithreading for higher throughput, working in a similar manner to Hyperthreading by adopting a two-thread, one-core structure. By comparison, Excavator chips favoured cramming two weaker cores per die, which didn't quite cut it in both single-threaded and floating point performance.
The first AMD Zen processors coming to market will be available in a new FX range first, with further rollouts targeted servers in the Opteron line, all of which should be happening in 2016.
If AMD can remain true to its word and hit these 40% performance improvements then this could be an impressive generational leap indeed, and hopefully enough to put AMD back into contention against the might of Intel.
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