AMD launches three Ryzen 7 CPUs, availability on March 2nd

Unexpectedly, AMD just announced the Ryzen 7 series! It is a paperlaunch but you're able to pre-order these parts and can expect availability on March 2nd so it's just a one-week wait. March 2nd is also the date when the NDA for the reviews expires so you'll also have to wait one more week for objective performance figures.

Here's a look at the first three Ryzen CPUs, these are all eight-core, sixteen-threaded models:

Ryzen 7 1800X: 3.6GHz base, 4.0GHz Turbo, 95W TDP, no cooler, $499

Ryzen 7 1700X: 3.4GHz base, 3.8GHz Turbo, 95W TDP, no cooler, $399

Ryzen 7 1700: 3.0GHz base, 3.7GHz Turbo, 65W TDP, bundled with Wraith Spire HSF, $329

The models with an "X" suffix feature eXtended Frequency Range (XFR), a sort of Turbo mode on steroids that uses various data points like CPU temperature to gauge how high the chip can be clocked.

So the rumors about the highest-end models launching first are true and the quad-core and six-core models are delayed until Q2 2017. There are some whispers that poor yields at GlobalFoundries are the culprit here, but we can't confirm this.

AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) today announced the global launch of AMD Ryzen™ 7 desktop processors, with pre-orders starting today from more than 180 global etailers and boutique OEMs, to the delight of PC gamers, content creators, enthusiasts, and fans worldwide. After four years and more than two million engineering hours of development, Ryzen is ready to unleash its powerful purpose, shake up the market, and connect millions more people to high performance personal computing.

"Four years ago we began development of our 'Zen' processor core with the goal to deliver unprecedented generational performance gains and return choice and innovation to the high-performance computing market," said Dr. Lisa Su, president and CEO of AMD. "On March 2, enthusiasts and gamers around the world will experience 'Zen' in action, as we launch our Ryzen 7 family of processors and reinvigorate the desktop computing market."

AMD Ryzen 7 Lineup
During an event for global press, industry analysts, and partners, AMD outlined the Ryzen 7 desktop processor lineup. AMD specifically designed these processors for PC gamers, creators, and enthusiasts with 8-cores, 16-threads, and the new AM4 desktop platform. In live demos and testing, these processors demonstrated their superiority: the flagship Ryzen 7 1800X as the world's highest performing 8-core desktop processor1, and Ryzen 7 1700 as the world's lowest power 8-core desktop processor.

Product demonstrations featured Ryzen 7 1800X outperforming a similarly configured 8-core, 16-thread Intel Core i7-6900K in Cinebench R15 multi-threaded and Handbrake-based video transcoding, as well as showing comparable 4K gaming performance.

For Ryzen, AMD offers new thermal solutions based on the original Wraith coolers, launched to wide acclaim in 2016. The next evolution of Wraith includes Wraith Spire and Wraith Stealth, offering reliable, near-silent performance enthusiasts expect from the Wraith brand. Featured with Ryzen 7 1700 sold in retail boxes as well as many OEM systems, Wraith Spire offers superb cooling at an incredibly quiet 32 decibels.

A bit more Ryzen info is coming up in our next post.