MSI hints at AMD AM4 CPUs with over eight cores

Is AMD going to heat up competition with Intel even more by increasing the core count of its Ryzen lineup? A new video from MSI seems to suggests this. The motherboard maker talks about its new B450 motherboards and hints that its upcoming products support eight-core "and up" AM4 processors from AMD.

Nothing is official yet, but perhaps chips based on the Zen 2 design can feature 12 or even 16 cores. According to MSI, these will be backwards compatible with the soon-to-be-out B450 motherboards.

AMD will get its next opportunity to tinker with key aspects of its CPU micro-architecture with "Zen 2," being built on the 7 nm silicon fabrication process. If it decides to stick with the CCX approach to multi-core processors, the company could increase per-CCX core counts. A 50 percent core-count increase enables 12-core processors, while a 100 percent increase brings 16-cores to the AM4 platform. MSI video confirms that these >8-core processors will have backwards-compatibility with existing 400-series chipsets, even if they launch alongside newer 500-series chipset.

Via: TPU