AMD Zen 3 design promises significant IPC gains

In an interview with The Street, AMD server CPU and GPU head Forrest Norrod shed some light about the performance of next year's Zen 3 architecture. Norrod explained that unlike Zen 2, Zen 3 should be considered a completely new architecture. Zen 2 delivered an IPC uplift of around 15 percent on average, which was more than expected because AMD implemented some ideas that didn't make the cut for the first-generation Zen architecture.

While not providing a specific number, Norrod hinted that Zen 3 will provide performance gains "right in line with what you would expect from an entirely new architecture."

When asked about what kind of performance gain Milan's CPU core microarchitecture, which is known as Zen 3, will deliver relative to the Zen 2 microarchitecture that Rome relies on in terms of instructions processed per CPU clock cycle (IPC), Norrod observed that -- unlike Zen 2, which was more of an evolution of the Zen microarchitecture that powers first-gen Epyc CPUs -- Zen 3 will be based on a completely new architecture.

Norrod did qualify his remarks by pointing out that Zen 2 delivered a bigger IPC gain than what's normal for an evolutionary upgrade -- AMD has said it's about 15% on average -- since it implemented some ideas that AMD originally had for Zen but had to leave on the cutting board. However, he also asserted that Zen 3 will deliver performance gains "right in line with what you would expect from an entirely new architecture."

Zen 3 is expected to deliver slightly higher frequencies thanks to the use of TSMC's 7nm+ process. Norrod also mentioned that AMD is confident in being able to drive significant IPC gains each generation.