AMD Kicks Off Ryzen 2nd-gen Pre-orders, First Four CPUs Set To Launch On April 19

AMD has just kicked-off preorders of its upcoming second-gen Ryzen processors, appropriately named the Ryzen 2000 series. These follow in the footsteps of the 2200G and 2400G Raven Ridge APUs, and out of the door, four SKUs will be made available. The 1800X transitions to 2700X and 2700, and underneath, the 2600X and 2600 give some really cost-effective options.

There are still some details we can’t talk about quite yet, but AMD has given off basically everything you need to know. These new chips are largely going to be seen as clock-boost releases, but there’s definitely more to it than just that. I feel like because AMD knew that this wasn’t a revolutionary leap like Zen 2 will be, the company made sure its latest chips offered more than enough value to justify the price.

Remember when the game-changing Ryzen 7 1800X hit the scene? It delivered 8 cores and 16 threads for a modest $500. Its release caused Intel to scramble and follow-up with its own beefier chips, both on the mainstream (Coffee Lake) and enthusiast (Skylake-X) side. Fast-forward to right now, and we see an even faster chip in the form of 2700X, yet it costs $329. That’s a huge difference in a single year. That really does impress me… 16 threads for $329. Remember when those cost $1,000? Even better, a chip like the i7-7820X draws 140W, while the 2700X settles at 105W. Zen really does make Vega look like the GPU version of Bulldozer in terms of power consumption.

Ryzen 7 2700X & Ryzen 5 2600X

Here’s the official Ryzen 2nd-gen lineup:

If $329 for 16 threads doesn’t seem too impressive, consider the fact that AMD includes a $40~$50 CPU cooler in the box. The Wraith Prism is an RGB cooler that according to AMD cools with the best of them in this given price range. And, while these may not be the best performers compared to an AIO cooler, these coolers are not going to be really lacking, unless you maybe want to push your overclocks hard. For the overwhelming number of people, the in-box coolers featured with Ryzen 2nd-gen will be suitable.

Alongside this launch will come a new chipset, X470, although thankfully, you don’t actually need one of the new boards if you want to take advantage of these new chips. However, there are a couple of features exclusive to X470 that couldn’t be back-ported, but those are not going to game-changers for most.

One feature that’s shared between the platforms is StoreMI, a “machine intelligence” storage solution that acts like caching, in that common data is accessed from the fastest device, but it’s different in that the data is only ever going to be available on one of the two devices at once. If data is detected to be used often, it will be moved. The driver will manage it all, invisible to the user, and… best of all, it’s reversible.

StoreMI will let you combine your SSD with hard drive, and because it’s not a typical caching solution, you should notice clear speed-ups over time with your commonly used apps or games. The official mechanic is called “tiering”, because more important data is pushed to the better tier (flash storage). This technology is driven by Enmotus’ FuzeDrive; it’s simply been rebranded for use here. That said, while a solution does exist for Intel, it’s enterprise-focused, so right now, FuzeDrive is going to be most accessible to the end-consumer on Ryzen.

Currently, Ryzen second-gen chips can be had at Amazon US and Newegg US. So far I haven’t found the chips on preorder anywhere in Canada, but that’s sure to change over the course of the day, or maybe the weekend.