A few hours ago, Newegg and Amazon have allowed preorders on the new AMD Ryzen 2000 series Pinnacle Ridge CPUs and X470 motherboards. After months of waiting the new CPUs and motherboards are finally available to order. The Release date for the CPUs is set at 4/19 with the motherboards releasing a day earlier on 4/18. For a little about each chip, lets go into detail.
AMD Ryzen 2700X – Flagship 8 Core With 3.7GHz Base Clock, 4.35 GHz Boost Clock, 105W TDP and $329 US
First up, we have the AMD Ryzen 7 2000 series products which aim for the high-end sector. There are two processors listed at the moment which include the Ryzen 7 2700X and Ryzen 7 2700. Flagship seems to be the Ryzen 7 2700X right now which comes with 8 cores and 16 threads and supports the brand new 12nm process node. The TDP for this chip is maintained at 105W which might seem higher than the 95W on the previous parts but you also get higher clock speeds in return.
The AMD Ryzen 7 2700X clocks in at a base clock of 3.7 GHz and turbos up to 4.35 GHz. The chip supports 20 MB of cache, 16 PCIe lanes, 2933 MHz DDR4 memory and ships with the Wraith Prism cooler for the rather low price of $329 US. AMD is pitting this chip against the Core i7-8700K which costs 20 USD more.
AMD Ryzen 2700 – A 8 Core With A 3.2GHz Base Clock, 4.1 GHz Boost Clock, 65W TDP and $299.99 US
Frankly The AMD Ryzen 2700 seems like a whole lot for the price, this CPU is going against the locked Intel i7 8700 which isn't as capable as its unlocked brother and should do very well in this price bracket. It like its flagship bigger brother the 2700X shares all the same features but at a much lower 65w TDP and comes packed with the same cooler.
AMD Ryzen 5 2600X – A 6 Core CPU With 4.25 GHz Boost, 19 MB Cache and $229 US Price
On the Ryzen 5 family, the fastest chip will be the Ryzen 5 2600X which is a 6 core, 12 thread chip that comes with a 95W TDP. This chip is clocked at a base frequency of 3.6 GHz and turbos up to 4.25 GHz. There’s also 19 MB of cache, 16 PCIe lanes and the chip itself ships with a Wraith Spire cooler. AMD is pricing the part below $250 US which puts it next to the Core i5-8600K in competition.
AMD Ryzen 5 2600 – A 6 Core, 65W CPU With 3.9 GHz Boost, 19 MB Cache and $200 US Price
The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 comes with the same technical aspects of the Ryzen 5 2600X but has lower TDP like the Ryzen 7 2700 and as such, it comes with lower clock speeds too. The 65W TDP allows for a 3.4 GHz base and 3.9 GHz boost clock while the packaging includes a Wraith Stealth cooler at a price of $200 US which makes it compete against the 40 USD more expensive Core i5-8600 SKU.
The specs for the CPUs are as follows
AMD 2nd Generation Ryzen Specs:
| CPU Name | AMD Ryzen 3 2300X | AMD Ryzen 5 2500X | AMD Ryzen 5 2600 | AMD Ryzen 5 2600X | AMD Ryzen 7 2700 | AMD Ryzen 7 2700X |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CPU Family | Ryzen 2 | Ryzen 2 | Ryzen 2 | Ryzen 2 | Ryzen 2 | Ryzen 2 |
| CPU uArch | 12nm Zen+ | 12nm Zen+ | 12nm Zen+ | 12nm Zen+ | 12nm Zen+ | 12nm Zen+ |
| CPU Cores | 4 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 8 |
| CPU Threads | 4 | 8 | 12 | 12 | 16 | 16 |
| Base Clock | 3.5 GHz | 3.6 GHz | 3.4 GHz | 3,6 GHz | 3.2 GHz | 3.7 GHz |
| Boost Clock | 4.0 GHz | 4.0 GHz | 3.9 GHz | 4.25 GHz | 4.1 GHz | 4.35 GHz |
| Total Cache | 10 MB (L2+L3) | 18 MB (L2+L3) | 19 MB (L2+L3) | 19 MB (L2+L3) | 20 MB (L2 + L3) | 20 MB (L2 + L3) |
| Memory Support | DDR4-2933 | DDR4-2933 | DDR4-2933 | DDR4-2933 | DDR4-2933 | DDR4-2933 |
| TDP | 65W | 65W | 65W | 95W | 65W | 105W |
| Cooler Bundle | Wraith Stealth | Wraith Stealth | Wraith Stealth | Wraith Spire | Wraith Spire LED | Wraith Prism |
| Price | $130-$140 US | $150-$160 US | $199 US | $229 US | $299 US | $329 US |
| Release Date | TBC | TBC | 19th April 2018 | 19th April 2018 | 19th April 2018 | 19th April 2018 |
While for the motherboards most of the additions are for allowing the new XFR profiles for maximum performance with Ryzen 2000 Pinnacle Ridge CPUs. That being said aside from more I/O functionality those with a B350 or X370 motherboard should be fine and if you plan on overclocking anyways, you wouldn't get much benefit. Though if you are considering jumping on the Ryzen train now is as good a time as any to pick up one of these boards. We note all the major players listed here, from ASUS, Asrock Gigabyte and MSI all showing their motherboards off.
(ethics disclaimer: These are affiliate links and we will receive a commission from Amazon/Newegg).
