First generation Ryzen would have a node change at 12nm
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AMD's first-generation Ryzen processors are selling at very low prices, and the latest ones to appear come with an unexpected surprise, which are made at 12nm instead of the original 14nm.
First generation Ryzen would have a node change at 12nm
The 12nm process is more efficient and faster than the original manufacturing process used with the first-batch Ryzen chips that came out in 2017.
The original Ryzen 5 1600 was released with six cores and twelve threads powered by GlobalFoundries' 14nm process, but a new "AF" version has appeared in stores for just $ 85 and apparently comes with the 12nm Zen + architecture.
AMD's second-generation Ryzen processors debuted with the new 12nm die, and while the new process did not offer smaller transistors or a new ground-up architecture, it did provide performance and efficiency improvements compared to the LPP process at 14nm from the original Ryzen. AMD modified the Zen architecture, which it called Zen +, to support higher frequencies, more sophisticated multi-core boost rates, and faster memory / caches, which together produced a ~ 3% increase in instructional performance per cycle (CPI).
The original 14nm Ryzen 5 1600 models (released in 2017) come with product identifier YD1600BBAEBOX, while new models (released around November 2019) come with part number YD1600BBAFBOX.
As we can see in the image above (sent by Reddit user u / _vogonpoetry to Imgur), the first line of code in the processor's IHS now ends in "AF" as well.
The identifier "AF" was originally intended to classify chips as 14nm Zeppelin node stepping 2 (B1 and B2, respectively), but common test utilities such as CPU-Z and HWInfo identify these chips as 12nm pieces. There is a possibility that this is a mere error in the product identification strings programmed into the chips. However, the Ryzen 5 1600 'AF' processor manages to maintain 3.7 GHz, something that the original Ryzen 5 1600 'AE' cannot achieve, so it could not be an error.
AMD has not commented on it so far. We will keep you informed.
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