The AMD 3rd Gen Ryzen Deep Dive Review: 3700X and 3900X Raising The Bar
by Andrei Frumusanu & Gavin Bonshor on July 7, 2019 9:00 AM ESTSection by Gavin Bonshor
X570 Motherboards: PCIe 4.0 For Everybody
One of the biggest additions to AMD's AM4 socket is the introduction of the PCIe 4.0 interface. The new generation of X570 motherboards marks the first consumer motherboard chipset to feature PCIe 4.0 natively, which looks to offer users looking for even faster storage, and potentially better bandwidth for next-generation graphics cards over previous iterations of the current GPU architecture. We know that the Zen 2 processors have implemented the new TSMC 7nm manufacturing process with double the L3 cache compared with Zen 1. This new centrally focused IO chiplet is there regardless of the core count and uses the Infinity Fabric interconnect; the AMD X570 chipset uses four PCIe 4.0 lanes to uplink and downlink to the CPU IO die.
Looking at a direct comparison between AMD's AM4 X series chipsets, the X570 chipset adds PCIe 4.0 lanes over the previous X470 and X370's reliance on PCIe 3.0. A big plus point to the new X570 chipset is more support for USB 3.1 Gen2 with AMD allowing motherboard manufacturers to play with 12 flexible PCIe 4.0 lanes and implement features how they wish. This includes 8 x PCIe 4.0 lanes, with two blocks of PCIe 4.0 x4 to play with which vendors can add SATA, PCIe 4.0 x1 slots, and even support for 3 x PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 slots.
| AMD X570, X470 and X370 Chipset Comparison | |||
| Feature | X570 | X470 | X370 |
| PCIe Interface (to peripherals) | 4.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| Max PCH PCIe Lanes | 24 | 24 | 24 |
| USB 3.1 Gen2 | 8 | 2 | 2 |
| Max USB 3.1 (Gen2/Gen1) | 8/4 | 2/6 | 2/6 |
| DDR4 Support | 3200 | 2933 | 2667 |
| Max SATA Ports | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| PCIe GPU Config | x16 x8/x8 x8/x8/x8* |
x16 x8/x8 x8/x8/x4 |
x16 x8/x8 x8/x8/x4 |
| Memory Channels (Dual) | 2/2 | 2/2 | 2/2 |
| Integrated 802.11ac WiFi MAC | N | N | N |
| Chipset TDP | 11W | 4.8W | 6.8W |
| Overclocking Support | Y | Y | Y |
| XFR2/PB2 Support | Y | Y | N |
One of the biggest changes in the chipset is within its architecture. The X570 chipset is the first Ryzen chipset to be manufactured and designed in-house by AMD, with some helping ASMedia IP blocks, whereas previously with the X470 and X370 chipsets, ASMedia directly developed and produced it using a 55nm process. While going from X370 at 6.8 W TDP at maximum load, X470 was improved upon in terms of power consumption to a lower TDP of 4.8 W. For X570, this has increased massively to an 11 W TDP which causes most vendors to now require small active cooling of the new chip.
Another major change due to the increased power consumption of the X570 chipset when compared to X470 and X370 is the cooling required. All but one of the launched product stack features an actively cooled chipset heatsink which is needed due to the increased power draw when using PCIe 4.0 due to the more complex implementation requirements over PCIe 3.0. While it is expected AMD will work on improving the TDP on future generations when using PCIe 4.0, it's forced manufacturers to implement more premium and more effective ways of keeping componentry on X570 cooler.
This also stretches to the power delivery, as AMD announced that a 16-core desktop Ryzen 3950X processor is set to launch later on in the year, meaning motherboard manufacturers needed to implement the new power deliveries on the new X570 boards with requirements of the high-end chip in mind, with better heatsinks capable of keeping the 105 W TDP processors efficient.
Memory support has also been improved with a seemingly better IMC on the Ryzen 3000 line-up when compared against the Ryzen 2000 and 1000 series of processors. Some motherboard vendors are advertising speeds of up to DDR4-4400 which until X570, was unheard of. X570 also marks a jump up to DDR4-3200 up from DDR4-2933 on X470, and DDR4-2667 on X370. As we investigated in our Ryzen 7 Memory Scaling piece back in 2017, we found out that the Infinity Fabric Interconnect scales well with frequency, and it is something that we will be analyzing once we get the launch of X570 out of the way, and potentially allow motherboard vendors to work on their infant firmware for AMD's new 7nm silicon.
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Phynaz - Sunday, July 7, 2019 - link
None of the above ever affected me. So you’ll excuse me if I’m not enraged that “lied” about 10nm. No one from Intel ever said a thing to me about 10nm so I was never lied to.Now when AMD pulled promised compatibility for Zen 2, that’s being lied to. I wonder if AMD has offered compensation to people that bought those boards/systems to people that bought them for that reason.
Although if you bought them for that reason, well you’re a moron, because this is the THIRD time AMD lied about an upgrade path.
Korguz - Monday, July 8, 2019 - link
then you obviously are only here to lie... intel has said that 10 nm was on track, 3 or 4 YEARS AGO, but yet.. 10nm is only now starting to show up... intel has been on 14nm since around 2014 i think it was.. and from their roadmaps from then, they should of switched to 10nm around 2016/2017they pulled it.. because it wasnt as viable as they originally thought.. which is good on them for that, how angry would people be if they didnt, then people upgraded to it, and didnt get what amd said ?? i dont think many bought anything for that reason.. but who knows for sure...
and how have they lied for the 3rd time about an upgrade path ??
seems the only moron here.. is you, as you keep post lies and BS.....
Phynaz - Monday, July 8, 2019 - link
Time for your AMD history lesson.Quadfather
Piledriver
And now Zen 2
AMD fans , taking it in the butt for decades.
My suggestion is get a job so you can afford a real cpu
Korguz - Monday, July 8, 2019 - link
um ya ok.. you are just as bad there phynaz.... intel fan talking out of his own butt.. you are not even a little pissed that intel stuck the mainstream at quad core ?? or charging too much ? fyi.. you need and education.. amd has been with am4 alot longer then intel has with its sockets.. and those names you list.. are the code names... not the product.. and quad father... was way back in the a64 days...what compatibility are you referring to then ???
Phynaz - Monday, July 8, 2019 - link
So you agree that AMD fucked it’s customers after getting their money. It’s good AMD hasn’t completely rotted your brain.Xylade - Monday, July 8, 2019 - link
Complete re-tarded intel fanboi. Even after reading the article your demented mind still can't catch up.Phynaz - Monday, July 8, 2019 - link
Please keep up with the times, retard isn’t acceptable language. Idiot and moron are short enough that they ought to fit in that teensy tiny cranium of yours.Korguz - Tuesday, July 9, 2019 - link
but intel sure has rotted your brain. with intel, you were lucky to be able to use the same board for more then 2 cpus. my x99 board.. only 2 generations of cpus were available for it. for amd, AM4 started with ryzen 1, then ryzen 2, and now. ryzen 3, thats 3 generations of zen.. in the case of am3+, you could use cpus for am3+, am3, and in some cases cpu's for am2 as well, all in the same socket. quadfather, was amd's attempt at giving the mainstream a dual socket platform, with out the server price take or features that went along with it. historically, amd has given a much longer upgrade path then intel ever has. how did i agree that amd screwed its customers ? for the most part, intel has screwed its customers, over and over, as i have mentioned in my previous postKorguz - Sunday, July 7, 2019 - link
waltC " For what it's worth, we rarely give out any awards at all. The award tiers are Silver, Gold, Platinum. The 9900K never even got an award, so in our view the new Ryzen chips are overall better products. " seems for AT silver is the top award... not gold.. :-)Phynaz - Sunday, July 7, 2019 - link
AMD fanboys: Catching up to intel should be the top award.Rest of world: Umm, nooooo, that’s not the way awards work.