this is how the new 2nd generation microprocessors are

this is how the new 2nd generation microprocessors are.

The competition between Intel and AMD is not limited exclusively to desktop computers. At the beginning of last January, AMD unveiled its first second-generation Ryzen 3000 microprocessors for laptops, a family of solutions designed to compete in two of the segments with the most traction among users: gaming equipment and ultralight.

The recent Ryzen 7, Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 3 of the second generation promise us higher performance than the chips of the previous iteration, and also higher efficiency, a very important feature in the field of laptops. And the new 2nd Gen Ryzen PRO and Athlon PRO, which are the microprocessors that AMD has just introduced, offer us, in addition to a significant increase in performance and efficiency, a notable improvement in terms of security. As you can see, on paper they don’t look bad. Let’s see what your assets are to compete with Intel.

2nd Gen AMD Ryzen PRO and Athlon PRO – Technical Specifications

GlobalFoundries, the semiconductor company that makes these microprocessors for AMD, uses its 12 nm lithography. In addition, these new chips implement, like the second-generation Ryzen processors that do not carry the “last name” PRO, the latest revision of the Zen + microarchitecture, which, in theory, is responsible for the increased performance and efficiency that them. allows you to get ahead of the previous generation.

In the specifications table that you have below these lines you can see that all versions of the new Ryzen PRO they have four coresAlthough only the Ryzen 7 and 5 models have SMT (Simultaneous Multi-Threading) technology, which is what allows each physical core to be capable of simultaneously processing two threads. The simplest Athlon PRO has only two cores, but unlike the Ryzen 3 PRO, it does implement SMT technology.

An interesting fact that is worth looking at, especially if we take into account that these microprocessors are designed to be integrated into laptops, is their TDP (Thermal Design Power). This parameter reflects how much energy a processor package dissipates in the form of heat when all its cores are active and working at the base clock frequency. The interesting thing about these new chips is that they all have a TDP of 15 watts, a fairly low value that should have a positive impact on the autonomy of laptops.

On the other hand, the graphical logic of these chips derives from the Radeon Vega microarchitecture used by AMD in their GPUs for graphics cards, although, of course, in these chips they have implemented a less ambitious version. The main difference in terms of graphics between the three Ryzen PRO processors and the Athlon PRO model presented by AMD lies in the number of logic cores. The Ryzen 7 PRO CPU, which is the most powerful, has 10 graphics cores, while the somewhat less ambitious Ryzen 5 PRO, Ryzen 3 PRO and Athlon PRO have 8, 6 and 3 graphics cores respectively.

Performance: they promise us an important step forward compared to the previous generation

As long as we do not have the opportunity to thoroughly analyze one of the first laptops equipped with one of the new AMD microprocessors in our own facilities, we will not be able to describe its performance objectively and rigorously. Until that time comes we will have to settle for what AMD tells us so that, at least, we can get an idea of ​​what these chips offer us.

According to AMD, the new Ryzen 7 PRO is 23% faster than the equivalent chip of the previous generation in PCMark 10 and Cinebench

According to the Sunnyvale brand, the new Ryzen 7 PRO 3700U leads the equivalent chip of the previous generation by 23% in Cinebench; by another 23% in PCMark 10, and finally by 16% if we stick to the performance of its graphical logic in 3DMark 11. But they have not only compared it to their own microprocessors. AMD has also faced its new Ryzen 7 PRO to the Core i7-8650U from Intel.

AMD is a stakeholder, and therefore it is reasonable for us to accept these results reluctantlyBut by the numbers the Ryzen 7 PRO chip is 36% faster than the Core i7 in Photoshop, 64% faster in 3ds max, and 258% faster in SPECviewperf. We will check it as soon as we get the chance.

Safer and more efficient

The vocation of the laptops to which these AMD microprocessors will go will be, above all, professional, and in this context security is very important. The following image reflects some of the technologies introduced by AMD in these chips to improve their security performance. These techniques are included in a technology called GuardMI, which, roughly, uses a coprocessor designed to increase security from the moment we turn on the laptop to the moment we turn it off. To achieve this, it encrypts the content of the main memory and checks if the BIOS used to boot the computer is really reliable, among other strategies.

Regarding the efficiency of these chips, which is also another delicate feature due to its importance in the field of use of professional laptops, according to AMD they offer us up to 12 hours of autonomy in a typical office use scenario and up to 10 hours of video playback. In principle these figures do not look bad, but we will have to check them when we analyze one of these laptops because brands are usually excessively optimistic when they talk about the autonomy of their solutions.

Some of the brands that, according to AMD, will place in stores in the coming weeks laptops governed by the new Ryzen PRO and Athlon PRO are Lenovo, HP and Acer. We will keep track of them and tell you more as soon as one of these teams falls into our hands.

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