The mid-year Ryzen 3000 refresh has been confirmed: Ryzen 3000 XT ‘Matisse’
AMD will be soon launching three new XT series Ryzen 3000 processors that will be used to fire back at Intel’s Comet Lake CPUs that have been recently released. The Matisse refresh is expected to provide an incremental 4% speedup of single-core performance in selected applications but the majority of improvements will come out of the Infinity Fabric clock (FCLK) tweaking; AMD promises lower core to core latency which is very welcome in a number of applications and especially games.
After initial doubt in AMD releasing new CPUs before the big Zen 3 reveal later this year, many sources have confirmed that they are indeed preparing 3 new Ryzen 3000 series desktop processors as part of a Matisse refresh of the AM4 family. The new CPUs are going to adopt TSMC’s optimized 7nm process, likely called the N7P, as opposed the fabrication process that was first introduced on the original Matisse CPUs back in 2019; this will allow AMD to deliver higher clock speeds thanks to optimizations and process maturity.
A rumor emerged that AMD has been working on some new Ryzen 3000 SKUs but it has been confirmed that there are three new chips in the works which are also very close to release. It’s likely that AMD has such a high level of faith in their future Zen 3 lineup (the 4000 series) that they decide to slot a refresh generation between Zen 2 and Zen 3 and still provide a big performance jump when Zen 3 will be released, likely blowing even more performance charts.
The Matisse refresh lineup would be featuring the AMD Ryzen 9 3900 XT which is the 3900X replacement, the Ryzen 7 3800 XT which is a 3800XT replacement and the Ryzen 5 3600 XT; the latter will replace the Ryzen 5 3600. We know, there are a lot of Xs in this naming scheme AMD chose but we can’t blame them; ultimately, they are trying to bring the naming for their CPUs and GPUs closer together. We are saying ‘replace’ because AMD will release these new XT variants at the same price points as the original Ryzen 3000 CPUs launched at. The Ryzen 3000 lineup experienced many deals and price cuts making them quite a lot cheaper than the original MSRP so these new CPUs will probably slot in perfectly with their supposed performance.
What’s New With the Ryzen 3000XT Matisse Refresh?
| Matisse Ryzen 3000 CPUs | Cores/Threads | Base Clock | Boost Clock | L3 Cache | TDP | RRP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ryzen 9 3950X | 16/32 | 3.5 GHz | 4.7 GHz | 64 MB | 105W | $749 |
| Ryzen 9 3900XT | 12/24 | 3.8 GHz | 4.7 GHz | 64 MB | 105W | $499 |
| Ryzen 9 3900X | 12/24 | 3.8 GHz | 4.6 GHz | 64 MB | 105W | $499 |
| Ryzen 7 3800XT | 8/16 | 3.9 GHz | 4.7 GHz | 32 MB | 105W | $399 |
| Ryzen 7 3800X | 8/16 | 3.9 GHz | 4.5 GHz | 32 MB | 105W | $399 |
| Ryzen 7 3700X | 8/16 | 3.6 GHz | 4.4 GHz | 32 MB | 65W | $329 |
| Ryzen 5 3600XT | 6/12 | 3.8 GHz | 4.5 GHz | 32 MB | 95W | $249 |
| Ryzen 5 3600X | 6/12 | 3.8 GHz | 4.4 GHz | 32 MB | 95W | $249 |
| Ryzen 5 3600 | 6/12 | 3.6 GHz | 4.2 GHz | 32 MB | 65W | $199 |
| Ryzen 3 3300X | 4/8 | 3.8 GHz | 4.3 GHz | 16 MB | 65W | $120 |
| Ryzen 3 3100 | 4/8 | 3.6 GHz | 3.9 GHz | 16 MB | 65W | $99 |
The core configuration is going to remain the same. The Ryzen 9 3900 XT will still feature 12 cores and 24 threads, the 3800 XT will feature the same 8 cores and 16 threads configuration and same story for the Ryzen 3600 XT which will undoubtedly be a 6 cores / 12 threads processor. The interesting part comes from the improvements in TSMC’s fabrication process and hardware level optimizations which will allow higher clock speeds and enhanced overclocking support. Sources have suggested that AMD’s boost algorithm will be much more tightly tuned which could result in a respectable 5 to 10% performance improvement over the existing Zen 2 chips. We unfortunately haven’t heard anything about a refreshed Ryzen 9 3950 XT; only small talks that are probably going to translate into fake rumors.
One of AMD’s biggest reasons to release these CPUs so close to the Ryzen 4000 series launch is to probably solidify their crown in the high performance CPU market. All three Ryzen 3000 Matisse refresh desktop processors will be featuring support for the AM4 400 and 500 series motherboards and the 3900 XT / 3800 XT / 3600 XT lineup is aligned perfectly against the three main competitors: the Intel Core i9 10900K, the Core i7 10700K and the Core i5 10600K. All three processors will feature drop-in compatibility with any existing motherboard that has a Ryzen 3000-ready BIOS; that means most 400 and all 500 motherboards. AMD is keeping their word and continues to deliver backwards compatibility like they initially promised back in 2017 on the initial Zen launch.
While AMD’s existing Ryzen 3000 CPUs still offer much better performance to value ratio even after Intel’s 10th generation lineup release, we believe there’s still room for improvement and the small lead that Intel has gained by bumping clock speeds to absurd levels can easily be contested and even subverted with the new Matisse CPUs, putting AMD once again in the leading position. We are looking at identical base clocks but a boost clock speed bump from 4.6 GHz to 4.7 GHz for the Ryzen 9 3900 XT, 4.5 GHz to 4.7 GHz for the Ryzen 7 3800 XT and 4.4 GHz to 4.5 GHz for the little Ryzen 5 3600 XT. The TDP of these chips hasn’t changed, remaining at 105W, 105W and 95W respectively; this is again, probably a result of better binning and process optimization. Cache levels have also stayed the same.
There are some other minor but exciting improvements with the new Matisse family in the form of improved Infinity Fabric clock (FCLK) and AMD’s StoreMI Version 2.0. More exactly, while the Ryzen 3000 series debuted with a maximum FCLK of 1,800MHz that ran in sync with the memory in a 1:1 ratio, the XT versions are expected to run at 2,000 MHz out of the box with no tweaking; this could result in some additional performance improvements besides the increased clock speeds.
Another minor change in this refresh is AMD’s decision to not include a bundled box cooler with two of the new Ryzen XT variants. We are talking about the Ryzen 9 3900 XT and the Ryzen 7 3800 XT which will need an aftermarket cooler in order to operate. This, AMD has said, is a result of the additional thermal overhead in order to hit the higher boost clock speeds. The Ryzen 5 3600 XT though will come boxed together with a suitable Wraith Spire CPU cooler.
Pricing and Availability of Ryzen 3000XT ‘Matisse’
The new Ryzen series will be priced the same as the existing parts’ MSRPs while the original Ryzen 3000 chips will be getting price cuts and that’s good for us, the consumers; cheaper performance for everyone! We are expecting these cuts to be official since its AMD’s turn now to pull down the prices; numerous retailers have already provided some impressive deals on the outgoing CPUs.
The three new processors from the Matisse refresh family was announced today, June 16th but we also expected that these will not be the last Zen 2 we see; Ryzen 4000 Renoir desktop APUs are also planned for an official announcement in June. The official launch date of the Renoir APUs and the Ryzen 3000 XT series is July 7th so definitely stay tuned for that!
We see nothing to complain about with this unexpected release; AMD is profiting from 7nm yields getting better and better and we as consumers are profiting from even better value & performance, especially with the outgoing Ryzen 3000 series. Even if you’re not going to buy into these marginally better Ryzen 3000 CPUs, you will most definitely encounter incredible deals on the original 3000 series as AMD will officially lower the price in order to remain completely untouched in value & performance.