So far AMD has launched wide range of processors with different sockets. But it created some confusion among the customers of the company with more than one processor type. It was announced by James Prior on his talk to PC world that AMD’s future processors like Zen, Bristol Ridge and Summit Ridge will use AMD AM4 platform.

AMD AM4 Socket Finalized

The previous generation AMD FX processors includes AM3+ socket, APUs use FM2+ socket and AMD kabini makes use of AM1 socket. However, the next generation of AMD CPUs and APUs will finally be available on one single socket: the AM4. This will really be a good news for enthusiasts as all kinds of AMD chips can be used on the same motherboard.

Specifications of AMD Zen processor

• Zen promises to deliver 40% IPC gains and will shift from CMT approach to SMT among other things.
• Zen processor will use scheduling model like Intel and to define any needed scheduling or NUMA changes it will use specific hardware and simulation.
• ZEN processor will be ISA compatible with Haswell/Broadwell style of computer.
• Zen includes various compiler optimisation including GCC with target of SPECint v6 based score at common compiler settings.
• 4 Zen cores will share 8MB of L3 cache and each of the cores of Zen processor can access 512KB of L2 cache

AMD is expected to launch the brand new micro-architecture in Q4 2016.

Summit Ridge and Bristol Ridge to use AMD AM4 socket

It is also mentioned that Summit Ridge and Bristol Ridge Platform will be the next step in AMD’s evolution.

Features of Summit Ridge Platform

• It will utilize the x86 Zen micro-architecture and will act as mainstream desktop processors.
• It will be fabricated on 14nm FinFET process
• It will be based on the Promontory Chipset.
• It will scale up to 8 cores and will be fully compatible with DDR4 memory.
• It is expected to have the TDP of around 95W
• It is supposed to use AM4 socket

Features of Bristol Ridge Platform

• It will the APU platform that utilise Excavator architecture
• It will be fabricated on the 28nm process
• It will have a maximum of 4 CPU cores and “Next-Gen GCN” based GPU cores.
• It will be launched in both AM4 and FP4 packaging
• It will support both DDR3 and DDR4 (depending on the chip).
• It is also expected to have the TDP of around 95W
• Like Summit Ridge Platform it will also include AM4 socket.

It is also expected that Bristol Ridge should be followed by Raven Ridge, which will be the APU family to feature Zen based z86 cores. It will be on the same node as Summit Ridge. It is rumoured that AMD AM4 motherboards will be launched by Q2 of 2016.