AMD teases next generation high performance x86 "Zen" processor core

And one more thing.... we have a working "Zen" core!

In true "one more thing..." fashion, AMD's President and CEO Dr. Lisa Su teased members of the press and analysts with the first public demonstration of their upcoming x86 "Zen" processor core architecture. Demonstrating a short video clip that was edited and encoded by the working Zen core, Dr. Lisa Su says that the silicon is healthy and will begin sampling with its major partners within the next few weeks and into the third quarter.

The latest x86 "Zen" microarchitecture is AMD's next generation processor technology that's designed for the new AM4 platform. Development of the Zen core began since the early 2012 and it's designed to be scaled across multiple markets including high-performance servers, desktops, notebooks and embedded systems. The upcoming "Zen" x86 core with the codename "Summit Ridge" will make its debut on high-performance desktops and the processor will feature eight cores with a total of 16 threads.

The new "Summit Ridge" will deliver 40% more IPC, comes with 8 cores and 16 threads, and based on the new AM4 platform.

Promising to deliver 40% more IPC (instructions per clock), AMD aims to make a comeback by going head on with Intel's Core microarchitecture. It will also be AMD's first processor to be based on their new 14nm process technology, so we can expect equally low power consumption and impressive TDP levels. Unfortunately, AMD did not talk about its pricing and will not disclose when it will be available.

AMD President and CEO, Dr. Lisa Su, with the first public demonstration of the new "Zen" core.