AMD Zen 6 desktop Ryzen “Olympic Ridge” reportedly set to launch in 2027
Posted by InsaneSnow45@reddit | hardware | View on Reddit | 124 comments
Posted by InsaneSnow45@reddit | hardware | View on Reddit | 124 comments
Visage_143@reddit
Is Zen 6 DDR5 still or DDR6?
RTcore@reddit
It's AM5 and DDR5.
Visage_143@reddit
I guess I Will have to wait more, thanks.
greggm2000@reddit
The current rumors have Zen 8 as being the first to use DDR6 on AMD, so you may be waiting quite a while.
noonesendsmenudes@reddit
im waiting for ddr7. see ya soon suckers. il have the best performance when i have ddr7
Visage_143@reddit
I'm sitting on a 5800x3d hopefully it'll be alive by the time Zen 8 releases.
greggm2000@reddit
Hopefully. It'll be quite outdated by 2030-2031, but still, it's a great cpu!
Caffdy@reddit
if Zen 6 is coming at between 4Q26 - 1H27, we're not seeing Zen 8 anytime before 2032-2033
greggm2000@reddit
That's very possible, sure, but only if the release cadence slips from it's usual roughly 2 years, to 3. I hope that's not the new normal now. The current rumor is a CES 2027 announce for Zen 6 (and Intel Nova Lake), which would put it at 2.5 years. Still, that could be a one-off, and then there'll be DDR6 added to the mix at (presumably) the end of the decade. So yeah, I think it's going to be interesting to see how that plays out in terms of actual consumer products and their timing.
Caffdy@reddit
Nvidia already falling into a 2.5 years cadence, I don't doubt that the current semiconductor parts shortage is gonna make things difficult for everyone else as well
greggm2000@reddit
Graphics cards are different, though, and require a lot more silicon.. not only bc of the GPU dies, but also the VRAM needed. So, they aren't impacted anywhere close to as much, and that's why you haven't seen CPU prices rise much, if at all. Mind you, upcoming nodes like N2 will cost more compared to the nodes that Zen 5 uses today, but that's bc the fabs themselves are a lot more expensive to build.
Caffdy@reddit
i was referring to another comment in this thread that mentioned an argument that I find quite sound, CPU makers are not too keen to release new products during this precarious market phase, not many people want a new build with how memory and storage prices are right now
greggm2000@reddit
I don’t buy that argument. CPUs are parts that have a years-long development cycle, and contracts are signed and money paid to TSMC for allocation. Sure, maybe AMD would like to delay CPU releases bc of the current conditions, but the CPUs will be manufactured on a certain schedule, and while they could stick them in warehouses and not sell them for some months or whatever, they’d be losing money doing so. Ofc it’s more complex than that, and on top of that there’s the desire of AMD to not let Intel regain momentum in CPUs, and.. all of the stuff in development now ofc started before the current “AI apocalypse”, which isn’t even 6 months long, yet.
So, all that to say I think we’ll see Zen 6 and Intel Nova Lake announced at CES in January 2027, though I suspect Intel will ship a bit earlier than AMD. Hopefully both will be as good as the rumors say.
Caffdy@reddit
The normal cycle for AMD is to release in October or November every two years, if they're are planning to release months after CES next year, that's already significantly later. I'm sure that the fact that is becoming harder and harder to get better efficiency from smaller nodes is gonna slow down releases all across the board as well
greggm2000@reddit
If AMD ends up delaying Zen 6 to late 2027, that would be… not good. Especially if Nova Lake comes out in January. Then again, maybe Zen 6 will come out late this year.. Idk, I’m sure you’ve seen the various rumors, it’s hard to know what to give credence to, these days. Part of the fun of the hobby, I suppose :)
ResponsibleQuiet6611@reddit
Same. With a 4080 super it still runs all games at max settings native 4k 60fps, no up scaling bs.
Blueberryburntpie@reddit
Yeah it really depends on the timing of DDR6 launch. No point in launching AM6 if there are no DDR6 sticks to buy, unless it supports both DDR5 and DDR6.
Tech_Philosophy@reddit
Oh cool, I'd be pleased if Zen 7 will be on AM5 still. I have a 7800x3d and only want to upgrade to the final single-ccx x3d part they put out.
greggm2000@reddit
It should be very impressive, especially if the optimistic rumors about Zen 6 end up being true! At the very least, you can expect 50% more cores and more cache and more IPC. I think you’ll be pretty happy with that upgrade, when the time comes!
thraccid@reddit
AM5, so still DDR5.
Scuff_Redder@reddit
Zen6 Olympic ridge mid q4 release date... my magic 8 ball said is highly likely
heylistenman@reddit
If Intel manages to get Nova Lake out the door this year they might finally get the DIY crown back... at least for a couple of months.
Does anybody know more about why Zen 6 would be delayed?
Dondduu@reddit
N2X manufacturing node has seemingly been pushed to 2027.
atatassault47@reddit
Im optimistic about Nova Ridge, but I'd need a new mobo, so Im probably just going to get Zen6 as it's a drop-in replacement.
Caffdy@reddit
what? now I'm confused
thesoloronin@reddit
Bro mixed Intel & AMD codenames. Just like the people who mixed up Ferrari 450 and 438 back those days.
Educational_Meringue@reddit
I see what you did there! Upvote deserved.
Exist50@reddit
Similar rumor today about Nova Lake also launching at CES.
siazdghw@reddit
Intel almost always launches chips at CES, the non-K desktop chips.
That's where that misunderstanding is coming from
Exist50@reddit
They'll launch NVL whenever it's ready. The question is when that will be. It would hardly be surprising if it got delayed to '27.
avl0@reddit
Except no one is going to be building diy pcs or buying gaming laptops this year. Of all the years to hold the consumer cpu crown, 2026 is not it
Geddagod@reddit
Would it not be more important in 2026, since if you hold the crown you get all the high margin/flagship sales, and the more expensive CPUs are where people can weather the higher mem and storage costs as well, where lower end builders prob couldn't?
Larcya@reddit
2026 Doesn't matter since no one is really upgrading this year Especially with Ram prices.
Most people are just waiting for Nova Lake to see if it's worth upgrading to, to upgrade from their 5-7 year old Intel CPU's.
And by the time 2026 ends, nova lake will be launching and could very well destroy Zen 6. Or it could be a dud. No one really knows. Considering how well received Panther lake has been I'd probably say it will be Decent to good.
Honestly though I wouldn't be surprised if Intel pushes Nova Lake to 2027 solely due to ram cost.
uzzi38@reddit
Genuine question, who said Zen 6 is delayed? The original source - Benchlife - just said that Olympic Ridge isn't expected to arrive in 2027. That's not contradicting any public statements of timeframes.
heylistenman@reddit
AMD might have been just vague enough to not outright say 2026, but they at least strongly implied it. These kinds of articles were everywhere a couple of months ago.
uzzi38@reddit
They didn't, and that's obvious if you look at what they actually said. All they said in the slides there is that either Zen 6 or Zen 6C will be ready in 2026. They didn't say anything about Olympic Ridge, which is the desktop variant of Zen 6.
heylistenman@reddit
Exactly, they didn’t specify which product. That’s where the ‘vague’ part in my post comes from.
To me, being deliberately obtuse is just as bad as setting a target for a product and missing it.
sushiesque@reddit
Conveniently the day after you post this news starts slippling out about NVL being delayed too.
heylistenman@reddit
Yeah, it was always a big if.
Acrobatic_Fee_6974@reddit
Because it uses TSMC 2N, which is still not in full production afaik.
Kryohi@reddit
Zen 6 Epycs are coming this year (sooner rather than later) and are also N2P
Geddagod@reddit
AMD has also only ever officially claimed N2, and that is apparently already in HVM (though for what product, who knows....).
But yea Mediatek also claimed they would have N2P stuff out by the end of this year, so it deff seems possible to launch N2 stuff in 2026.
asssuber@reddit
To use all the CPU chiplets in Epyc systems for datacenters.
Key-Invite5027@reddit
Even if this was done as planned, it would not have been surprising if they had released a product with inferior performance later than NOVA LAKE.
Visible-Advice-5109@reddit
Maybe, but feels like a real Pyrrhic victory given the fact Intel will be sending all that money out to TSMC with this big N2 dies while neglecting their own fabs.
Kryohi@reddit
Assuming this rumor ends up being true, the likeliest reason would be precisely that Nova Lake launches in 2027 so AMD has no reason to launch anything in 2026.
MoreFeeYouS@reddit
Kind of makes sense too. Not like Zen 5 is a bottleneck of any sort. Even Zen 4 is still a beast.
Deeppurp@reddit
x3d models may be, but I dont think the regluar cache units would be. That should be on core die and part of the CPU litho process, not the memory nodes.
Vushivushi@reddit
SRAM is built on the same logic nodes, not a memory node, only using older nodes for cost since scaling has slowed.
monocasa@reddit
x3d dies aren't on DRAM nodes either. They're SRAM blocks on a logic litho node.
EloquentPinguin@reddit
At CES (the C standing for datacenter of course), AMD announces Zen 6 based Venice and Lisa holds up the chip. And while Zen 6 desktop was already expected only late 2026 (mobile potentially earlier). Pushing desktop into 2027 would truly be a masterclass of not caring about consumers.
It truly speaks for the datacenter money which causes everyone to forget about consumers.
And if they don't put out at least some decent 3nm mobile chips this year, they have truly lost consumers. That they refreshed their Zen 5 lineup doesnt give a lot of hope though...
kikimaru024@reddit
Desktop sales will be shit this year due to RAM supply anyway. It makes little sense to release a new product in a down year.
Flimsy_Swordfish_415@reddit
that's assuming RAM prices will not get worse in 2027 :)
TK3600@reddit
It might be worse in 2027, but it should begin to get better according to various investors. Should peak somewhere around end of this year.
DefconGamesOfficial@reddit
DDR6 Ram comes out in 2027, it should get cheaper as DDR5 Ram will be worse and bought less since DDR6 is new.
DefconGamesOfficial@reddit
DDR6 Ram comes out in 2027, it should get cheaper as DDR5 Ram will be worse and bought less since DDR6 is new.
theholylancer@reddit
that's the thing tho, to business man, as long as you can accurately predict things, you can adjust output and profit margins to compensate.
they can allocate less to consumer z6 and hike the prices to be in line with the heightened memory and still come out okay in the books.
as long as the price and demand match step, they come out to it fine.
Jeep-Eep@reddit
Eh, between the bubble teetering and the chinese vendors gearing up.. I ain't that optimistic about improvement, but I ain't that pessimistic about it getting worse.
StarbeamII@reddit
You’ll still get a decent amount of people upgrading from earlier AM5 chips who already have DDR5.
kikimaru024@reddit
Sure, but those are the customers who AMD should care LEAST about.
Most people buy a CPU/platform and don't touch it until a few years later, when they just replace the entire thing.
DIY upgraders are the vast minority.
III-V@reddit
Well, these days when new nodes result in no cost reduction, yeah. Back in the old days, you'd want to shift production ASAP.
capybooya@reddit
I sure hope Zen6 runs well with DDR5 5600. Or rather 5200, maybe we can afford 4800 by then?
Jeep-Eep@reddit
I think the 3d SKUs will be as tolerant of low grade RAM as ever, but they'll benefit from the good shit more.
imaginary_num6er@reddit
Yeah but AMD is going to still launch the 9950X3D2 that’s going to be a massive hit /s
Jeep-Eep@reddit
Not to mention ferreting out whatever the hell this dying Zen 5 problem is in case it proves to be more major over time.
Blueberryburntpie@reddit
Datacenter CPU sales have gone up in 2025 and continue into this year. Intel reported their fabs producing their datacenter CPUs are fully booked.
Geddagod@reddit
For Intel 7 and Intel 3, where they don't really plan on building out more capacity, sure.
Even then, they can build out more Intel 3 capacity if Intel really wanted too in a relatively short amount of time because of their bunches of EUV capable empty fab shells, however with the economics of Intel 3 still not being very competitive, and 18A DC products coming soonish, it's prob not worth it.
For 18A though, Intel has an impressive amount of flexibility on volume.
SirActionhaHAA@reddit
Ces hasn't stood for consumer since some years ago, they rebranded it into just "ces" and cut out the consumer part from their brand
MoreFeeYouS@reddit
i love it
vlakreeh@reddit
I don't get why anyone thinks this is some grand betrayal. Like yeah, welcome to capitalism where companies work to maximize profits for its shareholders.
WD40ContactCleaner@reddit
nice one I chortled
alancousteau@reddit
Too bad no one can afford to buy any RAM for it
Majortom_67@reddit
"Nessuno"...?
ColdStoryBro@reddit
Good move. No one is gonna afford RAM this year anyway.
Xajel@reddit
What about people upgrading just the CPU?
I mean I just upgraded to AM5 a few months back, actually the 64GB RAM kit I bought tripled in price just 1-2 weeks after I bought it. So I won't replace it any time soon, but I might upgrade the CPU to get more performance & cores.
Strazdas1@reddit
Irrelevantly small market.
ColdStoryBro@reddit
The big update should be a memory controller that can compete with Intel and support faster DRAM speeds. Having more cores is great too but many of those same workloads which can truly saturate all cores over 2 CCDs needs faster memory interface right now.
Dangerman1337@reddit
Wonder if Olympic Ridge dies are being shifted to TSMC N2X from N2P? If that's possible.
my_wing@reddit
No this is not possible, Zen 6 was always N2P and N2P is only ramping in Q1 2027, MediaTek as the launching customer always said that, I always think that Zen 6 is always meant for Q1 2027, don't know where the delay is.
fullouterjoin@reddit
Better include the ram in the package motherfuckers!
Beautiful-Musk-Ox@reddit
nvidia is shipping gpus with 192gb of memory essentially on the die itself, amd should just stick 32gb onto their cpu packages and sell it for $10,000
InsaneSnow45@reddit (OP)
PastaPandaSimon@reddit
The leak quality is pretty poor. Also, they are already binning Zen 6 desktop chips. They would be paying to store the inventory by not releasing sooner, and getting hurt by Intel that actually seems to have a dangerous (to AMD) chip coming with Nova Lake. Their market share is still a tug of war and they can't risk giving Intel such easy sales.
Geddagod@reddit
Source?
Blueberryburntpie@reddit
Unless their plan is to capitalize on the increasing datacenter CPU sales by focusing their inventory there. The margins on the datacenter CPUs are far greater than desktop/laptop ones.
mycall@reddit
So more likely 2028. The classic title being off-by-one
Dangerman1337@reddit
No way Zen 6 Desktop doesn't go beyond middle of 2027.
Dull_Reply5229@reddit
As long as this throw away filler release doesn't affect AM6 then whatever lol
Blueberryburntpie@reddit
Zen 6 is supposed to come with a new fan-out I/O layout that replaces Infinity Fabric. That fan-out layout has already been demonstrated with Strix Halo.
On the server side, Infinity Fabric uses roughly 40% of the CPU power, which the new layout aims to cut that to a small fraction.
On the desktop side, the new layout is expected to greatly reduce idle power usage and increase bandwidth.
Geddagod@reddit
Do you mean the IFOP links themselves?
The IO/uncore as a whole may take up that much power. But I don't think the infinity fabric links themselves are the reason for it being that high, and thus I don't think the new layout will cut it that dramatically.
K33P4D@reddit
I just hope the whole package works, the BIOS works, the DDR6 CAMM2 works, no funny business with early adopter penalties
CrzyJek@reddit
Lol you're not seeing DDR6 on consumer boards until 2030. And Zen 7 is also gonna be on AM5. So you got time.
K33P4D@reddit
Damn they're squeezing Zen7 into AM5?
OEM's should come together and fix 12HPWR before moving onto CAMM2 or some hopes for pushing HBM onto desktops early skipping DDR
Blueberryburntpie@reddit
The only other viable option I see is AM6 supporting both DDR5 and DDR6.
Releasing AM6 for a single CPU generation before DDR6 would be a one-in-a-decade "it hurt itself in confusion" move.
Acrobatic_Fee_6974@reddit
This is not going to use DDR6. It's already annouced for AM5.
K33P4D@reddit
Then I hope this is the matured implementation for Zen5, outdoing all the weird kinks faced with the 7xxx and 9xxx series.
Acrobatic_Fee_6974@reddit
Bruh it's Zen 6, what are you smoking?
K33P4D@reddit
I dont smoke nor drink "bruh"
What I'm implying is, that this platform should correct and deliver upon the many weird problems faced with Zen 5
Acrobatic_Fee_6974@reddit
Ok? It's still not an "implementation for Zen 5" it's a new architecture.
K33P4D@reddit
In your defense compared to Zen 4, Zen 5 has wider pipelines, dual decode/fetch paths, accurate branch prediction, larger instruction windows and robust execution units.
but the number of cores per CCD and L3 cache organization remain similar between Zen 4 and Zen 5 in many cases.
The overall design philosophy of AM4/AM5-like layout is still recognizable, the change is deeper inside the core rather than the entire chip package.
HiCZoK@reddit
I don’t think anybody wants new platform now…
LargeSinkholesInNYC@reddit
AMD is never going to catch up to Nvidia.
Saisinko@reddit
CPUs haven't been exciting since the X3D addition. I'm still on AM4 and don't see any compelling reason to upgrade as I'm most likely throttled by GPU or quite honestly, non-optimized software. The spike in costs nowadays doesn't inspire me to go out and grab anything either.
CPUs nowadays feel ahead of the curve.
wintrmt3@reddit
This is the most insane take, software runs slow so you don't get a faster CPU.
guyza123@reddit
Non-optimized implies that devs could fix it. It's a stand-off to see who flinches first, us or the devs.
wintrmt3@reddit
You really don't understand how the software industry works, do you? Devs do not decide what to work on, they have managers, scrum masters and POs for that, and in any but the most egregious performance regressions it will be never be fixed, because it's not seen as a way to make money.
guyza123@reddit
They say 'vote with your wallet'. If enough people aren't using software due to bad performance, the managers will have to prioritize it to keep making money.
wintrmt3@reddit
20 years of industry experience says otherwise.
guyza123@reddit
In the past 20 years, there hasn't been a situation with prices so bad (for the latest gear) and vibe coding existing.
wintrmt3@reddit
Perf/$ is still near the best that ever was, and I really don't know why you expect vibe coded shit to be performant instead of even worse.
guyza123@reddit
I meant vibe coding is bad. Plus for gaming, there is a huge gulf between optimized games and slop now.
someguy50@reddit
How is that worth considering? It's not like you can plug in a software optimizer board into your PC.
bubblesort33@reddit
I can't believe that the Ryzen 9000 series is already 18 months old. That's a long time for CPU staganation considering how little of an imporvement it was compared to the 7000 series.
eriksp92@reddit
Honestly, I'm surprised they don't just launch it late 2026 - the volume they would have to allocate is negligible all things considered because consumers won't be able to buy RAM feasibly, and the only people who are potential buyers are those already on a modern DDR5 platform. Losing the performance crown to Intel in gaming (potentially) and productivity (badly) is not good PR even if it's basically unobtainium for the most realistic upgraders anyway.
Jeep-Eep@reddit
Delaying to build up supply and shake out bugs worked somewhat well for RDNA 4, I suspect we'll see that strategy repeated.
eriksp92@reddit
The thing is, you won't need supply practically; the potential upgraders will be so few until well into 2027 and approaching 2028. This is for winning the very important PR battle against AMD at very little cost to themselves.
greggm2000@reddit
It'll also depend on Zen 6's performance. If it ends up being in line with the optimistic rumors out there, then I'd bet that'll convince quite a few Zen 4 and 5 owners to upgrade.
Jeep-Eep@reddit
Good supply and low bugs can be used to that end fairly effectively.
greggm2000@reddit
This is not news. That Zen 6 would be 2027 (and probably mid-2027) has been the rumor that's been going around for many many months now.
Exist50@reddit
Node timing would point to a much earlier launch.
greggm2000@reddit
Not for N2P, N2X, as I understand it. Mind you, as far as I know, we don't actually officially know what node AMD will use for Zen 6. It could be there's a surprise there. Unless there's been official confirmation that I missed, we'll have to wait and see.
Exist50@reddit
AMD has been pretty public as one of if not the first N2 customers. So that would imply something earlier.
Psyclist80@reddit
Makes sense they would push it to CES 2027 in order to get Zen 6 rolling earlier into Epyc and Helios installs in the second half of 2026
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