As you know, the earlier rumor, started by Zolkorn.com, stated that AMD can't disable the half of the four-core Zen module, suggesting that the lineup will only launch in quad- and eight-core configurations, with and without SMT and at various frequencies.

The rumor sounded a bit strange, especially since some AMD Ryzen 6-core engineering samples have been already spotted online.

The IO-Tech.fi site also confirmed that it is possible to split an 8-core chip, by disabling each CPU core with dedicated L2 cache and without affecting the shared L3 cache.

This means that AMD will probably have a wide lineup of Ryzen CPUs, including various core configurations, SMT and frequency. Currently, there are three engineering samples that are tested, including a 6-core SKU working at 3.3GHz, as well as two eight-core chips, clocked at around 3.4GHz and 3.6GHz. Of course, these are probably not the final frequencies so some things still could change. Strangely, there are no quad-core SKUs so it is possible that these could be coming at a later date.

AMD already confirmed that the Ryzen CPU lineup is on track and should be released in Q1 2017, so it is expected that reviewers should be getting their samples in about two to three weeks. Hopefully, this also means that it will launch at GDC 2017, which starts on February 27th and that we will get a few leaks giving us a clearer picture regarding the actual real world performance.