After giving a brief history of Zen CPU architecture, AMD's CEO, Dr. Lisa Su, talked a bit about AMD's involvement in upcoming next-gen consoles from Sony and Microsoft, as well as general improvements that Zen architecture brought over the years.

Zen 3 brings a 19 percent IPC increase

While AMD did not go into a lot of details on the actual Zen 3 architecture improvements, AMD's Chief Technology Officer and Executive Vice President of Technology and Engineering, Mark Papermaster, took to the stage to give a few highlights what to expect from Zen 3 in Ryzen 5000 series desktop CPUs.

For starters, there is a 19 percent increase in performance-per-clock where AMD compared the previously available Ryzen 9 3900X, 12-core CPU, with the new Ryzen 9 5900X, the new 12-core CPU. According to AMD's own testing, the 19 percent increase comes from several contributors, including Cache Prefetching, Execution Engine, Branch Predictor, Micro-op Cache, Front End, and Load/Store.

When it comes to actual architecture, Zen 3 has a single 8-core structure, but this time around, and compared to the Zen 2 architecture, each of these eight cores shares 32MB of L3 cache inside a chiplet. There is also accelerated core and cache communication, as well as reduction in effective memory latency, although no precise numbers were given.

What is more impressive is that AMD managed to keep the CPUs in the same power envelope as the Ryzen 3000 series desktop CPUs, so even the 16-core SKU in the new Ryzen 5000 series lineup will have the same 105W TDP, which is where a 2.4x performance per watt is coming (2.8x lead compared to Intel's Comet Lake CPU).

Four SKUs, all launching on November 5th

AMD announced a total of four SKUs in the Ryzen 5000 series desktop CPU lineup, covering most market segments. These include the Ryzen 5 5600X, Ryzen 7 5800X, Ryzen 9 5900X, and the current flagship, the Ryzen 9 5950X.

As you can see from the table below, the Ryzen 5 5600X is a 6-core/12-thread SKU working at 3700MHz base and 4600MHz Turbo clocks, have 32MB of cache, since it comes with a single chiplet, and has a lower 65W TDP.

The Ryzen 7 5800X is an 8-core/16-thread SKU working at 3800MHz base and 4700MHz Turbo clock, also has 32MB of L3 cache, but has a 105W TDP.

There will be two Ryzen 9 series SKUs, the Ryzen 9 5900X and the flagship Ryzen 9 5950X. The Ryzen 9 5900X is a 12-core/24-thread SKU working at 3700Mhz base and 4800MHz Turbo clock, featuring 64MB of L3 cache (two chiplets with 6-core CCX), and the same 105W TDP.

The flagship Ryzen 9 5950X, which AMD describes as the best processor for gamers and the best one for creators, is a 16-core/32-thread SKU, working at 3.4GHz base and 4.9GHz Turbo clocks, with a total of 64MB of L3 cache, and the same 105W TDP.

All four SKUs will be available on November 5th, and the pricing seems in line with what we expected and just matched properly to put a lot of pressure on Intel's lineup.

The Ryzen 5 5600X is priced at $299 and will come bundled with the Wraith Stealth cooler, while the Ryzen 7 5800X will not have a bundled cooler and comes with a $449 price tag.

The Ryzen 9 5000 series will have a slightly higher price tag, so you are looking at $549 for the Ryzen 9 5900X, which significantly undercuts the Core i9-10900K, priced at around $700. The flagship Ryzen 9 5950X will launch with a $799 price tag, which is not that bad considering this is a 16-core/32-thread SKU which may well have a massive lead over the Ryzen 9 5900X.

AMD takes single-thread performance lead with Ryzen 5000 series

According to AMD's own benchmarks, AMD Ryzen 9 5900X managed to reach an impressive 631 points in Cinebench R20 single thread benchmark, outperforming anything Intel has on the table, and allowing AMD to take the single-threaded performance crown.

AMD has managed to execute its roadmap flawlessly and has continued to offer significant improvements in the desktop CPU market, taking advantage of Intel's troubles with the 10nm manufacturing process. AMD's next generation Zen 4 CPU architecture, based on the 5nm manufacturing process, is on track and in design, confirmed by Mark Papermaster during the presentation.

It will be interesting to see how the market will shift when new AMD Ryzen 5000 series CPUs hit the retail/e-tail shelves as currently, Ryzen 7 3800XT is selling at around $350, and Ryzen 9 3900X is going for $450, which is in line with some of the new CPUs, especially the Ryzen 7 5800X. Of course, we should wait for some benchmarks which may give us a clearer picture of performance gains.