MSI’s Latest Motherboards Ready for 8 Cores And More
Last year, AMD launched their new Ryzen processors. With the move to the new Zen architecture, their CPUs were once again highly competitive against Intel. Along with the new design, the core count was an impressive 8 for the mainstream segment. As AMD rolls out their new refreshed CPUs and motherboards, we may be in for an increase again. MSI, with their promotional material for their new B450 motherboards, dropped a major hint for 8 core+ AM4 chips.
In their promotional video, MSI makes clear reference to “8 core and up CPU”. This suggests that these new B450 motherboards will be ready for 8 cores and above. This makes a lot of sense with where AMD is going with Ryzen. With the upcoming 7nm process, AMD has the opportunity to put more cores into a single die. The company is also working on Zen 2 which offers a chance to tweak the basic CCX. AMD has reportedly considered increasing the core count per CCX from 4 to 6 cores or even more. This would enable 12 cores per CPU.
AM4 Compatability Validates Long-Term Focus
Another reason that the new cores will be coming is that the company is dedicated to the AM4 platform. AMD has reaffirmed AM4 to be a long-term socket since inception. The company is expected to keep AM4 in use until well into the next decade. This suggests long-term planning and design, making it capable of supporting core count upgrades. This may be the reason MSI is upgrading the VRM and power delivery so much compared to past designs.
Due to the increase in core counts, AMD will retain the lead for mainstream platforms. Intel is reportedly scrambling to fit 8 cores, with only 6 cores for now. As AMD has competitive IPC, users won’t have to make a hard trade for either IPC or core counts. Either way, with these new motherboards, users appear to have a solid upgrade path to even higher core counts. The more intriguing scenario is whether or not AMD will cut out quad cores altogether with this move and go straight to 6. Such a move would have massive ripple effects on the entire industry.
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