A "new" 6-core/12-thread processor exploiting the famous 3D Vertical Cache technology arrives on the former AM4 platform.
At the launch of the Ryzen 7000 series processors, AMD had made it very clear that, while the new chips meant the release of a new platform (the AM5), there was no question of abandoning the previous one (the AM4). However, AMD CEO Lisa Su was not more specific than that. In fact, we weren't quite sure what this continuation of the AM4 could mean. Was it simply to reassure AM4 motherboard owners that support for their product would not be abandoned any time soon? But perhaps AMD already had new AM4 processors in mind?
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Today, it's rather the second hypothesis that seems to be taking shape, although the new processor in question is rather limited, as you'll see. Indeed, just as rumors of a hypothetical Ryzen 5 5600X3D were starting to spread on the Internet, the American channel Micro Center clarified matters. It has published a page highlighting the July 7, 2023 release date for two new products: on the one hand, a complete PC called PowerSpec G516 equipped with an AMD Ryzen 5 5600X3D processor, and on the other, the Ryzen 5 5600X3D processor itself.
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The announcement leaves no room for doubt, and this little brother of the Ryzen 7 5800X3D evoked by several rumors is indeed a reality, but one that should be limited to the American market. Even more restrictive, only the Micro Center channel seems likely to feature this chip. For many observers, this is not a completely new chip: instead, AMD is said to have built up a stock of partially defective Ryzen 7 5800X3D chips, to be repackaged as Ryzen 5 5600X3Ds. The practice is nothing new: all processor manufacturers have been doing the same for decades, but until now AMD didn't seem to have enough Ryzen 5 5800X3D to launch such an operation.
This last clarification is the source of several comments from specialist journalists: there's nothing to suggest that Micro Center's stocks are very large, and that the release of this Ryzen 5 5600X3D will be extended over time. Which leaves us with the question posed at the start of this article: what did AMD mean when it said it had no plans to abandon the AM4 platform? The question remains.
