Launched in September 2016, the AM4 platform will see a few more new processors early next year.
When it comes to tracking motherboard/processor generations, there are two schools. Two schools for two companies with radically different strategies. On the one hand, we have Intel, which, against all odds, is trying to maintain an annual chip renewal rhythm. This autumn saw the release of Raptor Lake Refresh processors, virtually identical to the Raptor Lake 2022 processors, which were already very close to the Alder Lake processors of the previous year. More embarrassingly, Intel also has a tendency to change platforms every two - or in the best case, three - years: you then have to renew everything to take advantage of the new generation.
On the other hand, we have the AMD strategy. You may or may not like either company's products, but it's clear that AMD is far more concerned with its customers and the long-term follow-up of its platforms. The AM4 platform was launched by AMD in September 2016 as the successor to AM3+, to power the new Zen architecture. Since then, AM4 has undergone a series of enhancements that have translated into different generations of processors and chipsets, culminating in the release of the AM5 platform a year ago. At the time, AMD was "finally" renewing its core systems, but AM4 users were able to enjoy the Zen, Zen 2 and Zen 3 architectures without the socket question arising. Cooling systems remained perfectly compatible, and many motherboards were updated to support the new processor generations.
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Last July - on the 7th to be exact - AMD had kept the promise it had made at the time of the AM5 launch: there was talk of continued support for the AM4, even if we didn't then know what form this follow-up might take. In July, a new AM4 processor was launched, the Ryzen 5 5600X3D. Well, AMD still hasn't finished with AMD, as we've now learned that one or two more AM4 processors will be offered early next year: we're talking about Ryzen 5 5500X3D and Ryzen 7 5700X3D. AM4 users will therefore have a few more options for changing processors and keeping the rest of their configuration intact. Impressive long-term tracking!
