AMD could unleash a trio of new Ryzen CPUs to take on Alder Lake

AMD could have a clutch of new processors debuting later this month alongside the Ryzen 7 5800X3D, which is rumored to go on sale late in March.

This comes from the Chiphell forum via well-known leaker HXL on Twitter, who claims that AMD is set to produce a Ryzen 7 5700X model, as well as Ryzen 5 5600 and 5500 CPUs.

Wccftech, which spotted the tweet, claims its sources are saying the same thing: that we can expect this trio of fresh processors at some point in March.

The theory is that the Ryzen 7 5700X is set to run with 8-cores (16-threads) with a 65W TDP and could square off against Intel’s Core i5-12600K, with similar pricing pitched at around the $299 mark in the US (about £225, AU$405), or maybe a bit less. Supposedly the box will include the Wraith Stealth cooler.

Both the Ryzen 5 5600 and 5500 are rumored to be 6-core CPUs with a 65W TDP, and the former will have SMT (Simultaneous Multithreading, for 6-cores and 12-threads) whereas the latter may not (meaning it’d just be a straight 6-core chip).

Wccftech says it isn’t sure on whether the 5500 will dispense with SMT, but it makes sense and elsewhere we’ve seen chatter (via VideoCardz) that this will indeed be the case.

As ever with the rumor mill, take all of the above with a large helping of skepticism.

Analysis: Holding the fort against Alder Lake

Unleashing a few new Ryzen 5000 models to take on Intel’s Core i5 and i3 processors does make sense in terms of AMD holding the fort against Alder Lake until Zen 4 arrives, and shoring things up elsewhere away from the top-end, where the Ryzen 7 5800X3D is set to enter the fray.

The obvious presumption would be that these must be competitively priced against Alder Lake, of course, as Wccftech theorizes. If the Ryzen 7 5700X does come in at $299 (about £225, AU$405) as mentioned above, though, that would no doubt require adjusting the price of the 5600X which currently has that same MSRP – though interestingly we note at Newegg in the US it’s now dropped down to $269 (about £205, AU$365). Some rejigging of overall pricing may be required throughout the Ryzen range, of course, with all these new entrants inbound – if they happen.

The other point to bear in mind here is that even if these three rumored Ryzen processors do come to fruition alongside the 5800X3D, some models might be OEM-only, meaning that you won’t be able to buy them directly – they’ll only be included with prebuilt PCs. As ever, we’ll have to wait and see, but we shouldn’t have to wait long as these chips should, in theory, be out in a few weeks.