It’s no secret that AMD is actively working on its next CPU architecture, Zen 6. However, the next evolution of Ryzen CPUs is perhaps closer than we thought. At least one of Team Red’s partners has shared news that sampling of the new processors is underway, as well as providing some initial thoughts on the chips.
Yuri Bubliy, creator of Hydra tuning software, claims AMD is shipping Zen 6 engineering samples to relevant parties. He echoes previous rumours that the architecture will increase core counts and shares some new insights into the architecture.
Zen 6 CPUs will apparently sport a dual-IMC (Integrated Memory Controller), but details are scarce according to Bubily. However, they confirm that native quad-channel support is apparently off the table. This isn’t too surprising given the constraints of the AM5 platform which these processors will be compatible with.
Bubliy also shares that AMD isn’t planning any changes to Curve Optimiser nor has any new boost technologies in the works. This will make support for Hydra on a non-issue. From their perspective, Zen 6 is more of an evolutionary step for AMD’s CPU architecture rather than an evolutionary one. However, nothing’s set in stone until third parties put final silicon to the test.
More details will undoubtedly emerge on Zen 6 as more engineering samples make their way across the globe. I’m curious to get further confirmation on final clock speeds, as AMD is reportedly hoping to push way beyond 6GHz boost clocks. Of course, any word on increases to L3 cache pools is welcome too, as rumours suggest we could see capacities peak at 240MB.
Current predictions place a potential Zen 6 launch as sometime in late 2026, if not early 2027. Here’s hoping good things come to those who wait. In the meantime, Intel plans to challenge existing Ryzen processors with an Arrow Lake Refresh this year.
