AMD Commits To 2025+ AM5 “Ryzen” Desktop Socket Support: We Want To Stay On AM5 For As Long As We Possibly Can

AMD has reiterated its commitment to the AM5 socket till 2025 and beyond as it continues to expand its Ryzen Desktop platform in the coming years.

AMD AM5 Socket Is Here To Stay, Will Receive Future Desktop CPU Launches & Improved Platform Capabilities

In an interview with OverclockersUK, AMD's Vice President & GM of the Client Channel Business, David Mcafee, reiterated their commitment to the AM5 Desktop CPU platform. Launched last year, the AM5 platform supports the latest and greatest Ryzen CPUs based on the Zen 4 architecture and the platform itself will continue to evolve with new Ryzen CPUs and feature support going forward.

Currently, the AMD AM5 platform comes with two types of Ryzen 7000 Desktop CPUs, the standard Ryzen 7000 and the 3D V-Cache enhanced Ryzen 7000X3D chips. The platform is also the only one that currently offers native support for PCIe Gen5 hardware such as NVMe SSDs and discrete GPUs. The competition on the other hand lacks in the PCIe Gen5 SSD department with Phison specifically selecting AMD as its primary partner to accelerate the Gen5 storage ecosystem. We have also seen early performance data that showcases AMD leading with faster speeds when running Phison's upcoming Gen5 SSD controllers.

David says that AMD wants to stay on AM5 for as long as they can and they are currently sticking by their 2025+ statement. The platform is expected to receive a major update in 2024 with the launch of new Ryzen 8000G APUs and the next-gen Zen 5 "Granite Ridge" Desktop CPUs. These CPUs will also be available in both standard & 3D V-Cache flavors & will mark a major development within the high-end segment.

Q [Briony Hannam - OCUK] - Is there an update on AM5 socket support or does the original statement from AMD to continue support through 2025 still stand?

A [David Mcafee - AMD Corporate Vice President & General Manager of Client Channel Buisness]- It absolutely still stands! I think that we certainly recognized that the longevity of the AM4 platforms was one of the biggest reasons that led to the success of Ryzen and as we think and as we think about the future, 2025 and beyond, that decision to move to a next-generation of socket is one that's going to be really thought through really really carefully.

We know the impact that moving to a new socket brings and we want to stay on AM5 for as long as we possibly can. We are firmly committed to 2025 and beyond and we will see how long that promise lasts beyond 2025.

via OCUK

AMD will likely release at least one more family for the AM5 Desktop CPU platform as it enters 2025 before it starts looking into whether to stick with the platform for longer or to shift to an entirely new home for Ryzen CPUs. It will be a big decision as the longevity of the last-gen AM4 platform is what made Ryzen such as big success whereas the competition is known for changing sockets every two generations (and in a few cases even one). However, AMD has previously commented that the decision to change to a new socket will depend on the necessity of integrating new features.

For AM5, moving to DDR5 and PCIe Gen5 was the biggest deal and with the new architectural updates, a new socket type was necessary hence the move to AM5. But despite more than a year since the release of AM5, AMD continues to offer new Ryzen Desktop CPUs for its older AM4 platforms and there are plans to further expand the Ryzen 5000 lineup in 2024 which makes sense given that a large majority of users still use AM4 motherboards and want to stick with those for a little longer until AM5 becomes more attractive.

With that said, falling DDR5 prices and reduced motherboard costs have led to a sudden uplift in the sales of AM5 motherboards, especially the B650 series as recently noticed.

Q [Briony Hannam - OCUK] - Are you planning to make any improvements on the AM5 platform to memory scaling, for example being able to use four sticks at high speeds.

A [David Mcafee - AMD Corporate Vice President & General Manager of Client Channel Buisness]- Yeah, we absolutely are. I think we look at the evolution of the AM5 platform, we are constantly looking ways to improve signal integrity through the socket, through the materials used in the boards, the memory layout that we work on with our ODM partners as they design motherboards around the AM5 socket.

We want to continue to push the envelope and make sure that the AM5 platform, as it goes through its own multi-generation journey, just gets better with every step/ So absolutely we are looking at every possible angle to improve performance and capability for memory speed scaling on that platform.

via OCUK

The topic of memory scaling and memory support was also briefly touched upon and it looks like AMD is definitely planning to bring enhanced memory support as the AM5 platform evolves. If we compare the launch and the current state of the AM5 platform, a lot has changed. The platform was hardly supporting DDR5-6000 memory when it was introduced back in 2022 but since then, we have seen memory support improved a lot and has now been bolstered with the release of newer BIOS firmware. We can expect this level of support to continue from AMD and its board partners.

It is great to see that AMD hasn't changed its plans for AM5 and we can expect it to be a long-lasting platform for Team Red. Whether it will have a 6-year long longevity as the AM4 platform remains to be seen but with Intel moving to a new platform in the coming year, AM5 Ryzen PC builders users are in a better position with their purchases.

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