The Zen+ generation of AMD's processors have started to leak out following the initial launch of its APUs and it looks like the 12nm die shrink will bring with it some minor improvements to overall performance. That will include a boost in clock speed, with top of the line Ryzen chips like the Ryzen 7 2700X sporting its usual eight cores with 16 threads, and a boosted clock improvement of as much as 300 MHz with XFR 2.0.
According to WCCFTech, the 2700X will have a base clock of 3.7GHz -- compared to the 3.5GHz of the 1700X -- while its boosted clock will reach 4.1GHz -- compared to 3.8GHz on the 1700X. AMD's automated overclocking system, XFR 2.0, which will only be available on chips with its "X" designation, will take it up to 4.2GHz, 300MHz more than the 1700X's XFR mode.
The 12nm architecture will bring a few additional improvements, with potential ramifications for performance, though what they will be remains to be seen. We do know that the 12nm shrink should improve efficiency slightly. Indeed the fact that AMD has added a few hundred megahertz to the clock and kept the TDP at 95w for the Ryzen 7 2700X is testament to that.
Otherwise the chips will remain much the same. Cores and thread counts won't change and total cache is still 20MB when L2 and L3 are combined. The more mid-range Ryzen 5 2600 will have 19MB of combined cache, the same 6/12 core and thread count. Its base and boost clocks will rise by just 200MHz over its first-generation counterpart.
The new Ryzen 2 chips are expected to debut in April this year.
