5.2GHz AMD Zen 4 test CPU pops up in database and then disappears
AMD’s Zen 4 CPUs aren’t expected to launch until the second half of the year, but leaks are already rolling in earnest, latest finds Petick Manor (pass Tom’s Hardware) on the OpenBenchmarking website. The entry for the Phoronix benchmark sees an AMD engineering sample leaking some interesting tidbits about AMD’s follow-up Zen 3, including the fact that it runs at 5.21GHz, is an 8-core, 16-thread chip, and that it has integrated graphics in the form of the AMD GFX1036 .
The original entry on OpenBenchmarking.org has since been removed, or at least kept from prying eyes, although the power of the Wayback Machine means it’s still available if you want to see for yourself.’s entry Zen 4 chip caught on May 9.
The CPU is identified as “AMD Eng Sample 100-000000666-20_Y”, although assuming it follows a similar naming scheme to existing Zen 3 chips, the 8-core 16-thread configuration logically makes it a Ryzen 7 7800X. The fact that it has integrated graphics It might also indicate that we’re looking for the Ryzen 7 7800G here, although if AMD has more APUs this time around, it might change its naming convention.
The 5.21GHz clock speed is notable because it’s faster than anything in this generation, with the Ryzen 9 5950X topping out at 4.9GHz. By comparison, the Ryzen 7 5800X, the chip this engineering sample appears to be replacing, has a max boost clock of 4.7GHz. The 500MHz boost cannot be ignored in this industry, and coupled with new architecture and process node improvements, this could lead to a significant performance boost for Zen 4 over existing Zen 3 chips.
Zen 4 is being produced using TSMC’s N5 (5nm) production process, which promises improved power efficiency and higher frequencies. This helps explain the higher clock speeds, although as an engineering sample, there is no guarantee of the speed of the chips introduced. This just shows what it might achieve.
However, it’s worth mentioning that while we can’t trust the clock speeds of engineering samples, they are often tested reduce frequency ratio to release the chip. Do whatever you want.
However, the benchmark results themselves don’t reveal much about CPU performance, but instead focus on the AMD GFX1036 iGPU. There’s no info on the number of cores, but it does show a clock frequency between 1000MHz and 2000MHz, and has access to 512MB of memory, which you can assume is system memory.
The naming also ties it to the RDNA 2 GPU, which is good news since this is the architecture found on the Steam platform, PS5 and Xbox Series S/X, and AMD’s latest Ryzen 6000 mobile processors. If you’re looking for top gaming performance, a discrete GPU is still your best bet, but AMD’s RDNA 2 iGPU certainly has enough potential for more modest gaming.
It’s still early days for Zen 4, but it’s a good sign that AMD is on track to deliver Zen 4 by the end of the year. If this engineering sample is of any use, it looks like it will be worth the wait.