AMD Ryzen Reportedly Launching Without 6 Core Variants

With the next 2 months, AMD is set to launch Ryzen. Based off of the new Zen architecture, the new lineup has been reported to carry the SR7, SR5 and SR3 monikers. Previous rumors had pointed to 2 octa-core variants, a hexacore and a quad-core rounding out the lineup. According to a new report out today, it appears that the earlier lineup was too big and the hexacore variant is not coming out at launch.

According to the so-called reliable source, AMD is only releasing octa-core and quad-core variants. However, the SR7 and SR5 and SR3 lineup is reportedly still moving forward. This suggests we may be getting an octa-core with SMT enabled for 16 threads, an octa-core with SMT disabled for 8 threads total, and a quad-core with SMT enabled for 8 threads. This still leaves a rumored quad-core without SMT enabled.

So far, there has been no explanation given as to why the hexacore won’t be available. One reason being speculated on is the way Zen is designed. WIht Zen, AMD has decided to go with quad-core building blocks. This has led some to suggest that AMD is forced by their design to disable an entire block for a faulty octa-core and dropping it to a quad-core. However, that is unlikely to be the case as AMD would be shooting themselves in the foot and their previous designs never suffered like this.

In my mind, there are two more likely answers. One is that yields are too good right now. Without enough defective chips, AMD would be forced to cripple fully capable octa cores and cut into their margins. Rather than wait for enough stock to build up, they are choosing to just go with the octa and quad cores first. The other possibility is that an octa-core without SMT would perform just as well as a hexacore with SMT and there is no need for a hexacore. Either way, we’ll likely find out soon when Ryzen finally gets released.