Now that it’s been more than a year since the launch of AMD Ryzen, we’ve had plenty of time to watch how AMD has risen to the top of the CPU game – and then extend its lead even farther with AMD Ryzen 2nd Generation.

Despite some odd releases – like releasing Threadripper chips with bundled liquid cooling solutions – it’s obvious AMD has ultimately delivered on its promise of CPUs that not only perform better than ever before, but stay affordable at the same time. While AMD was able to avoid most of the Spectre and Meltdown-borne vulnerabilities Intel suffered through, the Israeli security firm, CTS Labs, has released a white paper in March 2018 detailing several security vulnerabilities specifically affecting AMD Ryzen processors.

AMD has responded and promises to fix these issues with minimal performance loss.

Luckily, AMD has pushed out firmware patches to protect its CPUs against Spectre.Luckily, we’ve compiled all of our knowledge here so that you can learn all there is to know about – and what is in the future for – AMD’s Zen-based CPUs.AMD CEO Lisa Su showing off the new Ryzen 7 processorAMD Ryzen reviewsAMD Ryzen 3 1300X: 4.5 stars | Impeccable value; significantly faster video encoding; more cores than most budget CPUs | Lagging benchmark scores; runs a little too warmAMD Ryzen 5 1600X: 5 stars | Awesome multi-core performance; strong gaming performance; cool running chip | Tricky overclockingAMD Ryzen 7 1800X: 4.5 stars | Stunning multi-core performance; competitive single-core performance; sturdy chipset; solid power draw | Insane priceAMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X: 4 stars | Ready for the ultimate mega-tasking; easier to install than Intel; future-proof expandability | More power hungry than Intel’s rival; switching profiles requires a full restartCut to the chaseWhat is it The latest in AMD's high-end desktop CPUsWhen's it out  Available since March 2017 What will it cost Ryzen 3 series starts at $109 (about £80, AU$140)AMD Ryzen release dateThe first of the batch of Ryzen processors were announced on February 22, 2017 and arrived on March 2.

The Ryzen 7 series of top-end chips, which includes, but isn’t limited to, the seriously competitive Ryzen 7 1800X, whose multi-threaded benchmarks put it in line with the Intel Core i7-6900K.On April 11, AMD released Ryzen 5.

Among this series is the Ryzen 5 1600X, comparable to the overclockable, albeit mid-range, Intel Core i5-7600K.

Meanwhile, designed to rival Intel’s Core i9 Skylake-X chips, Ryzen Threadripper debuted on August 10. Then, on February 12, AMD released the Ryzen 3 2200G and the Ryzen 5 2400G, which implemented Vega graphics aimed at media center PCs.Moreover, AMD has formally introduced an entry-level Ryzen 3 series consisting of the Ryzen 3 1200 and 1300X.

Both of these were launched on July 27 and are meant to challenge the Intel Core i3-7100 and the Core i3-7300, respectively. Most recently with AMD Ryzen 2nd Generation, AMD has utilized its new 12nm Zen+ architecture that delivers faster speeds than any processor AMD has ever made.

Processors like the Ryzen 7 2700X give us a taste of what AMD is going to be delivering on the high end.

We just hope that the Ryzen 5 2500X and Ryzen 3 2300X do the same for the mid-range. A render of what the Ryzen 7 boxes will look likeAMD Ryzen priceThe Red Team, if you will, has positioned the Ryzen 7 series against Intel’s Core i7 chips, but for far better prices.

The Ryzen 7 1800X chip, for instance, is available for $349 (£290, around AU$489).

That’s significantly less expensive than Intel’s asking price for its Core i7-6900K.The Ryzen 7 1700X is marketed as AMD’s mid-range chip within this series, priced at $300 (£260, AU$430), while the Ryzen 7 1700 (no “X”) is available for $290 (£260, AU$415).Positioned as the mid-range Ryzen chip altogether, the 6-core Ryzen 5 1600X costs $220 (£200, AU$305), though there are more affordable options, like the $189 (£165, AU$265) Ryzen 5 1600 and the $150 (£136, AU$215) Ryzen 5 1400 in the mix as well. The Threadripper series consists of AMD’s priciest Ryzen chips, the cheapest of which is the $449 (£375, AU$630) AMD Threadripper 1900X.

Then there’s a $749 (£689, AU$1,099) Threadripper 1920X and a $899 (£889, AU$1,399) Threadripper 1950X chip.Also found within this series are the Ryzen Threadripper 1900, 1920 and 1950, presumably more wallet-friendly alternatives to the “X” monikered chips of the same name.

These processors are expected to ditch the clock-boosting XFR tech in favor of more frugal price tags.As far as the most recently released Ryzen 3 processors go, the baseline Ryzen 3 1200 retails for $109 (£80, AU$140) while the 29% faster Ryzen 3 1300X bears a going rate of $129 (£100, AU$160), making them both cheaper than Intel’s similarly specced options.And, we can’t forget about the recently released Ryzen APUs – the Ryzen 3 2200G MSRPs at a very reasonable $99.98 (about £71, AU$129.99), while the higher-powered, 4K-ready Ryzen 5 2400G is available from $162.89 (about £116, AU$211).

Both are great deals, especially if you’re trying to build a media PC.An AMD Ryzen 7 CPU hard at workAMD Ryzen specsRyzen was designed by AMD to perform well at high loads and be compatible with the latest hardware in PC gaming.

To that end, the firm had to develop a new chipset for the processors, the X370 and X300, and a new socket, the AM4.Yes, that means you’ll need a new motherboard (and a newer OS than Windows 7) for your Ryzen CPU.

Luckily, a pretty handful of AMD Ryzen motherboards are already on the market for this very occasion.

These mobos support all the same technologies as the bulk of Intel’s boards including the following: Dual-channel DDR4 memoryNVMeM.2 SATA devicesUSB 3.1 Gen 1 and Gen 2PCIe 3.0 capabilityNow, for the Ryzen processor architecture itself.

AMD says that its goals with Ryzen were “maximum data throughput and instruction execution plus high bandwidth, low latency cache-memory support for optimal compute efficiency.” So, take solace in the fact that all Ryzen processors enjoy these same traits: Two threads per core8MB shared L3 cacheLarge, unified L2 cacheMicro-op cacheTwo AES units for securityHigh efficiency FinFET transistorsEssentially, the Ryzen chips are better at hyper-threading across their eight (so far) cores, enabling more actions per clock than before.Plus, we already witnessed an AMD Ryzen chip break a world record in benchmarks – albeit under extreme cooling.High-level capabilities aside, here are the highlights for the upcoming Threadripper chips:Ryzen Threadripper 1900X – 3.8GHz (up to 4GHz); 8 cores, 16 threadsRyzen Threadripper 1920X – 3.5GHz (up to 4GHz); 12 cores, 24 threadsRyzen Threadripper 1950X – 3.4GHz (up to 4GHz); 16 cores, 32 threadsThese are the specs for each of the three Ryzen 7 chips:AMD Ryzen 7 1800X – 3.6GHz (up to 4GHz); 8 cores, 16 threadsAMD Ryzen 7 1700X – 3.4GHz (up to 3.8GHz); 8 cores, 16 threadsAMD Ryzen 7 1700 – 3GHz (up to 3.7GHz); 8 cores, 16 threadsThis is what you can expect from AMD’s Ryzen 5 chips:AMD Ryzen 5 1600X – 3.6GHz (up to 4GHz); 6 cores, 12 threadsAMD Ryzen 5 1600 – 3.2GHz (up to 3.6GHz); 6 cores, 12 threadsAMD Ryzen 5 1500X – 3.5GHz (up to 3.7GHz); 4 cores, 8 threadsAMD Ryzen 5 1400 – 3.2GHz (up to 3.4GHz); 4 cores, 8 threadsAMD Ryzen 5 2400G – 3.6 GHz (up to 3.9GHz); 4 cores, 8 threads Lastly, the elusive Ryzen 3 chips, in the flesh:Ryzen 3 1200 – 3.1GHz (up to 3.4GHz); 4 cores, 4 threads\Ryzen 3 1300X – 3.5GHz (up to 3.7GHz); 4 cores, 4 threadsRyzen 3 2200G – 3.5GHz (up to 3.7GHz); 4 core, 8 threads According to an AMD launch video for Threadripper, the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X put Intel’s top-end Core i9-7900X to shame, with its Cinebench R15 test resulting in a score of 3,000 points.

The Core i9-7900X, on the other hand, only scored 2,400 points.That feat, paired with the news that AMD plans on dropping enterprise-focused Ryzen Pro CPUs in the latter half of 2017 and Ryzen Pro Mobile processors in the first chunk of 2018, should be a cause for concern for Intel.Stay tuned to this page for more of the latest AMD Ryzen information as more news emerges about the forthcoming AMD Ryzen Threadripper CPUs.Gabe Carey has also contributed to this article7f4BWdRbBCVQDBv2gzzwzH.jpg#