Courage to be edgy? Package mockup for AMD’s Zen 4 Ryzen CPU ‘Raphael’ for Socket AM5 surfaced: square, practical, good?

The next generation of Zen 4-based Ryzen desktop CPUs will be codenamed Raphael and will replace the Zen 3-based Ryzen 5000 desktop CPUs, which are codenamed Vermeer. According to the information currently available, the Raphael CPUs will be based on the 5nm Zen 4 core architecture and feature 6nm I/O dies in a chiplet design. After all, AMD had also hinted at increasing the core counts of its next-gen mainstream desktop CPUs, so we can expect a slight increase from the current maximum of 16 cores and 32 threads.

The full render of AMD’s Zen 4-equipped new Ryzen desktop CPUs for the upcoming AM5 platform was revealed via Twitter by ExecutableFix. After all, the leaker had previously shown a mockup of the LGA 1718 contact pads that AMD is expected to use for its next-gen mainstream desktop processors. It is already known that AMD will also introduce a new socket in the form of LGA 1718 with the AM5 platform.

The new socket is designed specifically for the Zen 4-based Ryzen “Raphael” desktop CPUs, and in addition to renders of the contact pads, you now get a detailed look at the potential package for the new CPUs, including IHS.

This is how Raphael will look like from the top. AM5 sure has an interesting design 🤔

This took me some time to make and I'm quite pleased with the end result 💥 pic.twitter.com/TiWpE1VXQZ

— ExecutableFix (@ExecuFix) May 30, 2021

As the images show, the AMD Ryzen Raphael desktop CPUs will likely feature a perfectly square shape (45 x 45 mm), but will house a very chunky integrated heatspreader or IHS. The exact reason for the high density is unknown, but it could be to balance the thermal load over multiple chiplets or to serve an entirely different purpose. The sides, by the way, are strikingly similar to the IHS design of the Intel Core-X line of HEDT CPUs.

We can’t say for sure if the two partitions on each side are real recesses or just reflections from the rendering, but in the case that they really are recesses, we could also assume that the thermal solution was designed to allow air to escape to the outside. Alright, this is pure speculation, so let’s just wait and see the final design of the chip and it must also be noted that this is just a mockup render, so the final design could be significantly different.

What else we know (or think we do) I’ve summarized here as a short list:

• New 5 nm process node with 6 nm IOD from TSMC
• Support for AM5 platform including LGA1718 socket
• Dual channel DDR5 memory support
• 28 PCIe Gen 4.0 lanes (CPU exclusive)
• 105-120W TDP (Upper limit ~170W)

The brand new Zen 4 architecture is rumored to offer an IPC increase of up to 25% over Zen 3 and reach clock speeds of around 5 GHz. Let’s be surprised, it will be exciting 🙂