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That's Ryzen AF: Some Old AMD Chips Might Be Getting a 12nm Makeover

AMD's first-gen Ryzen processors are selling at all-time low pricing, but it turns out that some of these chips are filtering out into the hands of enthusiasts with an unexpected surprise: The 12nm process, which is more efficient and faster than the original manufacturing process used with AMD's freshman Ryzen chips.

The original Ryzen 5 1600 landed with six cores and twelve threads powered by the 14nm GlobalFoundries process, but a new "AF" version has appeared at retailers for a mere $85 and apparently comes with the 12nm Zen+ architecture.

[...] The newer AF models also come with the Wraith Stealth cooler, which is a lesser cooler compared to the Wraith Spire that came with the original 1600 models.

Performance may or may not be slightly better.

AMD Ryzen 4000 ‘Renoir’ 8 Core, Ryzen 7 4700U APU Leaks Out – 7nm Zen 2 Cores With Up To 4.2 GHz at 15W

8 cores at a 15 Watt TDP sounds great (I have a Llano system with 4 cores at 35 Watts), although we'll have to see if hyperthreading is dropped or if that was just related to how it was tested.

I don't think using Vega graphics instead of Navi is a deal killer. But if there is no AV1 decode on the media engine, I don't want to get it. Also, I want to start seeing some AMD APUs with HBM or stacked DRAM on the chip, which could come with Zen 3 or Zen 4, if not later. AFAIK, Intel isn't planning to stop including eDRAM on certain models, and the next-gen consoles will probably have the CPU, GPU, and RAM packed in close.

Update: AMD’s 4th Gen Ryzen 9 4900H & Ryzen 7 4800H APUs With Up To 8 Core / 16 Threads Coming in Early 2020 – Ryzen 7 4800HS APU Spotted & Listed in ASUS Gaming Notebooks

Here are some proper APUs. Except I'm not sure I care about a 45 Watt TDP chip in that form factor anymore. Even if I take the hit down to 15 Watts, it would perform better than any laptop I've used.

The important thing is that this could help AMD claw back some market share in the segment and get some design wins.

AMD’s Radeon RX 5500 XT Graphics Cards Bottlenecked by PCIe Bandwidth?

If Radeon RX 5500 XT launch reviews were crippled by using PCIe 3.0 instead of 4.0, WTF is AMD's marketing department doing?

There is an expectation that APUs will completely take over 1080p gaming in the near future, and the already tiny die size of the RX 5500 XT is notable. Shrink to "7nm+" or "5nm" and that level of performance will require an even smaller die size.