AMD releases new enterprise-grade Ryzen PRO CPUs

AMD has launched a new family of business-grade desktop processors to rival Intel's enterprise range, boasting serious performance improvements in compute power.

The new AMD Ryzen Pro range follows the launch of the company's new Epyc server CPUs, as well as the launch of the company's all-new line of Ryzen desktop processors earlier this year.

"Today marks another important step in our journey to bring innovation and excitement back to the PC industry: the launch of our Ryzen PRO desktop CPUs that will bring disruptive levels of performance to the premium commercial market," Jim Anderson, senior vice president and general manager of AMD's computing and graphics group, said.

"Offering a significant leap in generational performance, leadership multi-threaded performance, and the first-ever 8-core,16-thread CPU for commercial-grade PCs, Ryzen PRO provides a portfolio of technology choices that meet the evolving needs of businesses today and tomorrow."

The new processors are available in 4, 6 and 8-core configurations, with multi-threading and speed boosting for added performance.

AMD's Ryzen Pro offers a 52 percent improvement in compute capabilities over the previous generation, the company explained. AMD also claimed that the higher-end Ryzen 7 Pro 1700 chip offers performance improvements of more than 60 percent over Intel's i7-7700 CPU.

The chips are designed for optimal security with inbuilt cryptographic and security technologies to combat security threats. Additionally, software security standards including secure boot, fTPM (firmware Trust Platform Module), AES, and Windows 10 Enterprise security are all supported.

AMD explained the chips were built to last and, as such, it would be offering a three-year limited warranty compared to the usual 12-month guarantee shipping with its other processors.

AMD's Ryzen Pro line will be available during the second half of 2017, according to the company, which could be anytime from now. We expect to hear more when AMD has a solid release date. The mobile version (Ryzen Pro Mobile) will arrive at the beginning of 2018.