As part of Computex 2022, it was confirmed that AMD Ryzen 7000 processors will receive support for EXPO and Smart Access Storage technologies. The first technology has already been previously reported . EXtended Profiles for Overclocking or EXPO is an analogue of the Intel XMP 3.0 automatic overclocking profiles for increasing the frequency of DDR5 RAM.

Image Source: VideoCardz / MSI

AMD said that Smart Access Storage technology will be based on the already well-known Microsoft DirectStorage, which is used in Xbox Series game consoles and speeds up game loading. According to the company, the traditional game loading scheme involves the participation of the central processor in unpacking game data and moving it, which increases the delay and requires considerable CPU resources. Smart Access Storage technology will allow you to redirect the decompression of game data to the GPU, bypassing the central one, which will speed up the loading of game levels and textures. Note that SAS will rely not only on Microsoft DirectStorage, but also on Smart Access Memory (SAM) technology, which gives the processor access to the entire memory of the graphics accelerator.

Image Source: AMD

During their presentation, AMD did not touch on the topic of EXPO memory overclocking profile technology at all, so the exact details about it are still unknown. However, as part of the presentation of the Ryzen 7000 series of processors, the company used overclocked DDR5-6000 RAM modules.

Image Source: MSI

The mention of EXPO technology was found on MSI’s promotional slides, which she prepared for the announcement of her motherboards based on the AMD X670 chipset.

An equally curious feature of MSI’s promotional slide is the indication that Socket AM5 supports 28 PCIe 5.0 lanes, rather than 24 lanes, as AMD itself stated during its presentation. Perhaps one of the manufacturers could make a mistake. However, it is also possible that these four additional lines will become available for the future generation of Ryzen processors within the Socket AM5 platform, for example, for conditional Ryzen 8000 chips.

Another interesting topic of discussion is the claimed 170W TDP for the top Ryzen 7000 models. AMD has confirmed that this is not about the chip’s power rating, but about the Peak Package Tracing (PPT) of the entire processor package. In other words, we are talking about the maximum consumption of the processor at the time of heavy loads. The actual nominal TDP of the older Ryzen 7000 processors is likely to be 105-125W. However, AMD does not specify this point. Still, the aforementioned MSI promotional slide clearly points to TDP. However, if we are still talking about the PPT value, then this figure is in any case higher than that of the current Ryzen 5000 processors, where it is 142 watts.

According to VideoCardz, MSI asked the media not to publish the above slide. The manufacturer did not specify the reason. Perhaps because it contains information about EXPO technology, or perhaps because it contains incorrect data.