AMD announced it is ready with its new Ryzen chips which the company said will offer better performance compared to the Intel Core i7 processor while costing just half as much. Pre-orders for the top of the line Ryzen 7 are currently being accepted with deliveries slated to begin next month. The formal launch of the new Ryzen chips is scheduled on March 2.
Elaborating further, AMD chief executive, Dr. Lisa Su stated the new Ryzen range will comprise of three chips – Ryzen 7, Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 3 in descending order of price and performance. Of these, it is Ryzen 7 1800X that happens to be the highest performance chip and will be the first to reach the market.
Cost wise, the Ryzen 7 1800X is priced 9 which the company stated will turn out to be at least 54 percent cheaper than the Core i7-6900K chips. The Ryzen 7 1700X meanwhile has been priced at $399 while the Ryzen 7 1700 is the cheapest at $329. Both Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 3 will be launched later this year though the company chose not to reveal the exact launch schedule as of now.
Lisa Su also stated they are out to infuse some new life in the desktop segment with their new Ryzen family of processors that boasts of 8-core, 16-thread architecture. Of the three Ryzen 7 chips, it is the 1700 that will come bundled with a Wraith Spire cooler which company sources revealed will have a near silent operation at around 32 db. The other two chips will not come with a cooler as part of the standard packaging.
However, experts have reserved their judgment about the prospects of the new Ryzen chips till they have been tested independently and in demanding scenarios such as gaming. Intel’s response too isn’t clear at the moment though the most likely way for them to take on the latest threat from AMD will be to slash prices of its chips.
Intel has found the going tough in the new mobile computing segment for lack of suitable low power chips but has thrived in the traditional desktop PC segment. However, with the segment itself slowing down along with renewed competition from the likes of AMD, what’s clear is that Intel will have to act touch and act quickly if it wishes to hold on to its bread-n-butter desktop chip market. Check the pre-order details.
