AMD Ryzen CPU, Zen based architecture. (Photo : YouTube/ NCIX Tech Tips )
AMD's upcoming Ryzen Summit Ridge processor has been reviewed and the leaked benchmark results indicate that the Zen-based chip is indeed a mighty competitor of the Intel Core i5 and i7 CPUs when it comes to processing performance. But in the power draw and pricing departments, the Ryzen chips appear to enjoy considerable advantages.
Courtesy of French tech magazine CPC Hardware, the Ryzen SR chips - there will be four variants namely SR7 Black Edition, SR7, SR5 and SR3 - are confirmed to boast of base clock speed of 3.15GHz or still in line with AMD's advertised final clock CPU speed of 3.4GHz. According to WCCFTech, the same review revealed that Ryzen potentially packs clock speed of 3.3GHz in turbo all-core mode and can gallop up to 3.5GHz in single-core turbo.
The same report also made clear that the Ryzen chip reviewed was an engineering sample, indicating that the commercial CPU release is likely packed with better processing speed and power.
As the initial testing has shown, Ryzen's rendering performance when optimized was a marked step up from that of Intel's Core i7-6800K CPU. And when pitted against the FX-8370, the gain is an incredible 60 percent.
In an un-optimized benchmark testing and against the Core i5-6600, Ryzen SR chip performed comparably, WCCFTech reported, adding that pitted against the FX-8370 the improvement registered was up to 32 percent.
However, the same review highlighted two things about the Ryzen SR chips that really matter - the Zen-based CPUs will have better power draw and compelling sticker price. "The AMD Ryzen processor actually outperforms Intel's Core i7-6900K by drawing 93 Watts from the wall, where the latter draws 96 Watts," WCCFTech said. In the case of the FX-8370, the power draw is high as 118 Watts, the report added.
And given that the AMD Ryzen chip is an 8-core processor, users can look forward to sufficient room when CPU overclocking is desired.
But the best part really is the purported Ryzen pricing that likely will favor AMD as the rumored sticker prices indicate that the flagship Ryzen SR chip will still be two or three times cheaper than the competition. According to WCCFTech, the SR7 Black Expedition will sell starting at $499 while the regular cut of the same class will carry a $349 tag. The more affordable SR5 asking price is likely set at $249 while the cheapest of the bunch, the SR3, will hit the shelves at $149.
Speculations are rife that the AMD Ryzen Summit Ridge release date will happen anytime in January 2017, which is for the two SR7s. As for the SR5 and SR3, the unboxing will have to wait until March.
