AMD has made its intention of ending the dominance currently enjoyed by Intel in the processing chip industry, and the former pins its hope on the soon to unleash Ryzen Summit Ridge SR7, SR5 and SR3 CPUs - all based on the company's Zen architecture.
Souped up CPUs
AMD has confirmed that the Ryzen CPU family will hit the market unlocked, meaning would-be buyers will get to overclock the chips right out of the box, which is a feature not readily available to Intel fans. Sure, there are Intel CPUs that can be overclocked but AMD's playbook of beating its rival includes selling its SR chips - that means the SR3, SR5 and SR7 - with built-in overclocking features.
And in doing so, the chipmaker has anticipated that users will need support for smooth and stable power computing experience.
Cooling options
Enter the CPU cooler manufacturers headed by the likes of Cryorig, Noctua, Phanteks and Thermalright, all of which, according to Forbes, have committed to support the Ryzen chips use on AMD's AM4 platform. So in theory, Socket AM4 and motherboards will be fully equipped to handle the overclocking feature that is native on all the Summit Ridge chips.
Per the same Forbes report: "Much of the new gear is shaping up to be every bit as good as their Intel equivalents."
The chipsets
And it's already set in stone that from Day One, AMD's manufacturing partners will begin selling motherboards with the AM4 chipsets that fully support overclocking. The X300, X370 and B350 chipsets are all locked-in for optimal function with the flagship Ryzen CPU feature with the X370 boasting of the added benefit of support for a Crossfire/SLI set up.
Pricing and release date
Yet the crucial area where AMD's Ryzen thrust will actually matter is on the wallet of enthusiasts and general users alike. It is expected that for SR7, SR5 and SR3 to make a dent on the territory that Core i3, i5 and i7 chips have been dominating for so long, they will need to deliver on mighty performance that is ready to take at affordable price levels.
Rumors have it that the Ryzen will sell starting at $149 for the SR3 and $249 for the SR5 while the SR7 in various configurations will cost no more than $400. A Black Edition of the same in 8-core package is rumored for only $499. And all the price points, if the speculations are correct, so far seem more inviting then pitted against the cash damage required by an Intel chip purchase.
AMD is said to formally introduce the Ryzen SR7, SR5 and SR3 chips this coming February and the announcement will be followed by a rolling release date with the initial batch of Summit Ridge CPUs likely to materialize by March 2017.