AMD and Intel logos are both displayed together for better selection. (Photo : YouTube/ Tech of Tomorrow )
Price and specs of the initial AMD Ryzen CPU release have leaked out, indicating that the upcoming rivals of Intel Core i7, i5 and i3 chips will be equally powerful but significantly cheaper. Reports said Ryzen 7 processors will be cheaper by up to 70 percent, which begs the question: How Intel will deal with the rising threat from AMD?
Forbes reported this week that the Ryzen R7 series starting at less than $320 and no more expensive than $500 (for the flagship Ryzen 7 1800X), the AMD pricing model appears to be a "massive blow to Intel." The leaked details indicated too that at least three Ryzen 7 chips will come out between late February and early March and the chips will rock in 8-core/16-thread variants.
And all the Ryzen CPUs will hit the market unlocked, meaning not only the Ryzen 7 can be overclocked but also the Ryzen 5 (R5) and Ryzen 3 (R3) series. So what is Intel's next move to counter AMD's powerful but reasonably-priced Ryzen punch?
The answer seem to be hinted by the latest report from WCCFTech, which claimed that in the next few months or shortly after the Ryzen CPU rollout Intel will unleash its 8th-generation Core i7, i5 and i3 processors. The upcoming chips will replace the chipmaker's 7th-gen Kaby Lake CPUs, the report added.
However, the platform label remains a mystery as the same report made clear that Intel's upcoming processor bump is essentially "an updated version of the 14nm node." But it was clear that with the step up, however slight, the new CPU will boast of least 15 percent performance gain.
WCCFTech speculated that Intel's next-gen chip could be part of the Skylake-X or Kaby Lake-X family as Cannonlake is already out of the question as the latter is thought to utilize the 10-nanometer process. And the company roadmap clearly indicates that Cannonlake is not coming out until sometime in late 2017 and early 2018.
Another possibility is the Coffee Lake microarchitecture though it should be noted that planned debut of the chip family is also 2018. But "the launch of Ryzen processors from AMD in the coming month may have prompted Intel to accelerate their product lines for the consumer market," the same report noted.
In any case, Intel seems all geared up to unveil its 8th-gen Core i7, i5 and i3 chips with the i7-8000 series serving as the company's flagship bet. As mentioned above, Core i7-8000 will be the greatest from Intel on its supposed 2H 2017 release date but how exactly the chip family will match up with AMD Ryzen CPUs in terms of pricing remains to be seen. Of note is that Intel's premium chips normally sell for no less than $1000.
