AMD's next major CPU edges out Intel's high-end chip

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During a press event this week, AMD showed off its upcoming 8-core Summit Ridge processor, with its Zen-based CPU micro-architecture. In a benchmark test using Blender, the chip edged out Intel's own high-end 8-core 6900K Broadwell-E processor, with both running at 3 GHz.

GameSpot reports:

Both CPUs ended up finishing the test on stage at roughly the same time, with the Zen chip edging out Intel's enthusiast processor by a hair. This is surprising given how fast Broadwell-E runs. It will be interesting to see if performance will be similar across a wide array of benchmarks, or if this particular benchmark favors AMD's chip at the moment. It is worth mentioning that Blender is a 3D graphics and animation benchmark that is heavily multi-threaded and loves CPU cores.

AMD has not revealed the stock clock speeds of the Summit Ridge processor, nor has it mentioned a price for the chip. The Intel Broadwell-E processor costs $1,089. Hopefully, the final version of AMD's chip will match or beat Intel's high-end processors with a price point that's also the same or lower. We will have to wait a while to find out as Summit Ridge is not due for launch until the first quarter of 2017.

John Callaham
John Callaham
57 Comments
  • TeamRed
  • Looks like I'll need a new motherboard if these are unique to AM4.
  • Thank god for that. AM2/3 boards have held back AMD so much - they wasted resources trying to squeeze more performance out of their architecture whilst remaining confined to their old chipsets, meaning no usb 3, no pci-e 3, no nvme (or m.2), no integrated gigabit (or 10 gigabit) networking capability. All AMD boards with those features have them in the form of coprocessors, generally from companies like Realtek, ASmedia, and PLX (pcie bridge chips). Intel releases chipsets in lockstep with new processors (and hence, different sockets) so that they don't have to try to shoehorn new features into a platform not designed for them. If they need 30 more pins to enable pcie lanes from the cpu? They just add them. There's no "oh, I'm sorry we have no spare pins left" argument to be made in the engineering department. Everything we know about Zen right now points to them making reasonable decisions for a change. Everything since K8 - the entire concept behind Bulldozer - has been a train wreck from start to finish. The idea of "clustered multithreading" to boost core count was a marketing ploy and no software has ever really been able to take advantage of it in the real world. Paired with terrible IPC - even lower IPC than the Phenom processors it replaced - and you have a day zero recipe for disaster. Zen is going to make AMD competetive again, if not in pure performance, then in simply having *anything* in the market worth buying. Intel's pricing has doubled/tripled in 8 years - I bought my i7-920 when it released for £165, and the latest comparable processor is the i7-5820K which is well over £300. So yes, you'll need a new motherboard. You'll be glad of that fact if you upgrade to Zen.
  • ECorp er Intel fanboys start crying in 3, 2, 1, GO!
  • Go home valor, you're drunk lol. Might consider AMD CPU for my next build.
  • The day I've been waiting for. Where's my pitchfork.
  • You probably sold it on craigslist along with all your other old, un-used AMD hardware.
  • Ha, Nice!
  • Team red FTW !. I wish they had done it a little earlier. Assembled my second build with Intel :( I was in a hurry :p
  • I've been postponing building mine for over a year for this very reason.
  • Same here, still ticking away on my old i5-3470 waiting for the hype to become reality.
  • already built a 5820k, PCI-E SSD, 16gb ddr4, gtx 970 setup with noctua D15, etc etc. AMD Will have to try again next time I am shopping.
  • I was on 955 B.E and moved on to i5 4460 :( Patience, sometimes I have it, sometimes I don't.
  • Competition is good. Just hope the price of the Zen CPU will be good.
  • But we have to wait for the real release and see real benchmarks to be really sure.
  • They have a history of pricing their chips competitively.
  • Competition is great! But in the past AMD CPUs haven't done as well for gaming as they do for benchmarks.
  • You are right for Directx9 an 11. The fx are doing very well in Directx 12 games.
  • Yep. Bulldozer crushed equally priced Sandy Bridge CPU's on highly threaded applications (like rendering), but lost or equaled in typical gaming scenarios, and AMD was not able to improve as much as Intel after that.
  • How about the max TDP and how it fares with the real-world usage?
  • ...Except that the 6900k runs at 3.2ghz and can boost up to 4ghz, so this test is meaningless. 
  • Let's see what this thing can do in real world tests.  Intel really needs the competition to help drive prices down a little.
  • I agree, but you cant underclock the Intel proccessor and say "Look, we win!". Its dishonest at best.
  • No it's not dishonest. They clearly state why they've done that. Dishonesty would have been if they had hid the fact. I feel you've totally missed the point of the demostration. It doesn't mean that Zen will beat Broadwell. It says that Zen is a little faster at the same frequency, nothing more. ​Also, how else would you show what both CPUs can do at the same frequency?
  • But if it cant reach the same frequencies thats irellevant. They were only able to compete by lowering the Intels clock to below what it ships as. 
  • It isn't to show you how Zen is beating Broadwell. It's just to show you that performance per clock is up, and possibly around Broadwell levels. Nothing more. It is not a demostration saying: "Look, we beat Intel mwhahah!".
  • Overclocking is not the original speed, they compared the CPUs based on out of the box experience. Besides not everyone thinks of overclocking their PCs.....
  • actually, that's the whole point -- they haven't compared it at shipping clocks. they've underclocked the broadwell-E from 3.2 to 3.0.
  • And you can't make assumptions until 3rd party tests are being done.  Maybe it's like comparing a 6cyl turbo to a v8 engine?  They're both using different technologies to get them there but the performance is similar for most likely a very competitive price.
  • In that case we can't make a real comparison until the production version comes out. Posted via the Windows Central App for Android
  • Exactly!
  • It makes sense to clock them both at an even number. I'm sure the AMD processor can be overclocked just like any other, and it will have 'boost' just like other AMD processors.
  • You thought what? AMD is running at higher clocks? quit whining. This was a clock for clock comparison. No boosts, same clock. They had to choose a clock speed supported by both CPUs. You can't just choose a random clock speed. It depends on the base clock and multiplier. Besides, this one is an engineering sample. They're still improving on it. A previous leak of benchmarks for ZEN running at 2.8Ghz made the rounds earlier this month. They had to give out the real performance stats to save themselves from bad publicity. Either way will wait till official release before passing judgement.
  • It's not meaningless, it's meant to show IPC improvements, and does just that.
  • I believe in you, AMD :D Tired of Intel dominating in top segment for last 10 years.
  • It's also just a single test, so I suspect it won't fare quite so well in others, but I could be wrong. It'd actually be quite nice to see AMD get in front for once, it been a loooong time since they had a chip that was good enough to go up against the best Intel has to offer. I realise that AMD chips have had better integrated graphics, but from a pure cpu performance pint of view... not so much.
  • AMD is pretty good with keeping the prices low.. Hoping that will happen in this case too
  • Would be quite a leap if AMD is only one year behind Intel.
  • Well, it's been 5+ years since AMD could really compete with Intel in CPUs. The Bulldozer arch was just a giant flop, and they stopped trying with it, like, 3 years ago (with Piledriver). I ended up having to go with Haswell last time around becuase AMD simply wasn't releasing anything. I hope they have their act together here, because I'd like to support them again. Q1 2017 is a perfect launch time as well. That's when I upgraded to Haswell, after getting Christmas money and being done with my own Christmas shopping. I'll be waiting earnestly, hope it goes over well. I'd like a Radeon card as well, if we can get the Fury X successor onto shelves around then.
  • AMD's APU's are actually quite good compared to Intel's offerings.
  • One wonders if amd should have just die shrunk and refined their phenom II arch instead of going bulldozer way back when. Phenom II actually performed better than bulldozers initial release in some cases ( which is embarrassing). Plus at the time phenom II was competitive with intel even if it was for a short duration (pretty much core2's equal, and was able to hang with nehalem (intels core2 successor architecture) for a bit). But between phenom II and bulldozer intel started to pull away. Hopefully Zen actually lives up to the hype.
  • Bulldozer wasn't that bad, it was quite competitive with equally priced Sandy Bridge CPUs, but AMD was stuck at 28nm while Intel moved on.
  • Yee planning a build with a Zen APU when it comes out, getting rid of this pesky tower. Posted via the Windows Central App for Android
  • AMD FTW, enough of Intel price gouging.
  • Hm, seems like the right time for Project Scorpio.
  • Finally they beat Core 2 duo, cogratz! 
  • Hmm, I wonder if I could do a mini ITX build with a Zen CPU or APU and a RX 480 graphics card. My current build consists of an A10-7850K APU and a reference Sapphire RX 480 8GB card in a NZXT mid tower case and 500W SeaSonic modular PSU. I'd like to shrink the overall space being used, and judging from some AMD reference products, it seems possible.
  • Why even have an APU if you're going to tack on an RX-480 anyways? Could've spent that money on an FX-6300 instead and gotten better performance.
  • Because at that point in time I didn't want to buy a discrete graphics card just yet. I'm glad I waited.
  • Isn't this rumoured to be in Project Scorpio? Or what will be in Project Scorpio?
  • If they can get anywhere near the same performance as an Intel CPU then I'm in. Looking promising.
  • It would be interesting to see what the tdp values are for both chips under idle and full load.
  • Yeah, sadly no reference to the wattage and heat production at those same 3Ghz. Just saying we can get the same performance is only one side of the argument.
  • Nice try Amd...
  • This is where msft plans to acquire AMD?
  • Go team red!
  • Very much looking forward to AMD getting back into the game.  Intel has been a bit stagnant recently and needs a competitor to keep things fresh, moving along, and overinflated prices in check.