Earlier in the month, we got our first leak about AMD’s new Zen lineup. Set to launch in January of 2017, the new CPUs are AMD’s long awaited comeback to the performance segment. The first leak only pointed out that the Zen chips would all come out above $200 USD which is about where they have been expected. More fine-grained pricing for the different models was missing. The latest leak fills in the knowledge gap with much-needed detail. According to the source, the top end SR7 8 core, 16 thread, Zen CPU will cost only $499!
Whats more, there will be even a cheaper SR7 with the same core count but lower stock clocks priced at $350. This means you can pick up an 8 core 16 thread chip on par with Intel’s Broadwell for about a half to one-third the price. Given that AMD is expected to have the entire SR lineup be overclockable, there’s nothing holding back someone from purchasing the cheaper SR7 and run the clocks all the way up.
In addition to the SR7 pricing, we also have the SR5 and SR3 pricing. These lower end chips will arrive a bit later in March of 2017. The SR5 with 6 cores and 12 threads will cost a mere $250 or about where the unlocked i5s sit. The SR3 will be a paltry $150 for 4 cores and 8 threads, about where the i3s are and cheaper than the unlocked i3 7350K Intel is planning to release.
If these prices turn out to be real, we are talking serious competition in the CPU market once more. The pricing structure looks pretty much like the current FX lineup, but with significantly improved performance. Unless Intel plans to cut their prices massively, it’s hard to see why AMD won’t be seeing a roaring success and sweep the market. I for one hope that AMD will deliver on both performance and price with Zen.
