AMD (NASDAQ:AMD) and Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) are set to face off in the biggest processor war since AMD launched it's Ryzen CPUs in 2017. This autumn sees both companies releasing new ranges of processors designed to do one thing - take the desktop performance crown and appeal to gamers, content creators and PC enthusiasts.
AMD's Ryzen 7000 Zen 4 CPU and Intel's 12th Gen 'Alder Lake' CPU
This time, though, neither company is playing catch up or playing the underdog. AMD's previous four generations of Ryzen processors have each ushered in new levels of performance, raising the company from underdog and fighting in value terms rather than going for the performance crown, to fully-fledged performance warrior, soundly beating Intel thanks to the superb performance of its Ryzen 5000-series.
This time, it's gloves off
Intel, though, dug deep and brought the kind of innovation that’s been missing from its lineups for so long. It's 12th-Gen CPUs and their hybrid core architecture beat AMD fair and square in both single-threaded and multi-threaded performance in many situations as well as price.
AMD's Ryzen 7 5800X3D
Eventually, AMD had to drop prices - ironically the same thing Intel had to do back in 2019 when faced with AMD's Ryzen 3000 series - and even introduced a flurry of new tweaked CPUs in the form of the Ryzen 7 5800X3D and Ryzen 7 5700X in the hope of appealing to PC enthusiasts.
Intel 12th Gen hurt AMD sales, but Zen 4 is coming
Intel's Core i9-12900KS packaging
Analysts also predicted falls in AMD Desktop revenue because of this, but make no mistake - this is good for the consumer and AMD has no intention of backing down. What's particularly interesting about this autumn is that both companies have solid ground to fight from and are not only relatively even, but launching within a month or two of each other.
Both manufacturers are vying for the desktop performance crown, but in different ways
Intel has a proven architecture to build on and has the advantage of current motherboards supporting its new CPUs and for lower budget enthusiasts, it also has DDR4 support as well DDR5.
AMD is ushering in its first new mainstream desktop CPU socket since Socket AM4 in 2017, but is moving to a 5nm manufacturing process for its core chiplets and also 6nm for its I/O die, meaning the new CPUs could be much less power-hungry than Intel's.
It has also promised to bring back 3D V-Cache, which was included on the Ryzen 7 5800X3D and offered fantastic performance in games. However, it's unlcear as to whether we'll see this in the first Zen 4 products.
AMD's Dr Lisa Su announces the Ryzen 7 5800X3D
AMD also has swathes of new motherboards inbound too, generating a lot of interest in its new Socket AM5 platform with its X670E, X670 and B650 chipsets catering for high end and more mainstream options. There have been some fantastic motherboards for previous AMD chipsets so expectations are high.
AMD is introducing an extreme high-end chipset - X670E, which will have full PCIe support
Intel is bullish, though, and is building on success with its 12th-Gen CPUs and any improvements here will make AMD's life more difficult. Were Intel to launch after Christmas, AMD would land a sweet deal in the lead up to the holidays, enjoying the landscape all to itself. That's not happening, though, as we fully expect Intel to return fire, maybe even before the end of October.
Needless to say, you'd be well-advised to wait till then to see which company deserves your cash if you're looking to upgrade your PC this autumn. As always, subscribe to me here on Forbes using the blue Follow button above or on this page as I'll be covering all the latest PC tech and news as well as reviewing the new CPUs when they land. You can also check me out on YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
