If AMD Zen gives us Haswell level performance with 8 cores and goes for less than $200 Intel is in MAJOR trouble. For their desktop platform, they’ll throw the 8c/16t CPU against intel’s mainstream i7 like the 6700k. However, we’d expect prices to be similar. Expect a 4c/8t CPU to compete at $200 against the Intel i5.
AMD is on its way to take down Intel in 2017
Intel CPUs have been overpriced for a number of years by this point in time. So yeah, we really believe AMD will drop an 8 core 16 thread zen CPU for less than $200. Which, as we said, would majorly screw intel over. And make them bring their prices down to what they should be. Instead of being inflated like they are. Same on the motherboard side of the equation.
They’ll basically throw 2x the cores at the same price as an Intel’s chip. Offering SIGNIFICANT value over the competition. Intel will still have the IPC advantage. So yes AMD will have to be aggressive with their core counts. However, you won’t see an 8 Core CPU under $200 for awhile. It’s not like with Steamroller where their IPC is SO far behind Intel that they just couldn’t keep up. And had to throw out massive CPUs on the cheap to even be considered.
AMD needs to make money on Zen. So they’ll be very cheap compared to their Intel counterparts (i.e. 5960X performance for around $350). This is still a decent profit for AMD. And significantly less than Intel. We agree Intel has milked the hell out of enthusiasts with their insane pricing for CPUs over 4 cores. But don’t expect AMD to give Zen away for free. Now MS buying those chips, yeah they’ll get the die for $200 or less. But they’re also going to be ordering Millions of them. Bulk discount.
Source: Market Realist