AMD Ryzen 5 1600X Launch Date, Leaks, Latest News: AMD's $260 CPU Outperforms Intel's $617 i7-6850K?

By Amee Florence Payno, Christian Post Contributor Tuesday, February 21, 2017

With all the leaks and benchmarks circulating online about the AMD Ryzen processors, a clearer picture is painted regarding AMD's new central processing units (CPUs), and things do not seem to look so good for its rival tech giant, Intel.

The latest leaks to arrive are about the Ryzen 5 1600X, AMD's upcoming $260 processor. And if reports are to be believed, it packs enough power in its performance to contend with a $617 processor from Intel.

According to Forbes, the latest data points to AMD's Ryzen 5 1600X outperforming Intel's Core i7-6850K in both single-threaded and multi-threaded tests in the CPU-Z benchmark tool.

The two processors are also built with similar specifications and similar frequencies – six cores and 12 threads each. The Intel chip has a slightly higher maximum turbo frequency of 3.8 GHz while AMD Ryzen 5 1600x trails very close behind with 3.7 GHz.

The Ryzen 5 1600X is reportedly the more advantageous CPU not just because it beat the slightly higher-clocked Intel CPU in the benchmark tests, but also because it has a much lower TDP/power consumption of 95 W compared to the whopping TDP of the Intel Core i7-6850K at 140 W. This means that the more affordable Ryzen 5 1600X processor is much cooler than its more expensive Intel counterpart.

According to Tweaktown, AMD's Ryzen 5 processors are the CPUs that would post the most threat to Intel, as AMD will be selling these chips at under half the cost of their Intel counterparts. Hence, gamers will get to have faster PCs and save more money to potentially purchase one of AMD's upcoming Vega graphics cards.

The coming weeks are reportedly going to be some of the most exciting time gamers and PC enthusiasts have seen in the past decade. AMD's forthcoming launch of the Ryzen CPUs and the subsequent release of their next-gen Vega graphic processing units (GPUs) equates to the tech company competing with Intel in a big way.

The AMD Ryzen CPUs and accompanying motherboards are expected to go on sale on March 2.