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CPU guru David Kanter digs into AMD's Zen and Ryzen technology

Mark Coppock
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Dissecting AMD Zen Architecture - Interview with David Kanter
AMD is releasing its Zen processor architecture soon with the release of the Ryzen line of CPUs. The new line will compete with Intel’s Core processors, in particularly the seventh generation of the Core line, called Kaby Lake.
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There are plenty of opinions and a fair amount of controversy brewing over exactly how Ryzen will compare with Kaby Lake, particularly on the high-end and especially among gamers. No matter who you talk to, you will be sure to get an earful from anyone who is involved in assessing the relative performance of today’s CPUs. One of the most reputable opinions about where things stand comes from processor guru David Kanter.

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Kanter wrote a fairly in-depth overview of the Zen architecture and the Ryzen chips in a new microprocessor report post at The Lindley Group’s website. In the report, Kanter engages in a discussion of where AMD’s new architecture compares to Intel’s latest. The report compared Zen and Ryzen to Intel’s sixth-generation Skylake processors but the general discussion of AMD’s newest remains relevant.

Compared to many people talking about CPUs and their relative strengths and weaknesses, Kanter is a better source than most. He has more than a decade of experience in delving into CPU architecture and design and is generally considered an expert in the field. His opinion is worth a little more than most of the opinions you will come across on the internet.

The question of whether Intel or AMD is faster or better or more cost-effective is a complex one and the story is still out on Zen and Ryzen. There is also the question of which kind of processor you’re talking about, desktop, server, notebook, or where in those general categories you’re looking on, the low-end or high-end.

Regardless, if you want a good understanding of AMD’s new architecture and where it has improved and where it remains behind Intel’s best — then Kanter’s report and the video above is a great place to start. You can be fairly certain that at the very least, the information is going to be accurate and reliable, unlike any number of other opinions that you might come across in your research.

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Mark Coppock
Mark Coppock
Computing Writer
Mark has been a geek since MS-DOS gave way to Windows and the PalmPilot was a thing. He’s translated his love for…
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