When AMD launched its Ryzen processor, it received high praise in general. There is no doubt about the fact that it is as strong as Intel's Broadwell-E and Kaby Lake silicon when it comes to heavy-duty, multi-threaded workloads. In fact, in some cases, AMD comes out with an even more powerful processor than Intel.
AMD's Zen server platform, aka Naples, has powerful Simultaneous Multi-threading (SMT). In addition, it offers high levels of connectivity and bandwidth. Naples employs a 32-core/64-thread server CPU. This is supposed to help a 64-physical core server offer 128 threads of compute resources through SMT. When compared with Intel's 22-core Xeon E5-2669 v4, AMD's Naples has a thread-count advantage, with 40 more threads of compute resources. Additionally, it has way stronger PCI Express high-speed IO connectivity and much higher memory channel bandwidth.
In PCI Express connectivity, AMD scores higher than Intel as well. Intel Xeon falls behind AMD's platform. Naples has a full 128 lanes of PCI Express Gen 3 links (64 per CPU), while Intel offers the Xeon X5 v4 (40 per CPU). Every PCI Express lane in AMD can have a direct connection with the CPU root complexes for other coprocessors and GPUs.
AMD Ryzen processor is going to have dual 8-channel memory controllers. Per CPU, up to 16 DIMMs of memory can be configured. AMD has a memory speed of 2400MHz DDR4, while Intel offers an interface speed of 1866MHz DDR4.
According to AMD, the Naples platform is going to be available in the second quarter this year. However, there is no confirmation about the pricing yet. If AMD offers a reasonable pricing for this product, Intel might suffer in its cash cow server business, Forbes reported.
According to Tweak Town, AMD's Ryzen 7 1800X flagship CPU, with 8C/16T @4GHz, comes for $499. This beast offers a better performance than the Core i7-6900K, which costs $999. According to rumors, AMD is planning a 16C/32T processor under $1,000. This will compete with Intel's Core i7-6950X, which costs more than $1,600 at the moment.
