AMD's new Ryzen 9000 chips make things even worse for Intel

AMD didn't make everyone happy with the launch of Zen 5. A lot was riding on these new processors, but the company was able to find some success with the AMD Ryzen 9600X and Ryzen 7 9700X. They aren't the fastest chips in their family, at least compared to Intel, but they are incredibly efficient and well priced. Intel is struggling with declining market share, a decline in company value, and the decline of its processors. To say that the 2020s have not been good for Intel so far would be an understatement, and it looks like things will get even worse before we see any positive news.




AMD Zen 5 CPUs are significantly more efficient

Intel has no answers yet…

We've played around with the AMD Ryzen 5 9600X and Ryzen 7 9700X and have been impressed. AMD is prioritizing efficiency this generation, lowering the TDPs of its “X” processors, which have typically been more heavily used than non-X chips. The two AM5 processors we've tested so far have a TDP of just 65W and draw 88W at most from the socket. This leaves room for overclocking on the system side, but also allows AMD to showcase efficient processors without sacrificing performance. Although these chips use less power than previous generation CPUs, they are faster.


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AMD Ryzen 5 9600X and Ryzen 7 9700X in the test: The newly crowned efficiency kings

Your power supply will twiddle its thumbs.

Intel technically comes out on top in most tests. The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X won't be able to beat an Intel Core i5-14600K, and the Ryzen 7 9700X won't be able to take on the Core i7-14700K either, but AMD's new Zen 5 chips will consume significantly less power and produce less heat. None of the AMD Ryzen 9000 series chips have had additional cores added, so AMD had to resort to architectural and manufacturing improvements. The company has delivered what it set out to achieve, but even if you don't find them good enough to upgrade from a previous generation, you're still less likely to switch to an Intel platform.


Then there's the whole issue of stability. Intel has had a rough go of it with the 13th and 14th generation Core processors. They get very hot under heavy load and consume significant amounts of power. They're still good chips with plenty of performance and high clock speeds without overclocking, but a microcode bug caused an algorithm to mistakenly demand voltages from the CPU outside of its intended limits. This can cause irreparable damage to the component, which is why Intel has worked to provide BIOS updates through motherboard partners and extended warranties.


Intel 6-month stock history Yahoo chart for August 2024

AMD's own charts are no better, with a significant drop in value over the last month, but the stock has bounced back ahead of launch and I expect this to continue unless Intel can sort out some issues. Reducing headcount (by more than 17,000!) and the dividend aren't helping either. Share value isn't everything, especially for anyone who doesn't own a piece of Intel, but it does indicate market sentiment towards the brand. At the time of writing, Intel is trading at just over $20 per share, while its direct competitor is at $136.


Intel’s next-generation desktop CPUs are coming

But will they be enough to stop the bleeding?

Intel Tech Tour Lunar Lake-15

This year, Intel is launching two families of chips. The first is Lunar Lake for mobile and the second is Alder Lake for desktop PCs. Lunar Lake will be fully outsourced to TSMC, the maker of AMD's processors. Arrow Lake, Intel's 15th Gen Core desktop series, plans to continue using Intel 20A. This would be a strong move by Intel as it would match a comparable 2nm manufacturing process at TSMC or Samsung. Depending on how the processors perform is another question we hope to answer through direct comparisons with AMD.


Intel still has the performance edge because it integrates far more cores and threads than most people need, but in all other areas the company has some catching up to do.

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Intel is a completely different company today than it was ten years ago

An industry leader and the best consumer CPU – what’s changed?

Intel is no longer the chip superpower it once was. While the company still dominates the CPU market, the lead is not comfortable and continues to shrink as AMD continues to bring better and more efficient processors to market. Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger recently asked for prayers on X as the stock price falls, dividends are canceled, and mass layoffs take place. The prayers may be answered and Intel's upcoming process nodes and architecture developments could turn things around, but right now it's not looking too good.


Intel has an uphill battle ahead of them, but I hope they overcome everything that has been thrown their way this year. 2024 continues to look a little bleak, but 2025 would be a whole new calendar to launch products and bring some much-needed excitement back to the CPU space. AMD is on a roll, but we've seen both companies become complacent with their comfortable lead.

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