2017 looks like it could be one of the most interesting for a decade when it comes to PC hardware as enthusiasts can look forward to a raft of new exciting launches from Intel and AMD.
Perhaps top of everyone's list of must-sees is the battle between AMD and Intel - the former having announced its new Ryzen processor last week with some considerable fanfare and offering some clear evidence that it will be a match for Intel's high-end desktop processors. Intel has enjoyed a clear lead in performance and efficiency since it introduced the Core architecture back in 2006. Before this, enthusiasts enjoyed fierce competition between the two companies, which could be set to return in early 2017.
Intel isn't devoid of new products in 2017, though - it will be launching its Kaby Lake range of processors - the successor to the current Skylake line-up. For enthusiasts, there are three CPUs that will take the lion's share of the limelight - the Core i7-7700K, the Core i5-7600K and perhaps the most interesting of the three, especially to those on a tight budget - the Core i3-7350K.
Reports suggest the dual-core Core i3-7350K will not only have an unlocked multiplier - obvious from its K-series name, but just as importantly, it will feature Intel's Hyper-threading technology. This means it will have four threads for dealing with multiple workloads. The last cheap overclockable CPU was Intel's Pentium G3258, which was popular with budget system owners thanks to it being overclocking-friendly, but it had an Achilles heel - it only had two cores and lacked hyper-threading, which numerous benchmarks showed hurt it in tasks from gaming to photo editing.
If the Core i3-7350K does materialize and has these features, it could be perfect for budget systems. It will likely retail for around $100/£100 less than I'm expecting the Core i5-7600K to cost, making it the perfect partner for an Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti or AMD RX 470 and a 1080p gaming system.
There are some other reasons to pay attention to Intel's new CPUs in January too - they're shaping up to be great overclockers. Admittedly, there's not much difference in terms of clock-for-clock performance - benchmarks have already revealed the older Core i7-6700K and Core i7-7700K perform nearly identically at the same frequency, which means upgrading could be questionable. However, most industry experts and system builders I've spoken to agree that the new Kaby Lake CPUs are good overclockers, requiring less voltage to hit certain frequencies and able to reach higher frequencies too.
AMD, meanwhile, has been known to be up to something big for the last 12 months and we were finally treated to a live broadcast where it announced the name of its new CPUs - Ryzen, which is part of its Zen architecture. AMD plans to span Zen across numerous devices, but Ryzen's demonstrations were focussed on the enthusiast desktop gaming market.
The most interesting part of the presentation was the comparison between an 8-core Ryzen CPU and a comparable Intel Core i7-6900K, with the AMD CPU matching and even bettering the Intel model in several tests while operating at similar frequencies. This raised a few eyebrows, mainly because of the price - Intel's Core i7-6900K retails for over $1,000, whereas the AMD CPU is expected to cost much less than this.
AMD also discussed new technologies, such as Pure Power and Precision Boost, which it claims can drastically reduce the power required for a given performance level by measuring temperature, speed and voltage, adapting to the system's cooling capabilities too.
In short, AMD appears to have a CPU that can match Intel's equivalent, while offering some interesting enthusiast-orientated technology too. 2017 will definitely be interesting for PC gamers and enthusiasts and I already have review samples on my desk to do some testing ready for the launch so make sure to follow me on Forbes, Twitter or Facebook and watch this space.
