AMD's Ryzen could be the defining processor of 2017

For the past decade Intel has ruled the processor roost. Sure, AMD has had a few minor hits, but they were never enough to get the company off the back foot and making real progress. Ryzen is the name for AMD's upcoming high-performance desktop processors based on the company's "Zen" core architecture (previously codenamed "Summit Ridge"). Ryzen chips built using 14-nanometer architecture will make their way into high-performance desktop and notebook systems, beginning in the first quarter of 2017. A claimed increase of greater than 40 percent in instructions per clock, that's what.