AMD Zen specs news 2016: Leaks suggest AMD Zen is faster than Intel Core i5 and Piledriver

For the past few months, electronics company Advanced Micro Device (AMD) is reported to update its list of central processing units (CPU) this year with the anticipated arrival of the AMD Zen Summit Ridge processors. There have been no confirmed specs details and descriptions aside from those teased by AMD. Regardless, AMD has yet to keep the important information under wraps, such as Zen's over-all clock performance and processing speed. 

The good thing is that benchmark results for an engineering sample of the AMD Zen Summit Ridge processors have been recently leaked online, giving tech enthusiasts background on how fast and competitive this latest AMD technology is when compared to this generation's top CPU manufacturers like Intel. According to the report provided by WCCF Tech, the benchmark results prove that the AMD Zen is faster than the Intel Core i5 processor. The results are from the Ashes of the Singularity benchmark database, and so far, the performance of the AMD Zen is quite impressive, especially since it managed to compete with the Intel Core family CPUs.

Specifically, the OPN or the Order Part Number of the leaked sample is 1D2801A2M88E4_32/28_N. By looking at this long and unique identifier for the AMD Zen, one can figure out the processor's base clock and turbo clock. These details are indicated in the second part of the number after the first underscore (32/28). Therefore, the Zen processor has a 2.8 GHz base clock and a 3.2 GHz turbo clock.

As noted by iTech Post, it is already impressive that the engineering sample of the AMD Zen matches the intel Core i5-4670K variant. Also, it is probably the first time that an AMD chip has outperformed an Intel CPU, more so an Intel Core product. It is also remarkable that the AMD Zen runs at a relatively low clock speed.

On the other hand, Extreme Tech compared the AMD Zen's results with the performance of Sunnvale's Piledriver. It appears that AMD's claimed 40% improvement in their next CPU is effective to provide an edge over the Piledriver. The fact that the AMD Zen is capable of battling it out against Intel Core on a clock-for-clock basis already outclasses the Piledriver CPU.