Even at the end of April, AMD representatives made it clear that the "legalization" in the retail segment of the hybrid processors Bristol Ridge market is scheduled for the second half of the year, and now we have entered inevitably during this period. Recall that Bristol Ridge processors with Excavator architecture cores will be compatible with motherboards equipped with socket AM4, and for someone will be the first step on the way to Ryzen. However, while the "final announcement" of Bristol Ridge is being prepared, Ryzen 3 processors can go on sale, and then the price gap between them will be reduced.
On the other hand, we know that the AMD Raven Ridge hybrid processors with the architecture of the Zen computing cores and the graphics subsystem of the Vega generation, AMD expects to present in the desktop segment of the market by the end of this year. How will all these innovations work together in AMD's price list?
We do not have a reliable answer yet, but some of the inquiries sent early on allow us to state that the hybrid Raven Ridge with Vega graphics will be quite expensive against the background of other APUs - the same Bristol Ridge, for example. Accordingly, the supporter of hybrid solutions, having a motherboard with a socket AM4, will have the opportunity to choose between the available Bristol Ridge and the more expensive Raven Ridge. By the way, the price range of Raven Ridge can invade the "patrimony" of Ryzen 3, so it can not be unequivocally asserted that all hybrid processors of the first series will be cheaper than $ 169.
According to the timing of Raven Ridge announcement in the desktop segment, too, not everything is so unambiguous. Let's not forget that these processors will be endowed with a graphics system with Vega architecture. In fact, in "large" video cards it is only just getting ready to enter the market, so it is not easy to quickly release hybrid products with such graphics. Familiar with the plans of AMD sources are not yet ready to guarantee that the processors Raven Ridge in the desktop segment will appear just this year. But the long-awaited debut of Bristol Ridge against this background will seem appropriate.