Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News , or add us as a preferred source , to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds.
Hassam Nasir is a die-hard hardware enthusiast with years of experience as a tech editor and writer, focusing on detailed CPU comparisons and general hardware news. When he\u2019s not working, you\u2019ll find him bending tubes for his ever-evolving custom water-loop gaming rig or benchmarking the latest CPUs and GPUs just for fun. ","collapsible":{"enabled":true,"maxHeight":250,"readMoreText":"Read more","readLessText":"Read less"}}), "https://slice.vanilla.futurecdn.net/13-4-17/js/authorBio.js"); } else { console.error('%c FTE ','background: #9306F9; color: #ffffff','no lazy slice hydration function available'); } Hassam Nasir Social Links Navigation Contributing Writer Hassam Nasir is a die-hard hardware enthusiast with years of experience as a tech editor and writer, focusing on detailed CPU comparisons and general hardware news. When he’s not working, you’ll find him bending tubes for his ever-evolving custom water-loop gaming rig or benchmarking the latest CPUs and GPUs just for fun.
thestryker From AMD's perspective delaying would make sense as they rely more on DIY/enthusiast than Intel. Their CCDs are also shared between enterprise and client so a delay could just bolster the higher profit segment. On Intel's side it makes a lot less sense unless there's a real reason for the delay. NVL is using some form of dual source between TSMC N2 and Intel 18A and their Compute Tile design is client only. That would mean a delay would simply be sitting on silicon and it's not like Q4 2026 to Q1 2027 is going to have any meaningful market shift to make them more desirable. Reply
Hotrod2go High DDR5 prices is definitely influencing this among other factors & its also encouraging DIYers to build DDR4 based rigs now or rejuvenate an older rig. Has anyone seen the prices now of new DDR4 kits? they have literally doubled over the last couple months already. Even 2nd hand ones on ebay show this trend as well. Reply
ezst036 One rationale for Intel that comes to my mind is if they really are going to push some time out on new arch, they can also tip some weight into manufacturing and process during that time. Is Nova Lake more important than Intel/18A? Probably not. Sure Intel could gain a lot of value from an arch win but 18A is do or die. And the better process nodes will benefit the new arch(probably the one after it more likely) anyways as well so win win. Reply
Pierce2623 thestryker said: From AMD's perspective delaying would make sense as they rely more on DIY/enthusiast than Intel. Their CCDs are also shared between enterprise and client so a delay could just bolster the higher profit segment. On Intel's side it makes a lot less sense unless there's a real reason for the delay. NVL is using some form of dual source between TSMC N2 and Intel 18A and their Compute Tile design is client only. That would mean a delay would simply be sitting on silicon and it's not like Q4 2026 to Q1 2027 is going to have any meaningful market shift to make them more desirable. I think they mostly don’t want the scrutiny of terrible sales numbers because nobody can afford to pay ridiculous RAM prices. I’ll sit on zen4 as long as I need to because I’m not paying over $400 for 32GB of ddr5 and I don’t want to reuse the terrible micron ddr5 I have now unless zen6 has a revolutionary performance gain. Im not expecting that. Reply
thestryker Pierce2623 said: I think they mostly don’t want the scrutiny of terrible sales numbers because nobody can afford to pay ridiculous RAM prices. Prices won't be getting better by delaying a quarter which is why I said the strategy makes sense for AMD who can sell their CCDs elsewhere, but not for Intel which cannot. Reply
thestryker ezst036 said: One rationale for Intel that comes to my mind is if they really are going to push some time out on new arch, they can also tip some weight into manufacturing and process during that time. NVL is being built on Intel's 18A and TSMC's N2 (Intel has not officially said which for which SKUs, but leakers say TSMC for NVL-S) so manufacturing really doesn't come into play here as they've already paid for the wafers. Reply
TerryLaze thestryker said: Prices won't be getting better by delaying a quarter which is why I said the strategy makes sense for AMD who can sell their CCDs elsewhere, but not for Intel which cannot. They can't, at least not when we are taking one quarter, the shipping to the packaging place alone probably takes that long. Reply
Zoolook13 Low quality article, Zen 6 is clearly on time and already in hands of early "special" customers, enterprise launch seems on track and Zen 6 desktop has never been shown as a 2026 launch AFAIK, debuting on CES means shipping to packaging 2 half of 2026 after a few quarters of harvesting CCDs. All reasonable and its hard to see why they would have planned it any different, and clearly no incentive to rush out a product in the current market. Reply
thestryker TerryLaze said: They can't, at least not when we are taking one quarter, the shipping to the packaging place alone probably takes that long. I don't really understand what you're trying to say here. If you're saying AMD cannot delay the release by a quarter of course they can since that quarter is a year away. That's plenty of time to increase priority of enterprise parts over client since they use the same CCDs and should still be using the same packaging technology. Reply
Key considerations
- Investor positioning can change fast
- Volatility remains possible near catalysts
- Macro rates and liquidity can dominate flows
Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/cpus/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/cpus/amd-zen-6-and-intel-nova-lake-cpus-reportedly-arriving-late-delayed-to-ces-2027-next-gen-chips-rocked-by-industry-turmoil#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com
- Dell's new prebuilt PC has special custom power connector for Nvidia GPU — even large OEMs apparently fear the 16-pin power connector meltdowns
- GeForce NOW Turns Screens Into a Gaming Machine
- 55 years ago, the first computer search warrant was issued — in February 1971, a Santa Clara judge authorized police to seize punch cards and a 'computer memory
- New SemiAnalysis InferenceX Data Shows NVIDIA Blackwell Ultra Delivers up to 50x Better Performance and 35x Lower Costs for Agentic AI
- 55 years ago, the first computer search warrant was issued — in February 1971, a Santa Clara judge authorized police to seize punch cards and a 'computer memory
Informational only. No financial advice. Do your own research.