Not long ago, AMD was written off as a serious processor maker, but then they made a spectacular comeback in 2017, with the Ryzen and EPYC processors based on the new "Zen" micro-architecture. These chips hit Intel's 7th generation Core "Kaby Lake" series so hard, that the company cut its yearly generational product cycle by half and rushed in the 8th generation Core "Coffee Lake" series, with 50-100% core-count increases across the board, to restore competitiveness. Intel succeeded in taking back the mainstream-desktop performance crown with the Core i7-8700K, and it's time now for AMD's response.

AMD technically debuted its 2nd generation Ryzen processor family with the Ryzen 2000G "Raven Ridge" APU series; but for all intents and purposes, the new Ryzen 2000 "Pinnacle Ridge" is where the company's fightback really begins with. These chips are based on a new 12 nanometer GlobalFoundries process, and it's the first time since forever, that AMD is building its processors on a smaller process node than Intel. It could hold on to this feat for at least half a year before Intel responds with its first 10 nm chips.