With x86 processors you actually only connect the two names AMD and Intel. The website Anandtech now brings a new name into play in a current test: Hygon. The corresponding processor comes from China.
The base of this CPU comes from one of the two big names in the processor segment, more precisely from AMD,
The processor probably originated from AMD's need for financial resources at the time and China's desire to be technically less dependent on Western (or American) companies. More on the background follows in the last section of this article, but let's first look at performance.
How fast is the Hygon CPU?
The technical basis of the Hygon processor is AMD's Zen architecture, which is used in the first Ryzen processors (Ryzen 1000), but in a partially adapted form that is deliberately slowed down by AMD.
Anandtech has not tested games. But in Windows applications, the Hygon model with eight cores is roughly between a Ryzen 7 1800X with eight cores and a Ryzen 5 1600X with six cores.
The performance is not constant: In some measurements, the Hygon processor is even slower than quad-core processors like the Ryzen 3 1200 and the Athlon 200GE. This also applies to the also tested server model with two times 32 cores. In addition, not all applications ran with the Hygon processors.
No competition for AMD and Intel
In the test of the Hygon CPU, Anandtech goes into detail about the complicated background of its creation. They make it clear that these processors could never – or should – never be real competition for AMD and Intel.
Accordingly, it is hardly possible to compete with AMD and Intel in this field based on important patents in connection with the x86 architecture. In addition, the US government has strict requirements regarding the extent to which technological knowledge may be shared with foreign companies.
In the case of processors, this is probably only allowed if they do not exceed a certain performance limit. This should also be the reason why the Hygon processors handle certain instructions more slowly than Zen models or do not master them at all.
