AMD's upcoming Ryzen chips probably represent the hardware world's most awaited shake-up in recent times (and I do know I've been mentioning this non-stop, but please, do bear with me here). The thought that the underdog could finally present an actual alternative - at least performance-wise - to its Goliath of a rival - and thus introducing renewed competition in a bogged-down hardware segment and the democratization of high-quality processing cores - is simply too good to not gobble down like water given to a desert nomad. I, for one, hope that AMD can deliver, prompting a better competitive - and pricing - environment for all of us.

And it would seem that Intel is looking to staunch an eventual bleeding that AMD's Ryzen chips might instill to their CPU line-up, with its expected 4-core, 8-thread, 6-core 12-thread, and 8-core, 16-thread Ryzen processors, by shaking up its - now ancient - line-up of Core processors. Intel has already introduced some changes to its line with the release of Kaby Lake - with some Celeron processors carrying Hyper Threading, previously locked to their i3 processors, and the first unlocked-multiplier Core i3-7350K processor, but apparently the company feels that isn't enough for Ryzen's expected performance - enter the Core i7-7740K and the Core i5-7640K.According to some industry sources, Intel is preparing these two CPU solutions as a containment attempt for AMD's Ryzen onslaught. First up, we have the i7-7740K, which is your run-of the mill Core i7, increasingly fleshing out the i7 line of Intel processors. It supposedly carries 8 MB of L3 cache, and sports a base frequency at 4.30 GHz (100 MHz higher than the 7700K), but a 9W higher TDP (at 100W when compared to the 91W of the i7-7700K. The Turbo frequency is still up in the air, but logic points to it being at the 4.60 GHz (again, 100 MHz higher than that of the i7-7700K). Honestly, this is just another Intel processor, with a slight frequency bump and probably a disproportionate increase in the price-tag, and I don't feel it offers that much more in a fight against AMD.

The i5-7640K, however, could be another beast entirely. Take this with a truckload of salt, obviously, but this part (which is confirmed to be upcoming) can feature HyperThreading (according to some sources; there are conflicting reports on this one). All other features are on par with the i5-7600K: 6 MB L3, 4.00 GHz base frequency (a meatier 200 MHz boost over the i5-7600K's 3.80 GHz). On the TDP side, it would also climb above the 100W mark. But the HyperThreading is what's interesting: it would be the first time an i5 would carry that particular piece of technology, thus throwing a proverbial wrench into Intel's pretty (if uninteresting) line-up of processors. After all, every consumer knows that what separates the i7 from the i5 is the HyperThreading... Or is it now?

If true, this is a bold, bold move for a typically conservative (and rightly so; when you're the best and there's no competition it's hard to find the motivation to innovate just for the sake of it, considering you'll be outselling the competition as it is) company. I personally don't expect the part to have HTT - I think it's just too much of a shake-up to Intel's line-up, a show of blood in the water, if you may - and would expect a mere frequency bump over the i5-7600K. But if Intel does do this shake-up, it comes a year earlier than I expected, and is sure to stir up the pot of competition something fierce. We'll probably have answers on this by the end of the week, though, supposedly the time where hardware partners will begin sampling the new processors.