Here is my understanding of the cpu
1) they put 8 cores with 16 threads on it
2) it can match or surpass intel's 8 core
3) based on gameplay they showed, its not a case where the threading scales just that damn good
4) This was the bare minimum we can expect from zen at launch
and from reading about the cores themselves, just note my understanding is basic here, they have less fpu throughput than intel does. This saves die space, as zen is about 160mm^2 if their half the size of 8350 is real. What this also does is allows them to put out a VERY powerful cpu using less resources because those higher fpu workloads are not used by most people. The most recent thing I heard, so no real veracity to it other than hear say is if they compared zen against intel when intel was using a higher fpu to do the same thing, it would have been 40-50% faster.
It also seems like it will only have dual channel memory apposed to quad channel
However, and here comes a big thing, amd has been targeting sweet spots with their products, or at least trying to for a while, as they were losing out going all out all the time, the 480 is an example of this, a gpu in the top of the price range of what most people would pay. This is likely what they did what the ryzen too.
But there is one more interesting aspect too. This wasn't a server event, this wasn't an enterprise event, this was one that focused on consumers and gamers, why would as someone else said, and 800$ cpu appeal to a gamer when intel's 150-200$ i3/i5 cpu is almost preferable to use in games because an i7 isn't that large a benefit for the price if at all?
The last thing they showed interested me, the 6700 vs ryzen vs 6900
The 6700 is about 340$
ryzen was not confirmed for price
and the 6900 is 1100$
If amd was putting out bare minimum ryzen for well over 500$, why compare it to a 340$ cpu? who the hell would go "I was going to get intel's 4 core i7, but for only 800$ i get amds 8 core so that is better" If anything, comparing it to intel's 6 core would have been the better route.
Amd made a point many times to tell you 'this is the bare minimum for 8 core ryzen' so that means there will be more than one sku. What I read this as is, at minimum this is the performance you are getting, and this is how much it will cost.
I mean an event/investor thing before told them 'we are looking to satisfy 80% of our clients workloads' which clearly tells me that they skimped, but this also lowered the cost, and raised the yields due to chip size. there are numbers floating around telling us there will be a 4 core 8 thread, a 6 core 12 thread below and an 8 core 16 thread above the bare bones zen, they priced them at 150, 250, 350, and 500 respectively. How much you can count on this to be real is up in the air entirely, but that last demo where they showed the 6700 ryzen and 6900 makes me believe the 350 price point a bit more.