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Processors Arena

Processors arenaBuyer checklist

Every requirement we judge processors products against, as a ready-to-send RFP checklist — with each item's priority, why it matters, and how the top-ranked products score on it today.

44 requirements · 12 themes · verdicts for 8 products · updated 2026-09-15 · priorities mirror the story weights our scoring uses (methodology)

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# Processors — buyer checklist (RFP)

Derived from ProductArena's evidence-graded user-story taxonomy for Processors: 44 judged requirements. Priorities mirror story weights (3 = must-have, 2 = should-have, 1 = nice-to-have).

## Agenticness

- [ ] **[must-have]** Plug MCP servers into this product so it can use their tools
- [ ] **[must-have]** Connect an agent via an official MCP server
- [ ] **[must-have]** Drive the product through a documented public API
- [ ] **[must-have]** Delegate tasks to a built-in AI assistant inside the product
- [ ] **[should-have]** Point an agent at llms.txt or agent-oriented docs
- [ ] **[should-have]** Run the product headlessly / in CI for automation
- [ ] **[should-have]** Use an official CLI
- [ ] **[should-have]** Issue scoped/least-privilege API credentials for an agent
- [ ] **[should-have]** Build against official SDKs
- [ ] **[should-have]** Subscribe to events via webhooks
- [ ] **[should-have]** Get AI-generated insights and suggestions from my data inside the product
- [ ] **[should-have]** Set up automations that run autonomously in the background
- [ ] **[should-have]** Operate the product with natural-language commands
- [ ] **[should-have]** Explore an interactive API reference with runnable examples
- [ ] **[should-have]** Download a machine-readable API spec (OpenAPI or equivalent)
- [ ] **[should-have]** Rely on versioned APIs with a documented deprecation policy
- [ ] **[nice-to-have]** Test against a sandbox environment without touching production data

## Automation depth

- [ ] **[must-have]** Define rules that trigger actions automatically on events
- [ ] **[should-have]** Perform bulk operations across many items at once
- [ ] **[should-have]** Schedule recurring jobs or workflows
- [ ] **[nice-to-have]** Version, review, and roll back my automations

## Compute performance

- [ ] **[must-have]** Compile big codebases and run heavy parallel jobs fast — documented core counts and boost behavior, corroborated by independent multi-core benchmarks
- [ ] **[should-have]** Everyday interactive work feels instant — leading single-thread performance shown in independent benchmarks, not just a peak-GHz number on a slide

## Dev experience

- [ ] **[must-have]** This architecture is a first-class development target — mature compilers, official optimization guidance, and an OS and tooling ecosystem that treats it as tier one
- [ ] **[should-have]** VMs and containers run well on this silicon — documented virtualization support and mainstream hypervisor and Docker workflows

## Gaming media

- [ ] **[must-have]** This chip drives high frame rates in real games — vendor gaming claims (cache, boost behavior, integrated GPU class) corroborated by independent game benchmarks
- [ ] **[should-have]** Hardware media engines carry my editing and streaming — documented hardware encode and decode (AV1, HEVC, ProRes-class) on the chip itself

## Local ai

- [ ] **[must-have]** The chip's AI acceleration is exposed to developers — an NPU or neural engine with a published TOPS figure (precision stated) and an official SDK or runtime that ships today
- [ ] **[should-have]** Mainstream local-AI runtimes target this silicon — llama.cpp, MLX, ONNX Runtime, or the vendor's own AI software stack document support for its CPU, GPU, or NPU

## Memory io

- [ ] **[must-have]** Run a large local LLM (70B-class, quantized) on this platform — enough addressable memory and published memory bandwidth to make local inference practical
- [ ] **[should-have]** Size memory-bound workloads from the vendor's own numbers — published memory type, capacity ceiling, and bandwidth (or spec detail complete enough to derive it)

## Openness

- [ ] **[must-have]** Export all of my data in open formats and leave
- [ ] **[must-have]** Self-host the core product
- [ ] **[should-have]** Do everything through the API that I can do in the UI
- [ ] **[should-have]** Read the product's source under an open license

## Platform upgrade

- [ ] **[should-have]** The platform has documented I/O headroom — PCIe generation and lanes, fast storage, and external connectivity specs I can plan a build or dock setup around
- [ ] **[should-have]** Upgrade the CPU without replacing the platform — a documented socket with a stated multi-generation support commitment

## Power efficiency

- [ ] **[must-have]** Long renders and exports don't throttle away — documented power envelopes and independent testing showing strong sustained performance per watt
- [ ] **[should-have]** This chip powers thin, quiet, all-day-battery machines — shipping in fanless or low-power designs with credible battery-life evidence

## Privacy posture

- [ ] **[must-have]** Prevent my data from being used to train AI models
- [ ] **[should-have]** Choose where my data is stored (region/residency)
- [ ] **[should-have]** Control data retention and deletion
- [ ] **[should-have]** Opt out of telemetry and usage tracking

## Spec transparency

- [ ] **[should-have]** Comparison-shop from a real spec sheet — the vendor publishes clocks, power, memory support, and AI TOPS with test conditions, instead of marketing adjectives

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Source: https://ultrametric.ai/productarena/arena/processors (evidence-graded verdicts for 8 products) · methodology: https://ultrametric.ai/productarena/methodology

Chips show the top 5 ranked products' current verdict on each requirement — ✓ full · ~ partial · ! disputed · — none · n/a not applicable.

Agenticness — how well agents can access and operate the productAgenticness· 17 items

How well agents can access and operate the product

Automation depth — how much of the product can run unattendedAutomation depth· 4 items

How much of the product can run unattended

Compute performance — stories about compute performance in this arenaCompute performance· 2 items

Stories about compute performance in this arena

Dev experience — day-to-day developer experience — setup friction, docs, debugging, iteration speedDev experience· 2 items

Day-to-day developer experience — setup friction, docs, debugging, iteration speed

Gaming media — stories about gaming media in this arenaGaming media· 2 items

Stories about gaming media in this arena

Local ai — stories about local ai in this arenaLocal ai· 2 items

Stories about local ai in this arena

Memory io — stories about memory io in this arenaMemory io· 2 items

Stories about memory io in this arena

Openness — open source, data portability, and self-hosting storiesOpenness· 4 items

Open source, data portability, and self-hosting stories

Platform upgrade — stories about platform upgrade in this arenaPlatform upgrade· 2 items

Stories about platform upgrade in this arena

Power efficiency — stories about power efficiency in this arenaPower efficiency· 2 items

Stories about power efficiency in this arena

Privacy posture — data-handling and privacy storiesPrivacy posture· 4 items

Data-handling and privacy stories

Spec transparency — stories about spec transparency in this arenaSpec transparency· 1 item

Stories about spec transparency in this arena

Full evidence behind every verdict lives on the arena page and each product page — chips above deep-link straight to the judged story.