A mate is looking to upgrade after 10 years. He's not sure what to go for. He wants to know AMD or Intel for the CPU. He's never had an AMD.

scottthrustans · 29 Apr 2025 at 03:10

I've been explaining to him how IMD with the rising brand has sort of taken the lead really in the last few years but although my knowledge is more up to date than his he's done a lot of serious elbow clocking in his time and he's still running a 1080 on a really high quality rug board with an overclocked CPU from nearly ten years ago I think it is and you know he's got a custom water cooling rig. It just wants to know I think what your opinion is in terms of overclockability of current chips and if AMD are ahead in that area as well or whether he should stick with Intel. I think from my point of view a 9950X3D is probably his best option with you know a high quality rug board and probably he's thinking about a 5080 the 24 gig version if it comes out and he's going to do a custom water cool he's got half the stuff he needs already really it's just a question of getting a block for the rug graphics card. What do you guys think amd or Intel these days advice appreciate it thank you. From my point of view I'm also I've got like a medium to high spec build and I'm looking to water cool as well I suppose so I'll ask in the water cooling section about doing it that he can advise me

Toasty · 29 Apr 2025 at 09:14

Nothing really overclocks that much now compared to 10+ years ago as they both use thermal boost to eat into overlocking headroom. In terms of performance then 9950X3D is the best all rounder but 9800X3D is within 1-2% in terms of gaming.

If all he is bothered about is tinkering and overclocking then probably wants to go previous gen intel 13th/14th and ROG Z790 apex encore and trying to get memory running 8000+ but will require a lot of research and testing.

Given that the 5080 24GB is merely a rumor at this point it could be many months until it comes to light and may well use entirely new pcb layout so no point getting any sort of 5080 block for it now.

pastymuncher · 29 Apr 2025 at 10:36

Overclocking is just about dead now. CPU's are clocked to death straight from the factory with very little headroom left in them to make it worthwhile. Undervolting is the new overclocking and you can save a decent amount of power while lowering temps by doing this and as a result the cpu may boost higher and for longer. Personally I would avoid Intel altogether. The 13th/14th Gen has serious issues and to prevent them you need to flash the motherboards bios which restricts voltage and other things and can cripple performance. The new socket is dead already and the cpu's are very poor value for money. AMD on the other hand is going from strength to strength and AM5 still has at least one more generation of Ryzen cpu's to come to the platform. This is where I would (and did after many many years with Intel) put my money and a 9950x3d should last a good few years.

scottthrustans · 29 Apr 2025 at 15:21

Thanks for that. I've been wondering if it's worth him getting a temporary 5700X3D until the 10 series comes out... then going for the top 10 series... i suggested that might be a good idea as the jump from 9 to 10 sounds like it might be quite major.

Josey Wales · 29 Apr 2025 at 17:04

Thanks for that Scott. I was going to get around doing this at some point lol.
@Toasty @pastymuncher

I have a 4930k running at 4.5ghz HT On, motherboard Rampage 4 Black and a 1080ti, all of these custom water with monoblock, waterblocks, 2xRX360 Rads in a Corsair 900d case etc
The 4930k was a golden batch in its day still performing now however what i would like to know like i explained to Scott, can you still overclock on Intel and AMD like back in 2014/15?
Surely there must be some room for volt modding in the bios of a decent ROG board nowadays like there was a few years back, is this not as good now on AMD or Intel

I was also not sure on Intel or AMD but seems AMD is leading the way CPU wise nowadays..

Much appreciated for anybodys opinions and guidance.

Tetras · 29 Apr 2025 at 17:21

Josey Wales said:
however what i would like to know like i explained to Scott, can you still overclock on Intel and AMD like back in 2014/15?

Overclocking is really a very niche hobby now, it has gone from something a lot of people did (even fairly casual users, at one point), to something that hardly anyone does outside of super enthusiasts. The real proper overclocking boards have also gone from being modestly affordable, to borderline insane price levels.

Josey Wales said:
I was also not sure on Intel or AMD but seems AMD is leading the way CPU wise nowadays..

Gaming: you get the X3D, preferably the 9800X3D. Anything else: the 9950X3D.

Intel's Core Ultra CPUs are decent for productivity, but they're still inconsistent for gaming and they really need a lot of tuning and high speed RAM to get the best out of them. The Intel 200S boost has standardised some of that (and still covered by the warranty), but if you'd be wise to indulge in it after the 13th-14th gen issues, I'm not sure.

Armageus · 29 Apr 2025 at 17:49

Just to throw a minor spanner in the work however.

Is your mate the type of person who if you suggest an AMD chip and there is any issue whatsoever, will hold it against you and be instantly "should have bought Intel"?

Some people are so inherently biased that they will actively look for problems and potentially you might not hear the last of it.

pastymuncher · 29 Apr 2025 at 19:27

Josey Wales said:
can you still overclock on Intel and AMD like back in 2014/15?

Short answer, no because they clock them as high as they can from the factory now which is why there are the problems with Intel 13th/14th gen. You may get a couple of hundred mhz but that's not even worth bothering with. CPU's also tend to be a lot hotter running nowadays too. Like I said earlier, undervolting is where it's at now.

scottthrustans · 29 Apr 2025 at 20:03

Armageus said:
Just to throw a minor spanner in the work however.

Is your mate the type of person who if you suggest an AMD chip and there is any issue whatsoever, will hold it against you and be instantly "should have bought Intel"?

Some people are so inherently biased that they will actively look for problems and potentially you might not hear the last of it.

No he's a good egg. He wouldn't do that.

Josey Wales · 29 Apr 2025 at 22:31

pastymuncher said:
Short answer, no because they clock them as high as they can from the factory now which is why there are the problems with Intel 13th/14th gen. You may get a couple of hundred mhz but that's not even worth bothering with. CPU's also tend to be a lot hotter running nowadays too. Like I said earlier, undervolting is where it's at now.

Is this still the case even with decent water cooling?

Tetras · 29 Apr 2025 at 23:34

You can get more performance by dropping the power usage down and that doesn't need better cooling. The die density makes it hard to get the heat out anyhow, so the benefit of cooling only helps you so much.

If you did go for brute force (higher volts, lower temps), you'd push the CPU beyond the optimal efficiency curve (they're way beyond it "out of the box" anyway), which puts you in diminishing returns territory (e.g. 5% more performance for 30-40% more power).

pastymuncher · 30 Apr 2025 at 08:22

Josey Wales said:
Is this still the case even with decent water cooling?

Yes, watercooling makes no difference. Like myself and others have said, they are already clocked to death from the factory. Even if you threw volts at a cpu all you will end up doing is killing the cpu eventually, something Intel's 13th and 14th gen were doing straight from the factory. Overclocking is dead, water cooling is largely irrelevant unless it's for looks as you can make even a air cooler silent running. The best gains now are from undervolting.

Josey Wales · 1 May 2025 at 18:36

@pastymuncher ok mate thanks for that looks like ill go down the AMD route for the cpu. Nice one.

vectisitch · 8 May 2025 at 08:30

It's a shame really. I used to like over locking and watercooling my builds. No point now

Toasty · 8 May 2025 at 09:24

You can still do it but watercooling is mostly for looks now and overclocking you really need likes of an overlay to see the fps difference.

Better scenario for most users I suppose, bringing floor up and ceiling down.

clone · 8 May 2025 at 09:31

I used to be a hardcore intel guy, but because intel treated the 1300,1400 cpu by ignoring the problem that customers where having with them I got my first amd cpu 9950x3d, I've never looked back it been a great cpu.