Help Understanding New CPUs (ryzen v intel)

[drew64]

Ive been out of the PC market for a good few years, but my trusty overclocked 950 is on it's way out, and im seeing the blue screens

When looking at discussions here, and around the net, the concensus seems to be that ryzen is the new hotness, but ive heard that the first models were not as good as the newer ones?

I was hoping someone could explain which are the CPUs to go for, and why the clockspeed on the AMD ones (even overclocked) seems to be much lower than intel. Clockspeed was always the 'main' thing back when i got my setup.

I'm probably going to buy an overclocked bundle, rather than do it myself, so if that simplifies things, that's great.

 

[DarkHorizon472]

Ryzen gains by giving more cpu cores at most price points. If the apps or games you play can make use of multiple cores and threads you will see a big improvement.

My old i5-760 @ 3.8ghz was maxed out playing bf1 but my gpu was not close to maxing out. My ryzen 1700 @ 3.675 playing bf1 is at around 30% while my gpu is maxed out.

Make sure if you go the ryzen route you get 3200 or faster b die ram as ryzen benefits from faster ram and Hynix based ram does not currently run as fast. For my uses the intel options seemed poor value for money. If you need really fast single core performance then intel could be a better option.

 

[mistersprinkles]

On paper, Ryzen= more threads, less money, similar performance.

In real life that's mostly true but some applications (most) are still intel optimized. Some people say to stick with Intel for gaming- for now. But the value per dollar/pound of Ryzen can not be denied.

 

[TallPaul1878]

A lot of people are choosing Ryzen for their new builds because AMD suggested that the AM4 platform would last up to 4 years. That means you can get into the Ryzen platform at the cheap end with a cheaper 6 core R5 1600 and in 2 or 3 years still have the opportunity to upgrade to the big 8 core chips, especially as games will hopefully be a lot more friendly with 8 cores and 16 threads.

With Intel we know that they have been replacing platforms every 2 years. So if you had a 4790k, which is still a beast today, then that platform is dead. You need a whole new system. Same with the latest Intel chipset. Coffee Lake is due out in August but that will be the last chip on that chipset.

If that isn't a problem and you run your PC until it dies or becomes obsolete then you're probably fine with Intel.

If you're a tinkerer and like upgrading then I think the smart money is with AMD.

 

[Badfish]

It really depends on the games you are playing. If you need high single core speed then Intel is better but for multi core games the AMD is better for money than Intel. Personally, despite being an Intel fan for many years, I would buy a Ryzen CPU now if I needed a new CPU, its far better value for money.