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Should I move to AMD?

I was all set to upgrade to an i7 14700k but have been reading about these recent intel issues now I'm a bit stuck. Is it time for me to go AMD?

This is for my personal machine which does more gaming than development, but I still do a fair bit of compiling on it for personal projects. A lot of video and audio editing. I play games at 1080p at the moment but thats due to my computer being naff (its an i7 4770k, yes its that old). I'd like to 1440p, don't have the telly for 4k. I have a 4070 Ti Super, what are my options with AMD? I've got the expensive part mostly covered, but like a lot of people don't know much about AMD.

Given that this computers ~10 years old I suspect anything will feel like a significant upgrade.

Thing is you are really looking at either the 14700K or 7950X(3D) there with the AMD CPU quite a bit more expensive, the 7900 offerings I wouldn't personally consider as the split 6+6 configuration can give inconsistent performance compared to the alternatives. The 7800X3D can be as much as 40% slower for things like video editing.
 
Thing is you are really looking at either the 14700K or 7950X(3D) there with the AMD CPU quite a bit more expensive, the 7900 offerings I wouldn't personally consider as the split 6+6 configuration can give inconsistent performance compared to the alternatives. The 7800X3D can be as much as 40% slower for things like video editing.
40%? Wow thats considerable. Perhaps I should go back to looking at the 14700K then, though with the new cpu coming out reasonably soon (core ultra is it?) is there an expectation that existing gen prices might come down a bit? And how would one avoid the issues intel have been having recently? I take it with the patch they released recently a new processor shouldn't be a problem? But does it result in a performance hit? There's a lot of conflicting info out there.
 
40%? Wow thats considerable. Perhaps I should go back to looking at the 14700K then, though with the new cpu coming out reasonably soon (core ultra is it?) is there an expectation that existing gen prices might come down a bit? And how would one avoid the issues intel have been having recently? I take it with the patch they released recently a new processor shouldn't be a problem? But does it result in a performance hit? There's a lot of conflicting info out there.

The 7800X3D is built for gaming, in all other respects it sits alongside CPUs like the 7700X. Prices are all over the place at the moment which doesn't help, Intel may (or may not) also be bringing new CPUs to LGA1700 as well as the Core Ultra which should be out soonish.

The Intel patch is more of a band aid than a robust fix, still far too many details uncertain which sucks - but I've had zero issues with my launch day 14700K and no one in my closer acquaintances has had any issues with their 13th gen or 14th gen which hasn't been down to stuff like incompatible RAM and/or a poor IMC which couldn't handle faster than Intel spec RAM, etc. etc.
 
I see a lot of the prebuilt OCUK machines are using Radeons, rather than Nvidia, these days is that just a cost thing? Ie to keep the overall cost of the system down?
 
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I see a lot of the prebuilt OCUK machines are using Radeons, rather than Nvidia, these days is that just a cost thing? Ie to keep the overall cost of the system down?
Yes and no.

Yes, AMD has better value in some ways including better rasterisation performance and more VRAM for the price I still wouldn’t call a 7900XTX cheap.

Nvidia has better ray tracing performance and other tech like audio and video coding.

I would go for AMD for my needs as I don’t stream or use ray tracing and the VRAM amounts offered by Nvidia cards is laughable for many models.
 
I see a lot of the prebuilt OCUK machines are using Radeons, rather than Nvidia, these days is that just a cost thing? Ie to keep the overall cost of the system down?

I might be wrong as it is something I only have partial insight into but I believe at the moment if you are a system builder, etc. looking to buy in loads of GPUs for builds the deals are better on the AMD side.
 
Possibly, Nvidia cards have pretty poor failure rates and that’s deeply unattractive to OEMs.

That isn't what the published retailer data says for the past 3 years. The Radeon brands like Sapphire often used in pre built are amongst the worst.
 
That isn't what the published retailer data says for the past 3 years. The Radeon brands like Sapphire often used in pre built are amongst the worst.

Sapphire make all AMD OEM cards IIRC. If AMD are more popular with OEMs than it would stand to reason the retailers data shows a higher numbers. Again Nvidia suffering higher failure rates is likely at least one reason why platypus has noticed more AMD offerings.
 
Sapphire make all AMD OEM cards IIRC. If AMD are more popular with OEMs than it would stand to reason the retailers data shows a higher numbers. Again Nvidia suffering higher failure rates is likely at least one reason why platypus has noticed more AMD offerings.

That isn't what the numbers are saying. I don't entirely trust Mindfactory numbers but they aren't the only retailer/source publishing failure numbers. AMD GPU failure rates over the last 3 years have been between slightly and moderately higher than nVidia with statistically high enough volumes of both to be comparable.
 
That isn't what the numbers are saying. I don't entirely trust Mindfactory numbers but they aren't the only retailer/source publishing failure numbers. AMD GPU failure rates over the last 3 years have been between slightly and moderately higher than nVidia with statistically high enough volumes of both to be comparable.

Nvidia parts are suffering QC issues just now. I’ve had more than a few reoccurring issues.
 
Since it looks like the core ultra release is delayed, and intels issues just continue, perhaps now isn't a bad time to switch to AMD after all :p.

Must say I'm getting more and more tempted by just getting an AMD and if the productivity performance isn't quite up to the i7 it'll still be night and day better than what I've got now (i7 4770k) - I think I read the AM5 platform is supported until 2027 so at a push I could upgrade to a (current) top end chip then as well to extend life a bit?
 
Since it looks like the core ultra release is delayed, and intels issues just continue, perhaps now isn't a bad time to switch to AMD after all :p.

Must say I'm getting more and more tempted by just getting an AMD and if the productivity performance isn't quite up to the i7 it'll still be night and day better than what I've got now (i7 4770k) - I think I read the AM5 platform is supported until 2027 so at a push I could upgrade to a (current) top end chip then as well to extend life a bit?
So there’s a catch with the whole extended support that AMD offers with their products: are you actually going to make use of it?

If you only ever buy one CPU and one motherboard per generation and you never actually upgrade that system, do you really care about the extended support?

I don’t like Intels 2 CPU releases per socket approach, especially when they claim that the 2nd CPU release is a very mild performance upgrade, but for most people, it won’t make a difference.

People are often too afraid to update a BIOS (even though it’s easy and more reliable than ever and you can often save a bricked motherboard using Qflash or whatever) so removing a CPU and potentially damaging the sensitive pins of the socket (or CPU for AM4) is not worth it so they sell their system and buy a new one.

I’d argue that if you’re on a 4770K, you’re unlikely to make use of a generational refresh release so go with whichever you want.

I’d suggest you go for a 7800X3D or 5700X3D system (yes, I know that they are on different sockets, it’s the X3D tech and price that’s important) as you get incredible performance with low wattage and heat which just makes system maintenance easier (you can use a basic air cooler instead of an AIO or custom water loop system).

Very budget option that would work reaaaally well for a lot of people is a 5700X3D, 32gigs of 3600 MT/s of RAM and a B450 Max motherboard.

Hope this helps.
 
So there’s a catch with the whole extended support that AMD offers with their products: are you actually going to make use of it?

If you only ever buy one CPU and one motherboard per generation and you never actually upgrade that system, do you really care about the extended support?

I don’t like Intels 2 CPU releases per socket approach, especially when they claim that the 2nd CPU release is a very mild performance upgrade, but for most people, it won’t make a difference.

People are often too afraid to update a BIOS (even though it’s easy and more reliable than ever and you can often save a bricked motherboard using Qflash or whatever) so removing a CPU and potentially damaging the sensitive pins of the socket (or CPU for AM4) is not worth it so they sell their system and buy a new one.

I’d argue that if you’re on a 4770K, you’re unlikely to make use of a generational refresh release so go with whichever you want.

I’d suggest you go for a 7800X3D or 5700X3D system (yes, I know that they are on different sockets, it’s the X3D tech and price that’s important) as you get incredible performance with low wattage and heat which just makes system maintenance easier (you can use a basic air cooler instead of an AIO or custom water loop system).

Very budget option that would work reaaaally well for a lot of people is a 5700X3D, 32gigs of 3600 MT/s of RAM and a B450 Max motherboard.

Hope this helps.
Thanks this is a super helpful perspective on things - you’re right these days I’m unlikely to ever want to tinker and replace the cpu. Long time since my pc building days :p!

I think I’d want 64gb of ram, does that affect cpu choice at all? I guess overall an air cooler would be fine but are they noisier?
 
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