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Intel or AMD desktop processors?

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There are currently a large number of new processors aimed at the desktop market from Intel and AMD. This is as follows as a general overview:

Intel

  • Kaby Lake
  • Coffee Lake


AMD

  • Ryzen
  • Threadripper

So what do we actually have? So in general, AMD bring out the processors with more cores and Intel bring out the processors with higher clock speeds. Lets generalize now. I am going to assume there are 4 main markets:

  • Gamers
  • Home users
  • Business Users
  • Power users

Power users


I consider myself a power user so will start from here. As a power user, I expect to be able to get as much for my money as possible. This means I don't mind taking a small hit on clock frequency to get more jobs done. I am also mindful about my power usage too so this means I would rather not look at top spec fastest of the fast. So where does this leave me? Well, I have been an avid Intel fan for many years, mostly because AMD couldn't keep up but also because they had heat issues, power usage issues and more often than not would be the chip that crashed. So, I bought a Ryzen 1700.

Why?

I chose Ryzen over Intel's offerings for a number of reasons. The first being cores. Who wouldn't want 8 cores and 16 threads for well under £500? I have been caught out by cores to clock ratio with my last phone however where I doubled the cores but actually halved the total processing power!

So Ryzen 1700. Its 85 watts ish so in line with most higher end CPU's, 14nm meaning finally up with Intel and 3ghz without the .7 ghz boost on top! I know that 14nm chips have an incredible advantage over the previous 28nm generation produced by AMD in power usage and heat generated and I also know that I don't need a custom cooler just to keep it cool enough to run. In fact I have checked and at idle, the processor draws a tiny 12 watts!

I'm starting to sound like an AMD fanboy... Lets move on to Business users.

Business users


What do business users need? In general, a workstation that responds, doesn't crash and is reliable. Does the CPU matter in the business world? Depends on the business of course but here lie monsters. In general, businesses rarely buy machines for their spec and usually buy them based on one or two reference points. In general, the buyer of the machines has a set budget and they will try to stay under that as much as possible. As I work in a school, I have had the opportunity of influencing some of these requirements whereby all new machines (and all the old ones now) have SSD's installed. This by far improved the performance way more than a new processor. So in general, the 3 things looked at by businesses are:

  • CPU Brand
  • RAM
  • Storage Drive
I have already gone into a bit detail on storage devices so lets look at the other 2 categories. RAM is essential for more applications to run and CPU is essential to make it all work. What do businesses want though? Usually 4gb or 8gb RAM now and an i3 or an i5 processor. This is far from the reality of processors. Until 2017, processor speed has been relatively unmoving (clock speed) and cores have hardly increased. In fact, the original i7's only had 2 cores (reference)! These were launched 7 years ago along with the i7 9xx series which had 6 cores! Hang on a minute... You mean to say that in 7 years we have gone from i7 990 (reference) to i7 8700 (reference):

i7 990

Performance

test

i7 8700

Performance


So I know I am not doing the top end i9 but for like for like comparison this is very interesting. Clock speed increased slightly and power usage has halved. Intel appear to have stalled their i7 lines. Recently I have found that anyone running an older i5 or i3 doesnt really need to look at upgrading their processor unless they want one of the new chipsets and support for pcie3. Back to business users.

Looking at this information has revealed something very interesting. Business users really are right about find the cheapest and get it. You really don't need new! So, what would sway business users to change? Nothing. The brand is all that's needed.

So, Business users choose Intel.

Next on our list is the average home user.


Home users


As I have just pointed out for business users there is little need for the average home user to change their setup except maybe get an SSD to speed things up. This story is very similar in most places now. Should you buy Intel or AMD is the question?

If your asking this then your probably not an average home user. The choice is irrelevant, consider a Chromebook! If your concerned about the electric bill, consider the APU's from AMD or the low end/celeron offers from Intel. If your worried about speed, make sure you get an SSD.

Gamers


I hardly need to cover this topic. "Hardcore gamer's" will apparently always want more clock speed but to be fair, the category is really another area of needs which just aren't there. As with power users, cores matter but so does frames per second. What gives the best frames per second? Depends on the game. Some games are CPU intensive, others GPU. Recently I have seen a direct comparison video which shows that even an identical graphics card can have significant performance issues compared with a different one and that like for like there are literally only a handful of frames per second between the two CPU manufacturers. (reference)

Summary


So, I am going to sum up here. In general, you have a 50/50 requirement to choose either Intel or AMD, based on your category, you can decide your preferred CPU but in my opinion, consider value for money. Is £50 more for an Intel processor worth it? Do you need 5 fps more? Does using more power concern you?

Leave a comment and let me know what and why you chose for your last system.

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