Question AM4 or LGA 1200?

[Burn After Burning]

Hey, just wanted to gather an opinion or three. I have two systems, one AM4 w/ R5 5600X and one Intel i7-11700K. They're on fairly equivalent ASUS X570/Z590 motherboards and every other part is pretty much interchangeable obviously. The AMD board has 2 Gen 4 M.2 slots but that's it, while the Intel board has 1 Gen 4 M.2 slot and three Gen 3s. I have two 500GB Gen 3 M.2s and two 1TB Gen 4s. GPU in either one would be a 3080 Ti. Both setups would be fully watercooled with 2 radiators. I don't want to spend a ton more and try to get a LGA 1700 system going or wait months until AM5 releases, so whichever one I choose will be my PC for a few years at least. If you had to be on one of these end of life platforms, which would you pick?

I'm leaning towards the AMD platform because it's more convenient (loop already set up on this system) and because I can run both of my Gen 4 drives. If I get a wild hair and need better gaming performance, 5800X3D is an option (or 5900/5950). On the intel side, I wouldn't ever upgrade, because i9 would be the only option and wouldn't be an upgrade for gaming. This is less about budget and more about the fact that I already have these and each CPU is plenty at 1440p or 4K.

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

If you had to be on one of these end of life platforms, which would you pick?

what type of performance are you getting with the current AMD system?

my current, pretty much identical, Intel system caps out my ultra-wide monitor's 120Hz refresh rate with 120fps in every game i've tried with the highest settings available @ 3440x1440p.
the most demanding i would say is Cyberpunk 2077 with Ray-Tracing & DLSS enabled.

AMD board has 2 Gen 4 M.2 slots but that's it, while the Intel board has 1 Gen 4 M.2 slot and three Gen 3

M.2 Gen3 vs Gen4 really doesn't make much difference in disk read/write speeds that i've seen.

i would imagine unless you're constantly working with extremely large highly compressed archives there would be no noticeable difference, and i doubt even then.

 

[Burn After Burning]

what type of performance are you getting with the current AMD system?

my current, pretty much identical, Intel system caps out my ultra-wide monitor's 120Hz refresh rate with 120fps in every game i've tried with the highest settings available @ 3440x1440p.
the most demanding i would say is Cyberpunk 2077 with Ray-Tracing & DLSS enabled.

M.2 Gen3 vs Gen4 really doesn't make much difference in disk read/write speeds that i've seen.

i would imagine unless you're constantly working with extremely large highly compressed archives there would be no noticeable difference, and i doubt even then.

I guess swapping the GPU between systems and comparing frame rates would be the best way to tell. I've only played a couple games with the AMD system so far, and none on the Intel with the 3080 Ti. Anything I play performs well though -- Apex Legends locked to 144 FPS, Kingdom Come on Ultra gets maybe 80 FPS but that game is terribly optimized. I'll load up some tough to run games like Red Dead 2 or Shadow of the Tomb Raider and see what the difference is.

I'm not sure I would even use all four SSDs when 2TB total is probably enough (I have 8TB HDD for storage also). 500GB doesn't go as far as it used to and those drives could be sold with the other setup.

I paid $199 for the i7 and $149 for the 5600X, so cost isn't much of a difference either. It feels odd putting a $150 CPU in a $3k computer though, so something better than any Intel chip like a 5800X3D makes the AMD system much more expensive.

I was hoping someone else had compared similar builds already since benchmarks aren't representative of the actual differences. Supposedly the 5600X and i7 should perform pretty much the same in games.

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

benchmarks aren't representative of the actual differences

this is always an important factor.
each system has to be run and tested on it's own.
each test system has a different setup, however slight it may be comapred to those listed.

if you're happy with the current AMD setup's performance but expecting something further you may be suffering from some builder's remorse that is really not applicable in this scenario.

 

[Burn After Burning]

this is always an important factor.
each system has to be run and tested on it's own.
each test system has a different setup, however slight it may be comapred to those listed.

if you're happy with the current AMD setup's performance but expecting something further you may be suffering from some builder's remorse that is really not applicable in this scenario.

No builders remorse at all, not sure where that idea came from. I just want to keep the better system and sell the other. There's no upgrade down the road for the Intel, since for gaming there would be no point in upgrading the i7 to an i9. Not enough difference there. But the AMD system could eventually have a 5800X3D or similar, if I felt like I needed a better CPU in a couple years. And that would be a better CPU than the i7 and the i9.

As I said, testing each system is the only way to tell, but this is tomshardware. People here do that kind of thing. If someone already had done this comparison, that's what I would like to know. If not, I'll do it myself and decide from there. But from my workplace at 1AM, asking others if they have is what I have available to me. Rebuilding systems isn't quite as easy or quick as asking.

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

If someone already had done this comparison, that's what I would like to know

if you actually have this AMD setup installed you can compare it to what my 11th gen Intel system already provides.
very simple.

There's no upgrade down the road for the Intel

if you're planning on a CPU upgrade every few months then you will definitely have to wait for the latest platforms and even then be stuck there for months or years at a time.

the AMD system could eventually have a 5800X3D or similar, if I felt like I needed a better CPU in a couple years. And that would be a better CPU than the i7

if this idea is already infused into your system, what type of different option were you hoping for?

 

[Burn After Burning]

if you actually have this AMD setup installed you can compare it to what my 11th gen Intel system already provides.
very simple.

if you're planning on a CPU upgrade every few months then you will definitely have to wait for the latest platforms and even then be stuck there for months or years at a time.

if this idea is already infused into your system, what type of different option were you hoping for?

Be my guest if you want to post some actual numbers that your Intel system is getting. "Maxes out my monitor's refresh rate" isn't very specific, and we are running different resolutions and different refresh rates.

If I were planning on CPU upgrades every few months I wouldn't have asked at all. You'll see in my OP I said I'll have this PC for at least a few years. Not sure where that idea came from either.

I'm not hoping for a different option, I'm literally asking what other people would pick and why.

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

Be my guest if you want to post some actual numbers that your Intel system is getting. "Maxes out my monitor's refresh rate" isn't very specific

my ultra-wide monitor's 120Hz refresh rate with 120fps in every game i've tried with the highest settings available @ 3440x1440p.
the most demanding i would say is Cyberpunk 2077 with Ray-Tracing & DLSS enabled

if your current AMD setup gets higher values than what is posted you should stick with it.
if not, switch to the Intel setup.

whether the values lean one way or the other;
if you're just a fanboy of AMD, stick with it because you will be happier unto yourself.

 

[Burn After Burning]

Thanks for your input, looking forward to someone else's response.