first off: i am not getting into the ongoing "intel/amd does everything better than amd/intel" .... thing. every thread seems to have one like this.
but. i've noticed something. proponents of am3+ platforms keep praising how fx<insert your fave cpu model number> on how much more 'value' they offer, overclocking, motherboard features and whatnot. one thing is quite clear though, fx cpus don't have any igpu. am3+ motherboards don't offer integrated gfx (afaik). so if you're gonna pit strictly intel vs amd, in this case, amd loses hands down because almost all the intel cpus (except the ones with -p suffix and such) have igpus. thus the 'value' that fx4xxx or 6xxx offer, especially fx4xxx vs core i3, goes away. you gotta put in a discreet card to count the fx cpus in. if you're gonna add oc to the calculation, add the value of a good mobo with decent vrm (at least 6 phases afaik), bios, a cooler that can cool those hot messes without driving you insane (imo at least a xig. loki or hyper 212+) - money just keeps on adding up.
here's where the trinity apus shine. the k series apus offer best of everything amd has to offer and it's very likely that kaveri will continue that trend. you get great igpu (no need for discreet), cheap price, 4 integer cores, mobos from a55 to a85 chipset.
so, it comes down to this: if you're gonna champion amd ( i just felt that i've written something like this before), pick your contenders, benchmarks, price points. for example: core i3 vs a10 5800k - 5800k wins. pit an fx8350 vs a core i5 3570k, 3570k will win because of hd4k igpu and better single core and gaming perf.
do's, don'ts and nevers to champion the amd cpus (fx, apus),
■
never let your opponent know that the fx needs a discreet gfx card. pit them in build against build instead of purely cpu vs cpu. count a discreet card in and then isolate the cpu perf.
■
do cherry pick, cherry pick and cherry pick some more.
do pick multithreaded benches and review articles that have majority benches that favor multiple integer cores e.g. bjorn3d, techreport, kitguru all have benches that favor higher number of integer cores. they factor in all benchmark scores so due to the majority of multicore-favoring benches, the final score/judgement will favor fx8350.
■
do not pick balanced benches like toms that also include single core/single thread performance and cpu bound gaming (if you do include a bench from these sites, pick a multithreaded bench).
■
always try to disregard power consumption and heat generation. this is a must when championing amd cpus. amd cpus are spaceheaters/toasters of the new generation. even some so-called 65w apus can easily push up to 100w heat on load. try to dismiss like 'real gamers and enthusiasts don't care about power use', 'power costs nothing where i live' etc. with that, try to add a snide remark on 'tree huggers' and add a numerical calculation of how little power costs where you live.
■
do blame intel's evil business practice. there is actually some truth to this, so your opponent will have a bit of a hard time.
■
do pick price points, not the products. a core i5 can humiliate every thing from amd on tasks that a regular gamer/prosumer-type user will perform. however, there are specific tasks that fx8350 will excel in.
do emphasise those tasks e.g. video encoding (2 pass, intel sometimes wins in the 1st pass), archiving (7zip, not winzip or rar), encryption. 'prove' that amd offers better performance for price at these tasks.
■
do try to pitch apus. trinity, upcoming richland and possibly 28nm kaveri apus will support the same socket so they'll offer a good upgrade path and save money. if you feel getting cornered, make a vague statement of amd offering better upgrade path and switch to the apus. since lga 1155 is dead end and upcoming haswell will support lga1150 socket,
in addition to that haswell's successor broadwell will mostly have cpus soldered on the motherboard - your opponent will never know what hit him/her/it/them.
■
do pick favorites. this requires a bit of reverse psychology. pick benchmarks that favor intel cpus. sounds weird? no. if you remove almost all the variables including platfors from a test, you'll see that some softwares simply favor one architecture or cpu over the other i.e. programmer(s) didn't bother to optimize for all hardware. pick one that favors intel and perform some of the '
do's' mentioned earlier. you have successfully managed to make intel look bad using the benchmarks that intel wins! great success!
■
do not choose benchmarks that come from software coded lazily/improperly. those tend to benefit from higher single core performance which is currently intel's forte. may be return to those when amd offers competitive single core perf. until then, no.
■
do not compare memory performance. amd's imc sucks balls, even most of amd fans know this. problem is that ram is so cheap and memory bw is so plenty for regular users that only benchmarkers and high-perf users will benefit from better memory performance. steer away from them.
■if you're comparing core i3/pentium vs apus,
do mention that the 4 core (even better with oc) apus will have an advantage in online multiplayer games. make sure to undermine hyperthreading.
■
do make fun of intel's product segmentation. in reality, intel, amd, nvidia all do this but your opponent needs to feel that intel's product segmentation is the worst thing since 'liz and dick'... or that new eddie murphy movie.
■
do fearmonger. scare people of the impending monopoly if amd goes belly up and intel has free reign on the cpu market. scare them with future $1000 core i3 though amd can't compete with intel even right now - that's why we have $1k core i7 3970x but your opponent doesn't need to know that.
do try to make him feel that intel has to have amd in order to sell cpus at reasonable prices (not that they don't do that already >_>).
■
do be pathetic, miserable, sappy. this one is one of the last resort moves. start moping saying that amd sucks, they're shitty garbage (even though only amd fanboys say that), people are always out for amd, amd should die etc. your opponent will feel so sorry for you that he/she/it/they will admit 'defeat' (from your p.o.v.) (as if winning/losing the argument serves a great(er) purpose). apparently this tactic is utilized by people who like pity-sex.....i could be wrong about this last bit...
■
do not argue about gaming benchmarks. this is a bit of a slippery slope. say you've started championing a quad apu against pentium and suddenly your opponent brings in a core i5 saying that 'proper' gaming needs at least a core i5 and a powerful discreet card. higher core amd cpus do have a slight advantage against lower core core i3/pentiums/celerons in multiplayer games. stick to a low price point so that your opponent can't bring in a core i5 or higher. also try to argue the definition of 'proper' gaming.
■
do mention 'superior' multitasking of amd cpus. this is somewhat true for 4+core amd cpus vs dual core intel cpus. most regular users don't have a clear idea about what will happen when all the cpu cores are loaded and which cpu will perform better. most people still think that higher number of cores easily results in better multitasking which is not always true - but your opponent doesn't need to know that.
■
do chant the 'moar cores are the future' mantra. this is true, more cpus/gpu cores will improve performance. although regular users still don't need more than 2-4 cores but make them feel that amd is offering more (but less performing) hardware for less money. old 6 cores amd phenom ii cpus never really caught on...
■
do mention that amd has better performance per dollar. this is mostly true if the benchmark suite you picked has majority of benches that favor multiple integer cores.
■
do make sure that the benchmark suite has less number of games. why? pc games only recently started using 4 cores, most of them still use 2 cores. even with games that use 4 cores, intel has an advantage for their superior single core performance. using the 'lower price point' tactic combined with 'moar cores...' will help you win.
■
do try to lock out core i5 cpus as much as you can. amd cpus' biggest advantages are actually against core i3 and lower cpus. quad core amd apus actually offer overall comparable cpu performance along with superior igpu performance.
so, to summerize: cherry pick, keep i5 out, pick lower price limit, fearmonger, act sad.
hopefully this will help a decently knowledgeable amd fanboy defeat an intel fan or a m.i.l.f. (mindless intel loving fanboy).
![Ange :ange: :ange:](/data/assets/smilies/ange.gif)