RCaron :
Games will also be going this direction. You can do more faster with more cores, even if those cores aren't amazing (like Intel's cores). There is no beating this. This means for the next year or more Intel will be behind AMD in multicore applications.. but I'd expect Intel's response to be impressive.
I had to check and make sure I was reading the Ryzen review comments. This sounds exactly like a comment from the Bulldozer review. But with Ryzen I agree especially from a value-perspective. But games are still a long way from being optimized for more than four threads. We'll continue to see 4 core high-IPC CPUs beating higher-core-count lower-IPC CPUs for quite some time. We are just starting to see developers require more than 2C/2T CPUs... Don't forget that the typical Mr. Average Joe Gamer is still on a 4-thread CPU... and developers know this. Game-graphics enhancements are mostly coming from more powerful GPUs. DX12 and Vulkan are helping too, but mostly by being closer to the metal and cutting out CPU overhead. This is why many benchmarks are showing that systems with weaker CPUs benefit more from these newer APIs.
RCaron :
What these reviews do show, and this is where the author ultimately fails, is that Ryzen is fast enough to play games at high resolution, without noticing any real difference in performance. Future games that are programmed for mutlicores will run faster on a Ryzen CPU with more cores than on the comparable Intel offering with fewer cores. This article shows this.
In other words, when you have a GPU bottleneck at high resolutions, performance isn't linked to the CPU. This article is examining CPU performance, not GPU performance. Take a look at the Civ VI AI test - 45 threads yet a stock 4C/4T Kaby Lake beats an 8C/16T Ryzen. Even the 6C/12T Ryzen beats the 8C/16T Ryzen. Games are and
will continue to be inconsistent with core/thread scaling. No doubt, there are a few outliers and I'm sure that this will eventually change. But if you talk to any game developer you will learn that this will be true for the foreseeable future.
RCaron :
So the final comment should be, would you rather spend $240 on a chip (not to mention motherboard and ram) that is going to be slow as molasses running games optimized for multiple cores next year, or do you want to pay $249 for a chip that will only get faster from year to year as more and more software is designed for multicore processing.
No modern desktop four core Intel will be slow as molasses in next year's games or the year after games. Ryzen's relative performance should improve, but certainly not in every game released. I'm not entirely disagreeing with you - I'm just pointing out that you are being entirely too inaccurately-sensationalist for a techy comment section. It's borderline fanboyism.
RCaron :
At this point the decision is simple. Intel as it is right now, is selling yesterday's technology.
If you buy a computer to last 1 year, then buy Intel. But if you want something that will last 5 years and still be able to play games at high resolution then your ONLY option is buy a Ryzen. There is no escaping this fact, it's the single common comment by most technical reviewers, including this one. He clearly states that Intel is benefiting from software designed to run single-core processors.
Not even a shred of truth in those statements. Intel sells 2, 4 , 6 and 8-core CPUs (excluding Xeons). These are cutting-edge designs that perform consistently and reliably in today and tomorrow's applications. Intel's continued superior IPC, memory-controllers and clockspeeds give their CPUs better performance in most lightly-threaded applications. What you seem to not understand is that lightly-threaded applications are commonplace all over the software world today and aren't going to magically change overnight. Architecturally, software doesn't change as quickly as you seem to think. That being said, clearly AMD is offering superior value to those who are running well-threaded applications. No one can deny that is awesome!
RCaron :
If you buy Intel you're literally throwing your money in the toilet. with respect to the future performance of your new computer.
Fanboyism at its finest. There is literally nothing that is true in that statement.