AMD vs. Intel: Which PC Build is Better for Under $500

[myyeung1]

If your article isn't blatantly biased, then neither is this. For under $500 USD?
Oops AMD just won every category.

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/yVVfD2
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/yVVfD2/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 3 1200 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($93.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - GA-AB350M-DS3H Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Team - Vulcan 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($70.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Team - L5 LITE 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: PowerColor - Radeon RX 580 8GB Video Card ($199.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Rosewill - FBM-X1 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair - CX (2017) 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($22.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $497.81
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-10-02 23:58 EDT-0400

 

[myyeung1]

If your article isn't blatantly biased, then neither is this.
For under $500 USD,
Oops, AMD just won every category.

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/yVVfD2
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/yVVfD2/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 3 1200 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($93.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - GA-AB350M-DS3H Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Team - Vulcan 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($70.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Team - L5 LITE 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: PowerColor - Radeon RX 580 8GB Video Card ($199.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Rosewill - FBM-X1 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair - CX (2017) 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($22.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $497.81
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-10-02 23:58 EDT-0400

 

[peja5081]

This is comparing igpu vs discrete gpu.should change the title.if want to compare amd vs intel build.. you should take cpu same price.get it?

 

[mandapsantoso]

After mulling over this article for a while, I have a few questions:
1. Why choose the more expensive 2400G? Why not 2200G? It's still better performing than the Pentium G5400
2. Why different capacity SSD? And for a budget build, why SSD at all?
3. Why different RAM config?
4. Why not including the rebate and or promotion? I noticed that AMD products are more freq on the sale and promotion that can lower down the price more
5. Where in the world can you find a Pentium G5400 for 60 today? The cheapest on Amazon is for 90, Newegg at 117

Aren't all these points will results in a much cheaper AMD build or you can pair the AMD build with the same GTX 1050? And even then, AMD build should have a better upgrade path.

Edit: Try this list I made specifically for this article from PCPartpicker just now:
https://pcpartpicker.com/b/6KdXsY

 

[tcrelectronics]

Lol click bait Intel fan boy is all tom'shardware has turned into. Hardly ever do I see anything worth a damn come from this sight anymore

 

[Shumok]

A more reasonable comparison would have been the 2400G (~$160) vs the G5400+a GT 1030 ($70+$90=$160) since you are equalizing the cost of the primary drivers of performance (cpu+gpu).

 

[Hoodyracoon]

fixed your amd build, drop the ssd to a 240 and now it fits a 1050 https://pcpartpicker.com/list/BRTjbX

or drop the cpu to a 1400 cuz you dont need the igpu now and either get a 500gb ssd or a rx 570 https://pcpartpicker.com/list/BRTjbX

or screw smt your playing games its not even needed get a 2200g(1200 is only 3$ cheaper might as well have a igpu) next you know rx 580 8g for 504$(i tried really did cant get any lower without a crap case or psu)
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/qpHnjy

 

[BaRoMeTrIc]

This is garbage, putting a 1050 vs a 2400g, when we all know a 2400g barely keeps up with a 1030

 

[yasinyo2002]

I think this is a low effort and unfair comparison.
I made two PCPP lists of 500$ builds i find much more fitting for such article.
AMD build: https://pcpartpicker.com/user/yasinyo/saved/kYddXL
Intel build:
https://pcpartpicker.com/user/yasinyo/saved/fwYmqs
The only variables should be the CPUs (possibly graphics). Adding a 50$ more expensive SSD to the AMD build is not really fair.

 

[homoki.roland]

You should have used an NVMe SSD (250 GB) for the AMD build, and include boot and game load times too.

 

[shadowlid]

Lol how did this guy get a job reviewing PC hardware???? He must of built his first computer in 1999. Building it as in (on dell's website and having it shipped to him) then the mild modding was adding in a graphics card a year later??? Lol move to Scotland for good buddy and stop posting trash articles like this one.

 

[leejackp]

Wow! Among athlete's, did you all know that Roger Federer who makes about the same salary as Kevin Durant is better at tennis?

 

[Blaze_1]

Wow, I was not expecting this to be as biased as this. I had to go back and check the config again. I thought the 2400g was chose because of how cheap it was, not because it was going to be your primary video as well. Both should have been fitted for 1050's for fair reporting. At that point, you could have gone with the 2200g or even the 1200. At the price point offered for the 2400g processor, there is also the 1400,1500x,1600.

 

[zodden1701]

I think the conclusion is terrible advice. I mean whats the purpose here? If its for gaming the dedicated GPU wins flat out. Your benches tell the tale. Skip the SSD and buy a 2TB mechanical drive. Deal with higher FPS and longer load times or games that load fast and are almost unplayable unless you move to low settings.

 

[TrackSmart]

Dear Tom's Hardware,

Just change the title of this article and you won't get so much hate!

The real title of this article should not be "AMD vs. Intel". A more accurate title:
"$500 PC Builds: Optimizing for Gaming vs. Productivity"

Then you could emphasize the honest and useful part of this article, which is the trade-off between building a *well-rounded system* vs one that focuses exclusively on *gaming performance*. The AMD/Intel part is obviously irrelevant to this conversation. You could pair a cheaper AMD CPU and the same smaller SSD and discrete GPU for within $20 of the Intel build.

[On another note: Did you guys purposely choose this title to be annoying click bait?
If yes, shame on you. If no, where is the common sense? Maybe Tom can come back from retirement. Or just give him a big "REJECT" button that he can push whenever writers do really dumb things, like this title. Or the "Just Buy It" article.

 

[xxxlun4icexxx]

The people losing their mind over the title are hilarious. I bet you ruined their whole day.

 

[Puiucs]

one of the most useless comparison articles i've read in a long time. he went with the most expensive apu and compared it to the gtx 1050. the other components also don't make sense like the 500gb expensive ssd. even beginners can make better builds.

 

[Math Geek]

The people losing their mind over the title are hilarious. I bet you ruined their whole day.

 

[xnivx01]

lol such a stupid article. last chance for toms

 

[Peter Martin]

more crap pushing intel.. hey buddy, drop the same discrete video card into the ryzen and watch it FLY. very unfair and STUPID article. This writer is not to be read or trusted by me anymore. wow. junk. the fact is that those results show how powerful the iGpu Vega graphics are! so you silly intel punk, you lose again.

no effort indeed. this is bottom of the barrel intel puff piece. hahaha, the multicore on the ryzen kick that poor anemic intel to the GROUND

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAYL5H46QnQ

that's you with your energy drink (this article) and me responding

pump that garbage in another man's veins, er mind

 

[Olle P]

... we did not include a Windows license in our build budget. If you don’t have a key to carry over from a previous build, ...

Unless you either have an Enterprise license or also bring the motherboard and system disk from the previous build you will need a new license.
Windows 10 can't be transfered to a new computer (without violating the EULA).

Also I don't see any Pentium Gold @ $59.99 available online.

That's a good point! Celerons are the ones available below $75.
On top of that, and as somewhat hinted, the 256GB SSD doesn't provide enough room to have more than one or two games installed at any one time, so for me a gaming computer must have at least 480GB of storage to be of any use.

I do agree with Math Geek that the AMD build should have a smaller SSD plus an HDD to provide even more storage without losing significantly in feeling snappy.

 

[Eran Mayshar]

Wow they deleted my comment which linked to credible articles proving Tom's hardware had been paid by Nvidea to write biased positive reviews

 

[tim.hotze]

I wish this article focused on being able to do affordable upgrades in the future. For a budget-minded user, a build is often what you can get *now* with the possibility you'll have some extra money down the line. To keep things budget minded, that means the ability to *add* to the system *without* taking anything *out* of it (thereby "throwing away" your investment in that part).

To that end:
1) Probably worth it spending a few extra $$ on a motherboard with 4 RAM slots, since you could just buy another pair of identical sticks in the future and keep a dual-channel system (a good idea since RAM prices remain high NOW but seem to be dropping quickly)
2) Another upgrade source: Fast NVMe-based SSD. Buy a smaller SATA SSD for now, throw in an NVMe SSD like the Evo 960 later, and use it as a boot drive - keep the SATA SSD for say, extra storage or games (potentially you'd want to add a 3rd, larger drive down the line - either spinning or SATA SSD, but that's far off).
3) Advantage towards the Ryzen build for 2 reasons:
-AMD has committed to the socket for another 2 years
-You can get by with integrated graphics NOW and then add a GPU when you've got money (which could potentially be something much more powerful than a 1050, depending on how much you're able to pay in the future). The Ryzen 5 has roughly Core i5-level performance, and so should support games for a few years if paired with a good enough GPU.

 

[Olle P]

I wish this article focused on being able to do affordable upgrades in the future. ...
1) Probably worth it spending a few extra $$ on a motherboard with 4 RAM slots, ...

I very much agree with this. In short term the Pentium/Celeron can be replaced with a Core CPU within a year or so, but it's still a replacement rather than an addition. (And more storage is way more urgent.)

2) Another upgrade source: Fast NVMe-based SSD. Buy a smaller SATA SSD for now, throw in an NVMe SSD like the Evo 960 later, and use it as a boot drive - keep the SATA SSD for say, extra storage or games (potentially you'd want to add a 3rd, larger drive down the line - either spinning or SATA SSD, but that's far off).

Here I somewhat disagree on storage priorities.
Top priority is to have a sufficient amount of storage to hold all software used monthly (or more often) plus any other files you want to keep on the computer. (*)
Second priority is to have a responsive system drive. I'd even contemplate SSHD as an option to get a responsive system with sufficient storage at a tight budget. There's a huge jump from HDD to SATA SSD, but barely noticeable going from "slow" to "fast" SSD (combined with a low end CPU), so upgrading to faster SSD is way down in priority.

(*) A small SSD is much slower than an HDD to start a program if it means you first have to clear up space and install that program before running it.
I bet Tom's didn't install the entire test suite on the computers before starting the test runs...