[SOLVED] Intel vs AMD for 4K Gaming in 2020, i7-9700K vs Ryzen 7 3700x or i5-9600K vs i5-8400, nVidia vs Radeon and Much More!

Dec 8, 2019
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Cheers all !

2019 is almost over and I AM GOING CRAZY reading forums, reviews and watching videos and benchmarks for MONTHS NOW !

I need A SOLID CPU AND MOTHERBOARD FOR GAMING. So I would much appreciate your help.

I'm usually watching movies, tv series or playing games on my 55" Oled TV at 1080p (So im stuck at this resolution until later nex year, when I can afford to buy a new 4K TV and GPU)

I was this close to go for a Ryzen 7 3700x, but then I read hundreds of forums of desperate people that have so many problems with either the BIOS of the motherboards, the CPU, the software, windows, or even random issues like crashing, freezing, resetting, boot failure and so on . . .

I mean, there are so many problems with AMD even in 2020 that I cant believe . . .

I have been a Intel owner for at least 13 years or more and I NEVER HAD ISSUES LIKE AMD !

No, I'm not a fanboy but I value stability and compatibility the most !

Oh, intending to go 4K in 2020 also so future proofing would be nice, specially cause I intend to keep the CPU for 3 to 5 years.

Budget: I could stretch for the top CPU's, but giving the fact that I basically don't do any work and I mostly game on the PC, would be nice to allocate some money in a good GPU for 4K future proof !

MY BUILD WILL BE:

ASUS MOTHERBOARD (Most likely ) ??

32GB OF RAM G.SKILL 3600Mhz

GTX 1060 6GB ( I'm stuck with for now, but will UPGRADE TO A 2080 SUPER, somewhere in 2020 after the prices drop down)

PLEASE HELP ME DECIDE BETWEEN:

Intel I7 9700k vs Ryzen 7 3700x
or
Intel i59600k vs i5 8400

P.S - I now have a i7 7700 (NON K) with 16 GB RAM and a GTX 1060 6GB

IS IT WORTH UPGRADING ( The CPU+Motherboard+RAM) FOR 4K AND FUTURE PROOFING ? Or should I buy a GTX 2070 or 2080 SUPER and stick with my current config?

Thank you kindly !
 
Solution
I don't think everyone needs to be so quick to dismiss the OP's concerns about AM4. I'm am one of if not the biggest AM4 enthusiasts that lurk's these forums. I've built 20+ AM4 systems in the last year. I've owned over 30 AM4 motherboards, over a dozen 1st gen ryzens, eight 2nd gen ryzens, and six 3rd gen Ryzen CPU's at one time or another. I've spent countless hours testing, tuning, and building systems on this platform. Countless more hours reading and researching everything there is to know about them. I've assisted many with troubleshooting issues on these systems.

I've never had any memory issues with first and second gen Ryzen systems with a properly working memory kit. I've never had one of these systems not post and run its...
given your choiceslisted, I'd look at the 3700, and, just quit looking right there....(the 9600K/9400 should, in my opinion, both be disqualified from contention on the basis of being 'thread challenged' even on their best days, and, each is often plagued with minimum FPS issues due to only 6 threads)

As you've listed 4k as an objective, most any CPU you get will have similar frame rates, easily capped by today's GPUs, but, who wants minimum FPS issues once you've spent the money on a GPU needed for adequate 4k gaming....a 5700XT or 2080 Super or Ti
 
I agree with above, wouldn’t even consider the i5’s. I have just put together a 3700X and B450 Tomahawk Max system and it worked with no issues at all. With the better price performance of Ryzen I wonder if what you are seeing is the result of newer/less experienced builders who have opted for the better value Ryzen system who are making mistakes.
 
Dec 8, 2019
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given your choiceslisted, I'd look at the 3700, and, just quit looking right there....(the 9600K/9400 should, in my opinion, both be disqualified from contention on the basis of being 'thread challenged' even on their best days, and, each is often plagued with minimum FPS issues due to only 6 threads)

As you've listed 4k as an objective, most any CPU you get will have similar frame rates, easily capped by today's GPUs, but, who wants minimum FPS issues once you've spent the money on a GPU needed for adequate 4k gaming....a 5700XT or 2080 Super or Ti

What about the huge amount of problems with AMD ??? 😱

Any AMD owners here? Maybe they could share some opinions on how bad are the issues with the motherboards and how about software and gaming compatibility?

Seen a lot of complains that lots of games with crash with AMD and/or blue screen of death or freezing in certain games and so on . . .

Windows compatibility issues as well . . .



Is it that bad? Should i even consider AMD? Or am I better with Intel?



Thank you
 
Dec 8, 2019
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I agree with above, wouldn’t even consider the i5’s. I have just put together a 3700X and B450 Tomahawk Max system and it worked with no issues at all. With the better price performance of Ryzen I wonder if what you are seeing is the result of newer/less experienced builders who have opted for the better value Ryzen system who are making mistakes.


Wow ! Really nice !

I too was leaning towards Tomahawk MAX, cause it has OC 4133 Ram and BIOS updates so that R 7 3700x is out of the box compatible.

Can you share with me how it works?

I have heard that MSI boards have lots of problems.

Do you game? How is Win 10 compatibilty? What about other issues like freezing, crashing, blue screen . . .etc ?

What about the volatage? I have heard that MSI pushes high voltages like 1.4 at idle which is very high....? Does the Processor reach its full Boost? heard that was another issue . . .
 
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I have had no issues, no freezing, no BSOD however one of the first things I did was update the BIOS.

Voltage I haven’t looked at too closely, I think it peaked at 1.41X while testing. I’ve stressed tested with Cinebench and 3DMark, also done a little gaming and had no issues. Using stock cooler it hasn’t gone over 75c and boosting seems fine.

FYI this is with 2x16Gb 3200mhz cl16. Im not overclocking yet.
 
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What about the huge amount of problems with AMD ??? 😱

Any AMD owners here? Maybe they could share some opinions on how bad are the issues with the motherboards and how about software and gaming compatibility?

Seen a lot of complains that lots of games with crash with AMD and/or blue screen of death or freezing in certain games and so on . . .

Windows compatibility issues as well . . .



Is it that bad? Should i even consider AMD? Or am I better with Intel?



Thank you

I've had no issues with my x570 build in Windows or gaming.
 
What about the huge amount of problems with AMD ??? 😱
...
The result of novice builders who've been misinformed and then hyped themselves with unrealistic expectations regarding irrelevant technical details mostly. Add in that we're dealing with the woke generation that blows up any slight, real or imagined, on social forums, e.g., Reddit, and that's what you get.

AMD had some problems on roll-out, they've worked through them with the latest BIOS updates. They've also worked with Microsoft to improve the Windows scheduler making it CPU topology aware and more similar to how various Linux builds work. And they have TRIED to educate the general public on some fairly technical aspects of how they made their processor so remarkably power efficient but which also make them appear to operate differently than what we're used to seeing. But it seems there are a lot of self-described semiconductor physicists on the nets who profess to know better than AMD does and declare it "broke" when it's doing what it's supposed to. I'll trust AMD to know better, thank you.

And lastly, some board mfr's do what board mfr's do...cutting corners in some areas and slow-rolling updates to boards lower down in their stack. So you learn which/who to avoid and move on. Don't overstate that issue to make it bigger than it is.

If/when you get down to specifics, and ask for some recommends, you'll get specifics back. There are a lot of reasonable people here who've had experiences, both good and bad, and will share. As for me, I've got an 8 core 3700X on what is a budget board, B450m Mortar. It's working, I would have to say, flawlessly, hitting max clocks on up to 3 cores in light/bursty loads as designed and memory clocked at 3600MTps, CAS 14.

It's very fast and well beyond my needs I have to admit. For gaming my GPU, a 5700XT, is the clear bottleneck with the CPU loafing along at 30-40% utilization in any title. I like to game at very-high to ultra settings, 1440p. I also like huge open-world games with terrific graphics (sight-seeing is just as much the attraction), like Witcher3 or Ghost Recon and I'm looking for RDR2 to hit big sales.

At 4k the GPU would be even more so the bottleneck.
 
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Dec 8, 2019
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Thank you guys for all your replies and thoughts !!!

So in your opinion, should I go with the Ryzen 7 3700x OR the i7 9700k ?

What ablout the motherboard ?

Was thinking of going for the Tomahawk B450 Max or something good from X470 that has a STRONG BIOS, STRONG VRM'S AND ITS RELIABLE AND STABLE !

Also FLASH BIOS would be preferd, to be able to flash it for using Ryzen 3000 series, though out of the box updated BIOS would be BEST( no more headaches )

I would go donw the road of X570, was planing on buying the Asus Tuf Gaming Plus X570(very strong mb and strong VRM's,) but I am really DISLIKING THE FAN ON THE BOARD, that could jam, break down, or simply stop working in time. Also, I hear that temperatures are really high on X570 boards . . .

Or is it best to wait for Ryzen 4000 ? Though sources say it will come out in July to August and stocks will probably available in September and so on . . .

Playing the waiting game its not something I like doing 😬
 
I would go for this board but, I dont know about that fan...in time, all my small fans( in particular) jammed, or stoped working . . .

Most pc fans outlast the pc itself. You're worrying over nothing.

As an owner of the x570 it has operated flawlessly considering how early the product line is in maturity. It's an extremely fast PC.

If you're trying to find reasons to not go AMD...then ok. Ok.
 
I'm currently running a 7700 non k also and would say grab a gpu. If its within your budget of course. 2080super or 2080ti for 4k.

On the cpu, I'd also recommend amd, as most have said. Bang for the buck is awesome! The 9700k, while certainly better than your current cpu, isnt much of an upgrade imo. If you wanna stay intel I'd recommend the 9900k.
 

rigg42

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What about the x470 boards?

Which are the best? Is MSI Tomahawk Max B450 better or at least in league with X470 boards?
Best is relative. Motherboard choice is a balance of hardware features, power delivery, and bios options. All of these things really have little to do with chipset and more to do the individual board. There are a ton of crap x370/x470 boards. I've owned about 30 AM4 boards and have done a ton of research on this subject. There are in reality only a handful of really high quality 300 and 400 series boards at least in terms of power delivery. The tomahawk is often recommended because it has good power delivery for the money. In terms of features it's not that great. I personally think it's overrated. Power delivery info for AM4 is available here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...IVNyMatydkpFA/htmlview?sle=true#gid=639584818

Power delivery really isn't as big of a concern for the 6 and 8 core 3000 CPU's. They just don't draw enough current or have enough OC headroom for power delivery to be a big concern. As long as it has reasonable power delivery and the features you want (readily available on the product pages) then you are good to go. In general the better the board the more advanced bios options you will have. If you aren't going to tweak your settings to squeeze every ounce of performance out of your system then this probably doesn't really matter either.

Since you are running 4k the CPU won't be much of a factor anyway. You'll be completely GPU bound at 4K with any currently available GPU. I'd recommend the 2700x since they are blowing them out for dirt cheap . I bought 2 of them for $130 a piece in November.
 
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TJ Hooker

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For 4K gaming your GPU should be your #1 priority. If your budget currently prevents you from getting something like a 2080, it doesn't make sense to spend a bunch of money on new CPU/mobo/RAM beforehand and thus delay a GPU upgrade even further.

At 4K there will likely be little benefit from a new CPU. There will be no benefit from going from 16 to 32GB of RAM. Save your money, get a better GPU, and then look at upgrading your CPU in the future as budget/performance dictates.

This is all assuming that we're talking about modern AAA games, high-ish settings, aiming for ~60 fps at 4K.
 
Thank you guys for all your replies and thoughts !!!

So in your opinion, should I go with the Ryzen 7 3700x OR the i7 9700k ?

What ablout the motherboard ?

Was thinking of going for the Tomahawk B450 Max or something good from X470 that has a STRONG BIOS, STRONG VRM'S AND ITS RELIABLE AND STABLE !

Also FLASH BIOS would be preferd, to be able to flash it for using Ryzen 3000 series, though out of the box updated BIOS would be BEST( no more headaches )

I would go donw the road of X570, was planing on buying the Asus Tuf Gaming Plus X570(very strong mb and strong VRM's,) but I am really DISLIKING THE FAN ON THE BOARD, that could jam, break down, or simply stop working in time. Also, I hear that temperatures are really high on X570 boards . . .

Or is it best to wait for Ryzen 4000 ? Though sources say it will come out in July to August and stocks will probably available in September and so on . . .

Playing the waiting game its not something I like doing 😬
If you do almost any content creation a 3700X is the clear preference to 9700K. In gaming performance, especially 4K where the GPU is king, they'll be essentially the same but total installed cost of the 3700X should be less; always include cost of motherboard in purchase decisions.

You could also have a system with an upgrade path even if you choose a 'budget' motherboard. My B450m Mortar, arguably budget, has been demonstrated quite comfortably operating a 3950X processor, for instance. You'll probably need a truely premium board if you plan on an eventual upgrade to 9900KS processors from a 9700K. (I apologize if 9700 and 9900 don't fit the same sockets.)

I agree with Rigg42 that the Tomahawk is light on features, but it has all that most people need. Specifically, it lacks the PREMIUM audio and PREMIUM / 10Gb LAN and WiFi that some prefer. It also lacks a lot of SATA ports, but that's resultant of a compromise that comes with all B450 chipset motherboards. The Tomahawk, like my Mortar, is a budget board and budget boards are rarely found with capable VRM's. That's what make them pretty unique and popular.
 
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Dec 8, 2019
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Thank you for all your answers, I really appreciate them !

But I see that a lot of people did not read my initial thread 😬

As as was saying there, unfortunately, I'm stuck for now at 1080 because of my current Display ( a 55" OLED TV at 1080p) ! So until I have the money to buy a new OLED TV ( Im gonna go 65" 4K OLED, which is around 2500 USD, a lot of money and a RTX 2080 Super, or Ti), I'm gonna play at 1080p ! That is the reason that I was thinking to upgrade my CPU+MB+RAM now, cause my current GTX 1060 6GB is running everything fine at ULTRA (turning down the AA a bit and maybe some shadows) !

So my logic is this: I go for the upgrade of the CPU+MB+RAM now and by the time I have the money to buy a new 65" 4K OLED Display ( in fall next year, hopefully earlier), GPU's will drop their prices and probably, I can get a really good deal on a RTX 2080 SUPER.

If I stretch my budget now, which will probably mean buying a 2070 SUPER, I will not benefit from it, because of my current TV, so no point in investing in something that I can't use.
 
As others pointed out, at 4K the GPU is mostly the bottleneck. Your CPU will not bottleneck a new GPU like an RTX 2080 by a large amount. For 4K 60FPS I would get an RTX 2080 Super or 2080 Ti and wait for new CPUs next year.

If you are only gaming at 1080p 60Hz right now there is no reason to upgrade at all, just wait until next year.

AMD CPUs right now are better than Intel especially if you game at 4K.
Intel is faster in games by a bit only if you play at 1080p 144Hz+
At 4K AMD and Intel have the same gaming performance but AMD will have the lead in tasks other than gaming like multitasking, encoding videos, etc

P.S: If you want 60fps+ in all your games get an RTX 2080 Ti or whatever will be released by high end AMD and Nvidia next year. I got an RTX 2080 Ti and I had to overclock it to reach 4K 60+fps in all games maxed.
 
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Thank you for all your answers, I really appreciate them !

But I see that a lot of people did not read my initial thread 😬

As as was saying there, unfortunately, I'm stuck for now at 1080 because of my current Display ( a 55" OLED TV at 1080p) ! So until I have the money to buy a new OLED TV ( Im gonna go 65" 4K OLED, which is around 2500 USD, a lot of money and a RTX 2080 Super, or Ti), I'm gonna play at 1080p ! That is the reason that I was thinking to upgrade my CPU+MB+RAM now, cause my current GTX 1060 6GB is running everything fine at ULTRA (turning down the AA a bit and maybe some shadows) !

So my logic is this: I go for the upgrade of the CPU+MB+RAM now and by the time I have the money to buy a new 65" 4K OLED Display ( in fall next year, hopefully earlier), GPU's will drop their prices and probably, I can get a really good deal on a RTX 2080 SUPER.

If I stretch my budget now, which will probably mean buying a 2070 SUPER, I will not benefit from it, because of my current TV, so no point in investing in something that I can't use.
Unfortunately in your op you only mention 55" oled, not the resolution. So most probably thought you were already at 4k.

Still say go amd. 3700x will be plenty for the foreseeable future. And will handle your upgrade to 4k/2080s easily in the future.