[SOLVED] Intel vs AMD Ryzen: What's the difference

[ThatTryhard]

Hey y'all

I've been very confused for a loooooong time about why in the world CPU Benchmark rates Intel CPUs way higher than their Ryzen competitors. Really I just want to know, what does AMD have going for it, and what does Intel have going for it? Which is better for gaming, and which is better for productivity? Is everything Userbenchmark is saying unreliable and just wrong?

 

[stefanos50]

Hey y'all

I've been very confused for a loooooong time about why in the world CPU Benchmark rates Intel CPUs way higher than their Ryzen competitors. Really I just want to know, what does AMD have going for it, and what does Intel have going for it? Which is better for gaming, and which is better for productivity? Is everything Userbenchmark is saying unreliable and just wrong?

Dont trust usebenchmark especially for CPU's. Userbenchmark changed the score weights for multicore performance thats why you see an intel i3 being like 1-3% better than a Ryzen 9 or a threadripper. Ryzen is better for productivity and have a better value. Intel is still better for gaming but by a small margin. If you play at high resolutions (like 1440p or 4k) or 1080p with a mid-range gpu it doesnt matter that much you better pick Ryzen. Most youtube videos or benchmarks you will find will be at 1080p with a 2080Ti at low settings so you can see a difference.

 

[Phaaze88]

Userbenchmark is also paid by Intel - or so I hear, but they're definitely biased towards them.
That said, the application does have it's uses, but measuring performance isn't one of them.

Intel is the gaming king, but you have to spend big to even see those gains. Cut corners, and you'll be right there with people who bought a decent Ryzen setup.

 

[ThatTryhard]

Userbenchmark is also paid by Intel - or so I hear, but they're definitely biased towards them.
That said, the application does have it's uses, but measuring performance isn't one of them.

Intel is the gaming king, but you have to spend big to even see those gains. Cut corners, and you'll be right there with people who bought a decent Ryzen setup.

What do I need to spend big on? And what do you mean by "cutting corners"

 

[poorbugger]

TLDR, if you got the money and you're focused strictly on gaming, intel will be better but not by much. Anything else, ryzen is better. Amd cpus are also better for value because the am4 socket will hold out longer so you dont need to upgrade your mobo for future ryzen chips.

 

[Phaaze88]

What do I need to spend big on?

Example:
10600K - 10900K, and overclock it.
Z490 mobo for overclocking
Fast ram, like 3600+
High end air or liquid cooler to overclock with - most likely liquid because of the hard limit around 250w for air coolers. When overclocking, there's a need to test for stability, thus the need for a beefier cooler.
2080Ti - maybe 2080 Super. It has to be a performance tier most people will avoid.
^all this on a 1080p monitor or lower. Intel loses it's speed edge going to higher resolutions.
[Basically, you delete anything value-related from your memory banks...]

And what do you mean by "cutting corners"

Cutting corners - value purchases.
Take the above, and do things like:
Get a cheaper cooler with no extra room for overclocking
Below 3000mhz ram
Don't pair a K cpu with a Z series motherboard
Get a 2070 Super or lower tier gpu
Play on a 1440p or 4k monitor




EDIT: I should add, that if you don't 'go all the way', someone with a 3700X + 2070 Super won't be all that far behind in performance...

 

[ThatTryhard]

Oh. So you're saying if I didn't like max out everything and didn't get the top speed ram and best HDD, then there's no point. AND I'm on a low budget.

 

[Phaaze88]

Oh. So you're saying if I didn't like max out everything and didn't get the top speed ram and best HDD, then there's no point. AND I'm on a low budget.

Pretty much.
Plus, that's not taking into account that some games simply run better on Intel compared to AMD, and vice versa.
I was surprised to see that CSGO and R6 Siege favored AMD:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDGWijdBDvM

 

[ThatTryhard]

So really a 3200g is probably a better bet than a 9100f, all things considered.

 

[Karadjgne]

The question is 'what's more important to you, playability value or a number on a piece of paper', because most times that's exactly what it boils down too.

3800x costs quite a bit more (a $100) than a 3700x, is 105w vs 65w, gets almost identical numbers, OC, pbo, pretty much a duplicate cpu. Yet to some people that extra 5fps is worth the money because 'its faster or better' according to so and so benchmark.

And yet you put 2 identical pc's, one with the 3800x one with the 3700x, next to a pc with a 10600 and nobody on the planet could look at the game and tell the difference.

It takes a benchmark. At the end of the day it really doesn't make a hill of beans difference who gets higher fps, you can't see it, it's usually a number beyond the monitor refresh or a number that's gpu limited and even then you couldn't see a 30 fps difference beyond @ 100 fps.

Benchmarks are a tool used to compare where a cpu or gpu stands, what it will and won't do, it's not a measuring contest for bragging rights.

 

[Phaaze88]

Depends on the use case. Both are 4 core/4 thread cpus, but the 3200G has an Igpu - it can't do anything heavy though.
If all I'm going to is browse the web, do some MS Word, light schoolwork, and some Facebook games, then the 3200G is a steal.

 

[ThatTryhard]

Okay. What should I pair with my RX 580 then? I currently have a Pentium G4400 (yikes). If at all possible, I'd like something that will play Retro games as well as more demanding games like Forza and NBA 2k20. Would an older gen i5 or i7 do the trick? Or should I invest in a new board and get a newer gen CPU?

 

[Phaaze88]

You could do with a 2nd hand i7-6700(K) or 7700(K), if people weren't trying to sell them for so darn much... those cpus shouldn't be more than 70USD - even less for the i5s.
Checking a site like Ebay, they're still trying to sell them for a hundred or more... ridiculous. Just go for a new cpu/mobo/ram combo at that point.

 

[Karadjgne]

Currently on ebay the 7700k is pulling @ $200ish and the 6700k is right behind it.

Honestly it's not worth upgrading the cpu. I'd sell the whole thing, ram & cpu & mobo for whatever you can get for it and get a decent cheap B450 paired with some 3200MHz ram and a r3 3300x. That'll set you back @ $300ish (minus whatever you get back). Costs more than a cpu upgrade, but will be better in the long run and it's new and covered by warranty. The i7's on eBay have all been overclocked, count on it, nobody who spends the extra for the K just leaves it at stock, but how much OC or stupidity went into the OC nobody but the original owner knows, and he's not about to tell you it was pushed to the max with over 1.4v for 4 years and started getting buggy.

It's a matter of faith, and when it comes to the high performance cpus, I have little faith in 'never overclocked' claims as it wasn't a cpu from grandma's websurfer, it was a teenagers pc who tried everything to get maximum fps, regardless of the price to the equipment, and do it without spending money on the proper equipment for the job.

 

[RodroX]

Right now you can run any game at a decent FPS with a budget card (RX 570) on a Ryzen 3 3100.

If you go up one step to the Ryzen 3 3300X then youre on the ex-all mighty i7 7700K performance territory (but the Ryzen cost only U$ 120, if you find it on stock). And at this point thats a very good value-performance ratio. (Yeah theres the Core i3 10100 but in most games loose against the Ryzen 3 3300X).

Above that "price" segment it all depends on how much money do you have and what kind of resolution and refresh rate are you aiming to play.

Usually you will like to spend on the GPU two times what you spend on the CPU. The only problem is that right now the CPU platform is also a concern when building a PC, and if you wana get everything the Intel Core 10th gen CPUs have to offer you are going to spend more on the Motherboard, RAM and cooling solution, than if you go with a Ryzen platform.

As others explained here theres no doubt that Intel still have the gaming crown in most scenarios. Not all, but most of them. Will you notice the diference between going Intel or AMD, it all depends. Most people can't really tell the diference between 113 and 130 FPS, and thats because FPS is not a linear variable.

 

[ThatTryhard]

What GPU will pair well with a Ryzen 3 3300x? A RX 580? Or would an older 970 go good? I'm not sure.

 

[RodroX]

What GPU will pair well with a Ryzen 3 3300x? A RX 580? Or would an older 970 go good? I'm not sure.

Any GPU can be paired with a Ryzen 3300X, oldish RX GPUs are pretty nice cause of the price/performance. For example, if you tell me your building a low budget gaming PC, I would said go with an RX 570 and thats should be enough to play most games in a very decent way at 1080p. The "issue" with RX 580 and 590 is power consumption compared to newer cards, like for example, GTX 1060 6Gb, or newers GTX 1660/Super/TI.

Ah GTX 970 gpu could be a good pair to the Ryzen 3300X now, later on you could go with something more beefier like a GTX 1660 Super, RTX 2060, RTX 2060Super, RX 5700, or whatever NVIDIA and AMD would launch later this year.

 

[ThatTryhard]

Any GPU can be paired with a Ryzen 3300X, oldish RX GPUs are pretty nice cause of the price/performance. For example, if you tell me your building a low budget gaming PC, I would said go with an RX 570 and thats should be enough to play most games in a very decent way at 1080p. The "issue" with RX 580 and 590 is power consumption compared to newer cards, like for example, GTX 1060 6Gb, or newers GTX 1660/Super/TI.

Ah GTX 970 gpu could be a good pair to the Ryzen 3300X now, later on you could go with something more beefier like a GTX 1660 Super, RTX 2060, RTX 2060Super, RX 5700, or whatever NVIDIA and AMD would launch later this year.

Should that be able to run 2k and madden and all that?

 

[TerryLaze]

Dont trust usebenchmark especially for CPU's. Userbenchmark changed the score weights for multicore performance thats why you see an intel i3 being like 1-3% better than a Ryzen 9 or a threadripper. Ryzen is better for productivity and have a better value. Intel is still better for gaming but by a small margin. If you play at high resolutions (like 1440p or 4k) or 1080p with a mid-range gpu it doesnt matter that much you better pick Ryzen. Most youtube videos or benchmarks you will find will be at 1080p with a 2080Ti at low settings so you can see a difference.

Userbenchmark like the name implies is made to show how a CPU will "feel" to the user.
If you are only web browsing and playing games with a middle of the range GPU...how will the R9 or TR be any faster?!?! That's the score they are giving,it's the score for people that have no idea about PCs and will never do any advanced stuff with their systems.

BUT THEY ALSO SHOW YOU THE WORKSTATION SCORE right there under each CPU,they are not hiding results from anybody like so many even "reputable" review sites are doing.

 

[RodroX]

Should that be able to run 2k and madden and all that?

With what exactly?, in my post I listed a lot of components, try to be more specific please.

 

[digitalgriffin]

Hey y'all

I've been very confused for a loooooong time about why in the world CPU Benchmark rates Intel CPUs way higher than their Ryzen competitors. Really I just want to know, what does AMD have going for it, and what does Intel have going for it? Which is better for gaming, and which is better for productivity? Is everything Userbenchmark is saying unreliable and just wrong?

For gaming, 6+ fast cores are what matters. And Intel has the fastest 6 core parts. At 1080p Intel can win by up to 30% in some rare cases.

However at higher resolutions like 1440p and 4K, your GPU is the bottleneck and there is <5% difference between them. I think [H]ardOCP quoted 3% @ 4K when the original Zen series (1000 series) was tested.

That said AMD offers you more for the same money in most cases. If your budget is $300 for a CPU, you'll get more CPU for that same $300. Intel isn't going to give you a 16 core part for $300. AMD will. And it will be a better all around performer. Want to record your game the same time you play it? Then AMD is for you. If you want to download a file while playing a game? AMD is for you. Or produce video? Then AMD wins here too (in most cases) If you want to zip up files, AMD wins. If you want to play games which use all available cores (Civilization and Ashes Of Singularity) AMD wins.

Like all things it's givens and druthers. (Give and take/win some loose some) But in terms of overall value, AMD wins in most cases. There are one or two cheaper Intel parts which do beat AMD. But like I said, these are lower end parts.

The real game changer will likely be Ryzen 3 (4000 series desktop) is announced in September. It's likely Intel will lose the performance crown for games too.

 

[Karadjgne]

I dunno. Historically, amd has had the cores, Intel the IPC. On a core per core basis Intel roasted amd, yet on other stuff like compiling amd beat Intel. Unfortunately games don't require compiling muscle. Intel wins.

Nowadays, Ryzen is catching upto Intels IPC in a big way, but Intel 10th gen stole AMD's monopoly on every cpu having high core counts.

So what you'll end up with is Purple. It won't matter much if you bat for the Red team or the Blue team, you'll have Purple. The best of both. It'll come down to who can offer the better performance at the price point.

And that'll be determined by the game devs.

 

[cryoburner]

Okay. What should I pair with my RX 580 then?

What GPU will pair well with a Ryzen 3 3300x? A RX 580? Or would an older 970 go good? I'm not sure.

Do you already have the RX 580? If so, there would be no point in replacing it with a GTX 970, as the RX 580 would be the faster card of the two. A GTX 970 typically performs similar to an RX 570 on average (faster in some games, slower in others), or around 15% slower than an RX 580 in graphics-limited scenarios.

Userbenchmark like the name implies is made to show how a CPU will "feel" to the user.
If you are only web browsing and playing games with a middle of the range GPU...how will the R9 or TR be any faster?!?! That's the score they are giving,it's the score for people that have no idea about PCs and will never do any advanced stuff with their systems.

BUT THEY ALSO SHOW YOU THE WORKSTATION SCORE right there under each CPU,they are not hiding results from anybody like so many even "reputable" review sites are doing.

Userbenchmark has been on a downward spiral lately. They're still useful for some things, like getting a quick overview of whether someone's components are performing as expected, and finding rough estimations of how hardware from different generations compares, but they've been making a lot of really bizarre changes recently, then writing really bizarre statements on their site to justify them, calling anyone who disagrees with them "shills" and "marketers", and trying to pitch themselves as the only impartial source of performance comparisons on the Internet. It really gives the impression that they are the ones getting paid off to manipulate numbers (or at least present numbers in a deceptive way). In fact, no one even really seems to know who runs the site, or where their offices are located, despite being one of the most visited benchmarking sites on the internet.

They've even been banned from a number of major subreddits for their behavior, including the Intel subreddit, which should say something about how bad they have been getting lately...
View: https://www.reddit.com/r/intel/comments/g36a2a/userbenchmark_has_been_banned_from_rintel/


I've generally given them some slack in the past, as their site can be a useful tool if you know which numbers are relevant and which should be ignored, but their inflammatory attacks on actual review sites and strange additions and changes that clearly appear to be designed to manipulate prominently displayed numbers in favor of certain hardware has caused them to lose a lot of what credibility they had over the last year or so.

 

[Karadjgne]

You got banned from a Reddit.....

I guess pigs do fly after all.