It's clear that AMD is making the biggest move in the CPU market as well as making the most progress, but there are still a lot of Intel users out there despite Intel still not using 7nm processors. I'm planning my next build for gaming and really having a hard time deciding which processor to go for. Something I've learned is that when it comes to games, optimization is still an issue and not all games perform as well on AMD as they do Intel and vice versa.
I don't know exactly why this is, but I'm questioning whether Intel is out of the picture or whether it's still a worthy consideration. Obviously the biggest issue with Intel is that they like to lock their CPUs to a single mobo making upgrade paths not only more expensive but also more troublesome to do. However with AMD soon to abandon the AM4 socket it kind of feels like a similar situation.
It seems that if I'm building a PC to last at least a few years that upgrading moving forward will still require mobo replacement regardless of which way you swing. Had this been a few years ago, or had I decided to buy a Zen 2 processor temporarily and upgrade to a Zen 3 processor later that then would be a benefit. However if I'm just jumping straight to Zen 3, unless I decided to upgrade to another processor that supported the AM4 socket there isn't much difference.
Sorry for the long winded preface, but I guess what I'm asking is whether Intel are still a good option for gaming despite still using 14nm chips unlike 7nm with AMD. Performance and optimization with gaming is really my priority, and while AMD certainly have a strong lead in performance, they still seem to fall short in some games that aren't as well optimised on AMD.
I don't know exactly why this is, but I'm questioning whether Intel is out of the picture or whether it's still a worthy consideration. Obviously the biggest issue with Intel is that they like to lock their CPUs to a single mobo making upgrade paths not only more expensive but also more troublesome to do. However with AMD soon to abandon the AM4 socket it kind of feels like a similar situation.
It seems that if I'm building a PC to last at least a few years that upgrading moving forward will still require mobo replacement regardless of which way you swing. Had this been a few years ago, or had I decided to buy a Zen 2 processor temporarily and upgrade to a Zen 3 processor later that then would be a benefit. However if I'm just jumping straight to Zen 3, unless I decided to upgrade to another processor that supported the AM4 socket there isn't much difference.
Sorry for the long winded preface, but I guess what I'm asking is whether Intel are still a good option for gaming despite still using 14nm chips unlike 7nm with AMD. Performance and optimization with gaming is really my priority, and while AMD certainly have a strong lead in performance, they still seem to fall short in some games that aren't as well optimised on AMD.