Are AMD processors worth considering for mid to high end?

[Abwx]

AMD has some niches,

There may be a few niche cases where AMD makes sense

Even if there are niche apps for AMD

So two softs running in a PC where there s nothing else installed and running than W10 and the GPU driver is a niche case..??.

Do people really think before posting..?.

 

[IEC]

So two softs running in a PC where there s nothing else installed and running than W10 and the GPU driver is a niche case..??.

Do people really think before posting..?.

Not everyone lives in the United States or other locales with equitable pricing for AMD vs Intel.

That is also a niche. :/

 

[AtenRa]

As of this moment, AMD is not supplying the competitive products required to earn the recommendation of most enthusiasts. Even if there are niche apps for AMD, it's tough to recommend them because PCs are supposed to be general purpose machines, and for that we need a CPU that does nearly everything well. Right now Intel CPUs fit that definition much better than AMD, even though there are a few things AMD really excels at.

Between the Core i3 and FX 8-core the FX is the better all around product at the same price in 2015. That includes both applications AND games.
My only problem with the FX today, is the way higher power usage against the 22nm and especially the 14nm Intel CPUs.
Otherwise at the same price the FX 8-core is better suited for 2015 software than those Core i3.

 

[LTC8K6]

http://www.pcgamer.com/amd-next-gen...e-will-make-up-for-muted-bulldozer-reception/

Speaking at the Deustche Bank 2014 Technology Conference last month (via WCCF Tech), chief executive Rory Read admitted that Bulldozer hasn’t met the company’s expectations, but that its forthcoming, next-generation x86 Zen microarchitecture will make amends.

“Everyone knows that Bulldozer was not the game changing part [expected] when it was introduced three years ago,” Read said. “We have to live with that for four years”.

While Read didn’t offer any specific details about Zen, he did list talent involved in its development. “For Zen [and] K12 we went out and got Jim Keller, we went out and got Raja Koduri from Apple, Mark Papermaster, Lisa Su,” Read said.

“We are building now our next generation graphics and compute technology that customers are very interested in [...] they’ll move to the next generation node and they’ll be ready to go.”

4 years from the quote date would be 2018...

 

[MrTeal]

So two softs running in a PC where there s nothing else installed and running than W10 and the GPU driver is a niche case..??.

Do people really think before posting..?.

You really think decrypting a large file is something that most people commonly do while playing Witcher 3, especially people who care enough about their framerate that they bought a 980Ti?

 

[Abwx]

http://www.pcgamer.com/amd-next-gen...e-will-make-up-for-muted-bulldozer-reception/

4 years from the quote date would be 2018...

Perhaps Lisa Su s last week or so statement is more accurate, dont know, she surely know something from a reliable, and more recent, source...

 

[LTC8K6]

Between the Core i3 and FX 8-core the FX is the better all around product at the same price in 2015. That includes both applications AND games.
My only problem with the FX today, is the way higher power usage against the 22nm and especially the 14nm Intel CPUs.
Otherwise at the same price the FX 8-core is better suited for 2015 software than those Core i3.

i3-4360 is not too bad against an FX-8320. About the same price. And the 4360 has HD4600 graphics.

i3 hammers the FX in single thread like a nail...

Overall, the 2C/4T i3-4360 looks pretty impressive against the FX 8C/8T chips, imo. The i3-4370 at 3.8 is about the same price, $150, and it would do even better, but I couldn't find a bench.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/698?vs=1197

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1402?vs=1197

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/697?vs=1197

 

[LTC8K6]

If Intel would unlock an i3, they'd have a best-seller on their hands, imo...

 

[Abwx]

You really think decrypting a large file is something that most people commonly do while playing Witcher 3, especially people who care enough about their framerate that they bought a 980Ti?

The point is that if you play games with an i3/i5 disable all others possible apps, including your firewall, antivirus, wifi or ethernet, whatever can use ressources, othewise you wont get the fps that you see in reviews, and dont forget to have permanently a clean OS with no useless applications installed.

 

[IEC]

If Intel would unlock an i3, they'd have a best-seller on their hands, imo...

Why would they do that? They have all the competitive advantages, and the entire point of the i3 is price segmentation.

If you can use the extra threads or want the longest duration of good gaming performance, always i7. The more price-sensitive will settle for an i5. Exactly as Intel wants for their margins

 

[AtenRa]

If Intel would unlock an i3, they'd have a best-seller on their hands, imo...

If you would see the frame-times and stuttering of the Core i3 6300 against the old FX 8150 (at default) in some games im currently testing for my next review you would weep.

 

[MrTeal]

If Intel would unlock an i3, they'd have a best-seller on their hands, imo...

They would, but they wouldn't want a best seller if those sales come from people who would have bought quad i5s instead.

That does raise the issue in the low end of Intel's locked chips. A $140 FX-8320 is the same price as the i3-4360, but if you are willing to accept >200W from your CPU the FX-8320 @4.7GHz is a different story.
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1289?vs=1197

 

[Magic Carpet]

If you would see the frame-times and stuttering of the Core i3 6300 against the old FX 8150 (at default) in some games im currently testing for my next review you would weep.

So after 4 years... the "octa-core" BD is a match for a dual-core i3? Progress. Will you test power draw as well?

 

[AtenRa]

will you test power draw as well?

Most definitely

edit : a small glimpse

1080p High settings no Anti Aliasing
Win 10 Pro 64bit

 

[SlowSpyder]

i3-4360 is not too bad against an FX-8320. About the same price. And the 4360 has HD4600 graphics.

i3 hammers the FX in single thread like a nail...

Overall, the 2C/4T i3-4360 looks pretty impressive against the FX 8C/8T chips, imo. The i3-4370 at 3.8 is about the same price, $150, and it would do even better, but I couldn't find a bench.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/698?vs=1197

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1402?vs=1197

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/697?vs=1197

Yea, but I can overclock the FX if I want, the i3 doesn't allow that. An aggressive turbo can make up for a good chunk of that single threaded performance difference. Also, those benches look like a wash (In the first link the FX wins four, loses two, ties in one more or less). From what I've seen the i3 is pretty close to the i5 in many cases due to how good HyperThreading has gotten over the years.

 

[LTC8K6]

Yea, but I can overclock the FX if I want, the i3 doesn't allow that. An aggressive turbo can make up for a good chunk of that single threaded performance difference. Also, those benches look like a wash (In the first link the FX wins four, loses two, ties in one more or less). From what I've seen the i3 is pretty close to the i5 in many cases due to how good HyperThreading has gotten over the years.

Well then, the best the 4.0/4.2ghz FX 8 core chip can do is "a wash" against Intel's 4th gen 3.7ghz 2C/4T i3?

How is that good?
How is it good that you even have to talk about overclocking the FX relative to the i3?

Overclocking the FX gets you into more money, though. You need a good cooler. You are then well above the cost of the i3 chip. You are probably close to i5 money.

Notice my post about an unlocked i3...

Heck, even an i3 with turbo...

 

[Magic Carpet]

Most definitely

edit : a small glimpse

1080p High settings no Anti Aliasing
Win 10 Pro 64bit

Interesting. How many threads does Ryse can scale to? It must be one of those games... Can't wait to see when you are through

 

[Yuriman]

The point is that if you play games with an i3/i5 disable all others possible apps, including your firewall, antivirus, wifi or ethernet, whatever can use ressources, othewise you wont get the fps that you see in reviews, and dont forget to have permanently a clean OS with no useless applications installed.

This is an exaggeration at best.

 

[Enigmoid]

The point is that if you play games with an i3/i5 disable all others possible apps, including your firewall, antivirus, wifi or ethernet, whatever can use ressources, othewise you wont get the fps that you see in reviews, and dont forget to have permanently a clean OS with no useless applications installed.

There is absolutely no basis for this claim. In fact I fail to see any reviews that actually test CPUs with ethernet disabled (how else would they test multiplayer/online games).

Who said that it s due to thread count and HT...?.

Read through the thread before posting..

Prove that you dont read, the Winrar score are posted, so who s or what is flawed since you dont even ead before posting..?.

I mispoke. The results presentation is flawed. Both results (winrar and CB) should be on the same page. The way it is presented shows CPUs seeming to perform poorly while in practice the CPU is simply prioritizing winrar much higher.

Probably that the lower end FX also behave very well if not better than the FX8350 as they have the full L3 cache for less cores set apart for the 4300 wich is exactly half a FX8350.

Nope absoutely no basis for this. If the only intel CPU tested was the i7-6700k would you say the same for the rest of intel's lineup (ie the i3)? And would you be right? - Nope.

As for Intel i would believe that it s a deliberate segmentation if it is confirmed that it s the cache that is the culprit.

Yes, because vast majoity of people use one PC per application and at a given moment, niche case you said...?..

The average consumer will rarely run more than 1 demanding application at the same time. If they do, it is even more unlikely it will be an application where performance really really matters (ie a video transcode will take longer but that is not as urgent annoying as if a video is stuttering).

 

[TheELF]

The point is that if you play games with an i3/i5 disable all others possible apps, including your firewall, antivirus, wifi or ethernet, whatever can use ressources, othewise you wont get the fps that you see in reviews, and dont forget to have permanently a clean OS with no useless applications installed.

Multitasking isn't passive, it requires user input.
And you won't get the fps that you see in reviews on any machine except if you do exactly the same thing and have exactly the same setup and the same settings, and even then...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8jcX7rXVdkGTA IV while converting video celeron g1820
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFPXTHm4Q1M Dragon age while watching kodi stream celeron g1820

 

[frozentundra123456]

http://www.pcgamer.com/amd-next-gen...e-will-make-up-for-muted-bulldozer-reception/



4 years from the quote date would be 2018...

I dont think he meant 4 years from the date he was speaking, but 4 years (which has long passed now) from the date FX was introduced. Personally though I am not expecting anything more than token availability of Zen until 2107.

 

[SlowSpyder]

Well then, the best the 4.0/4.2ghz FX 8 core chip can do is "a wash" against Intel's 4th gen 3.7ghz 2C/4T i3?

How is that good?
How is it good that you even have to talk about overclocking the FX relative to the i3?

Overclocking the FX gets you into more money, though. You need a good cooler. You are then well above the cost of the i3 chip. You are probably close to i5 money.

Notice my post about an unlocked i3...

Heck, even an i3 with turbo...

Yea, an unlocked i3 would be a big product for enthusiasts, I agree. Regarding the FX, you can overclock them pretty easily the AMD factory cooler for their 125w CPU's is pretty beefy, though loud for some people. I bet 4.3-4.4GHz is manageable on the vast majority of them. Add a few hundred MHz for a single module turbo, it would perform pretty well. My argument isn't that AMD is better than Intel, but I don't think they're nearly as bad as many have made them out to be in these kinds of threads.

Really though, this thread is about the high end. If we're talking 5960X, AMD isn't competing there right now.

 

[LTC8K6]

I dont think he meant 4 years from the date he was speaking, but 4 years (which has long passed now) from the date FX was introduced. Personally though I am not expecting anything more than token availability of Zen until 2107.

If read that way, 4 years would mean 2015.

He was speaking 3 years out from Bulldozer.

So that would mean Zen is well behind what he expected when he spoke?

 

[crashtech]

Between the Core i3 and FX 8-core the FX is the better all around product at the same price in 2015. That includes both applications AND games.
My only problem with the FX today, is the way higher power usage against the 22nm and especially the 14nm Intel CPUs.
Otherwise at the same price the FX 8-core is better suited for 2015 software than those Core i3.

I disagree. Single thread has always been a problem for the FX, and things haven't improved with time. The i3-6100 now enjoys about a 33% advantage in single-thread performance over the FX-8320, an advantage which persists well into the medium loads that the vast majority of PCs will be subject to.

 

[LTC8K6]

Well, the 4.7ghz 9590 still gets massacred in single thread by the 3.7ghz i3...

That pretty much tells us that you aren't going to overclock an 8350 past an i3 for single thread dominance.