So, this is a non politics post, but I've been having some disputes with the rabid AMD fanboys on reddit (who in light of my recent discussion on shilling, I wouldnt be surprised are astroturfers to some degree), and given the toxic moderation culture on reddit stops me from being able to push back against them there, I'm doing my rant here.
So...yeah. AMD fanboys have been an issue with reddit for a while. Not sure they're shills or just enthusiasts, but yeah, they've been annoying for A WHILE. I kinda get it, like 12 years ago AMD collapsed due to bulldozer and then were basically cast to the CPU wilderness for five years. Intel stagnated during that time, leading to them just releasing the same product year after year +10% performance. The previous time I bought a CPU, I ended up going for a 7700k, the last quad core. I was kinda salty about it given coffee lake bumped things up to 6 core CPUs not long after and my flagship CPU was reduced to functionally an i5, and within 3 years, an i3. At the same time, wanna know what I didn't buy? Ryzen. Because the gaming performance was kind of bad. Zen 1 was, despite its obvious successes in the productivity space, in the gaming space, it was another bulldozer moment with them having inferior cores with high latency, leading to intel having massive single thread leads. They were kinda competitive against the 7600k at the time, given their alternative was a 6 core 12 thread r5 1600, but i literally overspent simply because I knew both CPU architectures would age like milk, and age poorly they did. Within 3 years both were bottom of the barrel sub $100 budget chips for the poorest of consumers.
The chips that lasted were intel's coffee lake CPUs, which had ryzen like productivity performance, while having crazy gaming performance. And for a while, intel was ahead, but eventually things evened out by 2020, and intel even came ahead. Then in 2021, intel struck back, releasing alder lake or their 12th gen that finally got them off of 14nm. But then AMD struck back again with X3D, as their 5000 architecture finally worked out the kinks that made their CPUs bad at gaming. At first, these chips were expensive, but in the next couple years performance has largely stagnated and chips have gotten cheap. However, long story short, AMD was on with something with X3D and took the gaming crown with the 7800X3D about 1.5 years ago. Intel just has no answer for it, and it's a dominant gaming chip for high end gamers.
In the past year, intel has suffered several...fiascos. I was considering writing an article about intel's 13th and 14th gen disaster and how their CPUs were frying themselves, but i never got around to it. But yeah, they had major engineering problems and just launched the chips anyway, only to create the grounds for what could have been a class action lawsuit for a faulty product. But they eventually "fixed" it and extended the warranty. And then they released their disastrous intel core ultra 200 series, where they developed an entirely new architecture with all of the flaws of early ryzen and more. It's being called their bulldozer moment. They're not wrong, either that or zen 1 without the appeal of "moar coars".
Meanwhile AMD released their Zen 5 architecture, which has been mocked as being called "Zen 5%" because it only offered a 5% performance gain over their predecessor. X3D chips come later, and to prepare, AMD phased out their 7800X3D causing it to rise in price, given it had unparalleled gaming performance. But then the 9800X3D actually ended up being good, and now it's WAY above and beyond everything and everyone on reddit is singing its praises like it's literally jesus christ. It's just a CPU people, chill out. And it has an eye watering $480 price tag. Yeah if you're mr moneybags over here who wants the best performance to go along with their 4090, be my guest, but I've always been a more midrange buyer. I actually upgraded to an alder lake 12900k a year ago and find it to be quite a good deal for the money. I spent $400 for an entire bundle at microcenter, and $200 for the CPU itself.
But...the AMD crowd on reddit has to constantly crap on LITERALLY EVERYTHING intel. Gamersnexus released a video about how the 12th gen intel CPUs are holding up three whole years later, and some idiot started going on about how no one should ever buy these chips because OMG ISN'T AMD SO GREAT? NEVER BUY INTEL and how you can get a 5700X3D instead. Not denying the 5700X3D is a good product, but COME ON MAN, THIS IS GETTING OBNOXIOUS. Yes, AMD makes good products now, but let's be honest, there are still reasons to buy intel. And I kind of want to discuss why someone would buy intel.
So why buy intel? Well, I'll start off by saying this. You should always buy what the best value is for YOU. I dont believe in loyalty to a hardware brand, and while I have my preferences, I'm not opposed to switching things up. Historically, I will admit I have a bias against AMD, but mostly because, well, they make crap products sometimes, and I often have had inferior experience from them. They're better now, and I'm currently rocking an AMD GPU given Nvidia is using their dominant market position to price gouge people in the GPU market, but the CPU market is actually hella competitive, with both brands actually being good. Like, there is largely competition in the CPU space, and unlike the intel dominated era of 10 years ago, both brands are kinda offering compelling value.
I admit, intel is having their issues at the moment, and even I'm reluctant to recommend some of their chips, or even a lot of them, but at the same time, I honestly think they're killing it in the budget and midrange segments.
Like, sub $100? The i3 12100-14100 CPUs are actually pretty decent. And AMD doesnt have an answer here other than to sell their really old 6 core chips with poor single thread gaming performance here. Meanwhile these i3s are powerful quads that generally blow them away. AMD kinda got arrogant as they ended up taking the lead, they WERE the budget friendly brand for like sub mid range CPUs, but they basically abandoned it and now sell old 6 core chips from 5+ years ago instead.
$100-150? Well, the 5600x and 12400 go back and forth, but I've been seeing great deals on the 12400f for like $110. And that's an amazing value for the money. AMD's equivalent is still like $130+.
Around $160ish, you got the 5700x vs 12600k, kinda on par with each other.
$200ish, the 5700X3D is solid, but the 12700k is kind of compelling, and now you can even get a 13600k for the money at times. Now, 13th series is one of those "these CPUs fry themselves" CPUs, but that problem is supposedly fixed, so....not a bad option? Arguably on par or better than a 5700X3D. Depends on the game though.
And yeah you got AM5, but eh...AM5 is kind of an expensive platform itself, and you get weaker CPUs for the money. They'll make the 7600x, their entry level option, like $200, i would say its a less compelling value than even their older 5700X3D given its a 6 core and who would buy a 6 core in 2024 if you can get like a 12-14 core intel chip instead? Not like the single thread is that much different. Honestly, 12th gen i7s and 13th gen i5s have value more similar to the 7700x or something which is like $270. And for $270, you can get a 12900k, ie, the best intel chip that didnt fry itself and the one i bought due to microcenter deals (where I got it for $200ish). Or a 13700k. Both are closer to like a 7900x in terms of performance, given intel's e cores are each worth like half a full core.
Ya know? I mean, intel's kinda killing it in value.
Also, what really tipped ME toward intel. When I was buying, microcenter had AMD bundles too and looking at reviews, lots of people were having issues with memory stability and XMP. Hell, I even considered dropping an extra $100 on a fricking 7800X3D at the time. BUT...living 1.5 hours away, I didn't wanna invest in a platform i might have to make a trek to return to the store, i just wanted something that worked, so...I bought the intel platform instead. And it worked. And because microcenter made the 12900k their best value bundle, and i wasnt willing to spend an extra $150+ to get 13th/14th gen, I just stuck to 12th gen. In some ways my stinginess and obsession with the best price/performance saved me from getting the one that fried itself (the 13700k/14700k) and instead getting the stable one. But yeah.That's why I bought intel.
Anyway, at $300...you can get like a 13700k or like a 9700x. And the X3D chips are now...$450+. And yeah, they're the best, but they're also competing with an i9 14900k pricing wise. Not exactly budget friendly. Even the bundles are more expensive. Microcenter had a $500 7800X3D bundle, now it's $600, and the 9800X3D one is almost $700.
And yeah, it's the best. Dont get me wrong. Nothing can touch it. But holy crap that's expensive.
Honestly, i get it, the X3D chips are amazing, and unparalleled in performance, but they're also...quite paralleled in value.
Most new chips this year are overpriced. I didnt recommend core ultra for a reason, it's a hot mess, performance is parallel to the 13th/14th gen CPUs, and they cost like 50% more. And outside of AMD's amazing X3D technology, you can kinda get good deals from 5000/7000/9000 series from AMD and 12th-14th gens on intel.
Honestly. Just buy what works best for you. There is no right answer. AMD is a fine option. if I were buying off of newegg or amazon, 5700X3D is a fine CPU for the price, and it comes with cheap platform costs. AM5 outside of X3D, eh i dont think it offers amazing value right now. On the flip side, the intel chips give you a lot more CPU but the 13th and 14th gen chips are also quite...volatile. That issue is supposedly fixed btw, but...i understand peoples reluctance.
Still, 12th gen chips seem to dominate the budget and lower midrange market atm. And they're a perfectly fine option. Idk why people WOULDNT consider them an option. It's just that all the people who literally worship AMD keep pushing people toward AMD because they're quite evangelical with their suggestions.
Like really, remember how people called apple a "religion" before? AMD fanboys are literally the same way. It's like they can't shut up about AMD products. Ever.
Ironically its the opposite with graphics cards. Despite crapping on AMD fanboys in the CPU space, I bought an AMD GPU last time. Why? Because again, nvidia is just out of touch with the market and using their brand to overcharge people. And most people go along with it. $300+ 60 cards? Yep, welcome to the new normal. Get the same performance from AMD for $200? Yes please. And that's the thing. I'm not even anti AMD. If they make a good product, I'll buy it. Hell, I would've likely gone the 7800X3D route if not for the pervasive negative reviews on the microcenter bundle i was considering. I actually wouldved like to have bought a 7800X3D instead. BUT....their platform didnt have all their problems worked out, and I chose stability. And then because I'm a cheap MFer I ended up avoiding the instability with intel's newer CPUs by pure luck.
But yeah. Again. To me, it's just value. Generally speaking, as a budget friendly guy, I probably would recommend AMD GPUs given Nvidia overcharges like crazy and intel GPUs are so experimental i wouldnt wanna touch one with a ten foot pole, and I think AMD dominates the sub $500-700 market in value. I dont care what anyone says. AMD makes good products at a good price there.
BUt in the CPU market, I'd only overwhelmingly recommend AMD if considering a 7800X3D or 9800X3D. MAYBE a 5700X3D given how cheap platform costs are, but even then, a 13600k or something is also an option. And sub $200? Im kinda intel all the way right now. So yeah. Again, value. And again, do your research and figure out what product you actually wanna buy. Dont treat hardware companies like cults. They just want your money, and you should just want a functional, well performing product. It's all transactional. Buy what suits you. I got a 12900k and I think I got an amazing deal. F the intel haters.
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