That calculus has changed now that Intel's Alder Lake chips have retaken the performance crown and have brutally competitive pricing — AMD will need to reduce its Ryzen pricing to remain competitive. You also benefit from the broad compatibility of motherboards with the AM4 CPU socket that supports both forward and backward compatibility, ensuring that not only do you get the most bang for your processor buck, but also your motherboard investment there are caveats with the series.
However, AMD's long-lived support for the AM4 socket now finds it trailing in connectivity options while Intel's chipsets have more modern amenities. The arrival of Intel's Alder Lake-S models has found the company adding more cores, threads, and features to its mainstream lineup, but without increased gen-on-gen pricing for similar models.
That equated to a substantial reduction in price-per-core and price-per-thread metrics, allowing it to steal the value crown from AMD in the Core i3, i5, and i9 ranges.
The addition of the hybrid x86 architecture, which brings a mix of high-performance and efficiency cores, has also wrung out more performance. Intel includes bundled coolers with its non-overclocking SKUs you have to pay more to overclock , but they are flimsy and 'good enough,' at best. We've even seen cases where Intel's stock coolers don't provide full performance at stock settings.
Intel did slightly bulk up its bundled coolers, but the aesthetic and slight thermal improvements aren't enough to match AMD's competent coolers, and they aren't available on all models. So be sure to budget in a cooler and a beefy one at that if you plan on overclocking an Intel processor. Meanwhile, most of AMD's bundled coolers are suitable for at least moderate overclocking.
Still, those only came as a standard add-in with the previous-gen Ryzen series, most of which haven't been supplanted with new Ryzen equivalents yet. Intel not only charges a premium for its overclockable K-Series chips, but you'll also need to shell out for a pricey Z-Series motherboard for the privilege of overclocking your processor — Intel doesn't allow full overclocking on B- or H-series motherboards.
Intel has now enabled memory overclocking on its B and H chipsets, which works with any chip compatible with the platform, meaning all 10th-Gen Comet Lake, 11th-Gen Rocket Lake, and 11th-Gen Comet Lake Refresh processors. However, these changes only apply to series models. Intel has yet to release the locked Alder Lake chips, but we expect it to extend the same memory overclocking features to the new family. Intel also has a long history of rapid socket transitions, meaning the odds of dropping a new chip into your existing motherboard, or taking the older processor over to a newer board, aren't as high.
Intel's Socket for Alder Lake will extend for at least one more generation, but plan for limited forward and backward compatibility on the Intel side. Notably, Zen 4 processors will come with a new socket. Win: Tie. However, that is only when we take chip pricing into account. Intel's decision to support PCIe 5. Intel still holds the overall price-to-performance advantage, though, even when we factor in motherboard pricing.
If you're looking for integrated graphics paired with a processor with more than eight cores, Intel is currently your only choice for chips at retail. However, these chips come with pared-back CPU performance in exchange for beefy integrated graphics, meaning they won't offer nearly the same level of performance in CPU-centric tasks.
Not that we'd recommend integrated graphics for most users, particularly if you're interested in gaming—check out our recent comparison of integrated graphics on AMD and Intel processors for more detail. Below we have a wide selection of collective gaming performance measurements for the existing chips in the different price bands.
In addition, we have two series of test results below that encapsulate performance in both Windows 10 and Windows 11 because Intel's Alder Lake offers more performance in Windows 10 than Regardless, the Blue Team holds the lead in both operating systems.
Our first four slides encapsulate Windows 11 gaming performance with the new Alder Lake and Ryzen processors included, while the Windows 10 slides show a larger selection of processors.
The Core iK slots in as the fastest gaming chip on the planet, price be damned, but the Core iK delivers basically the same gaming performance for far less cash, making it the go-to choice for performance addicts.
For mainstream gamers, the Core iK offers the best blend of price and performance that you can find on the market, bar none. That said, while Intel's Core iK is faster than the vaunted Ryzen 9 X, particularly after overclocking, most users would be hard-pressed to notice the difference between the two in real-world gaming sessions unless they're doing multiple other tasks at the same time, like gaming. We have in-depth head-to-head comparisons for both Alder Lake and Intel's previous-gen Rocket Lake against Ryzen in each of the key price brackets in the following articles:.
However, bear in mind that the performance delta between Intel and AMD's comparably-priced chips often isn't worth paying a huge premium, at least for the vast majority of enthusiasts. You'd be hard-pressed to notice the small differences in gaming performance at the top of the AMD vs Intel stack, but things are more complicated in the mid-range.
You'll need a fire-breathing high-end GPU and one of the best gaming monitors with a high refresh rate to get the most out of a small performance advantage, and you'll need to game at the mundane p resolution, too. Kicking your resolution up to p and beyond typically pushes the bottleneck back to the GPU, so you won't gain as much from your CPU's gaming prowess.
However, a bit of extra CPU gaming performance could pay off if you plan on updating your graphics card with a newer generation while keeping the rest of your system intact. We expect most builds in the mid-range to come with lesser GPUs, which generally serve as an equalizer in terms of CPU performance. In terms of integrated graphics performance, there's no beating AMD. Hit those reviews for a dedicated breakdown, or head to our CPU Benchmark hierarchy for even more detail.
That said, taken as a whole, both companies have extremely competitive chips in the respective price ranges — you'll often be hard-pressed to notice a difference between them in real-world gaming. If you're a gaming fanatic that prizes every single last frame you can squeeze out, particularly if you're into overclocking, Intel's Core iK is the answer on the high-end, and that leading-edge performance will also pay off if you plan to upgrade your GPU soon. If you're looking for a lower-priced chip that offers the same market-leading gaming performance that exchanges some heft in productivity applications for a lower price tag, the Core iK is your chip.
For the vast majority, the Core iK offers the best blend of price and performance, making it the uncontested best CPU for gaming. That said, AMD's highest-end chip takes the outright win in terms of the ultimate performance in threaded productivity and content creation applications in a few workloads. That comes courtesy of its copious slathering of cores, threads, and cache on its flagship Ryzen 9 X. However, those wins come at the expense of a much higher price point, and it isn't enough to justify the premium.
Alder Lake marks the debut of a mixture of two types of cores for the mainstream desktop PC. The big performance cores P-cores are best for latency-sensitive work, giving Intel the uncontested lead in single-threaded applications. The efficiency cores E-cores step in to add some additional heft in threaded and background applications, which pays big dividends in heavily-threaded content creation and productivity applications.
The E-cores have proven to be the unsung hero for Alder Lake in creativity and productivity workloads, allowing Intel to take the lead from AMD in the most important pricing bands. Solid performance in single-threaded work equates to faster performance in all manner of workloads, particularly day-to-day applications that rely on snappy responsiveness from the processor. The Alder Lake Core iK has taken the uncontested lead in single-threaded performance across the full spate of our benchmarks, but that's Intel's most expensive mainstream CPU.
If you're on the hunt for snappy single-threaded performance, the other Alder Lake processors also take comparatively large leads over competing AMD processors.
That means Intel's Alder Lake family holds the single-threaded performance crown. Winner: Intel. For professionals on the hunt for performance in content creation and productivity applications, the winner of AMD vs Intel CPUs goes to Intel on the strength of its x86 hybrid architecture. This new design blends two types of cores to create a single powerhouse processor architecture that's just as agile in single-threaded work as it is powerful in threaded applications.
To compare Intel vs AMD CPUs based on specs and features, we could chart the entire product stacks, but for the sake of brevity, we'll focus on the top chips in the respective families. Be aware that both companies have value options within each tier, but we can get a general sense of the current competitive landscape with these relatively short lists. We're using both vendors' recommended pricing and street pricing to give you a sense of the current state of the market.
The high end desktop HEDT is the land of creative prosumers with fire-breathing multi-core monsters for just about every need. Intel has long enjoyed the uncontested lead in this segment, but while AMD's first-gen Threadripper lineup disrupted the status quo, the Threadripper lineup destroyed it.
Intel splits its highest-end lineup into two classes, with the Xeon WX and W dropping into exotic LGA motherboards that carry eye-watering price tags to match the chips' insane pricing.
These aren't really enthusiast-class systems, though; think of these as more for the professional workstation market. The chip is powerful given its price point, but Threadripper's 3. You'll get more cores, cache, and faster PCIe 4.
However, when we boil it down to per-core pricing, or how much you pay for each CPU core, AMD does offer a compelling value story. The Core iK holds the throne as the best all-around processor for gaming, single- and multi-threaded work, while the Ryzen 9 X takes a few scant leads in some types of multi-threaded work.
However, that comes at a big tradeoff in performance in the other categories. Technically the K falls into the same price bracket as the Ryzen 9 X , but that isn't a fair fight — the K wins hands down. A similar story plays out in the decidedly more mainstream Ryzen 7 and Core i7 markets. Honestly, these are the chips the majority of gamers should buy if they have enough cash, though the Core i5 and Ryzen 5 models in the next category are even better for that task.
Here Intel's Core iK offers nearly the same gaming performance as the Core iK, albeit at the expense of some threaded horsepower in productivity applications, but at a far lower price point. Without a doubt, the Core iK dominates its price point as it easily beats the price-comparable Ryzen 7 X and offers a far better blend of performance than the Ryzen 9 X. You can see those battles in more detail in the Core iK vs Ryzen 9 X and Ryzen 7 x faceoff.
This market segment comprises the most substantial portion of AMD and Intel's sales, so pricing and value here are paramount. Unfortunately, due to supply issues, both AMD and Intel have largely neglected this segment of the market with their latest releases as they focus on more profitable higher-end chips.
That means the Ryzen and Alder Lake families have limited options on the low end. AMD's Ryzen 5 X was the mainstream gaming darling for over a year, but the Core iK has thoroughly unseated it with class-leading performance in all facets, including gaming, single- and multi-threaded applications.
In fact, the Core iK is even a better value than the more expensive Ryzen 7 X that resides in a higher pricing tier. You can see that impressive performance more closely in our Core iK vs Ryzen 5 X and Ryzen 7 X faceoff. The rest of this product stack largely consists of prior-gen chips. The Ryzen 3 X also offers more performance than the K and beats all of Intel's chips in the same price range.
Good luck finding one, though, as these chips are rare at retail. Intel's chips can't hold a candle there—you'll need a discrete GPU if you plan to do any meaningful gaming. Still, even though Intel sells its graphics-less F-Series chips for a discount, it holds the advantage of having a graphics option across the full breadth of its mainstream product stack.
However, AMD's limited selection cuts it out a significant portion of the market. Meanwhile, AMD's aging AM4 ecosystem has soldiered on for six long years now, hamstringing the company's ability to move forward to faster interfaces.
Power consumption comes as a byproduct of design choices, like lithography and architecture, which we'll discuss below. However, higher power consumption often correlates to more heat generation, so you'll need beefier coolers to offset the heat output of greedier chips. As we can see, the Alder Lake chips consume far less power than the Rocket Lake chips. Overall, Intel has reduced its power consumption from meme-worthy to an acceptable level.
For a long time, AMD processors were only good for entry-level or budget options. Mindfactory regularly releases up to date CPU sales figures, illustrating a decent snapshot of the market, as per the below image. It is an interesting question and one that requires a base understanding of how to compare CPUs. There are a few key CPU specifications that will sway you to one processor for gaming or another:. There are other factors at play, too. Power consumption you'll need a good power supply unit , CPU architecture, socket type which dictates the motherboard you will use , and integrated graphics which you can use instead of a dedicated graphics processing unit are all considerations.
Now you're armed with which vital specs to check, you can figure out which gaming CPUs you like the look of. Alternatively, check out our easy gaming CPU comparisons below. The Intel Core iK is a gaming behemoth, making the top perch its own—but not by much. Check out the table below for the CPU specs overview. There are some standout CPU specs on that list. The Intel CPU's base clock of 3. Like, really fast. As such, the Intel Core iK just beats the Ryzen 9 X in single-core performance in almost all benchmarking tests.
It also comes with 16 cores and 32 threads and supports faster RAM, too. While very few applications and games will use all 16 cores, the additional overhead is handy future-proofing.
Really, there isn't much in it between these two excellent gaming CPUs. When it comes down to it, the price will settle the score, depending on your budget. Topics CPUs. See all comments Will the G5xxx Pentiums, as well as the Ryzen-based Athlons, be added? Come to think about it, maybe the AM4 versions of the A10 and A12? Low end stuff, true, but still interesting I think to see where the new bottom-end CPUs fit relative to some of the older things that were decent performers in their day.
I have an i I have previously been told that an upgrade to for example an iK would see a significant improvement and would be well worth the investment. This article seems to say the exact opposite. My system is used for general office applications, surfing and limited gaming WoW, with an intention to switch to Elite: Dangerous shortly.
My son, at his mother's house, still uses an i with a GTX Ti. Handles his needs just fine. I'd say with your usage, what you have is more than sufficient. Would this remain the case if I were to upgrade to a x monitor? Thanks for the reply. That I couldn't say - as I'm not familiar with those particular games or how demanding they are. Might be more appropriate to start a separate thread though, for that question.
That way you're more likely to get people who can address that question than who would see it buried in the midst of this thread about the hierarchy charts. That would really be more dependent on your monitor's resolution and refresh rate. Could be the right choice, could be a bit of overkill, depending on the monitor.
Here are the prices updates to February The size of the bubbles indicate application performance. The labels in red belong to best buys lower price or higher performance Not all prices and processors on the article are on sale anymore, so I excluded some CPUs.
The amazon prices showing for the likes of the Ryzen X are inflated as they're displaying the price for a combo deal with a Corsair AIO. Not very helpful as price is a huge factor and the Ryzen CPUs already come with their own cooler. Core iK. Ryzen 9 X. Ryzen 5 X. Ryzen 7 X. Core i Core iXE. Intel Core iKS. Intel Core i AMD Threadripper X. Ryzen 5 G. Ryzen 9 XT. Threadripper Pro WX. Ryzen 7 G. Core i3 iK. Corsair Hi.
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