AMD vs. Intel

I'm planning on building my first gaming rig within the upcoming couple of months and I need some enlightenment and outside advice. I've done some research recently on the two brands, and both clearly have their strengths and weaknesses and it's leading me to a point of extreme indecisiveness. I'd love to hear your opinions on the topic as it might benefit my decision making.


Here's my proposal... As a first build typically will be, my set-up is very budget intensive. I want your input. I plan on spending a divided maximum of $450 between the processor and graphics card and I'm looking for the most effective products for the price. Don't be afraid to push the $450 budget to the limit. I've heard so much banter and read so many fan-boy articles referring to the two companies that I now find myself torn. Please help.


P.S. I live in Canada so use that as a reference point when hunting the web, costs can be quite variational.

 

Its really personal preference. Me I prefer Intel.

I find Intel to be more expensive, but they are much more reliable and have better hardware than AMD.

AMD is usually less expensive, but hardware tends not to be as reliable as Intel.

This is the same for Nvidia vs. AMD Though Nvidia GPUs are starting to have games optimised for them compared to AMD.

 

Thus, Intel and Nvidia the more future-proof products? With a budget of $450 between CPU and GPU, would I be paying too much for too little performance when going with Intel and Nvidia?

 

Intel cpu's run a little bit cooler and are a bit more efficient, the trade off being that they're a bit more expensive. There isn't anything particularly wrong with the amd counterparts (and I think the apu's are cool for some applications) but I just prefer intel when it comes to processors personally.


If you're on a budget usually AMD's graphics cards give you more power at a better price point.



tl;dr

Buy an intel cpu, and an amd graphics card. Try not to spend more than $100 on the processor and use the rest on the gpu.

 

Wrong.

AMD and Intel share the same quality of products, they're just different. It'd be like comparing a Ford and a Chevy.

Also, in terms of optimized games, AMD is actually picking up on its deals with developers to get more things optimized for their cards. Regardless, optimization for cards hardly ever plays a huge role - if it did developers wouldn't make any money since their games would essentially only run properly on one type of card. May as well just go console if that were true.

Not really future proof, it really depends on the card you get. If you buy a brand new card for only $250 regardless of brand, it won't last you as long as one that costs around $400. For example, my AMD Radeon 5870HD is around 3-4 years old now. It cost around $600 when it came out, and it still lets me run everything maxed out. I won't need to get a new card for another couple of years.

All-in-all, Laptop is right in the sense that AMD vs. nVidia is a matter of taste. I find that nVidia is better at putting out really beastly high-end cards, as where AMD is often better for budget builds. For example, everyone's buzzing about nVidia's Titan card right now, as where hardly anyone is talking about whatever AMD's top card is right now. So, I'll conclude the GPU question by saying that if you have a lot of money left over from the CPU, go nVidia, if not, then go AMD.

However the CPU is a different story. This is where it gets tricky with your budget. You could get a really good previous-generation AMD processor like a hexa Phenom II for under $100 now I think (I've got a hexa Phenom II and it's great, just not the newest tech), but for gaming people usually go for Intel's i5 line of processors. The i5s are generally much more expensive.

AMD's newest processor architecture is also really cool. It has a combined GPU and CPU all within one CPU, and I think you can get up to an octo-core. This is practical when your main GPU can't handle what you're doing so it offsets some of the load to the CPU's GPU, which is actually fairly powerful. The only problem is that this architecture isn't quite yet supported by many developers, so you'd have this awesome new tech that isn't being used. This will be what people will buy over an i5 in 1-2 years though, for sure. These are also expensive.

The tl;dr

• AMD products are cheaper, and generally better for budget builds
• nVidia products are more expensive, but are better if you have a high budget to go all-out
• Intel's line of i5 processors are best right now for gaming, but are expensive
• AMD's new CPU architecture will be the future, but are expensive and ahead of their time right now
• AMD's older Phenom II processors are not yet deprecated, and are fairly cheap - they're not future proof but will give you excellent performance until you need to buy something better in a couple years

If I were you: I would buy a Phenom II processor, then spend the remaining $350 you have on a good graphics card of your choice that'll last you a long time.

 

Personally I'd go the intel route. Get a good CPU that will last you and that won't become a bottleneck if you upgrade down the line, especially to SLI / Crossfire.

I'd go with: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116898 (or the unlocked one if overclocking is something that you would want to do)

And a 760: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130933

That's slightly over budget but if you grab a slightly cheaper i5 it would be fine.

 

I agree with blupig, he said it very well.

Sure, most of my builds are intel/NVidia combinations. But there is NOTHING wrong with AMD's components, don't let anyone fool you. I'll actually be going with AMD's video cards this time around myself

 

Thank you all for the input.

 

Intel is quality, AMD is garbage.

Intel + Nvidia

AMD + ATI

-LeetNeo.

 

Intel is a completely more advanced Processor when comparing it to AMD. AMD processors are known for overheating and damage to the back of the processor itself.

If your budget is $450.00, I would suggest getting an Intel-i7 along with the 560 GTX-Ti MSI Nvidia videocard. When you come across more accessible funds, SLI another 560 GTX-Ti with your current one to help resolution clogging and even run up to 4 monitors.

Good luck.

 

I wonder if the previous two posters have any clue what they're talking about. Simple fanboyism is all I see. I reckon they have no experience with the products.

 

Go for Intel if you can afford it. Go AMD if you can't. That's about it.

 

I'd go for intel. Wait for Broadwell to be released.

 

I'm still on ivy bridge with my i5-3570k @ 4.5Ghz, it's more than i'll need for a quite long time. But I can't bash on AMD either, they're still great performers for the price and allow people with a tighter budget to enjoying having a decent computer.

I also have an AMD build with an FX-8350, and it's a beast machine.

 

I'd suggest you get Intel is more better.

 

Intel for sure.

 

i agree go for intel mate

 

Ideal CPU for a gaming PC is a intel i5

 

That's a joke, my gaming rig is built on an ATI card and an AMD CPU, and it's been running phenomenally for a couple years now. I think you just read 1 article and started tossing around judgment without doing the research. Also, I'm able to run up to 8 monitors on my single card.

Whoever said "Intel if you can afford it, AMD if you can't" is on the right track.