AMD or Intel processor for gaming

[Mushroom2013]

At the moment I am trying to build my own Gaming PC and I don't know what to get. I've been looking at the AMD Bulldozer fx-8 8320 however I've had suggestions that Intel is better for gaming. Anyone got any advise?

 

[Jobbe03]

4670k

[Guest Kloaked]

Right now, Intel > AMD for gaming.

[Katsu-K1L]

I Don't if you're trying to start a war...but if you can afford a 4690K and A Z97 motherboard, go for it.

[DrFeel]

If you want to save money but get ALMOST about the same performance, AMD. If you're a rich white kid with bling then Intel.

[JupiteL]

If you have the money then go for Intel. AMD if you kinda tight in budget.

[Faceman]

Depends on the types of games you play.  MMOs, League of Legends, Indie Games, Dayz, Starcraft, Diablo III, games that rely on single core performance will struggle mightily on AMD processors.

 

Intel is the better all-around option.  Get an i5 and pair it with the best possible GPU that you can afford.

 

You can get an i5 for $180-$200 in-store at Microcenter.  If you don't live near a Microcenter, you can use Staples.com or Frys.com Price Match feature to get it shipped to you for the same price.

[GloriousPain]

AMD. Most intels are either equivalent(i5s) or overkill (i7s) for gaming and cheaper I'd suggest the 8320 all day unless you're rendering or video editting alot, save the 50 bones and upgrade your Graphics card. Gaming wise usually the Graphics card makes more of a difference.

[Faa]

AMD. Most intels are either equivalent(i5s) or overkill (i7s) for gaming and cheaper I'd suggest the 8320 all day unless you're rendering or video editting alot, save the 50 bones and upgrade your Graphics card. Gaming wise usually the Graphics card makes more of a difference.

A 4670k with a 770 will do better than a 8320 with a 780 in cpu bound games. AMD's corecount alone is overkill, bunch of cores with half of them being useless

[SpyRosL]

I want my CPU to run all the games well(intel) not some(AMD).

 

It's simple.If you can't give $220 for an i5, get the 8320.

[Thy Shaw]

If u can't muster up to 200$ then go for a FX 8320 , if u are going higher than that , consider getting an Intel since the prices will be similar while the performance won't. In case u can get in the 200/250$ range , consider the 4690k.

[GloriousPain]

A 4670k with a 770 will do better than a 8320 with a 780 in cpu bound games. AMD's corecount alone is overkill, bunch of cores with half of them being useless

yes, CPU is important in specific cases where the CPU is important logic is logical. Most games are not CPU bound however. and I guess I'm the only person on the planet who can max a 8320... Between my gaming, streaming, skype, googlechrome tabs, recording... Don't call something useless just cause you can't use it -.- 

[thebennyboy]

I want my CPU to run all the games well(intel) not some(AMD).

 

It's simple.If you can't give $220 for an i5, get the 8320.

 

Highlighted in bold is something i think is rubbish. My 8320 has no trouble running any games that i've played (most on ultra btw). Don't tell people crap like that. Both Intel and AMD perform well for their respective prices, go whichever way you want to OP as both are good.

[Faa]

yes, CPU is important in specific cases where the CPU is important logic is logical. Most games are not CPU bound however. and I guess I'm the only person on the planet who can max a 8320... Between my gaming, streaming, skype, googlechrome tabs, recording... Don't call something useless just cause you can't use it -.- 

Most people play multiplayer games, multiplayer games always have been for the most part CPU bound. What you're going to do with an octacore if most game engines cant even use more than 4 cores? The multithreaded performance between the 8350 & i5 is within margin of error, you would prefer to have the same multithreaded performance split over 4 rather than 8.

[Demonking]

I5 4670K or 4690K 

[GloriousPain]

Most people play multiplayer games, multiplayer games always have been for the most part CPU bound. What you're going to do with an octacore if most game engines cant even use more than 4 cores? The multithreaded performance between the 8350 & i5 is within margin of error, you would prefer to have the same multithreaded performance split over 4 rather than 8.

It's a preference thing, it's called multitasking game uses 4 gives me 4 extra for all the other things I'm doing. I rarely just game and would hate if my CPU was maxxed by a game alone as it'd bring my other tasks to a crawl.  I'm sorry if I'm not a gaming addict who has no friends and no use for the extra cores and instead demands marginally better framerates but I have a 60Hz monitor and still rarely dip below 60fps... So to me an i5 isn't preferable and an i7 is overkill and overpriced... in my case buying an i5 would be paying more to get less. YOUR mileage may vary, for me 8320 is damn near perfect. i5s have terrible price for marginally better gaming performance at the cost of multitasking being slowed... i7s are Overpriced, and Overkill till I start editing and rendering again...

 ALL CPUS have their own uses for me an i5 isn't the best choice, for you it might be not for me. 

[Faa]

It's a preference thing, it's called multitasking game uses 4 gives me 4 extra for all the other things I'm doing. I rarely just game and would hate if my CPU was maxxed by a game alone as it'd bring my other tasks to a crawl.  I'm sorry if I'm not a gaming addict who has no friends and no use for the extra cores and instead demands marginally better framerates but I have a 60Hz monitor and still rarely dip below 60fps... So to me an i5 isn't preferable and an i7 is overkill and overpriced... in my case buying an i5 would be paying more to get less. YOUR mileage may vary, for me 8320 is damn near perfect. i5s have terrible price for marginally better gaming performance at the cost of multitasking being slowed... i7s are Overpriced, and Overkill till I start editing and rendering again...

 ALL CPUS have their own uses for me an i5 isn't the best choice, for you it might be not for me. 

Nobody is interested in your use and because you find the i5 unneccessary doesn't mean the same for the OP. You're supposed here to help him based on facts, not just to drop your "I bought my first ever cpu and I like it" opinions.

[APrettyCoolWalrus]

AMD performs better when you are either streaming or doing something extremely taxing whilst gaming. Intel does much better in normal gaming situations.

[Faceman]

It's a preference thing, it's called multitasking game uses 4 gives me 4 extra for all the other things I'm doing. I rarely just game and would hate if my CPU was maxxed by a game alone as it'd bring my other tasks to a crawl.  I'm sorry if I'm not a gaming addict who has no friends and no use for the extra cores and instead demands marginally better framerates but I have a 60Hz monitor and still rarely dip below 60fps... So to me an i5 isn't preferable and an i7 is overkill and overpriced... in my case buying an i5 would be paying more to get less. YOUR mileage may vary, for me 8320 is damn near perfect. i5s have terrible price for marginally better gaming performance at the cost of multitasking being slowed... i7s are Overpriced, and Overkill till I start editing and rendering again...

 ALL CPUS have their own uses for me an i5 isn't the best choice, for you it might be not for me. 

 

I own an i5-4670k.  I can play BF4 + Netflix + MSI AfterBurner/FRAPS + Ventrillo/Skype/Teamspeak + Web Browsing with no issue whatsoever.  If that isn't multi-tasking, I don't know what is.  Not to mention, you will be severely limited in any single thread game such as MMOs, Starcraft, Diablo, DayZ, etc..

[ForsakenLive]

It's all about a balanced budget on gaming builds, case should be practical, PSU not crappy, Storage make sense, Ram at least 8gb, GPU should be the most expensive part by far and have a CPU that can catch up to it.

 

For example, it makes no sense to get a 4690K if you are stuck with a 750ti, a 8320+R9 280X will decimate it in gaming performance.

Tell us what budget you have for CPU+Motherboard, if you have a GPU (or want to buy one), what's the rest of the build (or what you plan to get) and on which country are you, so we can help you out, let's not start a flame war.

[GloriousPain]

Nobody is interested in your use and because you find the i5 unneccessary doesn't mean the same for the OP. You're supposed here to help him based on facts, not just to drop your "I bought my first ever cpu and I like it" opinions.

It's far from my first CPU... I work at a computer store part time and change CPUs all the time. I'm saying in my circumstance 8320 is entirely fine for gaming you're the fanboy who's just blindly suggesting Intel. I'll full heartedly suggest an i5 if he's just gaming but people rarely do... @OP if you Video edit or render at the same time as you game get AMD if you switch it up and do only one at a time i5... 

[Bloodkil933]

 

 

 

I own an i5-4670k.  I can play BF4 + Netflix + MSI AfterBurner/FRAPS + Ventrillo/Skype/Teamspeak + Web Browsing with no issue whatsoever.  If that isn't multi-tasking, I don't know what is.  Not to mention, you will be severely limited in any single thread game such as MMOs, Starcraft, Diablo, DayZ, etc..

 

Understandably, but most of those games aren't very well threaded. Games that properly utilize all the cores on the 8320/8250 see very similar performance.

 

Granted if you play those kind of games then maybe an i5 is better.

 

I will say this again and again, there is No Better Brand, It's all about the budget, what you mainly would use it for where an Intel or AMD would be better preferentially.

[GloriousPain]

I own an i5-4670k. I can play BF4 + Netflix + MSI AfterBurner/FRAPS + Ventrillo/Skype/Teamspeak + Web Browsing with no issue whatsoever. If that isn't multi-tasking, I don't know what is. Not to mention, you will be severely limited in any single thread game such as MMOs, Starcraft, Diablo, DayZ, etc..

I never said AMD was better and there's always more you can do like rendering in the background... If they were same cost then yeah i5 would probably be better I'm saying for similar performance at a lowercost fanboyism is the only reason to not choose AMD in this circumstance.

No one company is "the best"

Understandably, but most of those games aren't very well threaded. Games that properly utilize all the cores on the 8320/8250 see very similar performance.

Granted if you play those kind of games then maybe an i5 is better.

I will say this again and again, there is No Better Brand, It's all about the budget, what you mainly would use it for where an Intel or AMD would be better preferentially.

Someone with some common sense in this thread.

[Faceman]

@GloriousPain

@Bloodkil933

 

      In order for the FX to even match the stock performance of an i5, it has to be overclocked.  I remember someone who made the switch from an 8320 to an i7 and did lots of testing on various games.  He said his 4.6Ghz 8320(overclocked) performed like a i5-4460(locked) 3.2Ghz in games like Crysis 3, Battlefield 4, and Watch Dogs.  And this guy used to be a massive tool/AMD fanboy.  In order to get a halfway decent overclock on the FX processor, you have to get a 990 series motherboard which is expensive.  The least expensive alternative is the Gigabyte 970, but then you are looking at a MAX overclock of 4.6Ghz, and that is optimistic because of the power phase design on that motherboard.  Intel doesn't have that problem, motherboard doesn't impact the overclock capability, it is up to the chip.

     For pricing, you can pick up an i5-4670k for $180 in-store at Microcenter.  If you don't live near a Microcenter, you can use Staples.com or Frys.com price match tools to get it shipped to you for the same price + cost of shipping.  To be fair, I used the Microcenter in-store price for the 8320 as well.  After all of that, the price difference is only $10.  There is absolutely no reason, what so ever, to recommend someone an FX8xxx over an i5 unless their primary purpose for the machine is video editing and rendering.  Not to mention the FX8xxx bottlenecks video cards that are above a GTX770/R9 280X, and will not allow you to upgrade to multi-GPU configurations in the future.

 

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/CcjvdC
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/CcjvdC/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($180.00)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($25.98 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI Z87-G41 PC Mate ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($75.66 @ Newegg)
Total: $281.64
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

 

Vs.

 

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/hbxTpg
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/hbxTpg/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD FX-8320 3.5GHz 8-Core Processor  ($130.00)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($25.98 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 ATX AM3+ Motherboard  ($116.90 @ Newegg)
Total: $272.88
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

[Faceman]

For arguments sake, I'm showing the cost of an FX8320 with a 970 motherboard:

 

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/ThxTpg
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/ThxTpg/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD FX-8320 3.5GHz 8-Core Processor  ($130.00)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($25.98 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3P ATX AM3+ Motherboard  ($73.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $229.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

 

This is $50 less expensive than an i5 setup, but you are still limited to a 4.6Ghz optimistic overclock(i5-4460 @ 3.2Ghz), and the processor cannot keep up with high end video cards, and struggle in single thread tasks, which are still very prevalent today.