FAQ And Guide - CPU Choice

[Samdb]

What CPU should you choose?

 

When choosing a CPU you should take into consideration what you will be using it for and your budget. These are the two main factors in choosing a CPU and getting these things wrong may cause a loss in performance when building your PC, the following scenarios should shed a light on the situation.

 

Intel or AMD?

This choice should be depend on your budget, not which company your prefer the most, otherwise you will not receive the best performance for the budget you are willing to spend. For lower budget systems, go with AMD, no questions asked. Their processors and APUs provide the best price to performance and will exceed processors from Intel at the same price point. However if you have a large budget Intel is the way to go, if you can afford to buy an Intel processor you will see a performance increase over the same tier AMD CPU. This is excellent for higher end PCs which need the extra performance.

 

 

Gaming - Low Budget

Low budget builds should almost always feature an AMD CPU or APU. However for the lower end of the spectrum, an APU would be a better decision. This would allow you to gain the most performance with the lowest of budgets. An APU benefits from higher speed RAM, as tested by Logan. With faster RAM you could see a possible increase in frame rate, often more than 10FPS, however is not necessary. I would recommend the A10-6800K Richland APU which uses the FM2 socket.

 

 

Gaming - Medium Budget

Again, an AMD CPU should be chosen in the particular situation as is provides the most bang for the buck. CPUs such as the FX-6300. These processor is using the Piledriver architecture, and use the AM3+. I personally recommend a 990FX motherboard so there is the ability to overclock and squeeze the last bit of performance out of your CPU.

 

Gaming - High Budget

For a higher budget gaming system Intel would be the way to go, its i5 series of processors are very well known for their excellent gaming performance and coupled with the right motherboard and graphics card can give excellent results. The i5-4670K is one of the more well known CPU's, the "K" skew would allow you to overclock and uncover the extra performance that your CPU will have to offer, provided you have a Z87 chipset motherboard. If you do not intend to overclock I would still get the i5-4670K CPU due to the extremely similar price between the non "K" variant, it would allow you to overclock in the future if you ever decide to reconsider. The AMD 8350 is also a good choice for gaming, it often beats the 4670K in various benchmarks, and when streaming games the 8350 excels. It uses the AM3+ socket and a 990FX motherboard would suit this CPU as there is a lot of overclocking headroom. The FX-8350 has a much higher TDP than the i5-4670K so a good cooler is a necessity.

 

Video Editing/3D Rendering - Low Budget

For a lower budget video editing system AMD would be the best choice, the multi-core options provided by AMD at such a low price point would allow you to edit videos relatively quickly without breaking the bank. The FX-8320 and FX-8350 are both great choices and both are running on the Piledriver architecture. These CPU's use the AM3+ socket and have a higher TDP than other CPUs so an aftermarket cooler is recommended.

 

Video Editing/3D Rendering - High Budget

Like the gaming oriented high budget system, an Intel CPU would be the best choice, however this time being the i7 4770K or the i7 4770 depending if you wish to overclock your system or not. If you choose to overclock your system with the 4770K, a Z87 chipset motherboard will be required, if not, either a H87 or B85 chipset motherboard would suit your needs. The i7 series of processors uses Hyperthreading technology, using four physical cores and four virtual cores, giving a total of 8 usable cores, which would accelerate the rate at which video and 3D models are rendered.

 

Workstations

Most people do not need a workstation grade PC, it is mainly aimed at professional users who need the extra performance. Workstations are often on the X79 chipset which uses the 2011 socket, which also gives the user the ability to add more RAM if necessary. I would recommend a 3930K for a workstation PC as it offers a good price to performance while maintaining the workstation grade, without breaking the bank. With that said I would not recommend the average consumer buying for the X79 platform, the price to performance will not compare to something like the i7 4770K or FX-8350.

 

Intel Ivy Bridge or Haswell?

For this example I will use the i5 3570K as the Ivy Bridge option and the 4670K as the Haswell option. Firstly the 3570K and the 4670K are essentially the same CPU, the 3570K has more inefficient clocks than the 4670K leading to a lower amount of IPC (Instructions Per Clock). However the 3570K produces a lot less heat that the 4670K although it still uses thermal paste. The 4670K and the Haswell series of processors are notorious from having cheap thermal compound between the die and the IHS, leading to a greater heat output, leading to less overclocking capability. However the Haswell series of processors also uses less power than the previes generation Ivy Bridge CPU's, or the 3570K in your circumstance. The two CPU's use different chipsets; the 3570K uses the Z77 chipset and the 4670K uses the Z87 chipset. Z77 boards have come down a lot in price recently and you can get more for what you would pay for a Z87 board. However, buying a Z87 board gives the opportunity to upgrade in the future, to the next series of Broadwell processors. Intel follows a tick tock pattern, first with an architecture change, then a die shrink. Haswell is meant to be a "tick" cycle, meaning the next series of Intel CPU's may be much better than Haswell. Ultimately the choice lies on what you want, do you want a good overclocker with lower heat output, however is older and does not leave room to upgrade? Or do you want a newer CPU which has a higher IPC more heat and the opportunity to upgrade?

 

The Reason for increased temperatures in the Haswell series of processors

Haswell is notorious for having cheap TIM between the die and the IHS which causes the heat to be less effectively transferred. You cannot send for RMA as your CPU isn't actually faulty, however you could either delid or lap your CPU which would void your warranty. Another option is to lower the voltage on your CPU in order to reduce the amount of heat produced. As long as your keep your CPU below 1.5V and 90C you should be fine.

 

Xeons are the same price as i7s, which should I buy?

The Xeon series of CPU are more oriented towards workstations and servers, and often fall behind in gaming performance at a certain price point. Most consumers opt for the i7 or i5 series of CPU. The i7 offers hyperthreading technology which will provide better performance than the likes of an i5 in video editing and 3D situations. Intel Xeon processors are tested and rated for 24/7 usage at maximum load to ensure quality and stability for use in servers and the like. The Xeon E3-1230 V2 is an exception, it is more of an i7 without an integrated GPU, it also has various features than the average consumer would not use, such as features used in virtualization, which would be handled on a server. It is not recommended that a Xeon is used on a consumer grade system, however the E3-1230 V2 is a viable option. 

 

How long can I expect my chosen platform to last?

The way Intel has produced their CPU's has been standard for a while now, they usually have two CPU's per socket, at least on the mainstream boards such as 1155 and 1150 anyway. As for 1150, you can expect it to be around for another 18 months or so. The way the heat issues have been going, with the replacement of solder with cheap thermal compound between the IHS and the die on the Ivy Bridge and Haswell series of CPU's I currently doubt that there will be any actions by Intel that would aid in decreasing the amount of heat that their CPU's currently produce.

 

Z87 Motherboard Performance

Intel has decided to move most of the features that would normally be on a motherboard, such as better power delivery, with the Z77 chipset to the CPU, meaning that the choice of motherboard is less significant than it previously had been. On the Z77 chipset a significant amount of performance could be gained from a good quality motherboard, however the FPS you now see in games on the Z87 chipset is within a margin of error. Therefore you do not have to buy the highest end motherboard to get the performance you feel that you deserve.

 

http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/45848-faq-and-guide-cpu-choice/?p=610132

 

Performance

 

[spoiler=AMD A10-6800K 2133Mhz RAM 11-11-11-30 AMD Catalyst 13.6 Windows 8]

 

Source: Hexus.net

 

 

[spoiler=AMD FX-6300 Stock clocks]

 

Sources: guru3d.com

 

[spoiler=Intel i5 4670K Stock clocks]

 

Source: Hexus.net

 

[spoiler=AMD FX-8350 Stock clocks]

 

Source: guru3d.com

 

[spoiler=Intel i7-4770K Stock Clocks]

I couldn't find a benchmark from Guru3d.com, sorry.

 

Sources: guru3d.com, Tomshardware.com

 

The 3570K and 4670K have very similar performance and should be able to be translated, with a 10% performance increase.

 

 

 

Source: Guru3d

 

 

Source and more info: https://teksyndicate.com/videos/amd-fx-8350-vs-intel-3570k-vs-3770k-vs-3820-gaming-and-xsplit-streaming-benchmarks

 

I reached a limit on the amount of content I could post, below is a link to the additional posts.

http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/45848-what-cpu-should-you-choose/?p=610132

 

If you have any more questions or suggestions don't hesitate to get in touch.

 

Sam,

Intel Response Squad member

http://bit.ly/RallySquad

[NinjaStyle013]

Nice guide dude, I would add in that AMD is not nearly as upgradable as intel in terms of the FM2 socket and am3 where due to the lack of CPUs you gotta wait for new generations.

[TechFan@ic]

The benchmarks of the processors should be unified and since this is an LTT forum it would be preferable if you just add Linus's CPU benchmarks.

Also the performance analysis of these chips should not rely on synthetic benchmarks that rarely represent real-world performance such as cinebench not to mention that a five year old game (FC2) will give an in-accurate representation of CPU performance in modern games.
 

[sabot]

Wow this is really good and informative!

[Samdb]

The benchmarks of the processors should be unified and since this is an LTT forum it would be preferable if you just add Linus's CPU benchmarks.

Also the performance analysis of these chips should not rely on synthetic benchmarks that rarely represent real-world performance such as cinebench not to mention that a five year old game (FC2) will give an in-accurate representation of CPU performance in modern games.

 

 

Thanks for the suggestions, I've added what I can, however some benchmarks are missing as soon as they become available I shall edit the OP.

[Samdb]

Wow this is really good and informative!

 

Thank you

[Cryptonite]

 

[spoiler=Intel i5 4670K Stock clocks]

 

Source: Hexus.net

 

 

 

 

I love how the i5 2500k and the i7 2700k get 0's there and also I love the fact that you tested bioshock infinite and got 11 FPS on my cpu.

although you tested integrated GPU's but still no one uses those when buying an i5 for gaming.

[Immort]

Call me old fashioned but an Intel Response Squad member would have no credibility comparing Intel & AMD CPUs especially when he's offering nothing but the stereotypical "AMD is for tight budgets otherwise intel is better" and a bunch of completely synthetic benchmarks (Cinebench) which are well known to use the intel compilers to neutralize the competition.
http://www.investorvillage.com/mbthread.asp?mb=476&tid=8319695&showall=1

http://sharikou.blogspot.com.es/2009/12/ftc-accuses-intel-of-rigging-benchmarks.html

Look at real-world multi-threaded workloads and you'll find that the 8350 beats the 3770K in file compression, work on Photoshop & the 8350 would beat the 3770K, encode a video and you'd find the 8350 beats the 3770K, render in 3D and the 8350 beats the 3770K.

All of that and you're paying a $140 less.

[Cryptonite]

Call me old fashioned but an Intel Response Squad member would have no credibility comparing Intel & AMD CPUs especially when he's offering nothing but the stereotypical "AMD is for tight budgets otherwise intel is better" and a bunch of completely synthetic benchmarks (Cinebench) which are well known to use the intel compilers to neutralize the competition.

http://www.investorvillage.com/mbthread.asp?mb=476&tid=8319695&showall=1

http://sharikou.blogspot.com.es/2009/12/ftc-accuses-intel-of-rigging-benchmarks.html

Look at real-world multi-threaded workloads and you'll find that the 8350 beats the 3770K in file compression, work on Photoshop & the 8350 would beat the 3770K, encode a video and you'd find the 8350 beats the 3770K, render in 3D and the 8350 beats the 3770K.

All of that and you're paying a $140 less.

NVM there are 2 APUs in the list I didn't notice. still this guide is kinda low Q in comparison to others I've seen around here.

 

He should at least compare a few different benchmarking tools if he is bent on benchmarks and not real time performance.

 

this guide was a quick paste together with no real liable info or comparisons.

[Samdb]

not to mention there is a benchmark of Bioshock on intel based IGPUs but non of amd's APU's

 

Sorry about that, I had forgotten to add it.

[Ssoele]

Call me old fashioned but an Intel Response Squad member would have no credibility comparing Intel & AMD CPUs especially when he's offering nothing but the stereotypical "AMD is for tight budgets otherwise intel is better" and a bunch of completely synthetic benchmarks (Cinebench) which are well known to use the intel compilers to neutralize the competition.

http://www.investorvillage.com/mbthread.asp?mb=476&tid=8319695&showall=1

http://sharikou.blogspot.com.es/2009/12/ftc-accuses-intel-of-rigging-benchmarks.html

Look at real-world multi-threaded workloads and you'll find that the 8350 beats the 3770K in file compression, work on Photoshop & the 8350 would beat the 3770K, encode a video and you'd find the 8350 beats the 3770K, render in 3D and the 8350 beats the 3770K.

All of that and you're paying a $140 less.

 

If AMD really is that much better on the higher-end, then why if you check rigs of people that encode a lot and render 3D is there almost always Intel inside?

 

And why shouldn't we trust Samdb? Just because he is part of the Intel Response Squad? The only thing that means, is that he knows quite a lot of Intel CPU's, that does not mean that he doesn't know anything about AMD CPU's, because he does. If you think that he is bias, just because he is part of the Intel Response Squad and doesn't recomment AMD for higher-end rendering, then you are just ignorant.

[Cryptonite]

Sorry about that, I had forgotten to add it.

Add a few other benchmarking tool results and edit your post to in the making or rough draft then it's acceptable.

also if it's not against the rules, use other people's videos together with Linus's because the more sources you have the more liable your information becomes.

 

and if I sound rude, don't take it that way, my people skills just sucks (I've mentioned that on some other topics as well), sometimes more than others. I'm just giving a point of view.

[Lamb]

Someone pin this topic!

[Cryptonite]

If AMD really is that much better on the higher-end, then why if you check rigs of people that encode a lot and render 3D is there almost always Intel inside?

 

And why shouldn't we trust Samdb? Just because he is part of the Intel Response Squad? The only thing that means, is that he knows quite a lot of Intel CPU's, that does not mean that he doesn't know anything about AMD CPU's, because he does. If you think that he is bias, just because he is part of the Intel Response Squad and doesn't recomment AMD for higher-end rendering, then you are just ignorant.

that actually depends, if all 8 cores are utilized it can be preferred. not one engine performs the same as the other, so the software you use impacts what hardware it utilizes best.

[Samdb]

Added Sections:

Bioshock Infinite Benchmarks - 4770K - 3570K - FX-8350

Video transcoding/encoding benchmark

Intel i5 3570K Vs AMD Fx-8350 

Richland APUs Vs Haswell performance

[_Vigo_]

What about  haswell temps? I've heard they're hot, what temperatures do you have on stock clocks?

[Cryptonite]

 

 

Source: Guru3d

 

 

this looks a bit more promising, I'd still want a few more comparisons on real time gaming (more games than just bioshock) and real time rendering though. I'm talking as someone looking for some comparisons for buying a new rig for different requirements, rendering I do still find the 8350 to perform quite well and would call it and the 3770k a tie on clock speeds.

 

I'd like more gaming benchmarks especially since some of those frame rates are within margin of error, even if not the CPUs you are comparing.

[Samdb]

What about  haswell temps? I've heard they're hot, what temperatures do you have on stock clocks?

 

Please refer to the Haswell temperature section. As for what you should be looking for it is around 35-40C idle.

[_Vigo_]

Please refer to the Haswell temperature section. As for what you should be looking for it is around 35-40C idle.

Sorry for offtop.

[Samdb]

Updated Section: 

Gaming - High Budget

 

Added Section:

Various gaming benchmarks - FX-8350 - i5-3570K - i7-3770K

[WorldDominator]

Yay for the guide! We can just link this for AMD vs Intel threads. (I didn't bother reading that all xD )

[Cryptonite]

Updated Section: 

Gaming - High Budget

 

Added Section:

Various gaming benchmarks - FX-8350 - i5-3570K - i7-3770K

can you embed the video in various gaming Benchmarks? it's just a link atm unlike  the rest of your vids.

 

Keep this up to date and keep adding info as you find it, change whatever you find to be different from what you initially thought (not saying there are some, just saying don't be hard headed) Do this and you've got a topic that'll help quite a bunch of people who will thank you in the long run, trust me it's time consuming keeping a thread up to date though. Also even if you are in the intel response team don't let it affect what happens on this thread, be honest or you will lose "supporters/followers". You will still be able to give info on intel products etc. just don't be dishonest to gain approval from intel (again I'm not saying you do this i'm just suggesting not to, my people skills suck so idk how to word this exactly) 

[Samdb]

can you embed the video in various gaming Benchmarks? it's just a link atm unlike  the rest of your vids.

 

Sorted, thanks

[Cryptonite]

Sorted, thanks

np, also you could mention (I know it's in one of the videos but people usually just watch one or 2 vids and then read the rest) that windows 8 actually reduces the minimum fps dips that AMD had on windows 7. (basically do a software division as well since it's kind of part of your CPU choice.)

[cleslie2]

I'm looking at getting a new build at the moment, and being relatively new to high end computers I'm really undecided on what to get processor wise. Basically I have three options - an i7 4770K, an i5 4670K saving some money which I can spend on a better graphics card, or an overclocked i5 4670K for the same price as the i7. What would people recommend? 

 

I'm not looking to use 3D or do much video editing, it's mostly for gaming and multitasking. Also, is the Haswell worth getting over the Ivy Bridge?