All,

At the risk of opening up a fight between AMD fans and Intel ones, I'm looking to upgrade my aged FX-8350. This is going to be a full on system refresh (as I've also got an aged GTX 660). Currently running a 1080p monitor, may upgrade that later to a 1440p (4k unlikely due to space constraints - hard to fit in bigger than a 24" panel).

Key question I've been having is whether to go for a core i7 9700 (non K variant because I'm not confident in overclocking and quite frankly I'd prefer to get the heatsync and fan with it), or whether to go for a Ryzen 3 (either 3700x, 3800x or 3900x). Primary use for the speed would be gaming - I'm not going to do much video encoding for example.

I'd usually go for AMD because of the value proposition, but:

- I can find a i7 9700 for £340
- Currently, the 3700x is £320, the 3800X is £380 and the 3900x is £480
- The latest AMD motherboards seem quite expensive (the x570 boards start from £170).

I don't think it's relevant, but I'd be buying a new nVidia graphics card as I have a gsync monitor.

Am I missing something - because on the face of it, the i7 9700 seems like a better value proposition (albeit without PCIE 4.0 support)

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

My argument has always been AMD gives more bang for buck.
intel are normally better and run cooler, but you're paying a premium for a small gain.

That argument however has become less and less valid.

As for Pcie 4.0 support, its unlikely you'll need it until PCIE 5 comes out.

I can only comment based on the information I've gathered from reviews. If the choice is between the zen2 and i7 9700(non K) then the choice is clear: Ryzen.

Now what to choose Ryzen 3700x or 3800x or 3900x, then once again the answer is clear. Ryzen 3600(non X), which should be around $250, and spend some extra to get a better cooling solution, if you want to get the most out of Ryzen's latest generation of CPUs.

When It come to gaming, on a RTX2080Ti GPU:
Ryzen 3600 = Ryzen 3600x
Ryzen 3600 < Ryzen 3700x(which is about 5% better than 3600)
Ryzen 3700x = Ryzen 3800x
Ryzen 3700x < Ryzen 3700x(which is about 5% better than 3700x)

When It come to gaming, on a weaker GPU than the RTX2080Ti:
Ryzen 3600 = Ryzen 3600x = Ryzen 3700x = Ryzen 3900x

As you can see, unless you buy a RTX2080Ti, then you shouldn't spend more than the $250 for a Ryzen 3600.

Most people believe that the bios for the X570 motherboards isn't mature enough yet, so they are hoping that later on, the delta between the Ryzen CPUs will increase. However I think this is just like what happened with the first and second generation Ryzen CPUs: the 1600(non X) and 2600(non X) were the sweet spot at launch and later on.

Edit: Also from preliminary reviews, the Gigabyte x570 Aorus Elite seems to be the sweet spot, when it comes to motherboards. It basically has everything, except for debug LED and Post Code Display.

Sorry if this is hijacking the thread a little, but in addition to the OP's question - is there any benefit in manufacturer alignment between these components?

The reason I ask is because I've also got a nice monitor which is an Nvidia G-Sync variety (made sense at the time, as an nvidia card owner), and while this definitely binds me to an Nvidia graphics card, does this have any benefits of being same brand with the processor etc. ? I'm interested in the original question as I might also be rebuilding soon as well.

If i was buying now a new PC for gaming, i would get either Ryzen 5 3600 or Ryzen 7 3700X.

Nothing like G-Sync Monitors = Nvidia Graphics Cards.


If you side with Intel, you're just supporting scummy business practices. Nvidia are also getting greedy and have been for quite sometime. Better to support the underdog, especially since they are close enough to be considered by any gaming enthusiast (with sense).

There are some sweet prices for previous Ryzen generation.
For example, Ryzen 2700 (8-core CPU) is listed for 198$ on Newegg right now...

The 9700 non-K has a much lower clock speed. That is pretty certain to place it under the Ryzen 3700X. There is no law that you must overclock a K model but you must indeed get a cooler for it. Maybe you already have one?

Some AMD motherboards from the last generation now come with already updated BIOS in order to support the new processors. Also, some MSI motherboards come with a function to update the BIOS without a processor. An X470 or B450 is not bad except for limited or no PCIe 4.0 support.

The only problem I see with that is that Ryzen 3600 at $250, is 15%-20% faster in gaming when compared to a 2700.The new generation zen2(Ryzen 3000 series) is just in a league of their own.

id go with AMD there far cheaper than intels counterparts and also AMD sockets actually last longer AM3 lasted around 10 years where as intel sockets seem to not even last 10 months until the bring out some kaby coffee bean codename or some shit

people say AMD runs hot yeah they did back i nthe athlon days, i have a cpu with twitch and wow open and video playing and numerous other programs running any my cpu temp is 41 celsius and its hot aswell atm where i am, so anyone who says AMD's run hotter than intell are just fanboys trying to cling on to old hatreds of AMD and cant justify why ryzens are pissing all over intel

Well which CPU is more compatible with most of the latest games?

Yeah, but you can't deny that latest AMD chipset X570 produces 2x times more heat than previous generation X470 chipset (11W vs 4.8W).
As a result every X570 mobo (except a few top mobos) has active cooling on chipset. :/

I was an AMD guy until I finally bit the bullet and went intel.

Intel cpus kick the absolute shit out of AMDs. They're fast out of the box and you don't need crazy heat-syncs unless you're really trying to push the chip, otherwise you can crank them pretty high with no issues.

Most people who side with AMD will tell you to buy AMD, and I would've too last year, until they buy an Intel. The difference is night and day, especially if you want to future proof your PC for a while. I always—ALWAYS—had performance issues with AMD chips through the years. So I finally decided to give Intel a shot and was blown away. I've had zero issues with performance in any game I've thrown at it.

If you're going to build a PC go ahead and spend the extra cash for a beastly rig that'll last you ten years, instead of one that'll last you 4 or 5 and have you disappointed in 3.

All latest generation the CPUs are compatible, When it comes to performance minimum is a 4core (intel i3 9100f or AMD 3200G) and recomended is a 6core (intel i5 9400f or AMD 3600).

If you are not overclocking there are no reason to buy a expensive x570 board. A cheaper b450 is more than enough for a 6 or 8 core cpu for gaming (just make sure it has the correct bios version and the features you need). Also the x570 will introduce higher power consumption and heat for features you will probably never use.
If you just game, 6 cores are the better value proposition at the moment.

If I was in your place, I would choose the ryzen 3700x (360€), not for brand loyalty (have none) but because it seems to be the better all round cpu. It´s fast enough in gaming, very freaking low power consumption (nothing short of amazing), work well with a 70/80 euros board, fast memory is cheap and the more cpu performance available means better "future proof", heavy loads and multi-tasking.

On the lower end the Ryzen3600 (220€) seem to be the perfect cpu at the moment, closelly followed by the i5 9400f.(160€)

For budget gaming the better choice is the i3 9100f(100€).