Intel

Whatever gives you the most for your money and fits your requirements.

I would lean to AMD just for the upgrade path if both options are around the same price/performance.

Building a SFF gaming PC with 7800X3D and 4070 for the balance of performance, power/thermal requirements, and life in the AM5 platform.

As a 13900K user the APO situation feels like a betrayal.

AM5 should have platform support for 2-3 more CPU generations if that would be helpful to you. There is also no need for a contact frame to maximise cooling efficiency.

I jumped to 14700k from 9700k. For gaming/productivity but also like Joeh mentioned, im more familiar w overclocking w Intel.

Every time ive gone AMD ive had weird issues (aside from Steam Deck/Rog Ally which have their own issues).

I stopped building AMD systems/working on them for others.

Intels have less quirks, and better support from the start, same with Nvidia vs AMD.

Id rather spend the cash up front versus time in the long run.

I'm planning to get my new pc with amd cpu cause imo they are slightly better atm

Desktops yes. I’ve had 2 gens of AM4 and went AM5 7900x with my latest. 5800x and 2 5600x boxes on AM4. Previously had been all Intel. Still run some Intel systems where it makes sense. Stand alone Plex box with a 10th gen because of Quicksync. No issues with AMD systems. GPUs can’t say the same. However it’s not like Intel is doing a bang up job there either.

Socket longevity and efficiency honestly were the tipping points. Intel seems to arbitrarily kick out new chipsets and sockets where they could have probably made a socket last. Prime examples socket 1151 100 and 200 series boards made to work with two generations newer chips. Specifications likely could have been beefed up to allow 4 generations to stick to a common socket.

Then there is the significant boost power draw of Intel chips. Sure some are faster in certain workloads, but they are power hungry to do it.

9900k to 7950x3d…. Never looked back

What about compiling code and machine learning? Intel or AMD?

I had an X370 mobo I got used really cheap to upgrade to something relevant to years ago, I ended up snagging a used 3900X when Ryzen 5000 dropped. I ran that until they updated the BIOS and 5000 series was viable on the same board. Went to 5950X. I had no problems until I upgraded to 6900XT GPU, had tons of gremlins that turned out to be due to the RAM stability/IMC not wanting to run CL16 timings (stock or XMP) with that GPU. Ordered 13900K and DDR4 mobo, migrated RAM and rebuilt PC. If I would have figured out the issue with the RAM sooner, I would have just kept the 5950X honestly. It was a beast. At least with the platform upgrade, I got more M.2 drives and a really solid board layout for my use. I don't regret going Intel but the AMD stuff was also awesome.

Intel all my previous PCs.

This one has a 7800X3D.

Well I'm currently on am4 but I'd recommend going with whatever best fits both your use case and budget at the time of building for your region. If that's an AMD CPU then go for it, if it's an Intel CPU then go for it. They both work just fine.

I will be building a new gaming system in December and going AM5 7800X3D this time after 10+ years of being Intel user. The 7800X3D ticks all the right boxes while I don’t see Intel competing with its cost efficiency, lower temps, power consumption etc. The 7800X3D is just too superior imo.

I went 9900k->13700k(returned)->7950x3d because the amd was eating it for dinner in the games I play in my comparisons.

Had an i5 8400 in my first gaming rig. Was considering the 13700k but i eventually got 7800x3d for my second build.

The reason is simple. Very low power consumption (highest i saw in benchmarks and games was like ~70 watts), easier and cheaper to cool (although it gets quite hot sometimes due to its design), far cheaper ram kits needed to achieve high performance since the sweet spot is 6000mhz cl30-cl32. Additionally, you have an upgrade path should you decide to go with a different cpu in the future since am5 will be supported for quite some time and finally its gaming performance is superior to any other intel and amd cpu as of now. Its truly an amazing cpu if you mainly game and do light-medium work. Otherwise, if your system is more work oriented you should look for other options.

Do it now. Then replace with 8700X3D in a year.

The 7800x3d is going to age like milk.

After exclusively buying only intel CPU’s, this time around I went with a 7800x3d to upgrade from my 8700k. Zero issues so far and my pc handles everything I throw at it while drawing less power and staying cooler. I strictly use it for gaming and some adobe Lightroom here and there.

I did. I went from a q6600 based rig to an r5 3600 based am4 rig in 2019.

Then I upgraded the cpu to an r7 5700x in the spring of 2023. On the same motherboard...

I had a 5800x3d and wasnt happy with the stability of the system, might had been unlucky but Iam happy with my 13900k now keeps my frames high my work is stable and warm in the winter /s

My 7800x3d performs beautifully for cyberpunk path traced and my simulation games run perfectly fine also. No probs with any other games either with curve optimizer set and temps are always below 60 at max load personally with an AK620 cooler.

I did and I've regretted it since day 1.

Things have gotten better for sure, but I still can't use my RAM at it's rated speed of 6000mhz, even though these exact sticks are listed in the QVL for my board.

I actually can't run them above 5200mhz, no matter how hard I try. Numerous bios updates have not changed this fact either. AMD says the sweet spot for their 7000 series CPUs is 6000mhz, so that's why I got the kit I did. Hopefully one day I'm able to use them as I expect to.

Also no DOCP profile will work (blue screens and system lock ups) and the board doesn't support EXPO from what I can see (although it's my understanding that EXPO and DOCP are essentially the same thing? )

The long boot times were another issue for me. Torture actually. If you're trying to play around with settings or need to restart often (doing a clean install and drivers, things like that) it is absolutely frustrating having to wait so long. I was able to Google this and found a RAM setting to enable and this effectively turned off the RAM learning procedure that was causing the delay.

I went with the 7950x. Even with one of the fastest processors available, it has never felt snappy. I've benchmarked and ran quite a few tests in my build and my system performs where it should, but it never feels snappy. It never has. Hell, even my 3770k system can boot into windows and load steam faster than the 7950x can....which just blows my mind.

I wanted to go Intel again for this build, but with their latest socket pretty much over, it just didn't make sense buying something without an upgrade path....but I'll remember this for next time. I can't wait to get rid of my AMD build and go back to Intel.

I go back and forth.

went 5800x3d after 10th gen...id rather get an i5 over ANYTHING amd, even a 7950x, anything zen5 ...

I made the witch from an older intel HEDT Xeon 1660v2, decided to give AMD a shot and haven’t been disappointed.Awesome performance and like to socket longevity they strive for.

It’s superior at 1080p in SOME games, how long will you stay on 1080p? Frametimes are often better on the 13th or 14th Intel gen but sometimes Amd is ahead. For things like emulation you can always count on Intel being ahead. I’d say it’s a no brainer to buy Intel if you don’t mind undervolting/powerlimiting to reduce heat.

Honestly.... Its kinda hard to go wrong right now buying a mid to upper tier chip. Both side have some great hardware

I was considering a 7700x but I'm going to go with a 13700k. I read up on issues with AM5 and there still seem to be issues. Thigns like slow boot time and the memory issues with DDR5 just nah. i want my computer to just behave and work.

I'm going to undervolt the 13700k and just go with that for stability and lower temps.

I've always gone whichever one gives me the best performance for what I'm doing. I'm currently using a 7950x, but before that, I was using a 11900k. Some downsides of AM5 I've experienced (on an MSI B650) are no sleep mode, and it takes longer to boot up. Supposedly because it is training the ram. I actually have no idea why it takes so long to boot up, though, so take that with a grain of salt. I have heard some AM5 mobos will allow sleep mode so I would do some research there.

One thing to consider - socket lifespan. From your post you upgrade every 5 years or so?

In 5 years both sockets will be different. It's likely we will be on DDR6, and there may be other changes that mean the motherboard you buy today is not completely obsolete. So you will change again.

My advice is buy what suits you today - if that's a 14700k great (would be my biased pic). If it's the 7800x3d equally as great.

Then enjoy. :)

I went from a 4670k -> 8500-> 5900X -> 5800X3D. Zen 3 has treated me pretty well aside from some bad RAM. However, if I was building now, I’d probably go Intel. 13700k is cheaper than the 7800X3D in most places. It gets close enough gaming performance while absolutely smoking it in productivity. Not to mention idle wattage is better on Intel, which is great for me since I spend more time working with my system.

Intel is my definitive choice for home servers thanks to quicksync, lower idle wattage, and higher core counts.

I'm going from an Intel 2600K to a 7800x3d after waiting for what feels like forever. I'm sick and tired of waiting for the next thing, and at least with AM5 I know that I'll be able to upgrade if I want to.

Intel and Amd are “basically” neck-and-neck I would buy which ever have the better bundle deal tbh.

Since you’re coming from 9700k the chances are very slim that you would upgrade again before am5 die. If you go Amd route.

Really my best advice is look at any performance data you can find relevant to your uses. If for example you play games where 3D cache doesn't help for example (because some don't) or faster memory is a bigger benefit then Intel is the better choice. If you exclusively game and most benefit from 3D cache, 7800X3D is better. If you do more concurrent stuff it'll depend how deep down the rabbit hole you go and what you want to pay between i7, i9, 7950X, and if you really want to go deep into process affinity or game when not being productive then maybe 7950X3D.

I went AMD after my last 2 builds were Intel specifically because I do stuff with containerization and Intel has been subject to considerably more relevant CVEs than AMD the last several years (and it's still happening on newer generations, just AMD is also starting to have their own) so I both have security concerns and would be risking notable performance to patches that other people might not need. Plus I also sometimes game while waiting for building/testing so I actually benefit from the weirdness of my 7900X3D , but I also have a decent amount of scheduler tuning and some process affinity presets for other applications that I switch between via shell scripts. I would not recommend doing similar unless you really know what you're doing.

12600K -> 7800X3D Changed build due to migration and AMD had the better stuff at the time (and till now frankly speaking).

Only reason I stuck to Intel is I decided to keep my high end DDR4. If I was building a new system with DDR5 right now, I would be getting the 7800X3D.

god I love that both of these companies are basically tied in performance and value.

Socket lifespan is actually only relevant if you plan on upgrading within that lifespan.

If you buy into the 7800X3D right now, you will basically 100% have Zen5 to upgrade too, with a high likelihood of having Zen6.
Past Zen6 however it would be a mystery, but I wouldn't count on it.
Which means that if you see yourself upgrading in 2 generations (having one generation gap) then the path makes sense.

But your current CPU is a 9700K and you are going 5 generations in 1 swoop. Even assuming you discount 10th and 11th gen due to them being lacklustre over 9th, you still are jumping 3 gens.

If it's cheaper then go for it, but I'd say to stay away from the 7900X3D and 7950X3D as the multi-die X3D scheduling isn't always correct.
AM5 also has a lot more weirdness with DDR5 and memory overall, but the nice thing about the X3D parts is that they are less sensitive to memory performance because of the massive cache.

Being able to get your hands on a future Zen6 part also sounds pretty good too.

9600K + 3080FE (alt PC now, used for VMs/HW and occasionally coop stuff) to 7800x3D + 4090FE. Open to either and this time, I went AMD for longevity and due to the strong CPU performance in games I play/runs fairly cool otherwise. Been very happy with the results and experience for a few months so far.

I went with a 7800x3d from a 10700k and was blown away with the performance

14900k club no regrets

I think a tuned 14700k with the e-cores disabled so you can clock the ring bus way higher, as well as tuned memory at 7200-7800 with tightened timings, might beat the 7800x3D even when you tune that. I'm just speculating, but I'd like to see YouTuber try with a dozen different games. I heard disabling e-cores often does nothing, but I think the ring clock OC might compensate for a lot, from what I've seen so far.

But that's a lot of work for something that still will use a lot more power.

7800X3D is definitely the best option for gaming. It's much more efficient (aka. easier to cool) compared to it's intel equivalent and maybe cheaper depending on where you live.

I switched from intel to amd, i have no regrets. As a gamer i feel like amd just offers a better package than intel especially now when ddr5 prices are acceptable. Lower power draw, easier to cool, platform that will allow for more upgrades than intel, x3d chips.

I’m running 3900x on desktop, 4800hs on laptop and 12900hx on workstation for work.

Only bad thing i can say is that the intel cpu have felt slow due to bad scheduling on the efficiency core to the point where i have disabled them.

Login screen was very slow as E-cores were prioritized, yet overloaded due to too many small apps running. Yep my company setup sucks

So i say go with what ever your gut tells you. Either choise is good. Remember that AMD have more PCI-e lanes if that is relevant.

Went from 13600k to 7800X3d. More of a side grade than upgrade for the games I play. Motherboard died on me.

Personally if I wanted a new PC now I’d go AM5 for upgrade options on the socket down the line. Word on Zen 5 seems good if incremental.

I expect Intel’s next release to be a big jump but it’s at least 8-9 months away.

yes, 8700k to 7950x3d

9700k was good enough. You really need upgrade? I am still Rocking i3-3240 with gt 750 ti ..

Other way around. Went amd now intel lol