AMD or Intel – Tough Choice in 2020

In May this year, Intel introduced the 10th generation Comet Lake-S processors to compete with AMD Ryzen 3000 series, and today, we'll look at the consumer battle in mid-2020.

AMD better at apps

Performance in applications – the favorite argument of users and proponents of AMD's new processors. Personally, I'm a happy owner of Ryzen 5 2600, but I didn't buy it to convert designs in Blender 30% faster than Core i5 9400F. I bought it because it was significantly cheaper than competitors. Ryzens are the preferred choice in professional applications, because at similar price, we get a more versatile processor that's faster if we look at apps emphasizing multi-thread performance. But tell me... how many of you, dear readers, do projects in Blender, convert values in Corona or render movies in Adobe Premiere?

Typical AMD move. Does Intel have a way to compete?

AMD currently offers mainstream solutions with 16 cores and 32 threads, which, considering the history of the market, is quite an incredible feat. Finding games that would fully utilize that sort of CPU power is another story, though. The difference between Ryzen 5 3600 and Ryzen 9 3950x is so insignificant that it doesn't justify the additional expense if you're only playing on the computer. It will be years before we see games requiring such CPU power. And since next-gen consoles are expected to feature eight-core processors, there's quite a few years before that happens. By then, however, there will be CPUs with streamlined architecture, DDR5 memory support and other features that will make them more powerful in games than the good old 3950X, despite being perhaps less efficient on paper. Remember the Core i7 5960X? This 16-bit processor priced at whopping $1,000 was a dream for many of us. Today, just five to six years after its launch, it can't even hold a candle to the budget Ryzen 5 3600.

It's impossible to predict the future, especially when you consider the gaming and PC markets. It's therefore a mistake to pay through the nose for a processor that *may* use it's entire power in a few years, just like it's pointless to buy one that's barely enough for today's standards. A compromise must be found between the two scenarios.

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AMD better at apps