AMD vs Intel: Does Ryzen give Intel something to worry about?

When you decide to build a PC for the first time, or the first time in a long time, you are embarking on an epic journey into the unknown. There are hundreds, even thousands, of different components to choose from, but the first and most important question you should ask yourself is a simple one: AMD or Intel?

More: So what is the difference between 32 and 64-bit operating systems

One of these two companies, these two purveyors of finely-wafered silicon, will produce the beating heart of your new PC. Intel and AMD are just as different from one another as the products they produce, however, so let’s dig into the details to find out which one would be the best choice for your new PC.

Value

Okay, which company is going to give you the best bang for your buck? Well, that depends on how you look at it. Just looking at price, AMD’s chips are generally cheaper than comparable Intel chips. The least expensive AMD Sempron, Athlon, and A-series dual-core processors start at about $30, while Intel’s Celeron G1820 dual-core processor starts at about $45.

You’ll find similar pricing as you climb the performance ladder, with Intel’s offerings almost always coming in a little higher than AMD’s — and providing a bit of extra power.

So what about the new Ryzen chips? That’s where things get interesting — the typical Intel-AMD dynamic flips around. At the top-end of the AMD spectrum, the new Ryzen 7 1800X stands out. It’s an eight-core behemoth clocked at 3.6 GHz, and even for $500, it’s among the least expensive eight-core processors on the market today. The Ryzen 7 1700 is even more affordable, at $329.

By comparison, Intel’s octa-cores typically retail for upwards of $1,000, but the direct competition to the Ryzen lineup is Intel’s 7th-generation Core i7 lineup. The Intel Core i7-7700K is a quad-core processor clocked at 4.2 GHz, with a retail price of around $350. Nonetheless, it keeps up with the Ryzen 7 1800X in most of our tests.

Looking at single-core performance, the i7-7700K scored 5482 on Geekbench while the Ryzen 7 1800X scored 4289. Multi-core performance is a slightly different story, with the Ryzen 7 1800X scoring 20,385, to the i7-7700K’s 17,782.

What does that mean for you? In short, it means AMD and Intel are relatively competitive for the first time in several years, which is great news for users. Both companies are producing processors that are within striking distance of one another on nearly every front — price, power, and performance.

Overclocking

Speaking of performance, one of the first figures you might look at to compare one processor to another is its clock speed — 2.7GHz, 4.5GHz, etc. It’s a good metric to compare processors, but it’s important to keep in mind it’s not a fixed figure, especially given you can ramp up the clock speed on some chips if you have the right knowhow and cooling hardware.

Users looking to get more performance out of their CPU sometimes perform a tweak to the processor known as “overclocking,” which increases the CPU’s clock speed above the base rate.

Overclocking a processor is pretty straightforward, if tedious, but first you need a processor capable of being overclocked. Most CPUs ship with “locked” multipliers, which prevent users from overclocking them.

More: How to overclock your CPU without setting your computer on fire

Luckily, both Intel and AMD offer unlocked CPUs at a variety of price points, but AMD has a reputation for being more overclock-friendly. AMD offers more mid-range chips capable of being overclocked than Intel does, which reserves its unlocked chips for the higher-end of the price spectrum.

Here, again, Ryzen flips the typical Intel-AMD dynamic. In our tests, the Ryzen 7 1800X performed well after an overclock, but we weren’t able to squeeze too much extra power out of AMD’s latest octa-core processor.

Still, all Ryzen processors are unlocked. Those looking to overclock merely need to buy a enthusiast-grade X370 chipset. That provides a broader range of options for overclockers than you’ll find with Intel, even if it seems Ryzen chips have less overclocking headroom.