Gaming is there a case for going intel?

[rob4001]

So zen2 just a few weeks away I am in the market to upgrade to a mid range ITX gaming rig. I do very little streaming/productivity. So I was looking at a rather cheap $150 Intel 9400f which can match a 2600x. I feel for mid range 1080p or 1440p combined with a 1660ti that would last at 2-3 years. Although consoles coming out with zen2 8c chips in 18 months I still think that it will take 3 years or so before devs start using all 8 cores in new games. I would still have an upgrade path by dropping in a used 9700 8c which is probably a match for zen2 3700x. The x570 look expensive and icky with on board fan. Intel seem to have more choice with itx although there are a few b450 itx. So am I mad even considering Intel over AMD?

[kalniel]

Both makers have suitable gaming chips lower down the range - games are, after all, not generally CPU limited.

[jimbouk]

I would still have an upgrade path by dropping in a used 9700 8c which is probably a match for zen2 3700x.

Having to go second hand with Intel last time I bought low end with a view to upgrading does put me off a bit. Played it safe and got one from CEX but it would have been good to have the option of new. I found the motherboards a bit more expensive in the mid range, but they do tend to have more mini-itx options when I've looked at previous generations.

[aidanjt]

Both makers have suitable gaming chips lower down the range - games are, after all, not generally CPU limited.

Especially as resolutions increase. Newer games are also grabbing more and more available hardware threads. So, I'd say Intel's single-threaded advantage in gaming is well on the way to becoming completely irrelevant.

[Zak33]

Personally I'd always take the extra cores/threads. And £ for £ I think a 2600 is OK, not even needing the X version.

[kristapsl]

7th of July too close to answer yet

[rob4001]

Especially as resolutions increase. Newer games are also grabbing more and more available hardware threads. So, I'd say Intel's single-threaded advantage in gaming is well on the way to becoming completely irrelevant.

There are not that people gaming at 1440p or above a very small percentage most are at 1080p It still expensive to game at higher resolutions.

Most people on steam survey only have 4 cores plenty still floating on 2. Developers will know this. The latest AAA games will use no more than 6 cores at least for the next 2 years as that's what the consoles offer.

Granted I agree the 2600 is great value and extra threads could come in handy unless you are doing production work the extra threads are wasted. Either way 9400f/9400 and 2600/2600x are both great value gaming cpu's. I don't think you can go wrong with either.


1 cpu 0.86% -0.09%
2 cpus 25.07% -0.61%
4 cpus 55.53% -0.13%
6 cpus 14.06% +0.62%
8 cpus 2.71% +0.23%

[DanceswithUnix]

There are not that people gaming at 1440p or above a very small percentage most are at 1080p It still expensive to game at higher resolutions.

Most people on steam survey only have 4 cores plenty still floating on 2. Developers will know this. The latest AAA games will use no more than 6 cores at least for the next 2 years as that's what the consoles offer.

Granted I agree the 2600 is great value and extra threads could come in handy unless you are doing production work the extra threads are wasted. Either way 9400f/9400 and 2600/2600x are both great value gaming cpu's. I don't think you can go wrong with either.


1 cpu 0.86% -0.09%
2 cpus 25.07% -0.61%
4 cpus 55.53% -0.13%
6 cpus 14.06% +0.62%
8 cpus 2.71% +0.23%

Careful with Steam survey results, there are a lot of low end laptops in there that will never play a recent game as well as the capable gaming rigs. That pushes it towards dual core and those cheap 15.6" 1080p tn panels (actually quite a few 1366x768 panels too).

At home even the 1080p panels are 144Hz so even within that one resolution things are not all equal, though Freesync does help smooth out lumps in the gameplay.

[aidanjt]

There are not that people gaming at 1440p or above a very small percentage most are at 1080p It still expensive to game at higher resolutions.

I'm talking about trends. Yes, 1080p is the comfortable majority right now, but it's a share that's declining as 1440p, and to a lesser extent, 4K (and the ultrawides), are increasing.

Most people on steam survey only have 4 cores plenty still floating on 2. Developers will know this. The latest AAA games will use no more than 6 cores at least for the next 2 years as that's what the consoles offer.

Again, trends, 6-8 cores are on the up, quite rapidly at that, and 2-4 cores is declining. Both consoles already have CPUs with 2 integer units per core module, albeit with shared FPUs. And the next gen consoles will be 8 core proper and 16 threads. Developers are keeping this stuff in mind with their current and planned development projects, particularly when breaking down threads into smaller pieces can still benefit 4 core systems, and may make life easier for themselves since they could be launching threads as needed, leaving the OS to distribute core/thread affinity and worker time, rather than manually trying to load balance thread loops across cores.

[DanceswithUnix]

I'm talking about trends. Yes, 1080p is the comfortable majority right now, but it's a share that's declining as 1440p, and to a lesser extent, 4K (and the ultrawides), are increasing.

On the flipside of that, I find VR can hammer the CPU quite hard despite the extra pixels. Elite was making good use of all 12 threads on a 2600X. But again, that isn't single thread performance, so no advantage for Intel there.

[Froger007]

Up to October 2020 intel was still kind in Gaming but after AMD 5000 series cpu's got released there is no reason to go for intel unless you cannot get any AMD components which is a real problem now actually..

[Diabo593]

When going intel you don't need to care about ram speed which can save a bit of money

[Jmurr]

Up to October 2020 intel was still kind in Gaming but after AMD 5000 series cpu's got released there is no reason to go for intel unless you cannot get any AMD components which is a real problem now actually..

At the moment, given the current prices of the 3600, i think the 10400F is actually the best 'budget' value gaming cpu at the moment, although the chipset is a bit more expensive if you want higher than 2666mhz ram