Please help with Intel vs AMD for new PC

[PeteDann]

Hi all!

I need to replace my desktop (it's that time again!). This will be for both work & play; involving large-scale mathematical & statistical analysis, digital video editing and audio processing for theatre and DAW work - plus a little gaming with the opportunity for VR in the future. I have previously always gone down the Intel road but I understand that AMD have recently caught-up, if not overtaken, Intel particularly with reference to graphics processing. Unfortunately I have very little knowledge of AMD and would like anyone's advice on a suitable system similar to the PCS Intel spec below. My budget is around £2K but I'll need a new monitor too sometime

(I intend to also fit a Blu-Ray drive, audio interface and at least one HDD, hence the higher power PSU.)

Many thanks in anticipation

Pete

Case FRACTAL FOCUS G BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)

Processor (CPU) Intel® Core™ i7 Eight Core Processor i7-10700 (2.9GHz) 16MB Cache

Motherboard ASUS® PRIME Z490-P (LGA1200, USB 3.2, CrossFireX) - ARGB Ready

Memory (RAM) 32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (2 x 16GB)

Graphics Card 8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2070 SUPER - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready!

1st Storage Drive 2TB Samsung 870 QVO 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (up to 560MB/sR | 530MB/sW)

1st M.2 SSD Drive 1TB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3300MB/W)

Power Supply CORSAIR 750W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET

Processor Cooling CoolerMaster Hyper 212 (120mm) Fan CPU Cooler Black Edition

Thermal Paste STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING

Sound Card ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)

Wireless/Wired Networking WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD

USB/Thunderbolt Options MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS

Operating System Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]

Operating System Language United Kingdom - English Language

Windows Recovery Media Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account

Warranty 3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)

 

[Deleted member 17413]

Intel is just generally a bad idea and has been for a while.
Theres only one area that they perform better really, and thats 1080p competition gaming (so 240Hz 1080p and aimed to have settings at minimal and pump pure FPS)

AMD are better at multithreading, have less security issues, thermal issues.... list goes on, basically Intel are miles behind, still using 14nm tech, and the next gen wont fit on any current intel board either, meaning you wont be able to upgrade the CPU.

 

[Deleted member 17413]

This may be a better starting point:


Case
FRACTAL FOCUS G BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 3800XT Eight Core CPU (4.7GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF X570-PLUS GAMING (USB 3.2 Gen 2, PCIe 4.0, CrossFireX) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (4 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2070 SUPER - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 520 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 5000MB/R, 4400MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H100i RGB PLATINUM Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 16 to 18 working days
Price: £2,040.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/QKC9QSyEUY/

 

[Deleted member 17413]

It may even be worth contacting PCS and seeing if they can put 32Gb of 3600MHz RAM in (its not an option on the configurator, but possible to do, you would need to put 16Gb to start and then do a sub order to add another 16Gb I would think, you would have to ask)

 

[PeteDann]

Hi SIBUN1 - Thanks so much for your very quick response and advice. I'm sold on AMD now. Your suggestion then is to look at the Ryzen 7 3800XT with the ASUS TUF X570 plus motherboard - great, I'll check them out right away.
You seem to have made a couple of other changes to my initial spec: substituting an HDD for the SSD storage (?); as I mentioned I have HDDs to retro fit and thought SSD would be a better option but if there's a good reason for your choice please let me know.
Also you have opted for liquid cooling instead of the fan; would you say this was a necessity or just an improvement? I chose the Fractal Focus case because, allegedly, it has good airflow but mainly because there are very few cases these days with 5.25" bays and I would also like to retro fit a Blu-Ray drive I already have. Unfortunately, I have read that using the 5.25" bays may compromise fitting a radiator in that case - I'm not sure how true that is but if you think liquid cooling is a 'must' then I'll think about a different case too.

Thanks again

 

[PeteDann]

Hi! I’ve been mulling over the spec for a replacement PC for months due to lack of knowledge in certain areas; so now I’m asking for HELP(!) from the pros to get off the fence and actually buy it – which is what I should have done in the first place )

I’ll be using this mainly for digital video development (HD but not necessarily 4K), graphic design and sound production. I’m not heavily into gaming but would like to explore VR with maybe a Valve Index sometime in the near future.

Ok, so here’s my best-guess spec. I chose the modest Fractal Design case mainly because, being old school, I’d like to include my blu-ray drive & sound system in the 5.25” bays and, apparently, it also has good air-flow. I chose the 750W Corsair PSU because I have one already; it’s very quiet and I will also be retro fitting existing HDDs etc..

Case
FRACTAL FOCUS G BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Eight Core Processor i7-10700K (3.8GHz) 16MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME Z490-P (LGA1200, USB 3.2, CrossFireX) - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2070 SUPER - HDMI, 3x DP GeForce - RTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
2TB Samsung 870 QVO 2.5" SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (up to 560MB/sR | 530MB/sW)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 970 EVO PLUS M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 3500MB/R, 3300MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Processor Cooling
CoolerMaster Hyper 212 (120mm) Fan CPU Cooler Black Edition
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Firewire
2 Port IEEE 1394a Firewire PCI-E Card (2 x 6 pin)
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]

Monitor
AOC I2790VQ/BT 27" IPS Monitor - 1920x1080

Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)


Price: £2,104.00 including VAT and Delivery



Specific questions:

• 1) Historically, I have always been on the Intel side of things but was heavily inclined to switch to AMD this time. Having researched benchmarks of the 10th gen Intel Core i7 10700K vs AMD Ryzen 7 3700X I was surprised to find that, for the kind of work I’m doing, the Intel CPU was consistently ahead. Any comments?
• 2)Despite a lot of research I am no clearer about air vs liquid cooling. If I’m not overclocking or high-end gaming, do I need a liquid cooling / AIO solution?
• 3)Do I really need the ‘K’ CPU if I’m not overclocking? The straight 10700 is a bit slower but a lot cheaper and I could put this toward a better monitor etc. or would that put me back on the AMD route?
• 4)Is it worth waiting for the RTX 3070 instead of the RTX 2070 super?
• 5)Comments on choice of monitor, mobo, storage etc. also very welcome
• 
  
• Note: My budget is around £2K - £2,250 ish and I need to buy PC & monitor from the same supplier (tax reasons).

Sorry for so many questions but thanks so much for any advice

Pete

 

[SpyderTracks]

The advice won't have changed, Intel is a very poor choice these days. I'll just link the reasons why, I suggest you read up and familiarise yourself with the catastrophe that is intel before getting any further advice as you seem to be missing the feedback:

AMD Vs Intel

So some of you aren't aware of the reasons why so many people are heading away from Intel to AMD, so thought it would be important to lay that out for people to refer back to. A lot of you will go to cpubenchmark or userbenchmark to find performance metrics for CPU's. These sites are complete...

www.pcspecialist.co.uk

 

[Gavras]

Another thing to consider if going intel.

current motherboards are likely end of line and new ones that are PCIe 4 will come out in 2021, also these are likely 10nm and not the current 14nm.

Intel may keep support for current architecture, however they may also take advantage of the change and tweak the cpu socket (10nm)...not like Intel to do that lol.

 

[Stephen M]

It cannot be stressed enough that AMD are not only out-performing Intel in all areas they are also more secure with far fewer vulnerabilities. Plus, as Gavras posted, Intel are on an old architecture.

 

[PeteDann]

My apologies to all if my ignorance has raised your ire. As I hope I implied, I am definitely not a hardware expert – which is why I have sought your advice.

Many thanks SPYDERTRACKS, for the extended AMD vs Intel treatise, which I have carefully read and understood. You are right, I had obtained the benchmarks from the sites you mention but I was unaware of their bias. I am now aware and educated so, finally, I will be getting a system based on the AMD spec kindly submitted by SIBUN1 above.

However, I remain a bit naïve about CPU & cooling options:

Is there a still a big advantage for me, of the Ryzen 7 3800XT with, say, a Corsair H100x Hydro Cooler over the 3800X with its stock Wraith Prism cooler if I’m not overclocking or gaming heavily?

Thanks again.

 

[SpyderTracks]

My apologies to all if my ignorance has raised your ire. As I hope I implied, I am definitely not a hardware expert – which is why I have sought your advice.

Many thanks SPYDERTRACKS, for the extended AMD vs Intel treatise, which I have carefully read and understood. You are right, I had obtained the benchmarks from the sites you mention but I was unaware of their bias. I am now aware and educated so, finally, I will be getting a system based on the AMD spec kindly submitted by SIBUN1 above.

However, I remain a bit naïve about CPU & cooling options:

Is there a still a big advantage for me, of the Ryzen 7 3800XT with, say, a Corsair H100x Hydro Cooler over the 3800X with its stock Wraith Prism cooler if I’m not overclocking or gaming heavily?

Thanks again.

It would make more sense to go with a 3800XT and H100i Platinum, the XT CPU's are a bit more modern and have higher single threaded clocks.

It's not about overclocking, it's just about maintaining optimum temps so the CPU can reach it's intended clocks.