Intel vs AMD Price/Performance

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chain220

chain220

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Nov 12, 2012
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Just generally looking for the best processor price for performance in the range of $220 to $240. The primary use is gaming. I don't really know much about AMD but the Intel processor I was looking at is the i5-4670k. Overclocking is definitely intended. If there's a better Intel processor for gaming in this budget range, which one? If AMD has a better one for the price, which would that be and are there any reasons to use AMD over Intel, or does that just generally turn into a fanboy argument of preference past actual benchmarks and statistics of the processors.

The graphics card (if it even matters) is a Radeon HD 7850 2GB, and as for a motherboard I still need a decision on that. I'm guessing something with a z87 chipset for Intel, but with the AMD I'm clueless. If you could include a mobo with the processor suggestion, that'd be amazing. The budget for the motherboard isn't really important, but generally nothing above $150 is preferred.
 
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xroe
As much as it pains me to say this, the i5 is probably the best option considering your budget. The priciest amd FX processor (9 series withheld) is only 200 however it's not on par, processing power wise as the higher end i5's albeit more available threads. If gaming is you sole intent then i'd recommend the i5 however if you plan on running multiple resource intensive processes at one time then i'd recommend the FX 8350 as it has better multitasking capabilities due to double the amount of available threads.

Also when I say "multiple resource intensive processes" I don't mean a game, skype, steam and streaming as that's child's play for either processor. I mean stuff such as image rendering, photoshop, virtual box and a game or two.
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xroe

xroe

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As much as it pains me to say this, the i5 is probably the best option considering your budget. The priciest amd FX processor (9 series withheld) is only 200 however it's not on par, processing power wise as the higher end i5's albeit more available threads. If gaming is you sole intent then i'd recommend the i5 however if you plan on running multiple resource intensive processes at one time then i'd recommend the FX 8350 as it has better multitasking capabilities due to double the amount of available threads.

Also when I say "multiple resource intensive processes" I don't mean a game, skype, steam and streaming as that's child's play for either processor. I mean stuff such as image rendering, photoshop, virtual box and a game or two.
 
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iblowuup

iblowuup

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Jul 14, 2013
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At the $200 get either a 3570k or the 4670k you were thinking of getting. AMD does have some attractive options around the $100 range but at $200 intel is the way to go for gaming. Also, you may want to consider a 2gb 7870 or a 1gb version of the 7850 as it may not utilize those 2gb very well.
 
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P1nnacle

P1nnacle

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Just throwing this out there, but Intel mobos tend to cost a bit more, so that pushes the overall price up in your build. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for Intel processors, but if you're worried about the price of your CPU, I'm of the notion you probably don't want to pay a premium for motherboards too.
 
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chain220

chain220

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It's looking like I'm going with the i5-4670k then. iblowuup, I already have the 2GB 7850, so it's a little late for that. However, if I were to get another one and crossfire them, with the i5-4670k, would any sort of bottlenecking occur?
 
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iblowuup

iblowuup

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No there would not be any bottlenecking and the 2gb thing isn't a huge deal it just might have saved you like $30 or so.
 
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xroe

xroe

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If you plan on crossfiring then do make sure the motherboard you choose supports it.
 
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chain220

chain220

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iblowuup, understandable and I agree. xroe, I definitely will thanks for the reminder though. Not to get this too far off topic, but would crossfiring the 7850 give me better results than just buying a 7950? I also heard crossfiring is still a headache with drivers and flickering/stutters.
 
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chain220

chain220

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Video was very helpful, thanks. I think my last question would be do most games support crossfire? (at least the more demanding ones in which crossfire would be useful) and do games which don't support it just utilize the one 7850 just like my system doesn't even have the second one?
 
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xroe

xroe

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As far as i'm aware crossfire is supported by all games do to it just being more available resources. Don't quote me on this (figuratively speaking of course) but I'd assume that its not a matter of software support but a matter of just more available GPU muscle.
 
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chain220

chain220

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xroe, I understand what you're saying.. but I don't believe that concept applies to crossfire.. I think there has to be software to support it as well. I could entirely be wrong, I'm just going on my interpretation of what I've read before.
 
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xroe

xroe

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Well either way I'm glad you thought to ask that, and also don't go strictly by my word on that because I have yet gotten to do crossfire or SLI so i'm not much of an expert in that field. I'd wait for a second opinion on the issue before you take my word on that.
 
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expl0itfinder

expl0itfinder

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Older games do not tend to have multi-GPU support, but with low end crossfire and SLi becoming more of a commonplace, and hardware restrictions momentarily lifted, then I believe it is pretty safe to say that almost all next gen games will have support for Multi GPU configurations. Even if a game does not support Multi-GPU, one 7850 will still be utilized, and the 7850 is a very solid card by itself. I think it will hold up just fine against next gen games at 1080p.
 
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