Should I upgrade to an Intel CPU or wait for AMD Zen next year?

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Guest

Guest
Hey community of Tom's Hardware, so I just wanted to ask about rather or not if it'll even be worth upgrading to an Intel CPU this year or to just wait for AMD Zen next year because I have been hearing various things about AMD Zen and wanted to know what you guys have to say about it. And if it'll be worth upgrading to an Intel CPU, than what CPU & motherboard will you guys recommend?

My specs incase if you guys need it:

Operating System:
-Windows 10 Enterprise Evaluation 64-bit
CPU:
-AMD FX-4300
-Vishera 32nm Technology
RAM:
-16.0GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 668MHz (9-9-9-24)
Motherboard:
-ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. M5A99X EVO R2.0 (Socket 942)
Graphics:
-TOSHIBA-TV (1920x1080@60Hz)
-8192MB ATI AMD Radeon R9 390 Series (Gigabyte)
Storage:
-111GB KINGSTON SV300S37A120G (SSD)
-1863GB Western Digital WDC WD2003FZEX-00Z4SA0 (SATA)
Power Supply:
-Corsair 750W
 
Solution
This is a really difficult question to answer. No one really knows how well Zen performs, or how much it's going to cost. If your CPU is good enough for now, just wait it out for as long as you can, and when the time comes, take a look at Tom's Hardware CPU recommendations see whats the best you can afford.

As there is a lot that's going to happen in 2017, and your hardware should be good enough for now, I'd say do wait and see. You might end up going with Intel anyway, but their 7th gen will be out which should offer even better value.

MatthewGB

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Jun 15, 2016
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This is a really difficult question to answer. No one really knows how well Zen performs, or how much it's going to cost. If your CPU is good enough for now, just wait it out for as long as you can, and when the time comes, take a look at Tom's Hardware CPU recommendations see whats the best you can afford.

As there is a lot that's going to happen in 2017, and your hardware should be good enough for now, I'd say do wait and see. You might end up going with Intel anyway, but their 7th gen will be out which should offer even better value.
 
Solution
either way will require a total upgrade of cpu, motherboard and RAM. At best Zen will be as good as Skylake/Kaby Lake but more likely it will be weaker. So the question really is do you feel like waiting till sometime next year or do you want to just go ahead and upgrade now?
 
G

Guest

Guest


A lot will be happening during next year based on what MatthewGB said. At best, I really don't know since I am now planning this, but I think I will wait until next year as more and powerful hardware will be coming out and Intel are probably bound to present people with CPU's that will beat out the AMD Zen, so it's going to be a tough decision for me to make.
 

MatthewGB

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Jun 15, 2016
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It's not about who can make the best CPUs, it's about who offers the best value. AMD doesn't need CPUs more powerful then an i7-6600k, as long as they can offer the same performance at a lower price.

AMD probably won't make the most powerful CPU, but as long as they undercut Intel's pricing, it will mean we get better value.
 
G

Guest

Guest


Oh, okay. Thanks for elaborating on that.
 
If you're not severely limited in something by the 4300 right now, wait a few months and see what happens.

You'd probably see a massive upgrade either way for both single-threaded and multithreaded tasks switching to either architecture. Kaby Lake will roll out for the desktop in Q1 2017 as well.
 

chainers

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May 10, 2013
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It also seems that prices of the current supply will go down once Zen is announced.

All though I got an email about an FX 8320E on sale for 89 bucks, and that is kind of tempting...