CPU COMPARISON – AMD 5000 Vs Intel 10th Gen.
A CPU comparison of the newest contenders in the race for your CPU dollar is a great start! To best determine who gets your money out of the latest Intel 10th Gen & AMD’s new 5000 series CPU’s we need to use a good comparison benchmark and a reliable CPU comparison chart so lets just do it.
AMD Ryzen 5000 – What’s New!
The latest CPU comparison has really surprised a lot of people with AMD Ryzen 5000 7nm process CPU’s beating AMD hands down in, well most tests to date. They have really made huge improvements in the most important gaming requirement, IPC or instructions per cycle. Even though AMD Ryzen CPU’s have not caught up in overall speed with Intel still leading as far as GHZ is concerned the massive 20% increase in performance means this is a misleading figure right now. In the past the GHz crown was the one to own but now its been simply surpassed by the architecture upgrades in the Ryzen 5000 series.
Whats Changed with AMD?
The latest AMD Ryzen CPU’s have been redesigned at the wafer level with dramatic changes in performance. In the last there were groups of cores that grew in multiples with say with an 8 core processor the cores were in two groups of 4 separated by the L3 Cache.
This made it much harder and slower for the cores to communicate thus they were slower than the intel CPU’s in IPC. They also only had half the Cache each and this is the two areas AMD have changed.
The new 5000 Series are now combining all the CPU cores allowing them to communicate directly with each other being that both are connected to the L3 Cache directly and each other. They all now all share all the cache essentially doubling the amount of L3 cache available to them at any one time.
The graphic above shows the previous Zen 2 layout of cores and L3 Cache. Its pretty obvious the groups of cores operate independently but are able to communicate but its slow. This has been the breakthrough and the increase in IPC making this generation of AMD Ryzen chips a game changer.
INTEL CPU’s – What’s 10th Gen?
In this Intel 10th gen CPU comparison the similarities are striking in that the cores all have a direct link to the L3 cache in Intel chips but they are still 10 NM where the AMD CPU’s are now 7 NM. The performance from miniaturization has been evident by better performance and lower TDP’s as the chips have gotten smaller. I haven’t mentioned the graphics side as we all know AMD also has inbuilt GPU’s but that is a subject for another blog.
Where Intel reigns is in the Ghz race and they crow loudly about this fact. They advertise 5.3 Ghz speeds on the Intel website where AMD claim 4.7 to 4.9 Ghz speeds for their processors. This does cloud the argument to those less tech savvy as the speeds are important yes but as we have already said the IPC (Instructions Per Cycle) are where the performance is really apparent.
CPU Comparison Chart – Intel Vs AMD.
Performance in gaming it will depend a lot on what resolution you prefer to game or flight simulator in to the results you will see. Gaming at 1080P is still very CPU reliant and this is where you will see the biggest differences in gaming CPU results.
At 1440P the results start to favor the GPU but the CPU still makes an important contribution to the results and does give an indication of the CPU performance. Moving up to 4K gaming becomes the point where CPU has little effect on the CPU performance and relies most heavily on the capabilities of the GPU.
AMD Vs Intel Comparison Chart – Speeds & Benchmarks by Hardware Unboxed.
The graph above from Hardware Unboxed shows exactly how close all the Intel 10th Gen and AMD Ryzen 5000 series processors perform.
The performance between the different CPU’s in Warthunder shows how close the CPU’s are in performance. It becomes a question of do you need more cores for other tasks that flight sims like MSFS 2020, X Plane 11 and DCS World are able to use.
If your doing a lot of creation work and time is money then more cores may be to your advantage. If your a gamer and generally flight simulators are your choice then the Ryzen 5600X looks to be the best performer on a budget.
The Ryzen 5600X performs admirably at 1080P and pared with a good GPU your going to get a great experience at 1080P and 1440P.
X Plane 11 now using the Vulcan API and DCS World will also be Vulcan by mid to late 2021 will perform a well on any of these CPU’s as will MSFS 2020 which is on DX 11. It ill be a more practical choice for many and If dollars to performance are important then the Ryzen 3600X will likely be the best choice. It is also very likely more Ryzen Zen 3 processors will be release with non X variants which may offer even better cost to performance options.
In comparison the current CPU lineups align something like this remembering the AMD improvement in IPC makes up for the minimal differences in advertised GHZ speed.
CPU Performance Comparison.
If your looking for a general comparison chart for cores to performance this chart gives you an idea generally of the Intel 10th Gen to Ryzen 5000 series processors. The cores and speeds are listed in groups that generally compare both AMD & Intel CPUs.
Pro’s & Cons.
This is where the cloud starts to blur what was clear choices for gamers until Ryzen 5000. The new NM process and redesign of the Ryzen 5000 series processors has made huge advances in IPC so their performance per clock is generally better than Intel.
Intel still remain king on the highest GHZ speeds being in the 5 GHZ plus region where AMD is maxing at 4.9 Ghz.
As in previous generations AMD includes CPU fans for most of their CPU offerings where Intel generally requires you to buy a separate CPU cooler. This has to be taken into account when purchasing as the Intel CPU cost is often lower but the requirement for a cooler may negate this cost difference.
Purchasing a new Motherboard for the 10th Gen Intel chips can be confusing so ensure the socket type will suite the Intel CPU your choosing.
Integrated Graphics is important to some players so ensure your getting the CPU you need with Intel F variants or an AMD 4000 G series include to include onboard graphics.
Intel 11th Gen Already Rumored!
Intel are now looking to launch their 11th Gen chips in March 2021 likely as a response to the massive improvement in Ryzen 5000 series CPU’s which has markedly removed Intels dominance of the gaming CPU market. This will likely make 10th Gen CPU’s cheaper with price drop likely as the 11th gen release gets closer.
Conclusion.
It’s an awesome time to pick up a new CPU for sure. It does not matter which preference you have Intel or AMD you are going to get a great gaming experience.
You are no longer at a disadvantage buying an AMD with the latest gen improvements. Cost to performance is so close its hard to call plus your able to choose a Ryzen 5600X to an Intel 10700 K or Non K variant and get a great value for money flight sim experience.
The one consideration will again be the cost and remembering the INTEL processors generally require a separate CPU cooler of your choice.
Author.
Brendon McAliece is a multi lingual-expat who brings over three decades of flight simulator/PC building experience as well as over two decades of real world jet fighter experience as a weapons/egress technician. He holds a sport pilot certificate giving him real world flying experience. Hi travels have taken him from Europe to the Middle East, Asia and his home of Australia. He has a passion for travel, languages, Flight simulation as well as Guitaring and Coffee. You can read more in his blogs below.
Learn more @
DreamingGuitar.com – DreamingCoffee.com – LetsFlyVFR.com
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