▷ How to compare amd and intel processors? ? (the great battle)

However, nothing is set in stone on the processor market; Within this user decision, the validity of each assessment when we jump between different architectures, generations, technologies, or manufacturing processes changes enormously, and can seriously affect each comparison and the conclusions derived from it.

Index of contents

The need to compare AMD and Intel processors

Despite the above, the need for users to compare these products persists. The processor is one of the integral parts of a computer and defines what use it will have.

In this way, the interests of a user who wants a PC for office automation will not be the same as that of a user who wants a team in which to create and edit content, and in both the processor is an integral part.

In addition, it is a relatively expensive component (depending on its range), a fact that makes it difficult to choose what could be "our ideal processor" for fear of making a bad decision.

The difficulties of this task

The most common way to carry out this type of comparison, as well as the one used by the automatic buyers of virtual stores and other websites, is to face the raw numbers of each processor against each other.

Although this method is viable to see within the same series and architecture which is the best model, at the moment in which we begin to mix these factors is when the problems begin.

Why can't we compare raw numbers

Currently, almost all desktop processors are x86 processors, they all come from one of the two big manufacturers (Intel or AMD), and all the numbers that define them have the same characteristics: a certain number of cores, specific frequencies, specific consumption, etc.

However, how they arrive at these numbers and what they mean for normal use depends almost entirely on the architecture of the processor and the manufacturing process, and both companies involved in the development and manufacturing of the processors make use of an architecture and own methods.

Architecture is the true identity of a processor

It tends to think that factors such as frequency, or cores determine the speed of a processor, and although technically this is true, it is architecture that has the last word.

The architecture defines the interior design of a processor, how the different blocks in charge of granting its functions communicate, as well as what instructions this component is capable of interpreting and working on.

Inside of the DIE of a Ryzen 3 1200. The "fingerprint" of this processor. Image: Wikimedia Commons.

With each architecture change (or optimization), processors change this interior design, making way for both new instruction sets and more efficient ways of working with them; All this increases the speed at which this part is capable of performing certain operations in a more influential way than a simple increase in the frequency at which the processor operates would have it.

This means that, for example, because a Core 2 Q6600 operates at a frequency of 3.8 GHz, it will not be faster when making a specific “X” calculation than a R3 1300X at 3.5 GHz, since the second Possibly more efficient in performing this task. This capacity is usually defined through the IPC (or instructions per cycle), a common way of referring to the performance of a processor.

The manufacturing process and the importance of consumption

And having written about frequencies brings us to the influence of the manufacturing process on the performance of a processor.

When we say that a processor operates at a certain frequency, we talk about the number of times a cycle of the internal clock of the processor is completed, this clock being in charge of defining the rate at which a processor performs each task.

Several processors running a well-known synthetic test at different frequencies. The higher the number the better.

Increasing this frequency excessively is a way of making a processor operate faster than another with similar characteristics, but this is done at the expense of consumption, coming with temperature and voltage problems.

However, as the processor is a physical part, reducing the size of the elements responsible for its own operation leads to either increasing the number of these elements (more complex architectures in a smaller space), or reducing the consumption by also reducing physical space.

For this reason, processors belonging to the same micro-architecture manufactured to different processes may be able to reach different maximum frequencies (although more factors come into play). We have a clear example within the odd-generation Intel processors, which usually correspond to revisions of the previous iteration with improved manufacturing processes, which leads them to operate at higher frequencies or, simply, consume less.

So how do you compare AMD and Intel processors?

Taking as an example the analysis of the Ryzen 5 3600, a series of synthetic tests were carried out together with prepared tests and tests in games.

As you can see after reading the entire text, comparing processors from their numbers in a completely objective and direct way is not possible. The best way to carry out such comparisons is to expose these processors to a series of standardized tests, which are capable of representing a real usage scenario.

An example of this can be found in the analyzes we carry out on this page, where we compare and value processors with different architectures and characteristics under the same judgment. This must be diversified and realistic, for this reason we carry out both synthetic tests (Cinebench R20, for example), and real tests (tests in games or programs), very widespread practices within our environment, which ensure the impartiality of the numbers.

We recommend reading the best processors on the market

Unfortunately, not everything is perfect. Simulating real usage scenarios implies modifying these parameters as the applications and programs used by users change day by day, so comparisons only make sense during an undefined spectrum, but it is the closest we can get to an ideal comparison.

Although we want to go a little further and put a small list of processors

AMD APU: No rivals with Intel currently Intel Core i3 9100F battles Ryzen 3 3200G (not counting GPU) Intel Core i5 9400f battles AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Intel Core i7 9700k battles AMD Ryen 7 3700X Intel Core i9 9900k battles an AMD Ryzen 9 3900XIntel Core i9 9900x fights an AMD Threadripper 2950X

With this we finish our article how to compare AMD and Intel processors. Did you find it interesting?