8 reasons why AMD CPUs are worth buying

Intel’s 12th generation “Alder Lake” CPUs have significantly increased performance compared to their predecessor. In fact, the Core i5-12600K in particular is putting its AMD counterpart under great pressure. From a price-performance perspective, it no longer really makes sense to use the Ryzen 5. But despite the performance differences between the chips, there are many reasons why you can choose a Ryzen CPU. Here are eight reasons for this:

8. Ryzen CPUs are more efficient at full load

The Ryzen 5000 processors have a hard power limit of 142 watts ex works – 88 watts for the Ryzen 5 5600X and Ryzen 7 5700G. The Intel Core i9-12900K (to the test report), on the other hand, can use up to 241 watts, the 12700K up to 190 watts and the 12600K (to the test report) up to 150 watts. As a result, the Ryzen 5000 processors require 50 to 60 percent less power than their counterparts from Intel at full capacity with comparable performance. So if you plan to work a lot with your PC and thereby use the CPU at full capacity for long periods of time, then a Zen 3 CPU is the better choice. In our test, for example, the 12900K and the 5950X needed almost the same length of time to encode a video in HandBrake; the power consumption of an AMD processor was 135 watts on average, while the Intel CPU consumed 215 watts. The tide is already turning in gaming, only the Ryzen 5 5600X is a bit more efficient than the Core i5-12600K. The Core i7-12700K and Core i9-12900K are, in turn, more efficient when gaming than the Ryzen 7 5800X and Ryzen 9 5950X.

7. Motherboards are much cheaper

In terms of price-performance ratio, the 12th generation Intel Core i processors are definitely better off, but only up to the consideration of the costs for an associated mainboard. So are for one

Z690 mainboard (for price comparison)

currently at least 180 euros due, for a motherboard with DDR5 support even 190 euros. On the part of AMD, on the other hand, there are

B550 boards (for price comparison)

available from 60 euros, well-equipped boards from around 100 euros. As a result, purchasing an AMD system as a whole is cheaper than purchasing an Intel platform.

6. You don’t have to worry about DDR5

With the 12th generation, Intel introduced the first CPUs that support the newer, faster DDR5 RAM, which offers significantly higher clock rates of currently 6000 MHz and more. Unfortunately, it is extremely difficult to get DDR5, currently not a single model is listed as available from dealers in the PC-WELT price comparison. There are also motherboards with DDR4 support for Alder Lake, but if you want to combine your new CPU with new RAM, DDR5 prices and delivery restrictions are a big problem.

The Ryzen 5000 processors, in turn, rely on DDR4 memory, which is still plentiful and affordable. This is also proven by a look here at the PC-WELT price comparison.

5. PCIe 4.0 is still very fast

The Alder Lake processors and the associated Z690 motherboards support nominally PCIe 5.0, but so far neither compatible graphics cards nor SSDs are available. In addition, our tests have shown that users were only able to benefit from the jump from PCIe 3.0 to PCIe 4.0 in at least a few cases.

4. There will be a CPU update for Socket AM4

Originally, the Ryzen 5000 processors were considered the last compatible CPUs for Socket AM4. In the meantime, however, AMD has announced that their Ryzen 6000 models with the so-called V-Cache will still be compatible with AM4. This means that if you choose a system with a Ryzen 5000 CPU now, you can upgrade to a Ryzen 6000 CPU in the future. If you combine the lower motherboard price with the promise of a further upgrade, the result is a very promising offer – especially since the CPUs of the Ryzen 5000 series are still at the forefront in terms of performance.

3. No need to run Windows 11

The unique hybrid CPU design of Intel’s 12th generation Alder Lake chips works best with Windows 11. The background to this is that the new operating system relies on an updated scheduler (the part of the operating system that does the work on the various CPU cores and threads distributed), which is adapted accordingly to the hybrid architecture. Our test showed that the Core i5-12600K in particular can benefit significantly from the use of Windows 11. In addition, a number of games can currently not be run under Windows 10 with an Alder Lake CPU and the CPU performance drops significantly with certain programs because only the performance cores are used. The new operating system, on the other hand, still has to struggle with many teething problems and not everyone likes the new design. The Ryzen 5000 CPUs, on the other hand, work perfectly under Windows 10, so you are not forced to upgrade to Windows 11.

2. Less problems with older games

Intel’s hybrid design is so new that some older applications just can’t handle the mix of high performance cores and high energy efficiency cores. Conversely, this means that dozens of games are not currently running on Alder Lake, with Intel working with the game manufacturers on a solution.

1. It probably doesn’t matter which CPU you buy

Both AMD and Intel currently have very powerful CPUs in their portfolios. Intel is just ahead of the game in gaming, but AMD offers a bit more application performance on average. The Intel CPUs work more efficiently when gaming, while the Ryzen 5000 models are more frugal at full load. The Core-i-12000 processors may be more interesting from a price-performance point of view, but the compatible motherboards cost a good bit more than the AM4.

From our point of view, you are currently not doing anything wrong with the purchase of a Ryzen 5000 CPUs or an Intel Core i processor of the 12th generation. The specific application decides which manufacturer is really “better”.

Note: The article first appeared here in English on our US sister publication PC-WORLD.