AMD or Intel better?

[Red_Rattler]

Which is better, AMD or Intel?

I've been told that AMD is better than Intel, but then another shop saying that AMD is "waaay" behind Intel.

 

[oknotsen]

Both will do a fine job for Trainz.

It depends on the person you ask what they will answer to this ages old question.

Could as well ask if you like Coca Cola or Pepsi Cola better. Both are good, but depends on the person you ask what they like best. Both will serve well as a drink.

 

[clam1952]

To be honest AMD can't match Intel for processing power at the higher end, you can get a rough idea from here. http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html That doesn't mean you can't get AMD processors that are fine for gaming.

 

[johnwhelan]

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106.html

It depends exactly on price point.

Cheerio John

 

[pcas1986]

I don't have a preference and have used both Intel and AMD at different times for my home built computers.

Frankly I wonder how much of a demand Trainz makes on the processor. I suspect that the video card and hard disk/SSD would have more of an impact.

 

[clam1952]

Was going to add to my original reply however we have moved on.

Looks like AMD's Piledriver AM3+ socket CPU's are about to appear on the market, that may just bump AMD up the scale a bit http://www.cpu-world.com/news_2012/2012082801_Some_details_of_AMD_Piledriver_CPUs.html

I use exclusively AMD chips and have never found them lacking, for value they usually can't be beaten.

 

[LNERlover5]

For low price performance that is just a tad slower than an Intel I5. AMD. Past that Intel are in their own league.

 

[BD1]

placemarker

 

[frogpipe]

CPU isn't the end all when it comes to computer speed, esp for demanding 3D programs like games. Memory, OS (as in being able to access that memory), video card, HDD all play a part.

I stopped tracking the matter years ago, but in the past at least the answer to the question from the OP depended on WHEN you asked. Intel would jump ahead, then AMD would jump ahead, then Intel, then AMD, ad infinitiem....

 

[kamran]

intel is way better then amd

 

[RRSignal]

Over the last few years, Intel's performance has outranked AMD. Mind you, I am not a fanboy of either, although I build almost exclusively with Intel, only building with AMD on request. That said, AMD has a lot going for their products.

Simulators like Trainz tend to benefit most from raw speed as opposed to many cores. AMD has previously focused on producing chips with more cores, but has caught up in the speed area recently, especially with the advent of the FX-4170 running at a stock speed of 4.2GHz. I would love to see some benchmarks with Trainz, FSX, etc. but it's entirely possible this could match or exceed Intel's offerings.

There ARE other factors that contribute to a CPU's performance that aren't widely published. Things like cache, pipelining, Out-of-Order execution (this is where many mobile CPUs fall short, aside from speed) all affect performance. That's why benchmarks are so useful.

Another problem with Intel is the DRM they're building into their newest CPUs. Based on what little info is available, it is an enormous potential security risk. It's not an issue for those of us who run gaming PCs offline, but a big deal for everyone else. Unfortunately, Intel has been less-than-forthcoming about how exactly it works - in fact, based on what little info that IS available, it seems to run as a hardware-protected back channel. As a result, while I generally recommend Intel for gaming, I don't for any security-conscious purposes including business or office use.

 

[Gandalf0444]

intel is way better then amd

Way to put a good amount of knowledgeable input into the thread.....

Anyway I have used and built Intel and AMD systems....Both of course have pros and cons, such as Intel having processors with largers caches, more cores or a higher clock speed...But AMD also offers a high clock speed now (4.2GHz stock on 4170 as RR signal said) which rivals most of Intel's processors as far as late in the GHz area, more cores is up for debate as you can easily get a 8 core AMD FX 8xxx and then overclock it to the 4GHz range as well(given proper cooling) and it can then stand up to almost all Intel processors in all areas except cache...

So in a sense they are both equal as AMD is the more bang for your buck, as with intel you will pay out the nose, and with AMD you can buy cheap and achieve the same performance as an Intel.... On paper Intel is light years ahead of AMD in all departments, but in a real life scenario with a AMD and Intel based machine you will not notice much of a difference... I can play any game on the market right now with max settings at 60fps or higher with the current rig in my signature, why would I have a need for a Intel processor that will do the same thing except cost a arm and a leg more? It just makes no logical sense.

If you could REALLY see a difference(Like a Athlon XP vs a Phenom II level of difference) Then by all means it is worth it...But it is not.

 

[AJ_Fox]

For what it's worth, I have an AMD Quad-Core A6-3620 processor. I don't know much about Intel, but this one runs Trainz fine.

Hope that helps.

Cheers

AJ

 

[bunkerrattmk2]

i'm very happy with my 4170.

AMD fx4170 cpu quad core unlocked /zalman cnps9700 cpu cooler
ASUS m5a97 motherboard
8 GB crucial ballistix tactical tracer ddr3 1600
HIS radeon 6790 iceq x turbo
WD veliciraptor 10.000 rpm 74 gb trainz only
nzxt 2m sleeved led kit blue
creative x fi extreme gamer sound card
ultra lsp 750 watt psu
asus dvdr rw
2 x 100 gb maxtor sata 7200 rpm hdd's windows 7 64 bit\raid 0
thermaltake full amour all steel case/250mm side intake/2 120 mm front intake /1 120mm rear exhaust/1 90mm rear/1 90mm top exhaust fan's
razer death adder usb mouse
saitek eclipse keyboard
logitech 5.1 speakers
acer x213h 22inch wide lcd
1 wd 2tb external storage drive usb3.0

 

[drchoi21]

http://www.microcenter.com/product/400669/A10_5800K_Black_Edition_38GHz_Socket_FM2_Boxed_Processor
This is way better then i5 except that you can't find a lot of motherboard for this

 

[clam1952]

It's also an APU not a CPU and has inbuilt graphics and shared memory, not somewhere I'd want to go.

 

[Red_Rattler]

I have just noticed, that I forget to mention this was for as laptop/Ultrabook computer.

We showed the salesman, the simulators and/or videos at work "missing" some frames, (jittering or whatever you call it), and he suggest that i5 or A6 is fine. He did say that i3 would really be pushing it. The only downside (but upside faster) is that they are only have SSD of either 128 or 256GB.

While it may be faster, it sounds like their will be very limited space on the hard drive, especially with simulators installed.

 

[JCitron]

I have just noticed, that I forget to mention this was for as laptop/Ultrabook computer.

We showed the salesman, the simulators and/or videos at work "missing" some frames, (jittering or whatever you call it), and he suggest that i5 or A6 is fine. He did say that i3 would really be pushing it. The only downside (but upside faster) is that they are only have SSD of either 128 or 256GB.

While it may be faster, it sounds like their will be very limited space on the hard drive, especially with simulators installed.

By showing the simulators and videos to the salesman, that was the best thing you could have done. Most of the time these guys have no clue about what we use and think that Trainz is like any other game out there like Crysis or Battlefield xxxx!

I have always used Intel chips because of their larger cache and better branching which I find helpful with some of the other graphics programs that my brother and I use. One of the main issues we ran into recently were some floating point errors with the AMD processors. When my brother zoomed in on some models, he had disconnected wireframe polygon points. For some reason the processors had a rounding problem with this and other programs. He then swapped to a Xeon workstation and the problem went away. The only thing he changed was the motherboard and processor. He kept his Quadro video card and memory from his previous board.

The new i-series chips are a farcry above the earlier Intel chips since they also share much in common now with the venerable Xeon family which is Intel's high end chips. They make use of CISC/RISC instructions, larger cache, intelligent branching, and more recently excellent power mangement. This makes for a less expensive processor that still has the high-end features, making them ideal for workstations as well as gaming platforms.

I can say that I have never had a problem with these processors, so I'll give Intel the credit where credit is due. Many years ago I built a systems with AMD processors. These systems sadly could never get out of their own way it seemed. This turned out to be an issue for many years with AMD. For some reason these chips always lacked the cache that Intel chips always have. AMD may have the speed, but if the data can't be fed through the pathways efficiently, then this still becomes an issue anyway.

John

 

[Red_Rattler]

I think I understood that!!

But while faster, what about the limited GB size of SSDs? Would it not fill the drive up very quickly though?

 

[clam1952]

I think I understood that!!

But while faster, what about the limited GB size of SSDs? Would it not fill the drive up very quickly though?

All depends on how much stuff you download or create yourself, I'm using a 256GB SSD for TS12 which is using about 83GB at the moment, I don't download much as I've probably got most of what's any use to me, I do create my own items though and it's not growing in size that quickly.

There are 500GB SSD's now which are gradually coming down in price plus if you had a USB3 or eSata port on the laptop, you could use external SSD's in a enclosure.

@ John

. Most of the time these guys have no clue about what we use and think that Trainz is like any other game out there like Crysis or Battlefield xxxx!

You could add that many of the people using Trainz have the same problem, I even see people on here with Androids and various Tablets who haven't a clue of the limitations of those platforms.