Gaming PCs with AMD Ryzen

The latest AMD Ryzen 3, 5, 7, and 9 processors are significantly better than Intel. If you ignore all the marketing gimmicks and compare processors based on power, Ryzen 9 simply has no competitors among Intel's chips. Early models can be compared as follows: Ryzen 3 with Intel i5, Ryzen 5 with Intel i7, and Ryzen 7 with Intel i9. However, early Ryzen 3 models are not suitable for gaming as they have too few cores. They are more suitable for studying or office use, but not for gaming. Therefore, it makes sense to focus on the 5, 7, and 9 series.

Why is Ryzen better?

There are several factors that affect performance in games and programs to varying degrees. Modern processors are redundant in their power for gaming, but with a better chip, you won't need to consider an upgrade for longer. By the way, AMD has a significant advantage over Intel in this regard, as we'll explain later.

Process technology

The new AMD Ryzen line is made on a 7nm process, which is significantly better than Intel's flagship 14nm. The process technology is the physical distance between transistors inside the processor package. The smaller it is, the more difficult the production process, but in return, the user gets a more energy-efficient module in their PC. If you think that a few watts won't make a big difference, remember that almost all of it will go into heat, which will not allow your chip to fully perform. You can install a good cooling system, but the more powerful it is, the more noise it will produce. The conclusion is simple: the lower the TDP of the processor, the better.

Core performance

In synthetic tests, Ryzen outperforms Intel chips by several times. The performance of one core is simply incredible. This is necessary for most old games that do not use more than one thread. It may seem that high core performance is unnecessary for old games, as they are not demanding. That's true, except that old games can be multiplayer and as development continues, creators add new content to the old engine. Changing the engine itself is very expensive, and modifications rarely provide full multi-core support, such as in the case of World of Tanks. Even after significant optimization, the game still runs on one core, and even if you have a server processor with hundreds of cores, it simply cannot use them.

Universal socket

AMD promotes standardization policy, and for the past five years, AMD has released all its chips on the AM4 socket. At the same time, in pursuit of profit, Intel updates the socket for each processor line. The socket is the connector through which the processor is connected to the motherboard.

It is convenient to have a universal socket, so you can buy a computer with Ryzen 5 3600X today and upgrade it to Ryzen 7 5800X in a year - both chips are on AM4, and the cost of the upgrade will be equal to the cost of a new chip and a few grams of thermal paste. If you are on Intel, however, you will need a new motherboard to upgrade. A good gaming motherboard, such as the GIGABYTE X570 UD, costs $150, a significant additional cost for a simple upgrade.