Microcenter Bundle Intel vs AMD. Am I missing anything?
Posted by BoyBlueIsBack@reddit | buildapc | View on Reddit | 29 comments
I recently bought an AMD 9070 XT. I have been happy with my graphics card, but now several games such as The Finals and Arc Raiders are CPU bound and are nearly unplayable with very inconsistent frame rates and freezing problems that I suspect are due to my 10700k being a slight bottleneck and my 32 GB of DDR4 4000 RAM with very high latency.
Due to RAM prices, I will be going with a Microcenter bundle. Here are my two options I have narrowed down to:
1)
AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D,
ASUS B850-E TUF Gaming WiFi AM5,
Corsair Vengeance RGB 32GB DDR5-6000 2 stick kit
Price: $599.99
2)
Intel Core Ultra 7 265K
MSI Z890-S Pro WiFi 1851
Crucial Pro 32GB DDR5-6400 2 stick kit
Price: $569.99
At first, I didn't even check the Intel side because I have an AMD GPU and I haven't heard good things about their price to performance as of recent. However, the Intel bundle comes with a seemingly better motherboard, better RAM, and it seems like the CPU is better overall, with a slight gaming advantage to the AMD CPU but a massive workstation advantage to the Intel CPU (I do CAD work as well as simulations sometimes, also I keep way too many tabs open and other programs open while gaming). All of this is at a $30 lower price.
I imagine that there may be some benefit to pairing an AMD CPU to an AMD GPU, but it seems like a no-brainer unless I am missing something. Is there anything I failed to consider?
The_Machine80@reddit
Amd hands down. That was easy!
BobbyNuggets22033912@reddit
Bruh I know you didn't read the post within 15 seconds of it being posted. Blind brand loyalty is never the way to go.
BoiCDumpsterFire@reddit
As somebody with a 2 Intel CPUs I’m still gonna say the 7800x3d in a heartbeat. Better gaming performance and a possible upgrade path is worth the extra $30 over the Intel on a dead socket. Maybe, and I really mean maybe, if it was a 270+ because those get a lot closer for gaming performance but x3d still usually wins
BoyBlueIsBack@reddit (OP)
I definitely get the dead socket argument, but I don't see myself upgrading for at least 4+ years, so I don't think it's a major concern for me. It also complicates things that it is a $30 price increase for the AMD bundle, but the RAM is worse and the motherboard also seems to be worse. I mainly want to make sure I don't have a CPU bottleneck for a long time, because those are hell compared to GPU bottlenecks.
AlligatorTaffy@reddit
I wouldn’t worry about the “dead socket” crowd these days. I bought a 270k Plus and a Z890 motherboard for rough the price of a 9800X3D alone. So the price of an AMD upgrade is currently the same as buying both a CPU + motherboard from Intel. Now the benefit is you aren’t on a brand new AMD CPU and a 4-5 year old chipset.
BoiCDumpsterFire@reddit
Honestly the MSi pro line is trash. I have one with my 12600kf and it thermal throttles the VRMs and causes some really janky power delivery. I have to undervolt just to have it be functional. It was even worse with my 13700kf. AMD said they’re hoping to get 10ish years out of AM5 and it is about 3.5 now so an upgrade in 5ish years may not be completely out of the question not to mention it’s the better PC right now. As far as RAM goes the real tell is in the timings but a 6000mts should be plenty good. I’m rocking a 6000cl30 kit at 7400cl36 on my daily and really only being held back by the mobo. Even then the difference between the 2 is maybe about 3% in overall performance and that’s probably a high estimate.
aragorn18@reddit
RAM speed is mostly irrelevant here. The motherboard choice only matters if one of them doesn't have enough connectivity for whatever you want to plug in.
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AlligatorTaffy@reddit
Honestly I went from a 9800X3D to an Intel 270k Plus. That thing is a beast for what it is. But I also do more than game on my PC. It’s a toss up here though. If you’re trying to game at 4k it’s a wash. But cad related could tip toward intel.
XT-356@reddit
That's interesting to hear. Is it because of having more cores or that applications still favor Intel?
AlligatorTaffy@reddit
Productivity task are much faster. Plus I had bought 6400 ram for the 9800X3D build but it was unstable. I had to underclock it down to 6000. However with the 270k, my ram is overclocked to 7200 and is very stable. So that closes the gap a little further between hits to memory vs cache between it and an X3D. It’s a solid release from Intel for now.
KFC_Junior@reddit
no its because the 265k beats out a 9900x in productivity and the 270k is between the 9950x and the 9950x3d
PokerLawyer75@reddit
The only problem with buying the Intel bundle is that it's using Crucial memory. Since Crucial is now out of business, good luck with warranty replacement.
aragorn18@reddit
Crucial is the consumer brand of Micron. Micron is not going out of business.
PokerLawyer75@reddit
I know who they are. But that doesn't change the fact there's no more product being manufactured, or that the company itself will be able to handle consumer issues.
Micron made a choice. And my dollars are making their choice. No Crucial SSDs or RAM.
pythonic_dude@reddit
Crucial isn't going anywhere. Their RAM isn't going anywhere. They just stopped selling directly to consumers, but they still sell to OEMs.
PokerLawyer75@reddit
Actually, wrong. And I got it straight from one of their attorneys while playing craps with her at Horseshoe in January.
The Crucial business is gone. nothing is being manufactured for it.
Or maybe you just don't know how to read:
https://www.crucial.com/
"Micron will ship Crucial consumer products through February 2026, with warranty and support continuing. Micron Crucial consumer products may continue to be available for purchase from distributors and resellers for some time."
I don't trust any business that's being wound down to conmtinue support - period.
BoyBlueIsBack@reddit (OP)
That is a good point. Maybe if I'm lucky the value will go up like with EVGA GPUs (wishful thinking)
RumbleTheCassette@reddit
No benefits to pairing an AMD GPU and CPU in any real measurable capacity.
Jbarney3699@reddit
Depends, do you consider Smart Access Memory to be a benefit? See around a 1% performance increase overall in many cases.
RumbleTheCassette@reddit
Smart Access Memory is just the AMD branding for Resizeable BAR. You can enable Resizeable BAR in the BIOS even with an Intel CPU and AMD GPU or vice versa.
BoyBlueIsBack@reddit (OP)
That's good to know. Is that the case even when using AMD upscaling?
aragorn18@reddit
Yes. The brand of CPU doesn't matter.
RumbleTheCassette@reddit
Yeah, the GPU upscaling tech works the same regardless of the CPU in the system.
SwingThatHammer@reddit
Literally bought that AMD bundle 5 days ago and loving it. Coming from a 6 year old mobo and intel chip I’ve got zero regrets.
cdojs98@reddit
I'm very preferable to AMD, so when I say Intel is the better choice for you here, I truly mean it. You might also want to consider switching to Nvidia when you can afford something around a 70Ti or 70 Super tier, they are simply more powerful hardware for your situation.
AMD is fantastic value for gaming, but it really lags behind in productivity on the consumer-side, even for GPUs. Nvidia just makes bonkers hardware after a certain threshold and nobody else can compete at a reasonable price.
Have you considered a Threadripper based build?
RJsRX7@reddit
Both boards are kind of meh, with basement audio and 2.5g LAN, but the Z890 Pro at least offers WiFi 7... Which is its primary feature over the Z890 AYW Gaming that would save another $20.
And the KF would save a further $20 with absolutely no performance downside since you have a GPU.
Overall your use case sounds better suited for the Intel stuff, though the games you're encountering trouble with are fairly likely to play better on the 7800X3D. Could also be worth waiting for the 270KP combos to come back.
aragorn18@reddit
If you do a lot of non-gaming work, then the Intel option is a serious contender.