"Computer Fight!"

     I’ve been meaning to write this post for a long time. As most now, I’m a computer geek first, and this idea has been on my mind for months. Now, with a new launch of processors from Intel this month, I figured I will write my thoughts about the state of new computer hardware. As some might have read over the years, every six to twelve months, new hardware is launched, which in theory is supposed to be exciting. Honestly, for the past few years, the launches of supposed updated hardware have been appealing as a keg of O’Douls at a college party. However, since March of this year, new releases are worth looking at due to one word: competition.

     In the hardware industry, competition between the major companies is always a good thing. I mostly focusing on processors today: Intel and AMD. Intel is, in sode terms, Coca Cola. A brand everyone has heard of because of countless ads over the years, and the fact shelves were always full of Intel based computers. AMD, on the other hand, is like RC. Even though AMD has been around, you mostly hear about them through word of mouth, or from the person you went to for computer advice. AMD could never truly compete outright, but they did one thing very well: beat Intel in performance while costing less. It always been about the best bang for your buck with AMD.

     However, AMD was more like Pepsi for a few years: Intel and AMD keep fighting to be the top company. For a few years, AMD was actually beating Intel in performance. There was a time during the early 2000’s where AMD was suggested way before Intel during the Pentium 4 era. This was great because the industry was exciting. Every new release from AMD or Intel was worth reading because it made you wonder who was taking back the performance crown. 

 

     Sadly, around 2007, AMD began to lose the rivalry. By 2011 or so, AMD was back to fighting to stay in the market. It came to a point AMD was only suggested when Intel was too costly for one’s budget. They weren’t bad overall, but dollar per dollar comparisons, Intel was the way to go. A $80 Intel CPU was outperforming a $200 AMD chip in the one area that truly drives the market: gaming. So, AMD retired itself to being the go to for basic, everyday web browsing systems. 

 

     This lead to Intel being the equivalent of GMC launching a new Corvette every year with five extra horsepower. They honestly quit innovating for the past five years, and got lazy.A new product with such a small performance increase being released because there wasn’t no other viable option. There’s actual test of a six year-old Intel chip being tested against their newest offerings. The difference in performance was only ten percent. In fact, most reviews of Intel’s new release became copy and paste. The overall thought was this: “Unless building and/or buying a new system, not worth the cost.”

     However, the fight is coming back as of March. Before I go into what’s happening, some very, very layman terms. All new CPU’s will list cores and threads when you look them up. Here is what they mean:

- Core – the physical processing part. A quad-core for example means there’s four physical processors i.e. it’s like a system having four Pentium 4’s inside it.

- Thread – The splitting of a CPU’s power virtually. Not all tasks need the core’s full power, so it will divide itself in light loads such as what I’m doing now: playing music and running Word.

     What happened this year which has shook up the industry is AMD finally launched a CPU that blindside Intel: Ryzen. This new launch came down to this: a $500 AMD CPU with 8 cores / 16 threads is trading blows even with Intel’s $1000 newest 10 cores / 20 thread offering. The difference in performance is so close that AMD systems make hardcore enthusiasts wondering if the extra $500 going Intel is even worth it to save a few minutes on some tasks. Once you factor in that a motherboard for Intel is $400 versus $200 for AMD, it’s a tough sell to even go with Intel these days. In other words, they’re fighting once again, and this makes me happy because unless it’s purely a PC gaming system (Which Intel still outperforms AMD as of right now), I would suggest AMD over Intel once again.

     Now, keep in mind even though Intel launched this month, AMD has a new line coming out this summer as well. AMD is launching a 16 core / 32 thread monster. With this on the horizon, the old question that used to be around is coming back: Do I buy now or wait to see what the new products offers? This means everyone wins because if AMD and Intel keep going back and forth, when you do buy a newer system, the performance over your five year old system will be noticeable. In fact, in the $100 to $200 range, I would go with AMD way before Intel because AMD offers more cores / threads for the money which is great if you do a lot of multitasking. 

 

     In conclusion, in any industry, competition is always a great thing. Without it, there’s no more innovation. The companies will keep slapping on shiny new labels on the same boring product, and act like they’ve made huge changes while raising prices. I hope this trend keeps going because for years because the biggest innovation in the PC world was leaning towards LED lights on EVERYTHING. Now, with real hardware being launched that does offering innovation, the market will shake up, and everyone will reap the benefits. In the end, I’m rooting for AMD to keep winning this fight.