- Intel’s cheaper CPUs now problem AMD’s excessive finish pricing logic
- Efficiency gaps shrink as AMD prices extra for modest desktop good points
- Energy effectivity and value stress reshape excessive finish CPU worth
I’ve already written about Intel quietly taking management of the low finish of the desktop CPU market, the place chips priced round $200 now supply efficiency that used to sit down far greater up the stack.
Nonetheless, making issues much more uncomfortable for AMD is the truth that the same sample is creeping into the excessive finish, the place Staff Pink’s pricing not stretches so far as it as soon as did.
A comparability between AMD’s Ryzen 9 7950X and Intel’s Core Extremely 7 265KF exhibits why. On paper, the Ryzen half appears comfortably dominant with 16 cores and 32 threads, whereas Intel’s chip tops out at 20 threads utilizing a mixture of efficiency and effectivity cores. Benchmark outcomes, nevertheless, inform a much less dramatic – and way more attention-grabbing – story.
AMD forward… marginally
The Ryzen 9 7950X scores round 62,260 in PassMark’s CPU Mark, whereas the Core Extremely 7 265KF lands at roughly 58,734. That places AMD forward, however not by a lot, particularly contemplating the {hardware} and pricing variations.
Single-thread efficiency narrows the hole far additional. Intel’s processor scores about 4,926, barely forward of the Ryzen 9 7950X at roughly 4,876, which issues for on a regular basis desktop workloads that don’t scale cleanly throughout dozens of threads.
Pricing makes the scenario more durable to defend. The Core Extremely 7 265KF sells for about $270 on Amazon, whereas the Ryzen 9 7950X could be discovered promoting for a far pricier $501 over on B&H.
Paying virtually twice as a lot for a single-digit proportion lead in combination benchmarks shifts the worth argument away from core counts and towards effectivity.
Energy draw provides to that imbalance. AMD’s chip carries a 170W ranking in contrast with Intel’s 125W, and estimated yearly vitality prices mirror that distinction at roughly $31 for the Ryzen processor versus about $23 for Intel’s chip.
The Ryzen 9 7950X nonetheless has a spot in closely threaded workloads like rendering, simulation, and large-scale code compilation, the place its additional threads keep busy. Exterior these eventualities, that benefit drops off rapidly.
In my earlier take a look at the sub-$200 phase, I mentioned that Intel was beginning to resemble the previous AMD by providing extra efficiency for much less cash.
On the excessive finish, the roles don’t flip utterly, however the stress feels acquainted, with Intel delivering shut sufficient efficiency that makes AMD’s premium pricing awkwardly onerous to justify.
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