LinuxQuestions.org - Is it Intel or AMD?

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Is it Intel or AMD?

Which do you prefer, Intel or AMD?

Risc V

For most distros and out of the box simple-ness. Intel

For anything efficient and feature rich, AMD. At least the newer generation stuff. Most of the specs I drool over now are AMD based. More so with the intel c2xxx issue and other things. But mostly price and features. As a dev type, having more hardware for the same price as a single system has it's perks.

Since I am frugal computer user and if price is considered. I voted AMD because of that. I am not a gamer on computer.
I got a playstation for that.

Most of my gear comes for less than others pay for theirs. Being one who does not look a gift horse in the mouth.
I don't consider cpu bias at all then.

currently posting on a

Code:

$ inxi -f

CPU:      Dual core Intel Core i5-3320M (-HT-MCP-) cache: 3072 KB 

          clock speeds: max: 3300 MHz 1: 1199 MHz 2: 1199 MHz 3: 1199 MHz 4: 1203 MHz

          CPU Flags: acpi aes aperfmperf apic arat arch_perfmon avx bts clflush cmov constant_tsc cx16 cx8 de

          ds_cpl dtes64 dtherm dts epb ept erms est f16c flexpriority fpu fsgsbase fxsr ht ida lahf_lm lm mca

          mce mmx monitor msr mtrr nonstop_tsc nx pae pat pbe pcid pclmulqdq pdcm pebs pge pln pni popcnt pse

          pse36 pts rdrand rdtscp sep smep smx ss sse sse2 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 tm tm2 tpr_shadow tsc

          tsc_deadline_timer vme vmx vnmi vpid x2apic xsave xsaveopt xtopology xtpr

This is one of those gift horse cpu's.

I prefer AMD since they need to stay in business to keep Intel from grossly inflating prices. However, right now all my systems except 1 are Intel, but I'm hopeful that we can start seeing some ryzen laptops when they release the mobile chips.

AMD have consistently failed to produce anything that even aproaches Intel on any benchmark I have seen. For that reason I'll liklely replace my current FX-8370 desktop with Intel when I have to do so. Unless AMD magically make Ryzen suddenly better than even an i5.

On installations where Intel's integrated graphics is sufficient (and since I'm not a gamer, that's just about everywhere), then using Intel saves me from having to buy a graphics card. Plus, Intel graphics is well supported in Linux.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 273 (Post 5682047)

Given that other than gaming benchmarks, the Ryzen has been easily beating the i7's in every review, I'd say there's no need for "suddenly", they're already superior. Unless you're a gamer.

I voted Intel, but I don't really care, I'm not a power user. :)

Presently, I am trying out a Raspberry Pi3 - Broadcom(!) processor, 1GB ram, wifi, runs from a microSD card, but will shortly be able to run from USB disks, still not quite stable by all accounts - a promising substitute if all you want is web browsing, email, music & video playing - about the equivalent of an Atom processor. ;)

I have no preference.

--------------------------------
Steve Stites

My last two Linux only desktops have been AMD based and I have been quite pleased. Although it's clear that AMD hasn't kept up with Intel on single core performance, in practical usage it hasn't been an issue. My current quad core A8 Trinity CPU does an excellent job.
I have had problems with GPUs however. My R7 360 video card wasn't supported for the FOSS driver in Linux Mint 17 and so I had to use the fglrx (Catalyst) driver. This Catalyst driver wasn't supported in LM 18 but after a few kernel updates the FOSS driver was. So now I'm using the excellent Radeon FOSS driver again. AMD video is really like Forrest Gump's box of chocolates. If you avoid the bleeding edge hardware you should be OK - although to be honest Nvidia seems to support its hardware better in Linux.

Code:

ray@ray-basement-SSD ~ $ inxi -Fxz

System:    Host: ray-basement-SSD Kernel: 4.4.0-53-generic x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 5.4.0)

          Desktop: Cinnamon 3.2.7 (Gtk 3.18.9-1ubuntu3.2)

          Distro: Linux Mint 18.1 Serena

Machine:  System: Gigabyte product: N/A

          Mobo: Gigabyte model: F2A85XM-D3H

          Bios: American Megatrends v: F3 date: 04/08/2013

CPU:      Quad core AMD A8-5600K APU with Radeon HD Graphics (-MCP-) cache: 8192 KB

          flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm) bmips: 28799

          clock speeds: max: 3600 MHz 1: 1900 MHz 2: 2800 MHz 3: 1400 MHz

          4: 1400 MHz

Graphics:  Card: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Tobago PRO [Radeon R7 360 / R9 360 OEM]

          bus-ID: 01:00.0

          Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 drivers: ati,radeon (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)

          Resolution: 1920x1080@60.00hz

          GLX Renderer: Gallium 0.4 on AMD BONAIRE (DRM 2.43.0, LLVM 3.8.0)

          GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 11.2.0 Direct Rendering: Yes

Audio:    Card-1 Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] FCH Azalia Controller

          driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:14.2

          Card-2 Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Tobago HDMI Audio [Radeon R7 360 / R9 360 OEM]

          driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 01:00.1

          Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.4.0-53-generic

Network:  Card-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller

          driver: r8169 v: 2.3LK-NAPI port: d000 bus-ID: 02:00.0

          IF: enp2s0 state: down mac: <filter>

          Card-2: Qualcomm Atheros AR9287 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express)

          driver: ath9k bus-ID: 04:00.0

          IF: wlp4s0 state: up mac: <filter>

Drives:    HDD Total Size: 1128.2GB (10.0% used)

          ID-1: /dev/sda model: TOSHIBA_THNSNH12 size: 128.0GB

          ID-2: /dev/sdb model: TOSHIBA_DT01ACA1 size: 1000.2GB

Partition: ID-1: / size: 102G used: 18G (19%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1

          ID-2: swap-1 size: 17.12GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda5

RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present

Sensors:  System Temperatures: cpu: 0.0C mobo: N/A gpu: 26.0

          Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A

Info:      Processes: 208 Uptime: 30 min Memory: 1343.2/16059.6MB

          Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: 5.4.0

          Client: Shell (bash 4.3.461) inxi: 2.2.35 

ray@ray-basement-SSD ~ $

Quote:

Originally Posted by raymac1946 (Post 5682238)

Code:

ray@ray-basement-SSD ~ $ inxi -Fxz

System:    Host: ray-basement-SSD Kernel: 4.4.0-53-generic x86_64 (64 bit gcc: 5.4.0)

          Desktop: Cinnamon 3.2.7 (Gtk 3.18.9-1ubuntu3.2)

          Distro: Linux Mint 18.1 Serena

Machine:  System: Gigabyte product: N/A

          Mobo: Gigabyte model: F2A85XM-D3H

          Bios: American Megatrends v: F3 date: 04/08/2013

CPU:      Quad core AMD A8-5600K APU with Radeon HD Graphics (-MCP-) cache: 8192 KB

          flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm) bmips: 28799

          clock speeds: max: 3600 MHz 1: 1900 MHz 2: 2800 MHz 3: 1400 MHz

          4: 1400 MHz

Graphics:  Card: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Tobago PRO [Radeon R7 360 / R9 360 OEM]

          bus-ID: 01:00.0

          Display Server: X.Org 1.18.4 drivers: ati,radeon (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)

          Resolution: 1920x1080@60.00hz

          GLX Renderer: Gallium 0.4 on AMD BONAIRE (DRM 2.43.0, LLVM 3.8.0)

          GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 11.2.0 Direct Rendering: Yes

Audio:    Card-1 Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] FCH Azalia Controller

          driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:14.2

          Card-2 Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Tobago HDMI Audio [Radeon R7 360 / R9 360 OEM]

          driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 01:00.1

          Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture v: k4.4.0-53-generic

Network:  Card-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller

          driver: r8169 v: 2.3LK-NAPI port: d000 bus-ID: 02:00.0

          IF: enp2s0 state: down mac: <filter>

          Card-2: Qualcomm Atheros AR9287 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express)

          driver: ath9k bus-ID: 04:00.0

          IF: wlp4s0 state: up mac: <filter>

Drives:    HDD Total Size: 1128.2GB (10.0% used)

          ID-1: /dev/sda model: TOSHIBA_THNSNH12 size: 128.0GB

          ID-2: /dev/sdb model: TOSHIBA_DT01ACA1 size: 1000.2GB

Partition: ID-1: / size: 102G used: 18G (19%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1

          ID-2: swap-1 size: 17.12GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap dev: /dev/sda5

RAID:      No RAID devices: /proc/mdstat, md_mod kernel module present

Sensors:  System Temperatures: cpu: 0.0C mobo: N/A gpu: 26.0

          Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: N/A

Info:      Processes: 208 Uptime: 30 min Memory: 1343.2/16059.6MB

          Init: systemd runlevel: 5 Gcc sys: 5.4.0

          Client: Shell (bash 4.3.461) inxi: 2.2.35 

ray@ray-basement-SSD ~ $

With their new gpu drivers (amdgpu), AMD claims their newer card will be supported much faster and with much higher levels of compatibility than they ever were before, as they're actually contributing code to the open source driver. I have seen some issues however, already, here on the forums with people attempting to use them, so who knows if that's just bluster from AMD or if they really truly are trying to help produce a usable open source driver.

Quote:

With their new gpu drivers (amdgpu), AMD claims their newer card will be supported much faster and with much higher levels of compatibility than they ever were before

Yes and that was a major issue with my R7 360 video card when it came out. It was too new to be supported by radeon in the older mainline distros, and the "bleeding edge" distros included amdgpu for its class of cards - and amdgpu didn't work with it. You just got a black screen. Fortunately the latest release of Linux Mint has re-introduced compatibility with the excellent radeon driver.
At the end of the day I am happy to have a FOSS driver that works, although in future it might be amdgpu if they get everything working with older GCN cards.
I am staying away from the RX4XX cards right now because I don't want any more hardware problems and I do not need higher end gaming performance.
AMD seems more committed to Linux but their drivers are always under heavy development - and that often means problems.

No preference, I go for the least expensive system that will do the job for me. Turns out most of my systems are Intel, but my desktop is AMD.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Timothy Miller (Post 5682061)

Given that other than gaming benchmarks, the Ryzen has been easily beating the i7's in every review, I'd say there's no need for "suddenly", they're already superior. Unless you're a gamer.

Delving deeper I see what you mean. Perhaps the temperature issues I'm having with my 8370 and a gamer friend at work have contrived for me only to see only the poor gaming performance.
I do see, however, that AMD's goal appeared to be things which ought to give better gaming performance (single-threaded performance and instructions per clock cycle) so they did seem to have failed a little.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 273 (Post 5683391)

Oh, most definitely. Although you can also look at it as they focused too much on making sure the technology itself would be well suited towards the enterprise. If you look at the ryzen benchmarks, everywhere it's EXTREMELY strong is where they'd want the enterprise class chips that are coming later to be strong. So they seemed to have released these as too much enterprise bias, and didn't do enough to get these chips more consumer (game) focused. Although they also said the gaming benchmarks have been improving with BIOS updates and driver updates for Windows, as some of the issues are with Windows being inefficient in the use of the Ryzen.

IMO, they're never going to get Ryzen 1st gen quite on par with Intel for gaming, but my next desktop once I can afford it will be Ryzen. They're GOOD ENOUGH in games that the rest of the stuff for me makes me definitely want it over Intel for the price. And I do desperately need to upgrade. While some parts on my desktop aren't that old, the motherboard is 7 years old now, and the onboard sound died about a year ago. I got a cheap $15 sound card from Fry's, but that definitely makes me think this machine is on it's last leg.