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It used to be that if you wanted the best performance, you’d go for Intel, but it’s not so simple anymore.The Santa Clara chipmaker usually ranks consistently higher in CPU benchmarks, but its Intel’s processors also draw less heat as well, blessing them with lower TDP ratings – and power consumption – across the board.Much of this is owed to Intel's implementation of hyper-threading, which has been incorporated in its CPUs since 2002.
Hyper-threading keeps existing cores active rather than letting any of them remain unproductive. Although AMD’s simultaneous multi-threading (SMT) featured in Ryzen is generally similar to hyper-threading, Intel remains on top when it comes to sheer clock speeds.
AMD, on the other hand, has been keen on adding more cores to its chips and only recently began boosting stock frequencies.Unfortunately, software has to be written with this multi-core advantage in mind, which explains why Intel maintains a steady lead in real-world applications.Luckily, despite AMD’s reputation for overheating processors, the newer Ryzen chips have lower TDP (thermal design point) ratings than the AMD FX CPUs and APUs of the past.
As long as you have a decent cooler, you shouldn’t have to fret about your Ryzen-laden PC ever catching fire.
However, thanks to the recently-announced Intel T-series desktop CPUs, AMD is in for a bit of competition when it comes to TDP ratings.This looks to remain the case on the mobile (laptops) front as well, wherein AMD has only recently brought forth its contributions.
The flagship Ryzen 7 2700U (quad-core, 2.2GHz – 3.8GHz) will be most compared to the Intel Core i7-8550U (quad-core, 1.8GHz – 4.0GHz) and seems promising based on those numbers alone.And, now that we’ve had a chance to check out the Ryzen 7 2700X in action, AMD has become far more compelling when it comes to raw performance, and has all but dethroned Intel when it comes to real-world results.With AMD’s RX Vega GL and GH graphics helping power Intel’s Kaby Lake G-powered laptops and newest generation of NUCs, the AMD vs Intel rivalry is coming to a standstill.
At this point in time, we’re seeing the two companies collaborate as we’ve never seen them do before.
What’s more, they’re both benefiting from the partnership. It’s unclear how long the partnership will last, however.
Because AMD recently launched its Ryzen 3 2200G and Ryzen 5 2400G APUs, you can now get ‘discrete-class’ graphics from an AMD chip alone, an effort that will inevitably translate to an increased volume of Ryzen-based laptops as well.
Meanwhile, Intel has poached two high-profile heads of AMD’s Radeon Graphics team, so it seems inevitable that the company will jump into the discrete graphics world.
