Pretty much always been AMD. First builds were in the Athlon 64 X2 days. Continued with an Athlon II and later a Phenom II. I really liked the things they were doing back then with the PPD and tweaking features such as unlockable cores. Just a lot more fun to mess with and easier on the wallet for me being fresh out of school, too. That might've changed in the the FX days... but I wasn't building back then. Post-FX/pre-Ryzen I definitely would've gone Intel. Around that time I did some here-and-there builds for people where I strongly recommended Intel. And I gotta say, it was not bad working with what they had on offer then! Not at all! I wanted one for myself.
Just as I was getting back into this stuff, Ryzen came around, so AMD it was again. It had its criticisms, but for getting off of the ground it seemed like the only reasonable choice. Barrier to entry for that performance was just higher with Intel - and the upgrade path was more limited. Started with a 1300x and ultimately settled on a 2600, which I use for everything from gaming, to audio stuff, to photo developing, among other minor things. Gaming is probably 50% of my usage on this rig. A big reason for grabbing the 2600 was its appeal as something suited to a wide range of 'normal' tasks while also happening to handle midrange gaming. It was like just as I got down to wanting to take my build to its ultimate point, the ideal CPU manifested for under $200. Fit perfectly into my scheme of things. And it hasn't let me down. I was excited for Zen 2... thought I'd be doing a build with one. But it hasn't happened yet. Spent all of the money elsewhere. Not because they're not a solid improvement, but because I can't honestly say that my 2600 build leaves me wanting. I can't really say I truly need anything more.
I think a lot of us here were getting pretty excited when Zen+ dropped. It was just such a winning proposition for a wide range of users out there. That was when I stopped recommending Intel to people I built for, unless they specifically needed the grunt and the expense was not hurting them. Plenty of Ryzen machines floating around my area now with proud owners who very much appreciated my suggestion to grab a Ryzen. Most people I've had try it out are like "Oh, so this really is all it takes these days..." and suddenly the pricier Intel options almost aren't on the table. The idea of spending ~200-250 bucks on a CPU that really does the job is hard to pass up! That's about the most your average person wants to spend on a CPU ime. Anything past that is kind of begrudgingly gritting their teeth. They don't really want to do it. Enthusiasts might. I can see the rationale to spending the money to go all-out if you're really invested in building the absolute best machine you can. For that, Intel can still be tough to just ignore.
There's also the consideration that Intel stuff tends to have fewer issues out of the gate. That is a real concern with AMD... their products always seem to take a little time to... settle-in, shall we say? I can reasonably see that not being something people want to deal with. Sometimes the last thing you want when making an upgrade or a new build is to ride out hiccups and jank that you can't really do much about. AMD stuff always seems to come around in the end - they usually make-good on it, but does that make it worth it? I think that's a question you've really got to ask yourself. IMO, it is, but I've also waited for this stuff to iron-out before buying in pretty much every time I've gone AMD, so not nothin to it. It can take a while for everything to catch up to where it should be.
Historically, I really like AMD. And right now, I like the things they've been up to - I think it's been good for quite a lot of users out there. That said, if somebody dropped an expensive, high-end Intel chip in my lap, I'd gladly buy a mobo to match it and use that! Hell yeah! But right now, it's hard to justify. The only way I see myself going that way is if we're talking a no-expense-spared affair. And even then I may take the money saved by going top-level Ryzen and put it towards elevating the rest of the build.
That's kind of where I'm at with it. Intel still makes excellent chips, but the value of them is being steadily eroded by AMD's offerings. Until that changes, I'm happy to support AMD. Do I think it'll always be that way? Probably not. And in that case I'll be singing a different tune. But my experience thus far with everything AMD has to offer right now makes it hard for me to consider Intel, which I actually don't think is a good thing. I see one crushing the other as a transition. Hopefully as time goes by, it will become a tougher call to make, as that means more viable options for all of us. But I can totally see why many people might be switching to AMD for the time being.
arent getting the vote, tricky.
It's really easy, if you don't like it-don't post (or just log out and come back when you're calm and collected). If you feel the urge to troll and berate others, you will be thread banned and warned with points so don't ask for your account to be removed/banned and play the victim when you let your emotions get the better of you.
