Ryzen Owners: Is Alder Lake tempting enough to switch to Intel?

[The King]

98% of my owned hardware is Intel or Nvidia. Aside from 1 AMD Desktop and 1 AMD Laptop.

This does not make me a fanboy of AMD. I am not one of those Peasants that game 1080p 60Hz (J/K)

I game 1080p 75Hz

My current system is great to run any of the games I play at 1080p without any issues even with my current 1700X and RX 480 GPU.

I may upgrade to a 5800X if Xmas comes early and we see it drop in prices here which almost never happens outside the US markets.

 

[Melvis]

Thats a big fat no! No reason at all for any AM4 owner that has at least a B450 Mobo and above to move to a platform that cost more when they can just drop in a Zen 3 CPU and be pretty much on par on performance while saving money and heat and power. You be completely mad to move to Alder lake to get a side grade while paying more (Mobo/DDR5/Windows 11/Cooling) just to get that tiny bit of performance you might get from certain Applications.

Alder lake to me I found to be nothing special at all, the 12900K is a bit of joke really, its pushed so hard just to get it competitive to a 5950X its a bit sad really, im totally unimpressed by that particular CPU, the 12600 is alot better but again nothing ground breaking if your already on a AM4 platform and to have the best perforamnce you must run W11 which is also a bit of a joke a the moment mixed with poor compatabilty with software, I just wouldnt touch the 2 with a ten foot pole till everything is sorted which going by the sounds of things will be an easy 6months away or more.......

 

[erocker]

After Alder Lake released, I decided to pickup a 5900x on sale, mobo and some new ram. DDR4 choices are great right now. Lot's of 32gb B-die kits out there.

 

[Deleted member 215115]

I really hope crypto mining won't ruin our plans of AMD CPU upgrades. The new threat is raptoreum, that favors ryzen cpus as I heard. I fear it might affect CPU prices and availability in the near future.

CPU mining is not that profitable vs GPU mining. I doubt it will become a problem.

 

[phanbuey]

I see a few comments about teething problems, but this is easily the most stable experience that I've had building in a long while.

I reinstalled windows to make sure I wasn't missing out on performance and --- my old windows boot drive adapted just fine ended up wasting my time doing a clean install.

Compared to my experience with 1800x and 1700 builds it was night and day. We swapped one build over from a 3900x to a 12600K, and a 10850K to a 12600K -- much lower thermals, better performance - similar multithreaded performance.

I wouldn't buy a Zen 3 over Alder lake if you also need a new board. If you already have a board then Zen 3 might be a good way to go. It all comes down to $/performance. If you're tracking raptoreum at all then hold on to your CPUS - the GPU shortage will increase appetite for this.

 

[Mussels]

If i had an antique system like my dads 4770k, i'd consider the 12600K as an option vs ryzen


Anyone with any ryzen system at all right now, would be better off slapping a new CPU in their existing board, over jumping to AL.
B450 and up can even get yet one more generation of CPU support
(Sure, 99% of 300 series dont support zen 3 - but you can still get some awesomely priced zen 2 chips)

Looking at the teething issues with game, application and OS issues, the high power consumption and heat output


Intel need to show a platform thats better than in just one metric (low res, high FPS gaming)... cause at higher res, the % difference between a budget chip and a high end chip is miniscule.
Why spend $1K more, for 200W more power draw, when a 5600x can power a 3090 with ease?

 

[PilleniusMC]

Lower SKUs would be interesting for my model railway layout (as I need a PC for that), but on my main rig it isn't compelling enough.

 

[MustSeeMelons]

As I'm on a 3600 the answer is no, the next step would be a 5600X/5800X if my CPU becomes a bottleneck. The price perf is just not there for me.

 

[R0H1T]

NO

 

[Dr_b_]

Did intel make too many tech changes that you can't take advantage of right now? My GPU is still only PCIe 3.0.
DDR5 is expensive, and doesn't net a performance nor capacity gain overall in its current iteration
Do desktop gamers need ecores for something?
Where are HEDT platforms, that are all perf, no iGPU in the design at all and not just fused off because it was broken, with more PCIe Lanes
Windows 11, with all its UI hobbling and security restrictions, why?

 

[Chrispy_]

If you've bought Ryzen then you're likely good for a few more years yet and not really on the hunt for an upgrade.

I just passed an R5 3600 to a friend a couple of weeks back and upgraded his R5 1600. Sure he got a free upgrade but realistically his R5 1600 is still a very capable chip that is in no way feeling out of date or in need of retirement yet. He was running a 1070Ti with it and in every scenario he could come up with was GPU limited at 2560x1080 no matter what game he picked.

If I was in the market for a new build I'd have to think long and hard about Alder Lake because of its high cost, scheduler issues (despite numerous W11 patches and Intel's thread director), and of course the need to run Windows 11. Yes it's faster than Ryzen but it's not enough to trade the extremely stable, affordable, versatile AM4 + Zen3 platform for just yet, and if you're already on Zen2 or newer most people are not really going to gain anything by sidegrading to a marginally faster CPU. Outside of extremely small niches, you're almost always GPU limited these days and even the older Zen2 is more than capable of feeding a 144Hz or 240Hz display for high-refresh, competitive eSports.

 

[TheLostSwede]

It's a nice CPU and all, but the platform on a whole is a bit spicy in terms of cost for what won't be a massive upgrade.
Will upgrade my CPU at some point when I have a job again, until then, this is going to have to make do.

 

[dirtyferret]

I'm a multi-coffee lake owner and I'm not tempted to switch to Intel Alder Lake

 

[dragontamer5788]

I'm a Threadripper 1.0 owner.

Adler lake is tempting for sure, and I'd strongly consider it. However, I've chosen Threadripper because I play with a few programs that benefit from very high core counts (Blender, Magix Vegas, Stockfish) on the regular. I also write computer programs that take a long time to execute even with all 32-threads running. Adler lake, and really everything from last generation, looks like they're across the board faster than my old Threadripper at this point.

However, I probably won't get Adler lake.

1. My computer is still "too new", and I refuse to throw it away yet, lol. Just my general feeling of when to upgrade or when to not upgrade.

2. I want AVX512 if I go Intel. Yes, SIMD-execution will help me with those custom programs I write, and probably help a lot in Video Editing (Magix Vegas) and Blender to boot. I might still stick with AMD next generation but AVX512 actually speaks to some of the workloads I do. In any case, the lack of AVX512 on Adler Lake is a downside to me (I might as well use Ryzen 5900x!!)

 

[Chrispy_]

I'm a multi-coffee lake owner

I also cannot function in the mornings without multiple coffees, but I don't own any lakes (yet).
Sorry not sorry.

 

[Exilarch]

There are literally no reasons to consider Alder Lake whatsoever in real life scenarios with Ryzen around as it is. Intel's marketing team did their best to hype it out and have the Youtube influencers do the same for them, but in reality one would have to deal with new motherboard, increased power consumption, DDR5, new PSU, new arch giving you trouble in games and DRM and probably other software as well. Where are you gonna buy a new GPU and at what price if you intent to game on it? What about Windows 11, do you want it or need it? I'm running Linux, I don't need Alder Lake in any scenario, especially not using one as development, deployment or production machine. All that headache and for what? A couple of percents of performance that AMD is going to murder in a couple of months with 3D V-cache. Thanks Intel, but I see through your ruse.

 

[nanOcrystal]

I think Alder Lake is an interesting platform and all, but... I don't really have the money or the patience to be playing around with bleeding-edge tech. That's on top of the fact that I'd need a lot more new stuff to run an Alder Lake processor, such as a new motherboard, cooler, RAM, and (likely) power supply. I think I'd rather just stay with what I have for about 4-5 years and wait for everything to mature.

 

[lexluthermiester]

There are literally no reasons to consider Alder Lake whatsoever in real life scenarios with Ryzen around as it is.

This is absolutely incorrect. For someone who might be upgrading from a system older than 4 years and wants the best performance, Alder Lake is the clear choice. Anyone with a system 3 years old or newer and has reasonably good performing parts will have a tougher choice.

 

[Chrispy_]

This is absolutely incorrect. For someone who might be upgrading from a system older than 4 years and wants the best performance, Alder Lake is the clear choice. Anyone with a system 3 years old or newer and has reasonably good performing parts will have a tougher choice.

I think the argument here is that if your machine is only 3 years old, Alder Lake isn't enough of a step up to justify any kind of replacement whatsoever.

 

[phanbuey]

here's some reasons...

- all stuff open, ide's running, vm dev env running, 50+ tabs in browser windows and steam in the background:

It's fast... really fast. And cool. And cheap. I haven't even turned off core parking yet.

 

[RandallFlagg]

I think, for people who are on these forums and DIY types who upgrade components and not entire systems, the main hindrance to AL adoption will be the price of GPUs. A good GPU today (3070+) would cost as much as my entire build cost 18 months ago when I got it.

That said, I personally will probably wait for an AL based laptop in Q1 of next year. Probably something high end, around $2k-$2.5k.

 

[dragontamer5788]

I think, for people who are on these forums and DIY types who upgrade components and not entire systems, the main hindrance to AL adoption will be the price of GPUs. A good GPU today (3070+) would cost as much as my entire build cost 18 months ago when I got it.

That said, I personally will probably wait for an AL based laptop in Q1 of next year. Probably something high end, around $2k-$2.5k.

I've generally preferred AMD laptops for the stronger iGPU performance and greater video game compatibility actually, to avoid the whole dGPU thing entirely. At least on laptops.

Are there many benchmarks on Alder Lake's iGPU implementation and how it compares?

 

[lexluthermiester]

I think the argument here is that if your machine is only 3 years old, Alder Lake isn't enough of a step up to justify any kind of replacement whatsoever.

Totally understand that point. Of course for those who want the best of the best and upgrade every few years, AlderLake(And IMO the 12700k specifically) is the best choice at the moment. Now in a few months time when AMD drops ZEN4 on the world, that might change. But for now, AlderLake is the best bang for buck as long as you also go with DDR4.

Are there many benchmarks on Alder Lake's iGPU implementation and how it compares?

GN just did one, but that is for the desktop variants. Mobile is still in the air.

 

[RandallFlagg]

I've generally preferred AMD laptops for the stronger iGPU performance and greater video game compatibility actually, to avoid the whole dGPU thing entirely. At least on laptops.

Are there many benchmarks on Alder Lake's iGPU implementation and how it compares?

Not for the laptop variant, I would expect that to have the full Xe iGPU just like Tiger Lake though.

I wouldn't do iGPU, intention would be a desktop replacement probably something like an Alienware or similar. I've done the two device thing and it's a pain, also pointless if you have a powerful enough laptop.

 

[TheLostSwede]

here's some reasons...

- all stuff open, ide's running, vm dev env running, 50+ tabs in browser windows and steam in the background:
View attachment 225654

It's fast... really fast. And cool. And cheap. I haven't even turned off core parking yet.

And you paid $200 for what should've been a $120 motherboard...