Is AMD a Good Option in 2018??

In this 2018 Linus Tech Tips episode, the hosts reassess whether AMD is a viable option in the context of second-generation Ryzen, Zen plus, and the competing Intel stack. They start by acknowledging AMD’s dramatic Ryzen launch a year prior and explain that their focus is on practical outcomes: gaming performance, productivity render times, power consumption, and overall value. The video contrasts two test benches at stock speeds, noting that Intel’s 8700K generally leads in gaming frames, while Ryzen 7 2700X shows advantages in multi-threaded workloads and certain productivity tasks. The hosts highlight price differences, cooler inclusions, and platform maturity as key decision factors, ultimately framing AMD as a cost-efficient option with compelling multi-threaded performance, though not universally superior for every gaming scenario. They also discuss storage acceleration options, such as Optane versus third-party caching, and conclude with nuanced guidance: if your workload blends productivity with gaming and you want to save money, Ryzen remains a strong contender; if your priority is peak gaming FPS with a single high-end GPU, Intel may still edge ahead in many games. The discussion closes with practical takeaways: choose Ryzen for value and multi-threaded strength, or Intel for potentially higher gaming headroom, and remember that the final choice depends on your specific use case and platform stability needs.

Topics · technology · hardware · cpu · gaming · pc_building · performance · price