VIEW FROM THE LABS
AMD’s spectacular rise may be a cause for concern to Intel, but Stuart is absolutely delighted
Competition is a good thing in any Labs, and not just because it gives buyers more value and more choice. It also – rather selfishly – makes the process more interesting for the poor sod who has to test all the kit. Me. In too many desktop PC Labs, I’ve seen the lineup dominated by one or two Intel processors and one or two GPUs, but the arrival of AMD’s Ryzen processors has shaken things up. Suddenly, there’s a wider range of CPUs, different graphics cards aimed at different markets and more variety in the cases and storage options.
Sure, there are stripped-back systems with all the extras pared away to cram in a Ryzen 5 1600 CPU and a GeForce GTX 1060, but these are matched by well-balanced machines where a compromise has been made on the GPU or the processor to add more storage or provide more scope for future upgrades.
System builders have also grown more inventive in their approach. For instance, while Chillblast’s decision to opt for a Core i3-8100 doesn’t quite pay off in terms of 2D benchmarks performance, it still results in a cracking mid-range gaming system with a clear path for future upgrades. This year’s Core i3/GTX 1060 system could become a Core i5 system with a next-generation Vega or Volta GPU in two years’ time (providing Intel doesn’t wipe out Socket 1151 in a bizarre fit of self-sabotage).
The changes reflect the way the application landscape’s developing. While multithreaded performance has been growing in importance, many applications still ran better with faster cores than with more cores, which is why the old dual-core/ four-thread Core i3 processors still worked well. Now mainstream apps – and particularly games – are doing more with multiple cores and making them work harder, meaning there’s a real benefit to having a four-core/eight-thread CPU or even a six-core/ 12-thread processor.
And while Intel’s move up from the two- and four-core Kaby Lake processors to the four- and six-core Coffee Lake processors is probably more motivated by AMD’s success than a demand for more multi-core power, it’s going to benefit buyers now and in the long term. It’s all making the desktop PC space so much more interesting again, in a way that it hasn’t been since AMD introduced the Athlon back in 1999. That’s good news for PC manufacturers, for you and for all us PC reviewers, too.
“It’s all making the desktop PC space more interesting again, in a way that it hasn’t been since AMD introduced the Athlon back in 1999”