Letters
CPUs for gaming
Now that Half Life Alyx has been
announced, I have finally convinced
myself that a VR set is necessary. This
will require a full PC upgrade in order
to support the minimum system
requirements. One aspect that’s
causing me some confusion is which
route to take for the CPU. Previous
system builds have been relatively
straightforward, as I just purchased
the fastest Intel CPU I could afford,
but now that
Ryzen has
stormed into
the market, the
decision is more
difficult. When
comparing a top
end Core i7 and
Ryzen 7, the Intel
product is
approximately
15fps better in
Far Cry 5.
However, all the
recent Custom PC recommendations
seem to point towards the purchase
of the AMD product line, which is
clearly superior in other tests. Can
you advise me on which route to
take? While I do the occasional bit of
video editing, my priority is gaming
and futureproofing as best as
possible for VR.
MARK GARDNER
Edward: While Intel does maintain a lead
in gaming, the 15fps figure for Far Cry 5
you refer to is when overclocked, and
obviously mileage can vary with
overclocking. At stock speeds, things are
much closer, which is why we err towards
AMD in many of our recommendations.
That said, if you are planning to overclock
andgamingis yourprioritythenIntelis
stillthebestchoice.The9700Kor
9600Kwouldbethego-tooptions.AMDlaptops
I’vegottosay,I fullyagreedwith
RichardSwinburne’scolumninthe
lastissueregardingAMD’sneedto
get7nmCPUsintolaptops.Nowmy
currentSonyCorei5 laptopis nearing
itstenthbirthday,I’vebeenputting
someseriousresearchintoits
replacement.NormallyI’dtrytoavoid
fallingintothetrapofwaitingforthe
nextgenerationofCPUtocomeout,
butforonce,it seemslikea smartidea
todoso.Intel’scurrentnodehasbeen
aroundforsolongit seemsfoolishto
investinit nowratherthanwaiting
fortheir10nmlaptoppartsenmasse.
Butequally,AMDwillonlybe
competitivewhentheystartselling
7nmZen2 parts.It appearstobea
caseofwhowillgetthemoutfirst
withmatchingcomponentsthat
peoplewanttobuy?Here,Intelis
clearlyinthelead,soforAMDto
makeinroadsintothelaptopmarket,
it has to get Zen 2 into laptops as soon
as possible. If not, people like me will
grudgingly buy Intel again even
though on paper, AMD CPUs may be
better for our needs.
ANDREW LEVICKEdward: Rumours are that CES 2020,
which will be happening the week this
issue becomes available, will see laptopPlease send us your feedback and correspondence to
[email protected]FEEDBACK
FEBIssue 199^6
on sale on Thursday, 6 FebruaryWhen’s the next issue out? manufacturers showing off lots of shiny
new AMD models. How many there
might be and whether they come to
market in a sensible time frame is all to be
determined, but it should be well worth
keeping an eye on your favourite tech
news sites that week.Big issues
I visited as usual the WH Smith store
at Edinburgh Bus Station on 7
November, expecting to find Issue
196 of the magazine, but instead
found Issue 197. Does this mean Issue
196 was abandoned? I no longer take
out subscriptions to any magazine, as
so many with whom I’ve had a
subscription have folded, and my
money was lost. Printing the date of
the next issue is I believe an excellent
idea. A synopsis of its possible
content would be useful too.
ANDREW SMITHEdward: Issue 196 wasn’t abandoned,
you just missed it, by one day! You
happened to turn up on the very day
Issue 197 was released, so Issue 196
would have been taken off shop shelves.
However, you can pickup back issues
online at custompc.raspberrypi.org/
issues. The exact date of each new issue
is printed on this very page.