Price is a significant consideration when it comes to picking a CPU for your next computer upgrade. The two most popular CPU manufacturers are AMD and Intel, so let’s take a look at which one is right for you.
On the lowest end of the price scale, AMD chips cost about $40 to $60 as compared to the $250 of the lowest Intel cards.
At the peak of the scale both offer powerful chips. For AMD, Ryzen 3900X is king, with 12 cores, 24-threads, and a price tag around $500.
Intel’s current top processor, the i9 9900K, includes eight cores and 16 threads, but runs a little faster, with a 5GHz single-core increase, compared to the 3900X’s 4.6GHz. It’s priced a little less too.
For more middle-ground possibilities, our recommended Intel processors comprise the Core i5-9400F for $160 and the Core i7-9700K for $380. On the AMD front, the 3700X is a wonderful alternative, with eight-cores and 16-threads, and a significant boost to instructions per clock of its own 2700X predecessor, all for $330. It is a killer chip which gives Intel a run for its money in gambling and dominates it in workloads.
