Intel or AMD cpu

[Jochi2023]

Hi.

All paradox games I play are starting to be unplayable for me due to old 7th gen i5.
A completely new build is needed I think.

As I understand the games are CPU heavy, but me being not the most tech savvy I'm unsure if AMD 7800x3d/7950x3d or Intels 14900kf is the better CPU for PDX games.

Any help is much appreciated.

 

[AndrewT]

Paradox have no official preference for one manufacturer over the other.

I'll move this to the main forum for a wider audience.

 

[SAS]

I don't have a personal preference. I currently have a higher end AMD and It works very well. I have previously had Intel chips but only went to AMD when Intel missed a generation release. I have found the AMD chips run at a higher temp.

 

[rubert]

General consesus seems that from the currently available CPUs 7800X3D is the best CPU for gaming. 7950X3D is, in theory, faster but since not all of the cores have the extra cache it requires extra hoops (eg. in Windows it requires chipset drivers, Windows Xbox game bar and game mode) to get workloads to the correct cores. That isn't the case with 7800X3D where all cores have the extra cache.

GamersNexus did a video about 6 months ago which included Stellaris benchmark, too. Linking it here at hopefully right time stamp. In case it is not, the benchmark results start at 8:17, Cyberpunk first, then Stellaris.

Based on th GN benchmark, i7-14700k is roughly fast as 7800X3D, and i5-13600k slightly behind. Both of them consume much more electricity and run hotter. Unlike with AMD's AM5 platform you are unlikely to be able to upgrade your CPU without replacing motherboard etc. as well in the future. AMD has announced that they plan to support the current AM5 platform to 2025 and "beyond". In the future you have almost certainly very easy method to upgrade CPU to whatever is available in 2025 or 2026.

7800X3D is my recommendation for a new build. If you also use computer for productivity tasks which benefit from th extra cores and have the budget then 7900X3D with 12 cores or 7950X3D with 16 cores are good choices, too. Just keep in mind the extra requirements for optimizing game performance.

 

[AndrewT]

What I should have added is that our recent games I:R, CK3 and Vic3 have trouble with the 12th, 13th and 14th Gen Intel CPUs, in combination with certain bioses such as ASUS. Details here:

Victoria 3 | 12th/13th/14th Generation Intel Processors

Hello all! An update, 12th and 13th Generation Intel Processors are related to a Crash to Desktop (CTD) happening frequently, this is related to architecture changes by Intel and specifically E-cores. We are working with Intel to address these...

forum.paradoxplaza.com

 

[rubert]

What I should have added is that our recent games I:R, CK3 and Vic3 have trouble with the 12th, 13th and 14th Gen Intel CPUs, in combination with certain bioses such as ASUS. Details here:

Victoria 3 | 12th/13th/14th Generation Intel Processors

Hello all! An update, 12th and 13th Generation Intel Processors are related to a Crash to Desktop (CTD) happening frequently, this is related to architecture changes by Intel and specifically E-cores. We are working with Intel to address these...

forum.paradoxplaza.com

Interesting, not the first time motherboard manufacturers think they know better than the CPU manufacturer and mess up voltages and cause instability or the other issues. Eg. last year there were some reports that 7000-series Ryzens were burning out because the motherboards supplied too much voltage to them.

edit: @Jochi2023 to OP, the off-topic forums have longer thread about PC hardware so you might want to take a look there, too: https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/threads/pc-hardware.1528621/