Hi my name is Alex I’m a computer engineering student at TEC in Costa Rica
I want to build myself a new system for gaming, programming and some twitch, and youtube streaming.
A month ago I was sure that my best option at the time was a AMD R7 1700 overclocked and a NVidia GTX1060, but now with the unveil of the Intel CoffeLake lineup I’m not quite sure if it is still my best option.
I have done some research online about this processors and it looks like the 8700k is better in gaming, but that is no my only purpose with this build.
Ryzen has had time to mature its platform and improve stability but CoffeeLake hasn’t is this a point to consider ?
Since the R7 1700 and the 8700 have similar pricing what would you think is my best option, and Why?
P.S. If posible could you name the pros and cons of each processor
P.S.2 I’m Planing to but this computer in a approximately a moth.
intel.
Ryzen is still kind of a buggy mess.
If the r7 1700 and i7 8700 are actually a simlar price in your region the 8700 is the better buy, but make sure you consider the complete system cost, not just the chip, as the mobo’s are different ect.
The intel system is much more mature, as its not a big change in design in any step since the 2xxx series, is the bigger market share than AMD, so has better application support, and coffee lake adding 2 cores didn’t shake things up. So its been very plug and play. It also does simlarly in all core performance, while being better in single core. However most places its currently harder to find stock, and more expensive than Ryzen.
Ryzen on the other hand is a 1st generation on a new platform, its fussy about many things (especially memory), still getting bugs fixed and typically expected features added. Also while all the chips are also unlocked, and all motherboards allow overclocking (you don’t need the X), overclocking results have been much poorer than people had hoped, certainly nothing like the old FX line it replaces. That said, most regions its cheaper (especially considering the included wrath spire cooler is decent), while giving similar all thread performance and having a platform (both AM4 and chipsets) that will be supported for 4 years (vs intel carrying a socket and backwards compatibility only 2 years).
Both are the same in PCIe connectivity ect, so while in your case I would advise opting for Intel 8700 (and a cheap 120mm tower cooler if ti fits in the budget, although that can be added later) they are both perfectly adequate and sensible choices, so you’d be fine on either as long as you stick to common hardware combinations and settings.