Finest CPU to Purchase in 2021 (Half I) -Know-how Information, Firstpost

Aniluda ResiddyAugust 12, 2021 2:46:12 PM

2020-21 was an interesting time for PCs. The surge in demand due to the pandemic, coupled with a serious shortage of parts, The supply could not keep up with the demand.. Prices are omnipresent and parts are rarely in stock. As a result, AMD’s new Zen 3-based Ryzen 5000 chip has proven difficult.

Six months after the chip went on sale, things finally got better with CPUs and GPUs on the shelves. If, like me, you’ve been postponing an upgrade for a few years, now is a good time to see where the situation is and reconsider the long-postponed upgrade.

So … which CPU should I buy in 2021?

AMD vs. Intel: design

Before you jump in, it’s worth seeing how AMD and Intel worked on the CPU design. This will help you understand the tip’s strengths and weaknesses and inform you of your purchase decision.

If you want to jump straight to the data, go to Part II of the review here.

Think of the CPU as a factory where data (raw materials) are processed into finished products (called the core). A complex system for communication between (CompleX or CCX) and this mini-factory (AMD calls Infinity Fabric). Zen 3 also introduced a “chiplet” that allows each component (like CCX) to be manufactured individually.

Intel’s monolithic architecture means that the CPU is basically designed and manufactured as a single unit. It’s efficient and powerful because it runs on the same frequency, but it’s difficult to scale in design and expensive to manufacture. Defects in a single transistor can ruin the entire chip. Whether you buy a quad-core CPU from Intel or a 10-core CPU, the entire CPU acts as one unit for all purposes and purposes.

AMD’s decentralized approach, on the other hand, divides the CPU into two main components, CCX and IO. The CCX is a 6-core or 8-core unit that does the processing, and the IO-Die handles communication between the CPU and the rest of the components (RAM, memory, GPU, etc.). AMD’s Infinity Fabric handles the internal communication between CCX and IO dies.

Not only does this design allow AMD to mix and match these CCXs as needed, it also allows AMD to scale the design relatively easily and provide more cores at a relatively low cost. AMD builds 6 (1x 6-core CCX), 8 (1x 8-core CCX), 12 (2x 6-core CCX), 32 (4x 8-core CCX) CPUs on a relatively small scale by simply using CCX adds to the design. Design changes. Zen 3 is currently at the top with 16 cores, but keep in mind that previous designs hit 64 cores.

The disadvantage of this approach, of course, is that it is difficult to keep these separate modules in sync. Aside from toothy issues and developer support, this challenge is key to ensuring that AMD’s early Zen and Zen + architectures in 2017 and 2018 don’t really compete with Intel. Their greatest accomplishment was lowering and doubling the price for Intel. Number of CPU cores.

Support for Zen2, Zen3 and Intel

Zen 2 hit the market in 2019 and was a big upgrade with Chiplet 2.NS Much more efficient Gen Infinity Fabric, bigger cache (think RAM, but on the CPU), 7nm manufacturing process, and PCIe Gen 4 support (2nd generation) GPU.) And PCIe-based memory bandwidth) Double).

Chiplets are small chips that can be manufactured individually and integrated into a larger chip. This also has a high yield, which reduces the CPU manufacturing cost. The smaller the chip, the fewer sources of error.

Intel’s reaction was a mess because there was no better way to put it. Intel 10NS The GenCore architecture, called Comet Lake, was fast, outperforming Zen 2 at the top of the game, but only when it was incredibly hot and using enormous amounts of energy. The Intel Core i9 10900K tested in 2020 was rated with 125 W TDP (Thermal Design Power, an indicator of the heat that the CPU cooler has to dissipate). When pushed to the limit, it’s usually 300W.. My 240 mm liquid cooling circuit could barely control the temperature and ran at 90-95 ° C with a screeching fan … that was normal. I ran a 16-core 5950x on the same cooler and it was fine with minimal noise.

In addition, Comet Lake was based on a significantly modified 6 series without PCIe Gen 4 support.NS The generation microarchitecture and venerable 14nm manufacturing process debuted in 2015.

Comet Lake was the first Intel chip to come at a competitive price, but cost savings came with an expensive motherboard (for overclocking and faster RAM support) to run these chips. This was offset by the need for a cooling solution.

AMD is just behind Intel and Zen 2 has already proven to be very valuable.

And just a few months later, Zen 3 came out.

Zen 3: overview

This name suggests that Zen 3 is a new architecture. That may be true, but a deep dive into the Zen 3’s datasheet and design documentation shows that every component is a redesign of the Zen 2 that has been studied and redesigned. As a whole new architecture.

The biggest update here is for CCX, up to 8 cores per CCX from the previous 4-core design. Previous generation 6-core and 8-core CPUs used 2 × 3-core CCX and 2 × 4-core CCX, respectively. Each Zen3 CCX also gets up to 32 MB L3 cache (a very fast data buffer). This is the largest from the previous generation, 16MB.

Speaking of which, this is the full list of Zen 3 desktop CPUs currently available to consumers. These CPU variants are currently available to OEMs, but are not available in retail stores.

The base frequency is what you get with the base TDP and is scaled depending on the cooling solution. In my setup, these CPUs typically reach around 4.5 GHz on all cores at full load, and only the 5950x struggles to exceed the 4 GHz mark. This is understandable given the number of cores packed.

Another caveat is that Intel CPUs can easily exceed the 5 GHz mark under light single-thread load, such as in a game. I got the Intel 10700K and 10900K up to 5.1 GHz and 4.9 GHz all-core turbo, respectively, with minimal effort. .. That is above all the strength of Intel.

In fact, AMD claims that Zen 3 has an IPC improvement of 19% compared to Zen 2.

Neither of these CPUs has an integrated GPU.

11NS Gen Intel (Rocket Lake) vs. Zen 3

Intel’s reaction was … strange to say the least.

I had high expectations for Rocket Lake aka 11NS It’s a Gen Intel Core architecture, but got a hack job instead. It’s a hack job put together by some of the best engineers in the world, but it’s still a hack job.

Intel’s “2021” core architecture, Rocket Lake, is essentially a 10nm-based 2019 microarchitecture (designed for low-power laptops) that has been backported to the 14nm manufacturing process and GPU architecture from the 2020 CPU update . It was injected. Yes, it’s as confusing as it sounds.

But that’s not all. The 6-core CPU and 8-core CPU are basically the same chip, and the 6-core CPU has 2 cores disabled and quad-core 11 is used.NS In practice, Geni3 only has 10 partsNS We made some changes to the Gen Comet Lake parts.

You can’t expect it to work, scaled 40% off what was built for 10nm. The length of the processing path changes, latency increases, voltage and power consumption increase, and heat increases. As a result, it works as expected at very high temperatures, so that the flagship 11900K has to fail two cores. It outperforms Zen 3’s best games due to the significantly increased latency between cores and low performance.

In fact, the 8-core flagship is so bad that it loses against the previous generation’s 10-core 10900K on many workloads. Compared to the 12-core and 16-core Zen 3 chips, Intel’s flagship product is inferior.

I haven’t tested these 11NS We still have a Gen Core desktop CPU, so here’s a recap of what dozens of testers have reported online.

• When it comes to high-end desktop CPUs, Intel has lost a bit of its conspiracy. It’s expensive, has a small number of cores, and requires expensive cooling and motherboards, so it’s of little value here. The lower limit of the spectrum that the Core i5 part is made up of is still decent, but only if you already have an expensive motherboard or don’t want to overclock. Still overclockable Zen 2 CPU or 10NS Generation Intel CPUs are usually better suited.
• When it comes to gaming, only 11700K and 11900K can beat the corresponding Zen 3 chips (5800x, 5900x, 5950x), but they cost a lot of heat and electricity with a small difference.

If you are looking for a high-end desktop CPU in 2021, only Zen 3, also known as Ryzen 5000, is left.

Part II explains the pace of Zen 3 and takes a closer look at its performance.