I’ve been buying AMD since the K6-2, because AMD almost always had the better price/performance ratio (as opposed to outright top performance) and, almost as importantly, because I liked supporting the underdog.
That means it was folks like me who helped keep AMD in business long enough to catch up with and then pass Intel. You’re welcome.
It also means I recently bought my first Intel product in decades, an Arc GPU. Weird that it’s the underdog now, LOL.
I’ve got an FX 8350, sure AMD fell behind during that time but it was by no means a bad CPU imo. Main PC’s got a 7800X3D now but my FX system is still working just fine to this day, especially since upgrading to an SSD and 16GB RAM some years ago. It can technically even run Cyberpunk 2077 with console like frame rates on high settings.
But a Phenom II X6 outperformed it sometimes, single thread and multithreaded. That’s crazy given Pildriver’s two generation jump and huge process/transistor count advantage. Power consumption was awful in any form factor.
Look. I am an AMD simp. I will praise my 7800X3D all day. But there were a whole bunch of internet apologist for Bulldozer back then, so I don’t want to mince words:
It was bad.
Objectively bad, a few software niches aside. Between cheaper Phenoms and the reasonably priced 2500K/4670K, it made zero financial sense 99% of the time.
I’ve been buying since the the Phenom II days with the X3 720. One could easily unlock their 4th core for an easy performance boost. Most of the time it’d work without a hassle.
I’ve been buying AMD since the K6-2, because AMD almost always had the better price/performance ratio (as opposed to outright top performance) and, almost as importantly, because I liked supporting the underdog.
That means it was folks like me who helped keep AMD in business long enough to catch up with and then pass Intel. You’re welcome.
It also means I recently bought my first Intel product in decades, an Arc GPU. Weird that it’s the underdog now, LOL.
Except anything Bulldozer-derived, heh. Those were more expensive and less performant than the Phenom II CPUs and Llano APUs.
To be fair, I upgraded my main desktop directly from a Phenom II X4 840(?) to a Ryzen 1700x without owning any Bulldozer stuff in between.
(I did later buy a couple of used Opteron 6272s, but that’s different for multiple reasons.)
I’ve got an FX 8350, sure AMD fell behind during that time but it was by no means a bad CPU imo. Main PC’s got a 7800X3D now but my FX system is still working just fine to this day, especially since upgrading to an SSD and 16GB RAM some years ago. It can technically even run Cyberpunk 2077 with console like frame rates on high settings.
I mean… It functioned as a CPU.
But a Phenom II X6 outperformed it sometimes, single thread and multithreaded. That’s crazy given Pildriver’s two generation jump and huge process/transistor count advantage. Power consumption was awful in any form factor.
Look. I am an AMD simp. I will praise my 7800X3D all day. But there were a whole bunch of internet apologist for Bulldozer back then, so I don’t want to mince words:
It was bad.
Objectively bad, a few software niches aside. Between cheaper Phenoms and the reasonably priced 2500K/4670K, it made zero financial sense 99% of the time.
Bulldozer was AMD’s Pentium 4.
Even down to the questionable marketing.
I’ve been buying since the the Phenom II days with the X3 720. One could easily unlock their 4th core for an easy performance boost. Most of the time it’d work without a hassle.
Wish I knew about that trick back then! I shelled out for an X4…
My first AMD was a 386-40. Had several of their CPUs since. But there were a few years there that it was real tough to pick AMD.
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Love my 3DNow! K6-2, also my starter.
Oh man, I’d forgotten all about 3dnow!
I decide every upgrade which one to go with. Try not to stay dedicated to one.
Basically - Buy Intel cause it’s the best last I checked… Oh, that was two years ago, now AMD should have been the right one.
Next upgrade, won’t make that mistake - buy AMD. Shit… AMD is garbage this gen, shoulda gotten Intel. Ok, I’ll know better next upgrade.
Repeat forever.
TBF, AMD has been pretty rock-solid for CPUs for the last 5-6 years. Intel… not so much.
My last two computers have been AMD, the last time I built an Intel system was ~2016