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Differences between AMD and Intel CPUs
PC users, at least on the desktop side, still have just the "Big Two" when it comes to choosing a CPU. Intel remains the dominant player in the overall CPU market, but AMD has been having one of its best runs lately. Intel's struggles with unstable CPUs, disappointing generational gains, turbulent corporate reshuffles, and dented consumer sentiment have further contributed to AMD's success. With the Arrow Lake and Zen 5 launches behind us, it's a good time to revisit the differences between AMD and Intel CPUs in terms of the architecture, performance, pricing, and other crucial factors.
Core layout
Hybrid cores vs. a traditional approach
Prior to Arrow Lake (and Meteor Lake in the laptop space), Intel mostly stuck to a monolithic die architecture, stacking the cores, cache, and all other components on the same piece of silicon. With Arrow Lake, Intel's die architecture now resembles that of AMD, employing a chiplet-based design that separates the compute tile, SoC tile, IO tile, and GPU tile of the processor. Despite that, there are some fundamental differences between the core layout of modern Intel and AMD processors.
With Alder Lake (12th Gen), Intel switched to a hybrid core configuration, using performance cores and efficiency cores, compared to AMD's more traditional cores. These "P-cores" and "E-cores" fulfill different requirements, with the former being used for demanding tasks, and the latter being dedicated to less intensive and background tasks. This hybrid architecture worked well for Intel, and continues to exist on the latest Arrow Lake chips.
AMD's Zen 5 architecture, on the other hand, uses full-fat cores for the consumer chips you're familiar with. Team Red also has its low-power, high-efficiency Zen 5c cores, which it employs in its mobile and server SKUs. Currently, AMD uses TSMC's 4nm and 3nm process nodes for Zen 5 chips, while Intel uses TSMC's N3B (3nm) node.
Integrated graphics and APUs
Different strokes for different folks
Integrated graphics have been a staple on all Intel CPUs (except the "F" SKUs, of course), whereas they're not as universal on the AMD side. AMD only started including Radeon integrated graphics on its regular processors with the Ryzen 7000 series. The company's APUs, however, have no answer from the Intel camp. Chips like the Ryzen 5 8600G and Ryzen 7 8700G have much stronger graphics compared to whatever you'll find on a modern Intel CPU.
Unlike most onboard graphics, these integrated GPUs can be a solid replacement for entry-level or budget GPUs, especially for those looking for an affordable or stop-gap system. Intel doesn't offer an equivalent to budget builders, but what it does offer are entry-level, 4-core processors like the Core i3-14100, even in 2025, unlike AMD. These cheap SKUs are excellent for users who just need a CPU for a no-frills system.
Thermal efficiency
Keeping things nice and cool
AMD has been leading the performance-per-watt charts for quite a while now. With the latest Ryzen 9000 processors, the company has made its chips even more efficient. Intel's high-end Raptor Lake CPUs were infamous for their power consumption, being notoriously difficult to cool even with high-end liquid coolers. With Arrow Lake, Intel managed to improve thermal efficiency, but there's still a long way to go.
AMD has refined the Zen 5 architecture and delivered strong efficiency gains this generation. The performance uplift over Zen 4 might have been non-existent, but no one can blame these new chips for being power-hungry. Intel's Arrow Lake CPUs, on the other hand, are often slower than the Raptor Lake CPUs in addition to still drawing a lot more power than comparable Ryzen chips.
Platform longevity
Long-lasting sockets vs. new ones every generation
AMD more or less pioneered the concept of true platform longevity with the launch of its AM4 socket back in 2017. Before that, every CPU socket from AMD or Intel lasted for two CPU generations at most (often less). AMD's AM4 socket saw new CPUs released as recently as last year (and even a Ryzen 5 5500X3D this year for select markets). AMD came through on its promise of supporting AM4 for multiple CPU generations — four, to be precise — and continues the trend with the current AM5 socket.
Intel hasn't been a proponent of long-lasting sockets, although we did see a rare exception in the form of the 12th, 13th, and 14th Gen CPUs being supported on the same socket. The 14th Gen CPUs were just a refresh, so don't read too much into this. Platform longevity is just one of many things Intel needs to improve if it wants to mount a comeback in the desktop CPU market. It's not only cost-efficient for the consumer, but also one of the ways to gain back the trust the company has recently lost.
Platform stability
More relevant than ever
While both AMD and Intel have dealt with bugs, crashes, and manufacturing missteps in the past, what came to light with Intel's high-end Raptor Lake CPUs was unprecedented. An underlying "Vmin shift" instability in the 13th and 14th Gen processors was responsible for higher voltage being supplied to the silicon, leading to freezes, crashes, and overall system instability.
Intel released microcode updates to remedy the issue, but faced tons of flak for its delayed response, and even faced a class action lawsuit alleging that the company knew about the issues but continued to sell the processors anyway. Later, the Arrow Lake CPUs encountered instability problems at launch, compounding Intel's woes, and further denting consumer sentiment. Users with some Ryzen 7000 and Ryzen 9000 CPUs have also faced incidents of CPU failure, but this was mostly traced back to motherboard manufacturers pushing the chips too far.
Consumer sentiment has turned against Intel, with people not trusting Intel's claims that all issues have been fixed. This is understandable, and Intel needs to do more to assure customers that its CPUs are now free from all instability issues.
Performance
A mixed bag, but it's mostly AMD
Fortunately, for Intel, the performance benchmarks aren't leaning completely toward AMD. While it's true that AMD's Ryzen X3D CPUs and even the regular SKUs are the clear leaders in gaming performance right now, Intel manages to edge past in certain productivity workloads. The flagship Core Ultra 9 285K scores higher than AMD's Ryzen 9 9950X in many single-core and multi-core benchmarks, but many workloads are faster on the AMD flagship. You'll need to choose between them based on the applications you use the most.
AMD's 6-core and 8-core easily beat many pricier Arrow Lake CPUs in gaming performance, and as of now, Intel has nothing to offer against AMD's X3D CPUs. One thing Team Blue leads in is the maximum memory speed — its Integrated Memory Controller (IMC) is better at sustaining higher frequencies. So, if your workloads benefit from faster RAM, you can consider picking a Core Ultra or Core 14th Gen CPU over a Ryzen chip.
Value for money
AMD has been ahead for some time now
In terms of pricing, AMD has consistently offered more affordable CPUs across segments. While AMD's prices have deviated from this trend sometimes, they've generally offered more value to the consumer. And, combined with better thermal efficiency, platform longevity, and stability, AMD easily leads in the value department. If you compare the latest generation of CPUs from both companies, you'll see that AMD continues to offer more performance per dollar.
Both gaming and productivity users will find the Ryzen chips more exciting in terms of affordability. Talking about gaming, the Ryzen 7000 CPUs are better than the Ryzen 9000 offerings due to similar performance at lower prices. So, AMD users have even more options to consider. For productivity users, chips like the Core i9-14900K might be better than, say, the Core Ultra 9 285K due to significantly lower price, and not a great reduction in performance.
AMD and Intel do things differently
Both AMD and Intel are pushing computing to new heights, but their processors differ a lot in their approaches. In the current crop, AMD's chips offer better performance per dollar, more value for money, better thermal efficiency, superior stability, and longer-lasting sockets. Intel is working on making a comeback, but its high-end CPUs are still faster in some productivity workloads, and its platform supports higher memory speeds compared to AMD.