The Intel Problem: CPU Efficiency & Power Consumption

[Evilsizer]

at the end of the day for me, if i was worried about power usage while gaming. then i would be a cpu focused around that, if i want all out performance the power should not matter. just like fuel prices are all over the place in the world so is the cost of electricity. its a fact of life we can not avoid.

i still wish intel had just a pure performance cpu to sell, i mean no E cores in it or a 16 core with the E cores cut.

 

[Kenrou]

Rejoice, with AMD you can have the best of both worlds

 

[Voodoo Rufus]

I feel like efficiency doesn't matter very much. An 8 hour a day load, 365 days a year would add up, but that's a full time job plus extra. For a casual gamer who fires up a couple times a week, the power cost is irrelevant compared to the investment in hardware. And since idle power levels are so low these days, it becomes a "who cares" thing. The only time my main rig turns off is if I'm out of town on weekends. Otherwise it just sits idling along pointlessly.

Now, if you're running DC or crypto projects, then electricity becomes a huge factor in high power cost states.

 

[Woomack]

The reason why I have 7800X3D in my 24/7 gaming PC is because it's 80W under full load, while the comparable 13700K/14700K is 200W (with spikes up to 253W) in the same workloads. How can someone even try to defend Intel's efficiency?

Other reasons why I would pick AMD:
- It's much easier to keep AMD cool and running at optimal performance without throttling (in any PC size).
- It's much easier/cheaper to build an SFF PC. Coolers can be small ... like Noctua NH-L9a size small for 6-8 cores, without throttling. RAM doesn't matter much above 6000, so can save on that too.
- It's easier to make a silent or at least quiet PC that won't overheat or throttle (regular large ATX size PC). 14700K goes up to 100°C at stock with 280/360 AIO. If you pick Intel then you already decided on a large PC.
- AMD doesn't need multiple weak e-cores to match the multi-threading performance, that are still not fully supported by every software. For gaming, you literally pay for useless e-cores as who needs 12 or 16 efficient cores for daily home/office tasks, not even to mention games?

Power doesn't matter much for a casual gamer. However, when you add a gaming (count 200W+) graphics card, and you sit next to a running hot, 400W+ PC, then it's no fun. Especially in the summer it's annoying.

I write this having at home R5 7600, R7 7800X3D, R9 7950X, i9-12900K, i7-14700K and i9-14900K. I already know that once the new Intel gen is out then every Intel that I have now will go on sale as I have it only for reviews and tests. I just feel they're useless for me for anything else than tests.