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The silicon wars intensify

If you're a fan of ever-faster computers and graphics then right now is a great time.

The major makers of CPUs and GPUs are duking it out with a succession of new generation product releases that truly make one's eyes water.

I have already mentioned the unbelievably huge 76 billion transistors that go to make up NVIDIA's new RTX4090 GPU but that's not the only new release hitting the newswires this month.

AMD have also announced the next generation of their Ryzen CPUs and they have wowed reviewers already.

In some benchmarks, the top-tier Ryzen Zen 4 CPUs are blowing away 12th gen Intel parts by delivering speeds as much as 40 percent higher.

That is a mind-numbing improvement in a very short space of time.

Intel are about to push back however, with their 13th-gen "Raptor Lake" lineup due for launch next month and big things are expected for these CPUs.

There's an interesting split taking place in terms of architecture when comparing AMD to Intel of late.

Intel have opted to split their CPU cores into two types... P(erformance) and (E)fficiency, whilst AMD is more a "balls to the wall" all-core performance design. There are obvious pros and cons to each direction.

Just as with GPUs, one thing is becoming very apparent with these next-gen parts...

It takes power to deliver power!

TDP (the amount of power consumed by these things) is up, right across the board.

AMD's claim to fame so far with the Ryzen series of CPUs has been its efficiency over the Intel products. Intel's current top-tier i9 12900K part is a real power-hungry beast compared to the previous generation AMD offering and that has won favour with those who enjoy hugging trees and saving the planet.

The latest Ryzen Zen 4 CPUs are also pretty greedy when it comes to the watts they consume but that's mainly because of the extra processing capabilities they deliver. AMD claim that their performance per watt has actually improved on the previous Zen 3 parts. Their top-tier Ryzen 9 7550X part will suck a massive 230W if it needs to.

Intel's 13th gen i9 13900K part is claiming a maximum TDP of 253 watts which is once again higher than AMD's equivalent but we have no real comparisons of performance yet since the Raptor Lake parts won't be released until next month (although Intel claim "up to 40% increase" over the 12th gen).

Unfortunately for AMD fans, upgrading to the Zen 4 architecture won't be cheap since it requires a new motherboard and DDR 5 RAM, both of which are still pretty pricey right now. Intel fanbois will have an easier time since 13th gen will fit into existing 12th gen motherboards and you still have the option of using DDR4 RAM.

Then there are the GPU wars...

NVIDIA has released its top-tier cards but is unlikely to announce or release anything else until the backlog of RTX3000 series lower-tier products have been cleared and even then, only once prices have stabilised after the glut of ex-mining hardware that is now starting to drive down the value of products.

AMD are due to launch their 7000 series GPUs in the very near future although they too may be hurt by all that ex-mining gear that will soon flood the second-hand markets like a tsunami.

Then of course there's the elephant in the room... Intel's ARC cards.

While not appearing very attractive to gamers, due to their comparatively lacklustre performance in a gaming role, these cards could well be very attractive to content creators who are seeking an impressive array of hardware-based codecs to dramatically speed up video editing.

Of course here in New Zealand and also in the UK we have an added problem to contend with. A very strong US dollar is pushing the price of all imports through the roof right now so perhaps the best we can hope for is that those prices for 3000 series GPUs on the new and second-hand markets just keep falling. You might also want to sit on the sidelines for a while and just watch the CPU wars play out until it becomes cost-effective to upgrade.

Then again, if China decides to invade Taiwan, CPUs and GPUs could both skyrocket in price so buying now might be a sage investment that could pay rich dividends.

Ah happy days!

Carpe Diem folks!

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