I just recently purchased this chip and a new motherboard so I could switch away from my AMD FX8350. This isn't going to be an "I hate AMD" type of review, but I do think each chip has its own place in the market and which you should buy depends heavily on what you play and if you're willing to gamble on the future. I should also note that I used the FX8350 for a year, and I only switched out the motherboard and CPU and kept everything else the same, so I'm in a good position to really compare the difference between the two without a ton of extra variables. I haven't overclocked my new i5 yet as I'm giving the thermal paste some time to cure, so I'll be comparing this stock i5 @ 3.4GHz to my AMD FX8350 that was running @ 4.5GHz 24/7.
FIrst off, this chip is amazing, even at stock speeds. My game of choice right now (Guild Wars 2) runs much smoother than on my previous chip and it does so with higher graphics settings than I was running before. This chip is awesome at single-core performance, so on games that only use a few cores it's quite amazing how much of an improvement it makes. I'm also seeing quite an improvement in other MMO style games like WoW, where I'm not getting the same framerate drops that I was getting before when there are a lot of other people on screen.
In first person shooters, I'm seeing performance that is the same or better than I was seeing before on my overclocked FX8350. However, this is where they have been the closest so far. A lot of new FPS engines are taking better advantage of the 8 cores in the FX series chips, and that will only get better as companies get used to programming games for the new consoles (that just so happen to run 8 core AMD chips in them). However, this 4670k is still fast enough that it more than keeps up, and on a lot of games I was getting a much smoother feeling. Even if both chips stay at 60 FPS most of the time, the i5 doesn't drop frames nearly as much when you do a quick 180 degree turn like the FX8350 would. It feels much faster, even if it's not that much faster on paper when doing benchmarks.
I don't do a lot of video rendering so I can't really comment there, but navigating around Windows 7 64 bit feels just as fast as it ever did, and actually Alt-Tabbing out of a running video game is quite a bit faster than it was before. I haven't encountered anything yet where I've noticed a negative difference going from 8 cores down to only 4. My boot time is also a few seconds faster, but that could be my new motherboard more than the CPU.
So the big question: Should you buy this chip or go with the FX8350? If you haven't already guessed from my review so far, GET THIS CHIP. I don't hate AMD and I don't love Intel. Having compared the two chips, the Intel 4670k is simply better for gaming in today's market. If you do a lot of video rendering and other tasks that utilize all 8 cores, the FX8350 is an awesome chip, but if you're looking to build a gaming PC this is the chip to get. It's a bit more expensive, but for an FX8350 and a good motherboard you're looking a difference of maybe 20-40 dollars. Trust me, it's worth the difference.
This chip feels like what the developers had in mind when they created their games, and that's mostly why I switched. I no longer have to worry if the developers of a game that's coming out have optimized it for 8 cores. I know that this chip will eat it up, and will eat everything up for years to come. The FX8350 is a really powerful chip in desperate need of more developer buy-in. With the new consoles finally coming out, that developer buy-in may be just down the road. For now, though, this is the chip to get for playing games and I don't regret the money I just spent to switch things up (especially after I sell my old stuff on Craigslist).
My Setup:
Cooler Master HAF 932 Case
ASRock Z87 Extreme4 Motherboard
Intel i5 4670k
Corsair H50 CPU Cooler
Patriot Viper 3 1866 RAM (8GB)
EVGA GTX 680 GPU
Crucial m4 256GB SSD Boot Drive
Seasonic M12II 850W Power Supply
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| Customer Rating | (1171) | (48) | (1202) | (15144) | (325) | (236) |
| Price | $142.88 | $166.22 | $192.00 | $208.99 | $62.24 | $290.99 |
| Sold By | digitalcpu | Moofin | Maestro Holdings | Amazon.com | eshopkawa | Amazon.com |
| CPU Model | Core i5 | Core i5 | Intel Xeon | AMD Ryzen 7 | Core i5 | Intel Core i5 |
| CPU Model Manufacturer | Intel | Intel | Intel | AMD | Intel | Intel |
| CPU Socket | LGA 1150 | LGA 1150 | FCLGA1150 | Socket AM4 | LGA 1151 | LGA 1700 |
| CPU Speed | 3.2 GHz | 3.4 GHz | 3.4 GHz | 4.7 GHz | 3.1 GHz | 5.1 GHz |
| Device Type | Processors | Processors | Processors | — | Processors | — |
| Item Dimensions | 4.02 x 3.19 x 4.49 inches | 3.5 x 4.5 x 4.5 inches | 4.02 x 3.19 x 4.49 inches | 1.57 x 1.57 x 0.24 inches | 1.5 x 1.5 x 1.5 inches | 9.17 x 4.65 x 4.21 inches |
| Item Weight | 0.68 lbs | 1.32 lbs | 0.71 lbs | 2.80 ounces | 0.32 ounces | 2.40 ounces |
| Model Year | 2013 | 2013 | 2013 | — | 2013 | — |
| Processor Count | 4 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 4 | 1 |
| Wattage | 84 watts | 65.00 | 84 watts | 105 watts | 84 watts | 181 watts |
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