Yeah. I still build AMD because they're the underdog (and I'm familiar with it, and I run integer heavy multithreaded apps, which is it's best use condition).
By some chance I have managed to find myself with an AMD Athlon 760k system with 32 GB Ram, and SSD, and a R9-290x GPU. It's pretty much fastest, top-of-the-line components (144 Hz monitor, too!), with a budget AMD chip. This is a 32 nm chip, with 2x2 MB of L2 cache (there's no L3 on the Athlon line these days). But coupled with a fast GPU and crazy amounts of RAM. The CPU is watercooled, too, with a double-sized radiator and 2 120mm fans. And just to be stupid, I picked up a killer bigfoot NIC as well.
I can't say I've noticed any real limitations on the CPU itself. I know it's hampered pretty badly, but I think I'm going to hang on to it as long as it's relevant and see what happens. I don't find myself being limited by that much. It plays Shadow of Mordor at highest detail settings (I bump it down a bit to get 100+ FPS).
It's sad to see them struggle, but Intel has superior technology right now, and everyone depends on technology to survive. I hope they can continue to stay relevant in the next couple of years until they get another home-run platform out of the door.
HSA is very interesting to me, but I don't know how important it will be to others. A few algorithms that I write can burn a lot of time being transferred to GPU and back. A gigantic FPGA is what I need, but I can't afford one of those.
By some chance I have managed to find myself with an AMD Athlon 760k system with 32 GB Ram, and SSD, and a R9-290x GPU. It's pretty much fastest, top-of-the-line components (144 Hz monitor, too!), with a budget AMD chip. This is a 32 nm chip, with 2x2 MB of L2 cache (there's no L3 on the Athlon line these days). But coupled with a fast GPU and crazy amounts of RAM. The CPU is watercooled, too, with a double-sized radiator and 2 120mm fans. And just to be stupid, I picked up a killer bigfoot NIC as well.
I can't say I've noticed any real limitations on the CPU itself. I know it's hampered pretty badly, but I think I'm going to hang on to it as long as it's relevant and see what happens. I don't find myself being limited by that much. It plays Shadow of Mordor at highest detail settings (I bump it down a bit to get 100+ FPS).
It's sad to see them struggle, but Intel has superior technology right now, and everyone depends on technology to survive. I hope they can continue to stay relevant in the next couple of years until they get another home-run platform out of the door.
HSA is very interesting to me, but I don't know how important it will be to others. A few algorithms that I write can burn a lot of time being transferred to GPU and back. A gigantic FPGA is what I need, but I can't afford one of those.