When comparing AMD FX-9590 Black Edition vs Intel i7-4790K, the Slant community recommends Intel i7-4790K for most people. In the question“What are the best CPUs for high-end desktop gaming?” Intel i7-4790K is ranked 1st while AMD FX-9590 Black Edition is ranked 4th. The most important reason people chose Intel i7-4790K is:
Being a quad-core CPU means that hyperthreading is available, more so than an i5 thanks to the higher clock speeds and available cache. This means that games that take advantage of hyperthreading will perform better than with a CPU that does not have many cores or is just at a lower clock speed and has less cache available. While the jump in performance is not much for games that can only utilize a single core of the CPU, it still is a jump of about 2-3 frames over an i5 of the same generation.
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Pros
Pro Easily overclocked
Being that this chip requires liquid cooling in order to not burn itself into oblivion it is quite easy to overclock the chip in order to get a better performance than the stock speeds. The chip is not locked, meaning it can be overclocked as high as one can get it to go without locking up.
Pro Good speed for the price
Coming in at under $250, this chip performs quite admirably when compared to Intel's offerings. While not quite as good as an i7 4770k, the price for this AMD chip is about $100 lower.
Pro Good performance and hyperthreading
Being a quad-core CPU means that hyperthreading is available, more so than an i5 thanks to the higher clock speeds and available cache. This means that games that take advantage of hyperthreading will perform better than with a CPU that does not have many cores or is just at a lower clock speed and has less cache available. While the jump in performance is not much for games that can only utilize a single core of the CPU, it still is a jump of about 2-3 frames over an i5 of the same generation.
Pro Easy to find cheap components
Being that this is a Haswell chip that uses the LGA 1150 socket, it is quite easy to find cheap motherboards and cheap RAM (DDR3) to use in those motherboards. This makes a good option as it is still a powerful chip comparable to even newer ones but allows for a wide selection of compatible parts. It also is a good choice for those that are already using a LGA 1150 compatible motherboard and would just like to upgrade from a less powerful CPU.
Cons
Con Will need a specific motherboard
This chip needs a motherboard that has a 220w rating, which means there will be few created making them difficult to find and slightly expensive.
Con Uses a lot of power
Due to how much power this chips need to perform there is only a small selection of compatible motherboards. This means that anyone with an older AMD compatible board will not be able to use this chip. It also means there will be less variety in good boards to purchase.
Using a lot of power also has the downside of a higher electric bill if using the PC a lot as well as more opportunity for the chip to wear itself out early (of which there have been quite a few reports of.
Being that this has a high rate of power consumption there is quite a lot of heat produced by this chip. It runs really hot. Running hot is such an issue that it is highly recommended to use this with liquid cooling, which adds to the overall price of using this chip.
Con Becoming increasingly more difficult to find
More and more stores are not carrying this chip as newer generation chips are seeing their prices drop. This means it can be difficult to obtain, though there are a few places that it can still be picked up easily.
Con Somewhat dated
Based on the fourth generation of Intel's core architecture (Haswell) there are newer chips out there two generations ahead (6th gen Skylake). While comparing one to the next there are only slight improvements in the newer generations, but improvements all the same for close to the same price.