I used to use nothing but Intel every time I built a new gaming PC. My last build in early 2021, I went with AMD 6900, and I've been real happy with it. I had been planning on going back to Intel for my next build, but this has spooked the shit out of me.
The worst part is Intel has known about this issue since at least 2023 and did not take ownership of the issue. They did not proactively recall defective chips, they just sold them and hoped people would not return the defective product.
It took teams of individuals cataloguing error rates to confirm this issue exists and for media like Level 1 Techs and Gamer’s Nexus to confirm and get the word out.
It is a complete damnation of Intel that the ‘solution’ was to brush this massive issue under the rug and fuck over customers.
Graybeards know Intel has always been this shitty. There was a time when Intel and AMD used the same socket type, the legendary 386 and 486 generations were amazing. Intel needed a way to stand out from AMD and Cyrex, a long forgotten big chip maker that died when Intel walked away from the x86 naming convention and used their own socket type to make the Pentium. But that's a story for someone else to tell at another time.
Intel started from betrayal and grew out of spite. When it flourished it would use its influence on governments to avoid including bids on non-Intel computers. The Wiki article for Intel has a section for legal issues AND a separate section for product issues, a distinction needed for very few other companies. Intel has always been underhanded and evil - they just also happened to design fantastic CPU architecture for a while.
True, but don’t forget the K6-2 and how they screwed up the paths so when it heated up it’d short itself out. Coupled with the lack of a thermal regulator and you could turn an AMD into a pile of silicon.
I think you're thinking of the Socket A Athlon/Duron/Sempron. A lot of coolers used shitty mounting designs so it was possible to get it off alignment or over-pressure it and crack the die, and no heatspreader + poor thermal controls allowed for a meltdown if the mountng was bad.
The K6-2 was pretty solid aside from not quite holding performance crowns.
I find it intriguing that despite Intel hitting its numbers and getting great press for the past few months, the stock has been on a sharp decline. It's as if some knew the bad news was about to hit soon.
As large companies yend to do, always thinking, hoping, that people won't find out. But people in the end always do. There are always these nerds (compliment) who won't give up, go to the last bit to find out what's happening and they'll always find it. Why be so stupid?
I honestly don't understand why you'd go back to Intel these days. Performance is only comparable if Intel chips guzzle like twice the wattage, and they'll make sure you have to also change your mobo by conveniently switching sockets every two years. What's the upside of going Intel?
I mean, high tech manufacturers have products with issues. Even recently AMD chips were frying due to bad motherboard firmware this generation.
What matters is how well the company responds to the issue, how fast and easy their recall of the defective parts is, and
Sorry, I've just been told Intel isn't doing a recall and has told everyone to just talk to the support chatbots, which will totally not reject your RMA request this time they swear.
Pretty much the same here. Switched to AMD after Heartbleed/Spectre. Was torn between AMD or giving Intel another shot in my next build, up until a few weeks ago when this news broke. It's going to take alot for me to consider Intel again.