Comment Re:PBO works? (Score 1) 115
Unless you are gaming at a low resolution like 1080p, or have an extreme refresh-rate monitor (120hz or higher), the fps differences are irrelevant. And even if you do, if you game at any decent resolution (1280p maybe, but mostly 1440p or higher), the game will be gpu-bound and the differences will not really be noticable.
I look at it this way... why spend an extra few hundred dollars on an Intel chip when you could instead spend that extra dough on a better GPU or more memory and still get a CPU that's just as fast? Intel just isn't price competitive against AMD any more these days. So unless you are on an unlimited budget, AMD is the better choice.
In anycase, PBO isn't going to do much better than stock settings. It really comes down to how much power you are willing to burn to get performance, cooling, and memory, and that's it. So you really need to line-up the balls to lift-off from stock settings. i.e. you need to use DDR 3800 (3733) (i.e. max out the IF in 1:1 mode) and a good liquid or tower cooler, along with good case cooling for the VRMs, to see a performance uplift vs stock.
The same is true for a modern Intel CPU these days as well. Though it is modestly easier to O.C. an Intel chip the power consumption goes into insane-land a whole lot quicker. It often comes down to just how much power (and thus heat), and noise you are willing to tolerate to get the O.C. you want. For many people it just isn't worth the heat and noise.
-Matt