Intel processors are being criticized by esports players who have been forced to use them in tournaments, claiming inferior performance compared to AMD’s Ryzen 7 9800X3D chips. Players have noted issues like crashing and worse frame rates, with some claiming a performance drop of over 100 fps when using Intel CPUs.

Players have shared complaints about their experiences in tournaments, highlighting the contrast between the CPUs they own and the ones provided at events. Notably, Ropz, a professional Counter Strike 2 player, emphasized that the game runs optimally only on specific AMD hardware, asserting that not every tournament offers that option.

“I had to use a 285K for a CS2 tournament and couldn’t believe how slow it was.”

(Translation: Ropz expressed disbelief at the performance during the tournament.)

Many professional gamers often compromise on graphics settings for higher frame rates, thus revealing the CPU performance discrepancies more prominently. For instance, Peterbot, recognized as a top Fortnite player, reported surprises at the performance differences when using an Intel Core i7 13700K in competitive settings, which experienced crashes during critical gaming moments.

Streaming consultant @JJLiebig also added to the discourse, claiming that nearly 60% of Intel’s flagship CPUs used for tournament broadcasts crashed frequently.

Despite earlier claims of performance fixes and a microcode update that seemed to resolve many issues, these incidents raise questions about the reliability of Intel processors in high-stakes environments. While newer chips may have rectified some flaws, the damage has already been done, leaving players to wonder about future tournaments.