- The author's Intel Core Ultra 9 285K CPU died twice, leading them to replace it with an AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D.
- The CPU failure occurred after a CUDA build attempt and a batch job, but the exact cause is unclear; heat was ruled out as the room was air-conditioned and CPU temperatures were within specifications.
- The author chose the 9950X3D for better performance in many benchmarks and the ability to control core preference (cache vs. frequency) under Linux 6.13.
- Performance benchmarks show the 9950X3D is slightly faster than the Intel 285K on Go compilation, rsync tests, and Linux kernel compilation.
- Power consumption with the AMD CPU is higher: 55W idle (vs. 46W for Intel), 80W idle with monitor (vs. 65W), and daily household energy usage increased from ~9-10 kWh to 10-11 kWh.
- The author has a long history with Intel CPUs but is now switching to AMD, while hoping for future competition and improved idle power usage from AMD or stability from Intel.