Does Intel vs. AMD matter for running python?

Question

I do a lot of coding in Python (Anaconda install v. 3.6). I don't compile anything, I just run machine learning models (mainly sci-kit and tensor flow) Are there any issues with running these on an workstation with AMD chipset? I've only used Intel before and want to make sure I don't buy wrong.

If it matters it is the AMD Ryzen 7-1700 processor.

Solution

Are you asking about compatibility or performance?

1. Both AMD and Intel market CPU products compatible with x86(_64) architecture and are functionally compatible with all software written for it. That is, they will run it with high probability (there always may be issues when changing hardware, even while staying with the same vendor, as there are too many variables to account).

2. Both Intel and AMD offer a huge number of products with widely varying level of marketed performance. Performance of any application is determined not only by a chosen vendor of a central processor, but by a huge number of other factors, such as amount and speed of memory, disk, and not the least the architecture of the application itself. In the end, it is only real-world measurements that decide, but some estimations can be made by looking at relevant benchmarks and understanding underlying principles of computer performance.

Comments

[Oleg Sklyar]

No, it does not.

[Peter Cordes]

If performance matters, look for benchmarks for the libraries you're interested in. Your workload may benefit from AVX512 if you get an Skylake-AVX512 CPU (like i9, or a Skylake Xeon). But you can get more cores for the same price from AMD, and that might be more important or not, depending on exactly what you're doing.

[user1563247]

Sorry for the lack of specificity. My concern was that several articles from circa 2012 suggest underperformance when using non-Intel chips due to math libraries that were optimized for Intel chipsets. This now appears to be a non-issue, if it ever really was.