[SOLVED] Best CPU on 2019 under 200$ budget

[vinayadahal]

Hi, Guys

I am thinking about buying Ryzen 5 3600. But it seems intel has also dropped the price of i5 9400F as well. Looking at the pricing and the benchmarks, intel seems better on some case and on some Ryzen seems better. I am confused on which to buy. My system for now has the following specs:

Mobo: MSI H110VD PRO
CPU: i5 6400
RAM: DDR4 2133 (2x8 GB)
GPU: Sapphire Dual-x R9 270
Power Supply: 650 W

I use my PC for gaming only (sort of). Can you guys please point me to the right direction? Also, please suggest a good enough motherboard along with the CPU suggestion. I have allocated budget of less than 270$ for the CPU mobo combo. And lastly, I will be upgrading to RX 5700XT for my GPU after my system upgrade.

Thanks in advance!

 

[WildCard999]

The 9400F is a better budget choice over the 3600 unless you can find a B450/X470 motherboard with updated BIOS. As long as you just gaming (no streaming or heavy CPU workloads) then then 9400F is a decent choice. Plus you can reuse your memory for the 9400F, for the AMD 3600 (or any Ryzen) they prefer faster memory so you'd have to sell your memory and buy a new kit.

The B365 boards support the 8th/9th gen right out of the box.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel - Core i5-9400F 2.9 GHz 6-Core Processor ($149.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock - B365M Pro4 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $229.88
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-07-12 07:43 EDT-0400

This also saves you enough in your budget to get a SSD if you don't already have one.
PCPartPicker Part List

Storage: HP - EX900 250 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($32.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $32.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-07-12 07:45 EDT-0400

The RX 5700XT would be a good upgrade but what is the exact model of your PSU?

Lastly, remember that when replacing the motherboard you'll want to do a clean install of Windows as well as the drivers so they don't interfere with the previous motherboard drivers and cause performance issues.

 

[xravenxdota]

The 9400F are on par with the ryzen 5 2600 the 3600 are a wee bit faster

 

[vinayadahal]

The 9400F is a better budget choice over the 3600 unless you can find a B450/X470 motherboard with updated BIOS. As long as you just gaming (no streaming or heavy CPU workloads) then then 9400F is a decent choice. Plus you can reuse your memory for the 9400F, for the AMD 3600 (or any Ryzen) they prefer faster memory so you'd have to sell your memory and buy a new kit.

The B365 boards support the 8th/9th gen right out of the box.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel - Core i5-9400F 2.9 GHz 6-Core Processor ($149.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock - B365M Pro4 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $229.88
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-07-12 07:43 EDT-0400

This also saves you enough in your budget to get a SSD if you don't already have one.
PCPartPicker Part List

Storage: HP - EX900 250 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($32.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $32.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-07-12 07:45 EDT-0400

The RX 5700XT would be a good upgrade but what is the exact model of your PSU?

Lastly, remember that when replacing the motherboard you'll want to do a clean install of Windows as well as the drivers so they don't interfere with the previous motherboard drivers and cause performance issues.

Thanks, WildCard999 for the suggestion parts and about reinstalling windows. I am well aware of the fact about reinstalling the windows as things start to get a lot nasty due to the driver issues. And thanks a lot again for pointing me to an SSD. I don't own one yet but I was planning to get one soon.

Actually, I am from Nepal and it is pretty hard finding decent PC parts for cheap. So, I bought a Chinese PSU from a company called "goldkist". I own this 650W PSU since August of 2014. I have used this PSU on with 1st gen core i3 550 with an Intel DH55PJ Mobo too. The GPU was the same. Later, I upgraded to 6th gen i5 and has given me no issues so far. Its specs are as follows:

+3.3v -> 28A
+5v -> 30A
Max 180W

+12v1 -> 19A (Max 228W)
+12v2 -> 19A (Max 228W)

-12v -> 0.5A (Max 6W)
+5VSB -> 3.5A (Max 17.5W)

Not sure if this guy is up for an RX 5700 XT as that card has TDP of 225W. As for buying the parts you have mentioned, I have a few friends who will get me those from the US so that shouldn't a problem. Let me know if I will be needing a new PSU too.

 

[rigg42]

Many of the MSI AM4 boards have bios flashback which allows ryzen 3000 compatibility without needing an older CPU to upgrade the Bios.

 

[WildCard999]

I'd replace the PSU since you have someone in the US that can get it for you, should go Seasonic Focus Gold 650W with that RX 5700XT.

There's been some BIOS issues which have caused BSODs with the 3600 & the B450/X470 boards so even if that was something you wanted I'd wait for the updates to be more stable before doing so.