Question Best price/performance upgrade from the Ryzen 5 2600

[Jason H.]

Thinking about upgrading my CPU for gaming.

Would it even be worth upgrading with my current setup? If so which would be the best option for price/performance?

Was looking at the R7 but Im not sure which one, if any, would be a worthwhile upgrade strictly for gaming. Any input?

MOBO: MSI Tomahawk B450
CPU: Ryzen 5 2600
Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper T2
GPU: Gigabyte RTX 2060 Super OC 3x Windforce White (8pin only version)
MEMORY: HyperX RGB 2x8gb DDR4 3000mhz
Storage: Samsung 860 Evo 250gb / 500gb WD Blue / 1tb Samsung 860 Qvo
PSU: Corsair cx550m
WIN: Windows 10 Pro
Case Cooling: Antec Prizm 3x 120mm rgb case fans with controller and 2 RGB strips / 1 default 120mm case fan

 

[richiestang_78]

Depends. At 1080P gaming you'll definitely jump up in FPS over the 2600, at 1440P less and so on.

Now saying that, there will be little performance increase from a Ryzen 3600 to 3700 to 3800 for gaming. The main benefit of the extra cores will be had if you do streaming or other multi core/thread workloads, but strictly gaming you'll see little benefit currently.

 

[Jason H.]

Depends. At 1080P gaming you'll definitely jump up in FPS over the 2600, at 1440P less and so on.

Now saying that, there will be little performance increase from a Ryzen 3600 to 3700 to 3800 for gaming. The main benefit of the extra cores will be had if you do streaming or other multi core/thread workloads, but strictly gaming you'll see little benefit currently.

I am doing 1080p and have no plans of streaming and stuff. It would strictly be for better performance and fps which is why I ask if it will give better fps.

Of course upgrading the GPU will always give the best fps benefit but I just upgraded my GPU from the 1060 3gb to the 2060s. So now Im looking at cpu options as a couple games I play, like "Rust" have 0 improvement in fps after the gpu upgrade leading me to believe, other than the game just being terribly optimized, that the game is very CPU bound. But at the same time, the CPU never reaches over 50% while playing this game, so thats why I wanted to know if it would even be worth it to upgrade. 1 thing I found that helps in this game specifically is disabling multi-threading. It doesnt help in all areas of the game but it helps raise the AVG fps by like 10fps.

So the r7 would still give me a boost in fps/performance for most games? Which model makes the most sense to spend the money on for a decent boost?

Also would I need more PSU power?

 

[richiestang_78]

Yes all the Ryzen 3000 series CPUs have significantly stronger single core performance then 2000 and 1000 Ryzens. I think a 3600 or 3700X would be a good upgrade, just remember to update your BIOS with your 2600 still installed. Also if you plan on getting a larger GPU you might want to consider a better tier PSU (https://www.gamingscan.com/psu-hierarchy/ )

Here's a really good video with some numbers

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uS70S1Tnrjw

 

[Jason H.]

Yes all the Ryzen 3000 series CPUs have significantly stronger single core performance then 2000 and 1000 Ryzens. I think a 3600 or 3700X would be a good upgrade, just remember to update your BIOS with your 2600 still installed. Also if you plan on getting a larger GPU you might want to consider a better tier PSU (https://www.gamingscan.com/psu-hierarchy/ )

Here's a really good video with some numbers

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uS70S1Tnrjw

so a r7 3700 would be your option? would the r5 3600 be substantially better than the 2600? just curious as this would save me about 80-100 bucks over the 3700. Also If I got the 3600 r5 I wouldnt need to update my bios as my bios is good for all of the r5 series. But dont all the r5's have 6 cores?

And I wont be upgrading my gpu anytime soon I just got my 2060s around christmas lol.

 

[richiestang_78]

If you plan on just gaming the the 3600 most likely would be enough. However me personally I'd rather have the 3700.

If you didnt watch that video I suggest you do. It lays outwhat kind of performance bump you will get.

 

[mitch074]

so a r7 3700 would be your option? would the r5 3600 be substantially better than the 2600? just curious as this would save me about 80-100 bucks over the 3700. Also If I got the 3600 r5 I wouldnt need to update my bios as my bios is good for all of the r5 series. But dont all the r5's have 6 cores?

And I wont be upgrading my gpu anytime soon I just got my 2060s around christmas lol.

The 3600 would be a noticeable improvement over the 2600, but not worth the expense; the 3600X, same thing. The 3700X would be the starting point for a worthwhile upgrade, if only because it has 2 extra cores and some games are starting to make use of those.

 

[Rodrigodrt]

3700x just because the extra cores, mhz wise or sheer performance wise you won't be seeying anything fantastic for the buck, id wait for next gens, hell im still rocking with a 4770k and I don't even see a reason to swap for a chip 6 generations newer than it, maybe in 2021

 

[drea.drechsler]

The only compelling reason to upgrade would be to get more cores for running apps (like discord, streaming, etc) at the same time as you're gaming. In which case the best value buy would be 3700X, but otherwise wait for Ryzen 4000.

If you haven't yet you can pick up some easy / free performance by overclocking that 2600 seeing as you've got a good enough motherboard there.

 

[gggplaya]

I don't think any upgrade is meritted unless you simply have money burning a hole in your pocket. Most games will be bottlenecked by your video card. It's not worth the expense for a few fps.

 

[Zizo007]

Thinking about upgrading my CPU for gaming.

Would it even be worth upgrading with my current setup? If so which would be the best option for price/performance?

Was looking at the R7 but Im not sure which one, if any, would be a worthwhile upgrade strictly for gaming. Any input?

MOBO: MSI Tomahawk B450
CPU: Ryzen 5 2600
Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper T2
GPU: Gigabyte RTX 2060 Super OC 3x Windforce White (8pin only version)
MEMORY: HyperX RGB 2x8gb DDR4 3000mhz
Storage: Samsung 860 Evo 250gb / 500gb WD Blue / 1tb Samsung 860 Qvo
PSU: Corsair cx550m
WIN: Windows 10 Pro
Case Cooling: Antec Prizm 3x 120mm rgb case fans with controller and 2 RGB strips / 1 default 120mm case fan

If you are playing at 60Hz, you won't see any difference in FPS but if you are playing at 144+Hz, you will benefit from a CPU upgrade. Upgrade to a 3800X to make the upgrade worthwhile.

 

[Jason H.]

If you are playing at 60Hz, you won't see any difference in FPS but if you are playing at 144+Hz, you will benefit from a CPU upgrade. Upgrade to a 3800X to make the upgrade worthwhile.

Im playing, currently between 140-230fps on apex legends. 60fps is not enough for me as I play competatively.

 

[Jason H.]

The only compelling reason to upgrade would be to get more cores for running apps (like discord, streaming, etc) at the same time as you're gaming. In which case the best value buy would be 3700X, but otherwise wait for Ryzen 4000.

If you haven't yet you can pick up some easy / free performance by overclocking that 2600 seeing as you've got a good enough motherboard there.

Ive tried OCing my CPU but even at 1.45v, which is over the safe long term usage for the 2600, I cannot get it stable at even 4.0ghz, when my boost clock is 3.9ghz.

As of now Im using the gaming mode in my BIOS which keeps my CPU at its boost clock at all times. But I cant even get it stable anywhere past 3.9ghz.

 

[Olle P]

The 3600 would be a noticeable improvement over the 2600, but not worth the expense; the 3600X, same thing. The 3700X would be the starting point for a worthwhile upgrade, if only because it has 2 extra cores...

Im playing, currently between 140-230fps on apex legends. 60fps is not enough for me as I play competatively.

I can say that going from a Ryzen 5 1600 to 3600 meant about 30% added pure CPU power. Can't say I've noticed any real difference in gaming performance with my GTX 1060 (6GB), and I haven't measured the frame rate.

You should get a marginal improvement by going from 2nd gen to 3rd gen Ryzen, but will another 10-20 fps give you enough extra edge to make it worth while?
If I were in your situation I'd rather upgrade to faster low latency RAM for now (because your 3GHz is a bit on the slow side and RAM prices are expected to go up) and then wait for the 4th gen Ryzen before replacing the CPU.

 

[mdd1963]

3600 if on a budget, 3700 if you'd like the rig to perhaps last an extra year or two without worrying of suffering CCDS (core count deprivation syndrome)

 

[Jason H.]

I can say that going from a Ryzen 5 1600 to 3600 meant about 30% added pure CPU power. Can't say I've noticed any real difference in gaming performance with my GTX 1060 (6GB), and I haven't measured the frame rate.

You should get a marginal improvement by going from 2nd gen to 3rd gen Ryzen, but will another 10-20 fps give you enough extra edge to make it worth while?
If I were in your situation I'd rather upgrade to faster low latency RAM for now (because your 3GHz is a bit on the slow side and RAM prices are expected to go up) and then wait for the 4th gen Ryzen before replacing the CPU.

Im looking to upgrade to raise my 1% lows. And especially help in games like Rust. My CPU has terrible single core performance which is making cpu intensive games run from 60-90fps. So honestly, yes the 10-20 fps increase I would get would be AMAZING even if it only works for that 1 game. My monitor is 75hz so everytime it drops below 75hz it just looks terrible, plus the frametimes when dropping that low in FPS creates quite a bit of input lag which, in a game like rust, is no good.

And thats some good advice but faster ram wont resolve my issue. And I wont be able to afford gen 4 when it 1st drops so Id have to wait like a year. Im always 1 or 2 years behind the newest stuff because I cannot afford to always get the new stuff.

The 2600 is great but it doesnt have the single core performance Im coming to find that I kind of need/want. I play more competatively in games so I like max performance, usually lower settings in games like Apex Legends and stuff. So when you drop graphics low, games become more cpu bound which the 2600 is great, but just a bit behind what I would have liked.

 

[Olle P]

Im looking to upgrade to raise my 1% lows. And especially help in games like Rust. My CPU has terrible single core performance which is making cpu intensive games run from 60-90fps. So honestly, yes the 10-20 fps increase I would get would be AMAZING...

You previously stated around 200 fps (in Apex Legends), which is why I estimated another 10 fps on top of that. If you're only hitting 60 fps now the increase should be smaller, but that's assuming that the CPU isn't the real bottleneck.

I'm not sure that the single core performance has that much influence on the low end, though I have absolutely no experience with Rust specifically. In general, looking at various benchmarks, it seems like more logical cores (threads) is the way to raise the bottom end.
If the CPU is your bottleneck for Rust then yes, an upgrade to R5 3600 will help your performance significantly, and an R7 3700X would be even better (if you can afford it).
Out of curiosity I occasionally check how the CPU is used in the games I play. Although Afterburner can show numbers I think it's easier to watch the graphs provided by Windows' performance meter. I run the game windowed at below the monitor's native resolution and have the meter showing graphs for all logical cores in a window next to the game. Then I can just glance on the graphs while gaming to see how the CPU is utilized at any time. Many games use two threads in parallel and Windows let the load jump between different physical cores as any given task is completed.

 

[gggplaya]

Out of curiosity I occasionally check how the CPU is used in the games I play. Although Afterburner can show numbers I think it's easier to watch the graphs provided by Windows' performance meter. I run the game windowed at below the monitor's native resolution and have the meter showing graphs for all logical cores in a window next to the game. Then I can just glance on the graphs while gaming to see how the CPU is utilized at any time. Many games use two threads in parallel and Windows let the load jump between different physical cores as any given task is completed.

You should buy another monitor. That's what I do, so I can run discord, teamspeak and other stuff on the secondary monitor. You still have to run Full Screen window mode to allow ALT-TAB without dropping the game.

 

[Olle P]

You should buy another monitor. ... You still have to run Full Screen window mode to allow ALT-TAB without dropping the game.

I have no room for a second monitor.
With the game running windowed on a smaller portion of the screen, exposing the performance monitor next to it, there's no need to use Alt-Tab.

 

[gggplaya]

I have no room for a second monitor.
With the game running windowed on a smaller portion of the screen, exposing the performance monitor next to it, there's no need to use Alt-Tab.

There's no need to use alt-tab with a second monitor for the performance meter either. Only when you want to mess around with discord or chrome or whatever else you want to do on the monitor while gaming.

 

[Olle P]

Looking at UserBenchmark there's no difference in performance between R5 2600 and R5 3600 when playing Rust using an RTX 2060.
Notice that UserBenchmark isn't the most reliable place for exact values. In this case there's only one sample with R5 3600 and seven with R5 2600.

 

[ohio_buckeye]

I wouldn't upgrade now. You've got ryzen 4000 series potentially releasing late this year, so the 3000 may drop to low prices, or the 4000 series may be great performers. It's your money, but what I'm doing with my 1700x is overclocking to 3.8ghz to get the last bit of performance out of it until I eventually upgrade hopefully to a 4000 series cpu.

 

[Zoel.fahmi]

Thinking about upgrading my CPU for gaming.

Would it even be worth upgrading with my current setup? If so which would be the best option for price/performance?

Was looking at the R7 but Im not sure which one, if any, would be a worthwhile upgrade strictly for gaming. Any input?

MOBO: MSI Tomahawk B450
CPU: Ryzen 5 2600
Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper T2
GPU: Gigabyte RTX 2060 Super OC 3x Windforce White (8pin only version)
MEMORY: HyperX RGB 2x8gb DDR4 3000mhz
Storage: Samsung 860 Evo 250gb / 500gb WD Blue / 1tb Samsung 860 Qvo
PSU: Corsair cx550m
WIN: Windows 10 Pro
Case Cooling: Antec Prizm 3x 120mm rgb case fans with controller and 2 RGB strips / 1 default 120mm case fan

I'm not sure that's worth the money
Especially in 1080p gaming
But sure ryzen 3600 will add more fps

 

[dextexter]

I'd wait for ryzen 4000 series. And updating to 3600/3700 from 2600 it's just a waste of money. imho.