Question Is the 3600X better than a 2700 for gaming? Discuss...

[greigm78]

As title, is the Ryzen 5 3600X a better gaming chip than the Ryzen 7 2700 (PCIe gen 4 aside)?

My friend wants a system built and I am advising he spend a little more on the newer CPU but he sees that my 2700 works perfectly well.

 

[InvalidError]

Most games won't use anywhere near that many threads and benefit a whole lot more from faster individual cores so the 3600/3600X are better in most cases. The 2700X only makes sense in heaviiy threaded scenarios.

 

[ohio_buckeye]

I would say that the 3600x is better. However, depending on his budget, he might be advised to go to a ryzen 5 2600 for around 120 dollars and use the money saved towards a better video card which will be more of a factor.

In fact, truth be told, a real value play if on a budget, might be to pick up a ryzen 5 1600 as those can be had for about 80 dollars. Particularly look for the 1600af as those are supposed to be essentially the same as a 2600 with a little lower clock speed and 1st generation memory controller. But pick one of those up and overclock a little perhaps and pair it up with a good video card and you've got a decent box.

However if you friend has a lower budget, then as I said, I'd go maybe with a 1600 or 2600 and use money saved towards a stronger video card as that will more immediately help games and fps.

 

[xrafael95x]

i will say get the 2600 and spent the extra money on a better GPU justl ike ohio says

 

[greigm78]

Budget no issue, he just thinks because I have one its the best option.
GPU he has settled on a 2070S anyway.

Due to 3rd gen Ryzen overclocking not really being a thing, surely the 3600X is a better option than the non X?

 

[sizzling]

What FPS is your friend aiming for or what Hz is his monitor? The 3600 can deliver more FPS but is your friend aiming for high FPS to work with a high Hz monitor? Will he be using a gpu that can take advantage of that extra cpu performance?

 

[greigm78]

31.5" 1080p 144Hz monitor. I think its an Acer Predator he has.
Games will be like MW, BF5, Borderlands 3 and Breakpoint.

 

[sizzling]

I would say the 3600 will help drive higher FPS to match with the 144Hz due to its higher IPC. Had it been a 60Hz monitor it really wouldn’t matter which cpu was used as both will do over 60 FPS.

 

[greigm78]

I have convinced him that for his needs, this will be a good build and save him some cash on the 2070S that he doesn't really need for 1080p.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600X 3.8 GHz 6-Core Processor (£191.19 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 50.5 CFM CPU Cooler (£67.90 @ More Computers)
Motherboard: MSI MPG X570 GAMING PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard (£144.99 @ CCL Computers)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory (£86.59 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Intel 660p Series 1.02 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive (£99.98 @ CCL Computers)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon RX 5700 XT 8 GB NITRO+ Video Card (£398.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Fractal Design Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case (£81.47 @ More Computers)
Power Supply: Corsair RM (2019) 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (£88.99 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £1160.10
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-01-29 15:37 GMT+0000

He's not interested in RGB or any fancy gubbins and I have 6 Coolermaster MF12 fans he can have from my old build.