[SOLVED] Making my mind up on a CPU is tough at the minute!

[aaroncappa]

I'm stuck between the Intel Core i5-9600KF and AMD Ryzen 5 3600

Looking something that will last a good few years for the first person shooter type gamer.

 

[drea.drechsler]

I'm stuck between the Intel Core i5-9600KF and AMD Ryzen 5 3600

Looking something that will last a good few years for the first person shooter type gamer.

Do you mean the cpu itself last? or the whole system built around the CPU makes a good foundation for future upgrades so it will last?

As far as the CPU, that's hard to say any will last as no one knows what the future holds as both gaming demands on the CPU, as well as the things you can do while gaming that put greater demands on the CPU, can each limit useful life. We just don't know what may come, no one has a crystal ball, that's just one reason there's really no such thing as 'future proofing'.

It used to be the best way to get an easy upgrade path was going Ryzen, but with AMD shying away from upgrades on the same socket even that's a bit dicey just how far you'll be able to upgrade some AM4 systems now. But choose wisely, you could get at least one more generation of CPU in the same motherboard you put that 3600 on. That would mean getting an X570 board, or B550 if you can wait a while.

So in the right motherboard a 3600 processor will pair well all the way up to a 2080ti to play any current game very well even at 4K and 1) upgrade to CPU's with way more cores/threads (all the way up to 16core/32thread currently) to help with doing things alongside the gaming as you get the urge to do it and 2)allow you to upgrade to a Zen3 CPU and move into the next- gen Ryzen architecture. How far into the future that might get you is anybody's guess.

 

[sizzling]

I'm stuck between the Intel Core i5-9600KF and AMD Ryzen 5 3600

Looking something that will last a good few years for the first person shooter type gamer.

I wouldn’t even consider the i5. Although it can achieve slightly higher averages when paired with a high end gpu at 1080p it can also suffer lower lows in newer cpu heavy games. There are games already that really stress the i5’s 6 threads. Most AAA games can now use 8 threads and some can use 12. Intel know this and the next gen i5’s are going to be 6 core 12 thread like the 3600. We also saw how badly the old quad core/thread i5’s aged in the last few years and I feel we are going to see similar poor aging with the 6 core/thread versions.

 

[Zerk2012]

For FPS games if you have the money wait about 10 more days and get the i5 10600K. If your on more of a budget then the 3600 / 3600X would work and might let you get a bit better video card.

 

[Zerk2012]

I wouldn’t even consider the i5. Although it can achieve slightly higher averages when paired with a high end gpu at 1080p it can also suffer lower lows in newer cpu heavy games. There are games already that really stress the i5’s 6 threads. Most AAA games can now use 8 threads and some can use 12. Intel know this and the next gen i5’s are going to be 6 core 12 thread like the 3600. We also saw how badly the old quad core/thread i5’s aged in the last few years and I feel we are going to see similar poor aging with the 6 core/thread versions.

I disagree with the needing 8 cores, yes some games can use them but most of the time you look at the actual core usage and you will see mainly 2 to 4 cores used the most and the others being used at a low%.

 

[sizzling]

I disagree with the needing 8 cores, yes some games can use them but most of the time you look at the actual core usage and you will see mainly 2 to 4 cores used the most and the others being used at a low%.

There are several games that can push high usage on all 6 threads of the i5 which can result in lower 1.0 & 0.1% which arguably impact gaming more than small differences in averages. COD MW will happily sit at 50-60% across 12 out of 16 threads on my 3700x. Games are able to use more threads and the trend seems to be increasing, not that long ago using more than 8 was very rare but it’s more common in newer AAA’s. While you don’t need 8 or more threads it definitely looks a better long term buy. As I mentioned earlier the quad core i5’s aged badly in recent years going from really good to bare minimum in a relatively short time. My view is we are seeing hex core/thread lining up to go a similar way in the not to distant future.

 

[Zerk2012]

There are several games that can push high usage on all 6 threads of the i5 which can result in lower 1.0 & 0.1% which arguably impact gaming more than small differences in averages. COD MW will happily sit at 50-60% across 12 out of 16 threads on my 3700x. Games are able to use more threads and the trend seems to be increasing, not that long ago using more than 8 was very rare but it’s more common in newer AAA’s. While you don’t need 8 or more threads it definitely looks a better long term buy. As I mentioned earlier the quad core i5’s aged badly in recent years going from really good to bare minimum in a relatively short time. My view is we are seeing hex core/thread lining up to go a similar way in the not to distant future.

So pretty much just like I said. 6 cores with hyper threading still no problems.

 

[sizzling]

So pretty much just like I said. 6 cores with hyper threading still no problems.

Which is why I said I would take the 3600 over any current i5. Not sure what point you were trying to make then?

 

[aaroncappa]

Yea I am definitely leaning for the 3600. I'm scratching my head though with motherboard. B450 or x570?

 

[drea.drechsler]

Yea I am definitely leaning for the 3600. I'm scratching my head though with motherboard. B450 or x570?

Just a week ago B450 would have been the recommendation to be most cost-effective with no real lost performance. But AMD's come out that Zen3, the next Ryzen CPU, won't be supported on any but 500-series motherboards. That means an X570 right now, or if you can wait a bit B550's are due soon, to be assured you can upgrade to Ryzen 4000 CPU's and get that level of platform upgradeability.

Otherwise with a good B450 you can upgrade easily to 12 core 3900X CPU's and even 16 core if you're really careful. But the bad thing is the good ones are increasing unavailable.

 

[aaroncappa]

I hear X570 has been assured for 4000 series also. Would you care to comment on some of the boards i've seen? Or recommend any?

 

[drea.drechsler]

I hear X570 has been assured for 4000 series also. Would you care to comment on some of the boards i've seen? Or recommend any?

Which boards in particular?

In general, the major difference between x570 and B450 is PCIe gen 4 support...B450 has none, X570 has it. But also, MOST X570 boards have really beefy VRMs. Not that one is necessary for a 3600Xprocessor but some of MSI's low-end X570 should be avoided if a beefy VRM is important, such as to upgrade to a 3900X or 3950X processor in the future.

Otherwise, you need to look at the features of the board that are important to you: WiFi, premium audio, that sort of thing.