r5-2600x vs i5-9600k

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Trying to figure out which cpu to go with for a system upgrade.
Uses include: general use, gaming (mostly rpg type) and photo editing with lightroom.
Current system includes an i7-3770, GTX 1070 ti (overclocked) and a 2560 x 1440, 60Hz monitor.

I understand that the top of the line CPUs may be too much overkill, but I need help in deciding which way to go, and as importantly, why.....In some ways, I don't know what I don't know.

Thanks in advance.....and please ask questions that could result in the best answer.
 
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I don't think you can go wrong either way. The ryzen is a better deal and comes with a cooler so it's financially the best option although you would want to spend more on decent RAM. The i5 is a little faster at gaming and will overclock a lot better but will need an aftermarket cooler as it doesn't come with one.

So for absolute best gaming FPS i5
for overclocking headroom i5
for general computing - either one really
for price - ryzen

Actually if you plan to use an aftermarket cooler and overclock anyway the R5 2600 might make even more sense as you will end up with similar performance for less.
 
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Thank you for the concise reply; A couple of follow on questions:
I understand that with the 2600x, if you provide very robust cooling (liquid?) the PDO functionality will allow even more performance; is this a reasonable option? Especially since an aftermarket cooler is required for the i5.

Price: the r5 is about $200, while the i5-9600 is about $20 more than the 8600 at $280.
Both will require aftermarket cooling - is the increased performance of the i5 worth ~$80?
Am I forgetting anything?

What I forgot to ask is: am I correct in targeting the second tier CPUs for my specific hardware and anticipated uses?

I suppose MB is also a factor, but I am assume equivalence there.....
 
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You are at a toss up.
Lightroom mostly uses the video card for its rendering work.
Gaming on both @1440p gives intel a very slight edge.
Multitasking while gaming would give AMD a slight edge.
Pros of both systems.
You have to decide which features are more important to you.
 
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Absolutely correct; I will be testing my current system since upgrading PSU, GPU and case to see if there is a need.
If I can live with it....no change for a while. However, I like to plan ahead. : )
 
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I agree that this might be a coin toss....which is why I asked the question here, hoping for a factor I haven't thought of, or some other advice.

At this point, after installing the new graphics card I noticed that the images load a little faster, but I can live with it.....gaming-wise....not sure. So I guess I am leaning towards the Intel from that perspective.....have to decide $$ wise.

Thanks for the reply.
 
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The 2600X will run fine on stock cooling so you can save quite a bit there at the expense of overclocking, but the ryzens don't have that much headroom anyway so it's not a big sacrifice in performance to save the money - and nothing stops you adding better cooling and overclocking later if you decide to.

I replaced my 3 year old 6700K with a R7 2700X using stock cooling. Games run about the same but CPU usage dropped by a huge amount. So far I feel like I have more cores than I need and overclocking would be largely pointless with the games I'm currently playing so I'm keeping the stock cooler because I like how it looks.

That's a third option if you are planning to overclock - just buy the next model up and leave it at stock.
 
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If you conclude that what you have is good enough for your needs, planning ahead may not be as beneficial since there may be new Intel and AMD CPUs and chipsets to consider by that time. Once Ryzen 3 comes out, you'll have to re-weigh your options, same with Intel's Icelake.
 
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All very true, except for the fact that for some reason the new cpus are, delayed, more expensive, not that much better, etc, going through this exercise will be beneficial....no?
 
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I don't bother doing hypothetical system builds until I am actually looking to buy in the imminent future. Trying to look too far ahead will only delay a purchase where upgrades are already overdue. The last time I tried planning too far ahead, all it did is cause many extra months of frustration with my previous system instead of proceeding with my overdue upgrade 3-4 months earlier, a delay which also added ~$30 to the cost of RAM as prices were just beginning to inch up from historic lows at the time.
 
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LOL, I understand....happens to the best of us : ) ...that being said, regarding systems you have one significant advantage over someone like me. And that is you know stuff! I am still at the point where I don't know what I don't know, but getting to the point where I know what I don't know so I can now ask advice. This is one reason why this forum is so very useful.....is every answer you get bullet proof? No, but if you tend to get the same general direction from a number of sources, you can then be pretty sure its accurate.....this is where I am now. My current plan is if I determine my system needs upgrading, I'd like to buy the components around black Friday when pricing is more aggressive.
 
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Pricing on CPUs, mobos, GPUs, and RAM usually barely changes any if at all on black friday since the margins are already so low. You can try, but high quality components almost never go on sale. You might be able to save a few bucks on a power supply, storage, and monitors.
 
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Does your system feel inadequate in some significant way for your current or near-future use? Then no, you don't need an upgrade regardless of what others may think.

I'm still happy with my i5-3470/32GB RAM and GTX1050, not upgrading until I feel otherwise in a significant way.
 
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I'm like you .
I'm still running a Phenom 2 x6 @3.6 and a I5 2500, both running GTX 1070s.
An upgrade would be nice but not necessary.

 
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Couldn't have said it better....right now my i7-3770 seems fine, but I am about to try out a game whose min requirements are above my cpu, so when I try it and it bogs, then got to take some action....which is why I posted....and oddly enough I am still not sure which way I'd go...lol.
 
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Why do you want to upgrade?

What do you expect out of the upgrade?

No matter what you think the answers to those questions are the reality is that you will gain almost nothing if you upgrade that CPU now. Your 1% lows will be higher if you upgrade but the lows with your current CPU aren't unplayable low or even close to it.

Here's what will happen if you upgrade now.

Your gameplay experience will be the same AND you will be down hundreds of dollars and for what?

Nothing but futureproofing. Here's the better way to futureproof if you already have a decent usable system (your system is both decent and usable). SAVE THE MONEY! If you save that money you'll be able to upgrade when you truly need to and you will have a better system for the future. If you upgrade before you need to you'll spend more money in the long run and you will waste usable life of your still usable system.

Things have changed since the old days of computing when your computer really was obsolete after a couple short years. CPU's have been taking baby steps as far as performance improvements go these days. We've been on 4 cores and 8 threads since 2008 on the i7 all the way up until 2017 when coffee lake was introduced. And 4 cores 8 threads is still good enough for most gaming scenarios.
 
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One thing to maybe consider is upgrading earlier means your old hardware still has resale value. Overall it probably makes no difference - upgrade more often therefore spending more and getting a better return for your old hardware - or upgrade less often spending less and getting less for your old PC.

I just sold my 3 year old i7 6700K machine and got about half my budget for my new R7 2700X build. The upgrade wasn't needed but I like to stay ahead of requirements and never need to worry about them with new games.
 
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BTW, if your system feels a bit sluggish at times, you may want to check that you don't have frequent paging file activity. If you do, adding more RAM may be more beneficial than upgrading the rest of the system - no amount of processing power can compensate for insufficient RAM and need to use SSD/HDD swap.
 
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Thanks all for the perspective. Please understand that part of the reason to ask questions on this forum is to try and ascertain what benefit will be derived by upgrading. Perhaps a little more history: The 3770 was the latest upgrade done about 6 years ago. Since then I have added a new case (FD Define R6), new PSU (Seasonic Focus+ 650W Gold) and new GPU (EVGA 1070 ti FTW2). Before that, I upgraded the HDD to an SATA SSD for W10 and applications.

So you can see I have tried to incrementally add components to provide power, environment and display resources....the next step (when its right) is to add CPU, etc.

You guys are making a very strong case to wait until the next generation of Zen and perhaps Intel CPUs to upgrade. I hear you.....

....and thank you.
 
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The point I'm trying to make is that if you aren't feeling like your system is clearly lacking in some way, then there is little to no point in upgrading regardless of how much faster current hardware might be. [Edit: if you aren't feeling an actual need to upgrade, then you may be disappointed about not getting any significant benefits from upgrading.]

In my case, my previous PC was a Core2Duo with 8GB RAM and my main reason for upgrading is not being able to put more than 8GB in that system. Since DDR2 prices were through the roof at that time, it was cheaper to upgrade to i5/16GB than upgrade my Core2. Soon after upgrading, I discovered that 16GB was still not quite enough for what I was doing at the time, hence 32GB.
 
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Update: my system crashes way too often playing Fallout 76. I have most everything turned off (nothing on display other than game). I have turned down graphics to medium (with overclocked GTX 1070 ti)....very frustrating.

So it seems that my system just isn't enough (FO76 box recommends i7-4700).

Guess that decision is sooner than expected.....
 
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If Fallout76 is the only game that gives you problems, there is a pretty high probability you are simply running into game bugs. I'd give it a few more weeks for hardware manufacturers to update drivers and Bethesda to issue some patches since Fallout76 is still fairly new.

If by crash you mean the whole system locks up or reboots, not meeting game requirements shouldn't crash the entire system, only the game. In that case, either the game is triggering a fatal bug in the drivers, something in the driver/API stack is corrupted or the game is triggering a hardware defect that doesn't affect the other stuff you normally use.
 
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Thanks for the reply; actually the 'crash' displays multiple modes - sometimes the screen freezes and then comes back several seconds later. Sometimes the screen just goes black and I have to hard reset.

Clearly, the game has some bugs, so I won't be running out for new components tomorrow, but it certainly is concerning....and perhaps moves up my plan to upgrade - by how much, not sure...with the Zen2 on the horizon and Intel leaking news about a new CPU.......we'll see how long I can take it....lol.

Saying that, what remains is the same decision.....AMD or Intel route?

Again, main use is general, some gaming and Lightroom, in that order. Does it still make sense to wait until at least we understand Zen2 more?
 
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