[SOLVED] Ryzen 5 3600 vs 7 2700

[ioannis2015v]

Hello guys, as the title says, which is now better to buy: the older Ryzen 7 2700 which has 8 cores and 16 threads or the new ryzen 5 3600 having 6 cores and 12 threads? In benchmarks such as userbenchmark, the 3600 has better grades (even in workstation for 1point). In my country the price is almost the same (the 3600 is 30€ more expensive). So which is better to buy for mainly gaming but also as a desktop and a few (sometimes) workstation? I was just thinking that the 3600 is gen 3 so it's newer and better but on the other hand the 2700 is ryzen 7 and not 5, and it also has 8cores/16threads. Also, should I get an X570 over a X470 besides X470 is compatible?

 

[InvalidError]

Generations don't matter, what does is real-world performance and as far as real-world performance is concerned, the 3600 wins over the 2700 most of the time so for a similar price, the 3600/3600X generally make more sense if you can find a motherboard that supports it out-of-the-box or have a spare CPU to use for BIOS updates.

 

[ConanLock]

If you were to get an MSI B450 Tomahawk, then you can update the BIOS to support the Ryzen 3000 before you put it in. There are also other MSI boards that support it (it's called MSI Flashback) but I'm not sure of them. I believe the 3600 is a better choice for gaming than the 2700.

 

[ioannis2015v]

Ok, thanks, I will probably go for the Ryzen 5 3600 with the Msi X470 Gaming Pro Carbon (I think it's compatible).

 

[ioannis2015v]

Thanks!!!

 

[kardaw]

In Poland, where the taxes are 23%, the 7 2700 cost $195 US, 5 3600 cost $254.
59 dollars difference. But with the 2700 I can choose between Borderlands 3 / Outer Worlds / Ghost Recon WL.
I could say that if I go with the 7 2700, I'll stay with $120 in my pocket (if we assume the game costs 60 dollars).

So in this case is the 2700 more worth buying than the 3600 ?

 

[InvalidError]

So in this case is the 2700 more worth buying than the 3600 ?

Depends on how much the game is truly worth to you and how much you may actually value the 3600's higher single-threaded performance for driving single-core-heavy games. I don't care about FPS games, so the game bundle is a write-off as far as I am concerned unless I can sell the game key somewhere for somewhat decent cash.

For a $60 net difference, I might award the 2700 a slight advantage mainly for having a much broader selection of affordable motherboards to choose from without having to worry about out-of-the-box BIOS compatibility.

 

[mdd1963]

I don't think I saw any gaming results/comparisons where the 2700X's cores ever made up for the 3600's IPC advantages....(in other words, ..get the 3600!)

 

[InvalidError]

I don't think I saw any gaming results/comparisons where the 2700X's cores ever made up for the 3600's IPC advantages....(in other words, ..get the 3600!)

If the price is the same, sure. But OP said the 2700 is $60 cheaper and comes with a free game on top. He can probably save another $20 on the motherboard from not being limited to 300/400-series boards with out-of-the-box support for 3rd-gen or $50+ extra for a "cheap" x570 board. At ~30% more expensive, the extra cost of going with the 3600 isn't negligible.

Performance-wise, the 2700 may not be as good for games but once you start throwing background tasks into the mix (performance reviews try to eliminate as much background stuff as possible for best benchmark repeatability) the difference should shrink quite a bit.