[SOLVED] Ryzen 5 3600X vs Ryzen 7 3700x - worth the leap?

[deadalewives]

I'm debating about making a change from my current Intel i5 6600/ DDR4 2133 / GTX 1070 setup to a Ryzen rig. But first, some background: I mainly game and watch videos on my PC. I don't do any video editing, encoding, or anything like that. I also like to game at the highest and smoothest I can at 1080p resolution (not making the 4k leap yet). I don't do over-clocking as well.

That being said, what I can't settle on is if I want to go with the 5 or 7 option. Is the 100 dollar difference really worth it? From the research I've done, there barely seems to be a difference in raw performance, mainly just power consumption. What do you guys think?

In addition, I'd like to stay in the ball park of around $350 or less for my upgrade (for cpu, mobo and RAM). However, if another $100 would mean being a lot more future-proofed and offer a lot better performance, then I could settle for that.

 

[stefanos50]

I'm debating about making a change from my current Intel i5 6600/ DDR4 2133 / GTX 1070 setup to a Ryzen rig. But first, some background: I mainly game and watch videos on my PC. I don't do any video editing, encoding, or anything like that. I also like to game at the highest and smoothest I can at 1080p resolution (not making the 4k leap yet). I don't do over-clocking as well.

That being said, what I can't settle on is if I want to go with the 5 or 7 option. Is the 100 dollar difference really worth it? From the research I've done, there barely seems to be a difference in raw performance, mainly just power consumption. What do you guys think?

In addition, I'd like to stay in the ball park of around $350 or less for my upgrade (for cpu, mobo and RAM). However, if another $100 would mean being a lot more future-proofed and offer a lot better performance, then I could settle for that.

First of all if the difference price between 3600X and 3600 is noticeable then the 3600 is a better buy. Ryzen 3000 wont really benefit from overclocking and the performance difference between 3600,3600X is 1-2%. As i have both of these CPU's (3600 and 3700X) for gaming at this time they are the same as and their single core performance is similiar. With 3700X you get 2 extra cores and 4 threads so better multicore performance. The new consoles will have 8 core ZEN 2 CPU's so maybe games will require more and more CPU usage soon in the future. In the end , for just gaming the 3700X is just more future proof so it depends on how often you want to upgrade your computer.

 

[SystemShut]

First of all if the difference price between 3600X and 3600 is noticeable then the 3600 is a better buy. Ryzen 3000 wont really benefit from overclocking and the performance difference between 3600,3600X is 1-2%. As i have both of these CPU's (3600 and 3700X) for gaming at this time they are the same as and their single core performance is similiar. With 3700X you get 2 extra cores and 4 threads so better multicore performance. The new consoles will have 8 core ZEN 2 CPU's so maybe games will require more and more CPU usage soon in the future. In the end , for just gaming the 3700X is just more future proof so it depends on how often you want to upgrade your computer.

The 3600 and 3600X have the same core/threads 6/12. The differences are base/boost speeds 3.6/3.8 and 4.2/4.4, and wattages 65W/95W (3600/3600x). To me, a 3600x is a factory overclocked 3600.

Check out article on TechSpot https://www.techspot.com/article/1880-ryzen-3600x-vs-3600/

 

[RodroX]

stefanos is not wrong, but if you wana keep it between the $350 budget, then the R5 3600 (unless the R5 3600X is on offer) is the best bang for the buck at this moment (for gaming).
Yeah the R7 3700 could be more future proof, but thats a not soo close future we are talking about.

I did the jump from a core i5 3570 which was fine most of the times (unelss I was playing BF5 or SOTR) to the R5 3600 and other than the annoying (for me) sound the stock cooler make I can't complain about its performance, is simple in another dimention. 2 extra cores, and 8 extra threads make every task run smoothly like silk. The system in my signature is where the Ryzen 5 is runing, and it has no problems driving the RTX 2070 at 1080p or 1440p with all games tested at the highest presets.

Besides, you can go witht he R5 today, and later on get a brand new R7 4xxx (cross fingers about the launch) and upgrade if you feel you need the extra power.

As for your budget this is what I would aim for today:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor ($174.99 @ B&H)
Motherboard: MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard ($114.99 @ Best Buy)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory ($76.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $366.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-04-03 12:04 EDT-0400

You can save $8 on the memory if you get the same kit but DDR4 3200Mhz

Cheers

 

[deadalewives]

stefanos is not wrong, but if you wana keep it between the $350 budget, then the R5 3600 (unless the R5 3600X is on offer) is the best bang for the buck at this moment (for gaming).
Yeah the R7 3700 could be more future proof, but thats a not soo close future we are talking about.

I did the jump from a core i5 3570 which was fine most of the times (unelss I was playing BF5 or SOTR) to the R5 3600 and other than the annoying (for me) sound the stock cooler make I can't complain about its performance, is simple in another dimention. 2 extra cores, and 8 extra threads make every task run smoothly like silk. The system in my signature is where the Ryzen 5 is runing, and it has no problems driving the RTX 2070 at 1080p or 1440p with all games tested at the highest presets.

Besides, you can go witht he R5 today, and later on get a brand new R7 4xxx (cross fingers about the launch) and upgrade if you feel you need the extra power.

As for your budget this is what I would aim for today:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor ($174.99 @ B&H)
Motherboard: MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard ($114.99 @ Best Buy)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory ($76.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $366.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-04-03 12:04 EDT-0400

You can save $8 on the memory if you get the same kit but DDR4 3200Mhz

Cheers

Thanks for your advice, man. One thing I've noticed though is the difference between the B540 and X570 mobos. I know the 540's are compatible with 3rd gen Ryzens after a bios update, but what about PCIe 4.0 compatibility? Max RAM speeds? Would it be un-necessary to just spend the extra money on a slightly higher X570 model or what? Honestly I still don't know ALL the differences.

 

[RodroX]

Thanks for your advice, man. One thing I've noticed though is the difference between the B540 and X570 mobos. I know the 540's are compatible with 3rd gen Ryzens after a bios update, but what about PCIe 4.0 compatibility? Max RAM speeds? Would it be un-necessary to just spend the extra money on a slightly higher X570 model or what? Honestly I still don't know ALL the differences.

In all honestly I have no issues setting my RAM to 3200 MHz, just enable XMP and that was it. And I heard similar stories from all the "decent" B450 motherboards out there. Of course if you cheap out and get the cheapest one you may encounter some problems. Its imposible to know (also you could look the QVL list of the motherboard to make sure the RAM you choosed is there and was tested OK).

The MSI "MAX" motherboards are guaranteed by MSI to come with a Ryzen 5/7 3xxx BIOS ready from factory.

As for the PCI-E v4.0, for the time been is not worth it. Unless you spend the insane amount of money some M.2 SSD cost (but you are not going to feel the diference when playing, streaming, whatever). As for GPUs PCI-E v4.0 still a long way to go. Some may argue that the new RX 5xxx GPUs are PCI-E v4.0, but they perform the same on PCI v3.0 slots.

If you wana go the X570 way, there are two motherboards: Asus PRIME X570-P and TUF GAMING X570-PLUS (with, or without WI-FI), that have basically the strongest VRM (for the price, comparable to the way more expensive models). Anyways, the choice is your of course, and theres nothing like google to try to get more info/benchmark, tests and reviews.

Cheers