Question which cpu should i buy?

[Joshjaxnkody]

I am deciding between a 3600 with a new MOBO or an 8700k with my old MOBO. I currently have a dell Z370 MOBO and I was wondering if that would be fine with an 8700k and if the performance would be that much different with the 8700k instead.

 

[mdd1963]

You'd first want to see/confirm Dell's BIOS that the 8700/8700K would be supported on that mainboard, with that cooling solution, using that case, etc.... all factors Dell uses in deciding if a given CPU is supported, likely contributing to the issue of Dell's BIOS updates come out at a trickle pace of bi-annually compared to actual mainboard manufacturers' every other month rate, etc...)

(As 'K' series CPUs require an aftermarket cooler, your Dell's case/ cooling solution constraints might rear some limitations, as well, as not all cases will accommodate a decent AIO, or a Noctua NH-D15, etc, and a few Dells I've seen used plastic molding ducts to funnel airflow to/from a cooling solution, a sort of air flow shroud tunnel)

 

[RodroX]

The first question that comes to my mind is:

What would you use your PC for ?


In any case, both CPU have 6 cores 12 threads, the main diference is that the core i7 8700K is on the top tier of Intels line, while the 3600 is on the lower part of Ryzen 3xxx line up.

As for dif in performance, the 8700K should be pretty much a bit faster on most scenarios. In games the 8700K will be faster on pretty much anything, and you can overclock it (if you have a high end cooler or AIO). Also depending on the motherboard brand and model, you could even go for a 9xxx intel cpu (of course the dif between them and the 8xxx will ve really close to nothing, unless you can jump to something like the 9900K. But then again, the higher you go on the model, the small the performance ratio goes up (but the of course you will pay a premium for intel highest end part).

On the AMD side of things, if you couple the Ryzen 5 3600 with a beefier motherboard, down the line in a year or two, you could do a huge jump in performance by going with something like a Ryzen 3900X.

Sadly, we are on a complicated time to choose one over the other, cuase AMD said AM4 will be supported till 2020, which could mean Ryzen 3xxx is the last "new" cpu for this socket, or that in 2020 AMD can come out with Ryzen 4xxx Zen2+ ?. On Intel, most probably the actual socket is basically dead as soon as the 10th core i gen comes out with a new chipset and a new socket to support it.

 

[justin.m.beauvais]

Performance between the two is about even with a slight edge given to the 8700K. If your motherboard supports it the 8700K with a good heatsink might be the easier route... that said, the cost of that 8700K new plus a heatsink that can handle it would probably be more than a Ryzen 5 3600 and a motherboard. A new 8700K on Newegg is about $350... where as the R5 3600 is $200 right now and you can get a good motherboard for the additional $150, and that doesn't even factor in the cost of a cooler for the 8700K which is a CPU known to run hot. Heck, you could get an R5 3600X and probably come in under the cost of the 8700K and a cooler.

This is all assuming you have reasonably fast RAM to get the most out of a Ryzen CPU. So, if you want ease 8700K, and if you want cost 3600. Performance should be indistinguishable between the two to the vast majority of users.

 

[Joshjaxnkody]

i'll just go with the 3600. I like AMD better anyways.