Which CPU Should I Get?

[edwinkovalevskis090123]

I am planning to get a new CPU for my PC which I currently have a GTX 960 in, but will be upgrading to a 1070 Ti soon. I can't decide whether I should get one of the 2nd generation ryzens or a intel i5-8400. I have absolutely no clue on what to get right now. If anybody could guide me in the correct direction, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Edwin.

 

[Obakasama]

What do you have now? Not any processor will work with any motherboard (and RAM). It could be a simple swap or a whole new build.

 

[edwinkovalevskis090123]

What do you have now? Not any processor will work with any motherboard (and RAM). It could be a simple swap or a whole new build.

I know that not all CPU's work with the same MOBO, but I will be buying a new MOBO and RAM, after I find the right CPU.

I currently have:
CASE: NZXT S340 ELITE
GPU: MSI GTX 960 2G
PSU: EVGA SUPERNOVA 650 G2
CPU: ?
MOBO: ?
RAM: ?
CPU COOLER: AMD RYZEN STOCK COOLER or ARCTIC FREEZER 33 ESPORTS EDITION
HDD: SEAGATE BARRICUDA 1TB
SDD: KINGTSON A400 120GB

 

[jeremyj_83]

I would go with one of the 2nd Gen Ryzens. The 2600 can be had for $166 or the 2600X for $225. The i5-8400 is $200 right now.

 

[SgtScream]

What kind of monitor do you have? If it's a really high refresh rate you'll need Intel's IPC and speed to achieve it.
If you're a casual gamer and would be happy with 60+ frames per second on a 60hz monitor Ryzen is a great value for the money.

 

[edwinkovalevskis090123]

I would go with one of the 2nd Gen Ryzens. The 2600 can be had for $166 or the 2600X for $225. The i5-8400 is $200 right now.

What is even the difference between the 2600 and the 2600x?

 

[edwinkovalevskis090123]

What kind of monitor do you have? If it's a really high refresh rate you'll need Intel's IPC and speed to achieve it.
If you're a casual gamer and would be happy with 60+ frames per second on a 60hz monitor Ryzen is a great value for the money.

My current monitor is 75hz

 

[SgtScream]

What kind of monitor do you have? If it's a really high refresh rate you'll need Intel's IPC and speed to achieve it.
If you're a casual gamer and would be happy with 60+ frames per second on a 60hz monitor Ryzen is a great value for the money.

My current monitor is 75hz

What resolution

 

[edwinkovalevskis090123]

What kind of monitor do you have? If it's a really high refresh rate you'll need Intel's IPC and speed to achieve it.
If you're a casual gamer and would be happy with 60+ frames per second on a 60hz monitor Ryzen is a great value for the money.

My current monitor is 75hz

What resolution

It's 1920x1080

Thank you for the reply's guys

 

[ethanmarti1598]

What kind of monitor do you have? If it's a really high refresh rate you'll need Intel's IPC and speed to achieve it.
If you're a casual gamer and would be happy with 60+ frames per second on a 60hz monitor Ryzen is a great value for the money.

I'd say single core performance is pretty balanced between Ryzen and Coffee Lake. Intel has higher IPC, while Ryzen has higher clock speeds. Turbo Boost may make a difference though?

 

[ethanmarti1598]

What kind of monitor do you have? If it's a really high refresh rate you'll need Intel's IPC and speed to achieve it.
If you're a casual gamer and would be happy with 60+ frames per second on a 60hz monitor Ryzen is a great value for the money.

My current monitor is 75hz

What resolution

It's 1920x1080

Thank you for the reply's guys

A Ryzen would be enough for that res. I'd go for the 2600 if I were you

 

[SgtScream]

What kind of monitor do you have? If it's a really high refresh rate you'll need Intel's IPC and speed to achieve it.
If you're a casual gamer and would be happy with 60+ frames per second on a 60hz monitor Ryzen is a great value for the money.

My current monitor is 75hz

What resolution

It's 1920x1080

Thank you for the reply's guys

So then your goal is to achieve 70+ fps and Ryzen will be the best choice, giving you the best value for the money. You get more overall processing power than intel's equivalent.

 

[mdd1963]

2600 would get the nod over a $50-more expensive 8400....

(8400's included cooler is marginal as well)

 

[geofelt]

If you will be heavy multitasking, ryzen is usually the better buy.
You get more threads.
OTOH, if your main purpose is for gaming, the higher single thread performance of intel will prevail.

I5-8400 is a very good mid range gaming processor.
We should shortly see the i5-9400 which is expected to be the same price but slightly faster.

 

[jeremyj_83]

The single threaded performance of the 2600 and the 8400 are going to be almost identical, ie less than 10% and most of the time less than 5%. The Ryzen has a 600MHz base clock advantage over the Intel, 3.4 vs 2.8, but a 100MHz clock disadvantage at boost, 3.9 vs 4.0. The Ryzen 2xxx line's IPC is about 2-7% lower than Intel. Therefore the difference in performance will be almost nill between them. For that reason the 2600 is a much better buy than the 8400. You get double the threads, same TDP, a stock cooler than actually works, and is $35 cheaper before you buy the required cooler for the i5. Throw it into a B450 motherboard with 16GB DDR4-3000 and you will be set for a good long while.

 

[ikaz]

I would go with the 2600 (non X) as it also comes with cooler the X doesn't and you can still OC onthe stock cooler. I'm actually running an i5 8400/1070 which works great for me I would have gotten the AMD but when I built my PC I got a combo deal on the MB and I5 which made going with intel based machine at that time about $50 cheaper.

 

[edwinkovalevskis090123]

So this is what I have selected for my build -

CASE: NZXT S340 ELITE
GPU: MSI GTX 960 2G (Will be upgraded to 1070 Ti)
PSU: EVGA SUPERNOVA 650 G2
CPU: AMD RYZEN 5 2600
MOBO: MSI X470 GAMING PLUS
RAM: Kingston HyperX FURY BLACK 8GB (2x4GB)
CPU COOLER: AMD RYZEN STOCK COOLER
HDD: SEAGATE BARRICUDA 1TB
SDD: KINGTSON A400 120GB

How does this look? Should I get a B450 MOBO instead of the X470 as they are much cheaper and get 16GB of RAM?

Thank you to everyone who helped me out, I really appreciate it

 

[tejayd]

The 2600x does come with a cooler (wrath spire I think). Its probably even better than the 2600s wrath stealth. Doesnt matter just thought I would point that out. The 2700x comes with the fancy rgb cooler.

 

[tejayd]

Looks good. But I would definitely try to squeeze in 16gb of ram first. And 240gb ssd if possible. You dont really want to add 8gb to your 8gb later. If you can get matching ram now you will be glad you did.

And yes. I would go with the 450 and put the saved money into the ram.

You're on the right track though

 

[edwinkovalevskis090123]

Looks good. But I would definitely try to squeeze in 16gb of ram first. And 240gb ssd if possible. You dont really want to add 8gb to your 8gb later. If you can get matching ram now you will be glad you did.

Thanks I will get 16GB of RAM, but will stick to the 120GB as I will only be using it for installing windows and programs, games will be on my HDD.

Thank you.

 

[edwinkovalevskis090123]

One last question... what should the speed of the RAM be? It says that the max speed of DDR4 RAM that the 2600 can have is 2933Mhz. But I have been reading other posts and people say that 3200Mhz is usually the best to go with.

 

[ethanmarti1598]

One last question... what should the speed of the RAM be? It says that the max speed of DDR4 RAM that the 2600 can have is 2933Mhz. But I have been reading other posts and people say that 3200Mhz is usually the best to go with.

Check your motherboard manual to see what speeds are compatible with it. Also, check your CPU specs as well. HIgher speeds than stated may be possible, but I would avoid them anyway.