Every so typically there comes a processor that captures the market. It finally ends up being that proper mixture of worth, cores, frequency, efficiency, options and compatibility when added to the proper kind of motherboard that makes it fly off the cabinets. The important CPU this cycle appears to be the Ryzen 5 3600, providing six high-performance Zen 2 cores and 24 lanes of PCIe 4.Zero for less than $199. It at present sits at #1 on the Amazon greatest vendor listing, so we put one by the paces simply to see if the hype was truly actual.
At $199, the AMD Ryzen 5 3600 has been one the most cost effective strategy to get ahold of AMD’s newest Zen2 microarchitecture. In our critiques of the lead technology Ryzen merchandise, in addition to Zen2 on Threadripper, Zen2 in EPYC, and Zen2 in Renoir, this microarchitecture is pushing new efficiency boundaries clock-for-clock towards Intel’s different desktop choices. In truth, till the most recent launch of the Ryzen Three line of processors, the Ryzen 5 was the most cost effective Zen 2 processor available on the market.
(On 5/18, Amazon’s worth was right down to $189. Newegg was $172, however offered out).
Competition
With six cores and twelve threads, the comparative Intel choices range between one thing just like the Core i7-9600KF with six cores and no hyperthreading, or to the i7-9700KF with eight cores and no hyperthreading. The draw back is that each of those processors are dearer: the place the Ryzen 5 3600 is $199, the i5-9600KF is $263 and the i7-9700KF is $385. Frequencies between the three are aggressive, nevertheless the AMD has a TDP of 65 W, in comparison with 95 W, and it comes with DDR4-3200 help with 24 lanes of PCIe 4.0, quite than DDR4-2666 and 16 lanes of PCIe 3.0.
| AMD Ryzen 5 3600 vs Overclockable Intel Equivalents | |||
| AMD Ryzen 5 3600 |
AnandTech | Intel Core i5-9600KF |
Intel Core i7-9700KF |
| $199 / $189 | Price | $263 | $385 |
| Zen 2 | Architecture | Coffee Lake-R (Skylake+++) |
Coffee Lake-R (Skylake+++) |
| 6C / 12T | Cores | 6C / 6T | 8C / 8T |
| 3600 MHz | Base Freq | 3700 MHz | 3600 MHz |
| 4200 MHz | Turbo Freq | 4600 MHz | 4900 MHz |
| 65 W | TDP | 95 W | 95 W |
| 2 x DDR4-3200 | DDR4 | 2x DDR4-2666 | 2x DDR4-2666 |
| PCIe 4.Zero x24 | PCIe | PCIe 3.Zero x16 | PCIe 3.Zero x16 |
Just by going with these on-paper specs, it’s not laborious to see why the Ryzen 5 3600 has been so in style. Even on the $199 worth level, the i5-9400F is a $182 processor with the identical reminiscence/PCIe downsides, in addition to being decrease in frequency, regardless of matching the ability score. The Ryzen 5 3600 can be an unlocked processor, for anybody that desires to overclock.
Intel has introduced its latest 10th Generation processor line, nevertheless the official launch date of the processors has not been formally introduced but. Out of the processor lineup nevertheless, the closest match could be the Core i5-10500.
| AMD Ryzen 5 3600 vs Intel 10th Gen at ~$200 |
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| AMD Ryzen 5 3600 |
AnandTech | Intel Core i5-10500 |
Intel Core i5-10600 |
| $199 / $189 | Price | $192 | $213 |
| Zen 2 | Architecture | Comet Lake (Skylake++++) |
Comet Lake (Skylake++++) |
| 6 C / 12 T | Cores | 6 C / 12 T | 6 C / 12 T |
| 3600 MHz | Base Freq | 3100 MHz | 3300 MHz |
| 4200 MHz | Turbo Freq | 4500 MHz | 4800 MHz |
| 65 W | TDP | 65 W | 65 W |
| 2x DDR4-3200 | DDR4 | 2x DDR4-2666 | 2x DDR4-2666 |
| PCIe 4.Zero x24 | PCIe | PCIe 3.Zero x16 | PCIe 3.Zero x16 |
| Yes | Overclockable | No | No |
| No | iGPU | Yes | Yes |
This processor matches the six cores and twelve threads, is close to in worth, doesn’t fairly match the bottom frequency however does exceed within the turbo. It is 65 W, the identical as AMD, and on the plus aspect it does have built-in graphics. But once more, it’s only…
