Question Ryzen 2600 vs 3600

[bononos]

Is the price difference btwn the Ryzen 2600 vs 3600 worth it? Haven't kept up with the news and didn't see the 3600 on the AT benchmark list.

Edit - reading the builders thread and looked up the AM4 vrm motherboard rating which is still updated which is a very good list.

https://i.redd.it/2iwdy5wrrly31.png

 

[amrnuke]

You can look at TomsHardware, TechSpot, Guru3D.

3600 beats the 2600X in TomsHardware's guide by about 10-15% across the board.

Techspot compares 3600 to 2600 and there are substantial gains between the two - 3600 scores 102 points more on CB20 single-core and ~800 more points multicore (gains of >25%). Other productivity benchmarks are 10-20% gains. Gaming is about 15-20% gain, sometimes even more, at 1080p. It also uses less power to win by that much.

Guru3D got similar results.

Overall, with the 2600 at $117 and the 3600 at $189, the gains might not be worth it for you.

You could also consider getting a 2700X for $159 (best price I could find) which at 8C/16T wins in productivity, but it's ~5% slower in gaming than the 3600. But for saving almost 20% in cost, may be worth it. Also, it consumes a LOT more power, like 30-40% more power at load than the 3600.

In the end that's not an easy answer to give. I could tell you I have a 3600 and it's a great chip. But I couldn't tell you how much better than a 2600 or 2700X it is, personally, without referencing reviews.

 

[fleshconsumed]

Is the price difference btwn the Ryzen 2600 vs 3600 worth it? Haven't kept up with the news and didn't see the 3600 on the AT benchmark list.

3600 is better than 2600, but it's not a night and day difference, so any decision is going to be very subjective.

 

[moinmoin]

It depends on your personal preferences. Is it primarily a gaming machine? 3600 (or something by Intel like i3 9100) likely wins then. Do you prefer power efficiency? 3600 wins. Do you want as much raw MT performance for as little money as possible? 2600 wins. Etc.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Really depends on what you are doing with your PC. A 3600 is a big leap in performance. A 2600 can be overclocked some, though. For the tweaker out there that wants to play with cheap hardware, B350/B450 + 2600 is not a terrible deal. Also depends on whether you already have one or more HSFs lying around that you can put on your chip. Actually scratch that, I would want aftermarket for an OCed 2600 or a stock 3600 since that stock cooler for the 3600 is so bad.

 

[fleshconsumed]

Really depends on what you are doing with your PC. A 3600 is a big leap in performance. A 2600 can be overclocked some, though. For the tweaker out there that wants to play with cheap hardware, B350/B450 + 2600 is not a terrible deal. Also depends on whether you already have one or more HSFs lying around that you can put on your chip. Actually scratch that, I would want aftermarket for an OCed 2600 or a stock 3600 since that stock cooler for the 3600 is so bad.

Responding to the bolded, 3600 is 15-25% faster than 2600 while priced about 50% more. 3600 is a very well balanced CPU, but In pure performance per dollar metric 2600 is a better deal. So long as 2600 is fast enough for what he needs there is no reason to pony up for 3600.

 

[Thunder 57]

If you do anything that is AVX2 heavy (x265 for example), definitively go with the 3600. Otherwise it's hard to say. Really depends on if you think the extra performance is worth the worse price/performance ratio.

 

[Abwx]

This more or less summarize the difference between Zen/Zen+/Zen 2 6C CPUs :

Intel Core i9-9900KS mit 5,0 GHz im Test: Benchmarks in Games und Anwendungen sowie Preis/Leistung

Intel Core i9-9900KS im Test: Benchmarks in Games und Anwendungen sowie Preis/Leistung / Benchmarks in Spielen (Full HD und UHD)

www.computerbase.de

 

[maddogmcgee]

If you game, go the 3600. If it's for other stuff and you are on a budget the 2600 if probably fine.

 

[Hans Gruber]

The 3600 beats the 2700x in gaming. It's worth it over the 2600.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Responding to the bolded, 3600 is 15-25% faster than 2600 while priced about 50% more. 3600 is a very well balanced CPU, but In pure performance per dollar metric 2600 is a better deal. So long as 2600 is fast enough for what he needs there is no reason to pony up for 3600.

Therein lies the question! I'll happily pay 50% more for a 3600 if it means I cross from an unacceptable to an acceptable performance threshold. Gaming is one area where the 3600 would shine. AVX2 is also a big win for the 3600 if it's relevant to your workflow (and if you can keep it cool, ha ha). There's also a reason why I brought up overclocking wrt the 2600, since overclocking does narrow the gap between a 2600 and a 3600 somewhat, but it also potentially hurts the price/performance ratio of the 2600 since you will probably need an aftermarket HSF to do so.

The 3600 beats the 2700x in gaming. It's worth it over the 2600.

This scenario represents one area where the 3600 would be the better chip, hands down. We don't know if the OP wants to game on his 2600/3600.

 

[bononos]

Really depends on what you are doing with your PC. A 3600 is a big leap in performance. A 2600 can be overclocked some, though. For the tweaker out there that wants to play with cheap hardware, B350/B450 + 2600 is not a terrible deal. Also depends on whether you already have one or more HSFs lying around that you can put on your chip. Actually scratch that, I would want aftermarket for an OCed 2600 or a stock 3600 since that stock cooler for the 3600 is so bad.

Any recommendations for B450 motherboards?, not overclocking, looking at the best bang/buck, hopefully something with better cooler running VRMs.

I'm leaning towards the 3600 because it looks good for gaming for not a whole lot more money.

Reading the builders thread now and its going to take a while..

 

[DrMrLordX]

Any recommendations for B450 motherboards?, not overclocking, looking at the best bang/buck, hopefully something with better cooler running VRMs.

I hesitate to recommend the MSI MAX boards since I've heard of a few users having issues with flaky UEFI updates on those. The gimmick behind those boards is pretty sound, though: they have larger firmware ROM chips to accommodate larger UEFI files. If all you're looking at is stock operation of a 2600 or 3600, though, then VRMs are not your primary concern. You'll draw so little power that they will likely never heat up.

In any case, the MSI MAX boards are going to have a UEFI in them that recognizes a 3600 (older B450s might not). You can get the Gaming Plus MAX for around $100, or the Pro M-2 for around $75. I'd look at those and maybe read some user reviews or look for some threads about those boards on OCN to see what you think of them. In fact, let's see if I can find some threads for you:

MSI b450 and X470 budget boards thread.

www.overclock.net

That's the closest I could find. But you could try asking some questions about the cheaper MSI MAX boards there and see what they have to say about them. B450 Mortar MAX seems to be sold out right now. Good luck finding one of those. They're around $170 on eBay. Totally not worth it.

Anyway you might also find some decent ASRock B450 boards. I'm pretty sure the B450 Steel Legend is decent, and you might even get away with a PRO4 since all you're looking at is a 2600 or 3600 with no OC. Just be sure it has the features that you want, and be aware that these boards may have smaller firmware ROMs so that ASRock may have made some compromises in getting newer UEFI revisions that support more chips to fit in those ROMs (like losing mouse support in the UEFI menu and crap like that). It's worth it to do your research on subjects like that before you buy. And be sure you know what UEFI version is on your board before you buy it, since older B450 boards (basically the entire ASRock lineup) may have pre-Matisse UEFI revisions loaded on them.

 

[Jimzz]

Depends on what prices you see. I was looking at the 3600 but went with the 2700x since I could get it for $130 with $30 the board near me. $185 for a B450 board and 2700x I could not pass that up.

The 3600x was onsale for $199 and the 3600 was $175 as well recently.

 

[bononos]

I hesitate to recommend the MSI MAX boards since I've heard of a few users having issues with flaky UEFI updates on those. The gimmick behind those boards is pretty sound, though: they have larger firmware ROM chips to accommodate larger UEFI files. If all you're looking at is stock operation of a 2600 or 3600, though, then VRMs are not your primary concern. You'll draw so little power that they will likely never heat up.
........

Yeah but I was thinking of getting a better board so I could upgrade the cpu in future. I looked up the VRM motherboard lists and found that it was still updated, great resource.

www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/c7qj5e/am4_vcore_vrm_ratings_to_help_you_decide_on_a/

www.hardwareluxx.de/community/f12/pga-am4-mainboard-vrm-liste-1155146.html

 

[maddogmcgee]

Yeah but I was thinking of getting a better board so I could upgrade the cpu in future. I looked up the VRM motherboard lists and found that it was still updated, great resource.

www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/c7qj5e/am4_vcore_vrm_ratings_to_help_you_decide_on_a/

www.hardwareluxx.de/community/f12/pga-am4-mainboard-vrm-liste-1155146.html

I was one of the people complaining about the MSI Tomahawk a few months ago. IT was pretty bad at release. All my issues seem to have been fixed with bios updates though so i am now happy enough with the board.

Edit: no idea about the max, I had the regular version.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Yeah but I was thinking of getting a better board so I could upgrade the cpu in future. I looked up the VRM motherboard lists and found that it was still updated, great resource.

Ahhh then it's a matter of what you want to put into the board in the future. I'm not sure how many B450 boards are out there that could do very well with a 3900x or 3950x. There may be some . . . just not 100% sold on the idea that I'd want to recommend it to someone.

edit: but if you aren't overclocking in the future, I think B450 would be adequate for 3700x or 3800x at least, if you stay away from the bargain-basement 4+3 phase boards.