Which Ryzen CPU should I buy?

[Compnewbie01]

I am coming from a i5-2500K and want to spend ~$200 but am on the fence about going up to the 8-core $320 CPU. I don't know how much benefit I would actually receive from more cores. 4 vs 6 vs 8 is confusing me. I generally use my computer for light gaming and browsing/work/school. Basically I want something that will not be slow in 4 years but does not need to be ridiculously fast. Which of the Ryzen CPUs is likely to be considered the best performance per dollar?

 

[Crono]

Without overclocking, the 1700 is likely to be the best performance per dollar out of the Ryzen 7 tier.

Only Ryzen 7 is released, Ryzen 5 and 3 - which would be within your $200 budget - are not available yet. If you can wait and want to save money and stretch your dollar, I'd wait for the 5 and 3 chips to arrive, as well as more motherboard availability (no ITX yet makes Crono a sad panda ).

For gaming, I'd still look at a Kaby Lake i5 (i5-7600K) as being good value under $250 if you plan on building a system right away. More games take advantage of higher max clock speeds than they do more (>4) cores, so the i5 is still relevant at the moment. But we might see price drops when Ryzen 3/5 are released, so waiting is probably the best move if you are looking for midrange value either from AMD or Intel.

The 1400X is what I'd keep an eye out for if you do wait, though I'd love to see gaming benchmarks for the slightly higher priced 6 core processors above it (1500 and 1600X). More cores and threads should prove to be advantageous as more games take advantage of them in the future... one hopes.

But basically I'm saying to wait.

Wait for benchmarks specific to the games you play or plan on playing, and overclocking results that get reported here and elsewhere if you plan on OCing, at the very least. Right now rushing to get a Ryzen 7 chip makes more sense for those who can use 8 cores/16 threads well (e.g. for video editing and encoding, heavy multitasking, virtualization and home servers, etc), and die-hard AMD enthusiasts.

 

[richaron]

In what way is your current CPU holding you back?

 

[flash-gordon]

At this price your only option is the R7 1700.

It will be a monster upgrade with a reduction in power consumption.

 

[Valantar]

I am coming from a i5-2500K and want to spend ~$200 but am on the fence about going up to the 8-core $320 CPU. I don't know how much benefit I would actually receive from more cores. 4 vs 6 vs 8 is confusing me. I generally use my computer for light gaming and browsing/work/school. Basically I want something that will not be slow in 4 years but does not need to be ridiculously fast. Which of the Ryzen CPUs is likely to be considered the best performance per dollar?

For that kind of usage, wait for Ryzen 3 and 5. You do not, in any way, shape or form, need an 8 core, 16 thread CPU for "light gaming and browsing/work/school" (unless that work/school is all video editing), even in 4+ years. I'd say 6c12t would still be overkill, but at least closer to your budget. Wait it out.

 

[beginner99]

With the workload specified your 2500k should be more than fine. Maybe optimze it's OC as a first step. Is it OCed at all?

 

[Mopetar]

Might want to wait for the R5 CPUs to come out. They said Q2, which could mean only about a month wait, or it would be closer to 4 at the extreme end. However, the 6C/12T chips will be closer to your price range ($230 - $260 were the rumored prices) and as other posters have pointed out, even that might be overkill for what you're doing. Might even be a better bet to hold off until Zen+ or Intel's 10 nm chips.

 

[unseenmorbidity]

The ryzen 1600x is going to be clocked at 4 ghz, but it won't release until some time in Q2. Rumors say April to be more specific. That's likely your best bang for your buck for gaming.

 

[IEC]

R5 1600X will have 4GHz turbo and is expected to be around $259. Q2 so April at earliest. That would be the most "future proof"* mid range option.

>4 cores already wins in gaming:
https://www.computerbase.de/2017-02...-test/#abschnitt_performancerating_in_full_hd

*Wait for independent reviews and benchmarks if you're an eternal pessimist.

 

[Phynaz]

How can anyone tell you which CPU to buy when they haven't even been released yet? There's not a single independent review available.

 

[unseenmorbidity]

How can anyone tell you which CPU to buy when they haven't even been released yet? There's not a single independent review available.

Plenty of dependent reviews and independent leaks though.

1600x

 

[Phynaz]

Plenty of dependent reviews and independent leaks though.

1600x

Which means bunk.

 

[Insomniator]

Probably none of them, your Sandy is fine for those applications.

 

[whm1974]

Probably none of them, your Sandy is fine for those applications.

I have the same issue. My i5-4670 is good enough that I can't justify building another rig.

 

[unseenmorbidity]

Probably none of them, your Sandy is fine for those applications.

Sandy i5 is okay, if you OC the crap out of it, and even then it will still bottleneck a little.

 

[Insomniator]

Sandy i5 is okay, if you OC the crap out of it, and even then it will still bottleneck a little.

Not for light gaming and homework as mentioned by OP. Plus we don't even know his GPU. If its blizzard games at 1080p then he won't need to be upgrading.

If you really just want a new system for the hell of it, yeah wait for the 1600 to come out.

 

[IEC]

How can anyone tell you which CPU to buy when they haven't even been released yet? There's not a single independent review available.

I edited my post and added a qualifier just for you.

 

[Compnewbie01]

Thanks for replies. I know this is probably overkill for me but I usually spend a couple hundred over my budget anyway so going to a $300 cpu is likely to happen. Researching parts and building is fun for me so that is the main reason I'm building. Also my old computer will be given to a family member so I don't want to reuse anything. My main interest in Ryzen is that it is the new thing and so far people here seem to lean towards it for new builds. Lastly if it matters, I'll be buying a 480 gpu for this new build.

 

[Absolute0]

Thanks for replies. I know this is probably overkill for me but I usually spend a couple hundred over my budget anyway so going to a $300 cpu is likely to happen. Researching parts and building is fun for me so that is the main reason I'm building. Also my old computer will be given to a family member so I don't want to reuse anything. My main interest in Ryzen is that it is the new thing and so far people here seem to lean towards it for new builds. Lastly if it matters, I'll be buying a 480 gpu for this new build.

It's pretty understandable. I get the bug to build whenever I see new hardware, because it's fun, not because I need it lol.

Honestly the Ryzen 1600X looks like the sweet spot for most users like you. 6C12T is plenty to last quite a few years I think, and it rocks higher clocks so while you can OC, it's not really required to get great performance.

Most people I know couldn't fully utilize 4C4T if their life depended on it... I think 12T from the 1600X is futureproofing at a good price, and plenty sufficient for light gaming + general use for sure .

 

[dlerious]

I just did some looking because I was seriously thinking about pre-ordering the 1800X. Tiger Direct was the only one that had it listed as available (that I could find). Had it in my cart, ready to click purchase now, but didn't pull the trigger - almost $16 for shipping (3-7 days) and over $30 for tax ( main reason I passed, not paying tax on shipping). I did an auto-notify with Newegg.

I will pick up the CPU, but I'm holding off on the motherboard until I see reviews. I'm not too keen on buying revision 1.0 boards for a new architecture.

 

[Madpacket]

One benefit of extra cores is as adoption goes mainstream, there's more incentive for software devs to code for them.

Chicken and egg scenario but if Ryzen is as disruptive as it appears Intel will be forced into a position of offering more cores and virtual threads at lower prices.

This is good for everyone.

If I were buying new today the regular 65W Ryzen 1700 8 core / 8 thread looks to be an insane value. I would pick that up and enjoy a processor that'll likely last as long a your 2500K did. Intel's been milking us for far too long (your 2500K is proof of this) due to lack of competition.

Sure the extra cores may get little use right now now but you'll benefit immediately from a modern chipset and power consumption and over time it'll age like fine wine. The chip is cheap enough to consider this as an option. No silly Intel pricing here for 6+ cores speaking of which If I didn't already have an X99/5930K I would be all over Ryzen.

 

[CHADBOGA]

I don't feel the need to upgrade so I won't be doing so for a few more years yet I suspect, but if 8 core is not much more than 6 core and you don't have to suffer a significant single core performance loss in choosing between 6 & 8 cores, then I would almost certainly go for the 8 core.

 

[railroadmaster]

I'd go with the Ryzen 1700(non x) and get a water cooler like the Corsair H60. Overclock for better performance. You get a cooler system than you would with the 1700x or 1800x and you achieve similar performance.

 

[Dresdenboy]

I don't feel the need to upgrade so I won't be doing so for a few more years yet I suspect, but if 8 core is not much more than 6 core and you don't have to suffer a significant single core performance loss in choosing between 6 & 8 cores, then I would almost certainly go for the 8 core.

I hope, the scalability of the cores and probably some x86 core heterogenity (few big + many small ones as promised in the past) will help achieving that goal - at least preserving ST perf, while adding MT perf.

One thought about multithreaded applications: Many of them scale very well and so do the amounts of processed data. Thus the number of cores and their parallel throughput likely will grow faster than during the last years, as this became another dimension in CPU performance.

P.S.: Nice quote!

 

[Madpacket]

Also I think I saw an demo slide that showed individual core overclocking? Unless this is specific to a certain chipset or the higher priced chips you could always bump a couple cores up to 4+Ghz for games that benefit from higher clocks (MOBA's, MMO's etc). Heck pick the 2 best cores from the 8 available and have at it. That's another reason to pick the 8 core over 6 core better chance at finding two good cores.