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CPU for best value (gaming and 3d modeling)

Hello. I've been in the market for a new CPU recently, as I have been getting into 3d modeling and I believe that my current i3-6100 will eventually need to be replaced anyway for better performance. Specifically, I've been trying to get a decent mid-range CPU for around 100-200 USD. I boiled my options down to these CPUs: Ryzen 5 2600, Ryzen 5 2600X, i5 9400F. I have no idea which one I should buy, as they all cost around the same. Keep in mind I am using this PC for gaming as well.

 

So, which one do you think I should choose? I am open to other suggestions for what I should get, preferably CPUs that are affordable.

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The R5 3600 with a B450

Personal Desktop":

CPU: Intel Core i7 10700K @5ghz |~| Cooling: bq! Dark Rock Pro 4 |~| MOBO: Gigabyte Z490UD ATX|~| RAM: 16gb DDR4 3333mhzCL16 G.Skill Trident Z |~| GPU: RX 6900XT Sapphire Nitro+ |~| PSU: Corsair TX650M 80Plus Gold |~| Boot:  SSD WD Green M.2 2280 240GB |~| Storage: 1x3TB HDD 7200rpm Seagate Barracuda + SanDisk Ultra 3D 1TB |~| Case: Fractal Design Meshify C Mini |~| Display: Toshiba UL7A 4K/60hz |~| OS: Windows 10 Pro.

Luna, the temporary Desktop:

CPU: AMD R9 7950XT  |~| Cooling: bq! Dark Rock 4 Pro |~| MOBO: Gigabyte Aorus Master |~| RAM: 32G Kingston HyperX |~| GPU: AMD Radeon RX 7900XTX (Reference) |~| PSU: Corsair HX1000 80+ Platinum |~| Windows Boot Drive: 2x 512GB (1TB total) Plextor SATA SSD (RAID0 volume) |~| Linux Boot Drive: 500GB Kingston A2000 |~| Storage: 4TB WD Black HDD |~| Case: Cooler Master Silencio S600 |~| Display 1 (leftmost): Eizo (unknown model) 1920x1080 IPS @ 60Hz|~| Display 2 (center): BenQ ZOWIE XL2540 1920x1080 TN @ 240Hz |~| Display 3 (rightmost): Wacom Cintiq Pro 24 3840x2160 IPS @ 60Hz 10-bit |~| OS: Windows 10 Pro (games / art) + Linux (distro: NixOS; programming and daily driver)
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If you can get a R5 3600 and a B450 board that has the correct BIOS to run it out of the box then you should definitely get one. It's an absolutely amazing CPU at it's price point. Depending on where you buy the motherboard from they might update the BIOS for you before the board is shipped. It'll come with a Ryzen 3000 series ready sticker on the box. 

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1 minute ago, Squibbies18 said:

If you can get a R5 3600 and a B450 board that has the correct BIOS to run it out of the box then you should definitely get one. It's an absolutely amazing CPU at it's price point. Depending on where you buy the motherboard from they might update the BIOS for you before the board is shipped. It'll come with a Ryzen 3000 series ready sticker on the box. 

Or, if he gets a B450 Tomahawk, he can use the BIOS flashback to update it himself :)

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Just now, Squibbies18 said:

Even better, btw I like your profile pic xD 

Hah, thanks :D - I wonder where it could've come from :P

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Thank you for all the replies! I'll consider getting a 3600 then.?

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1 hour ago, 5x5 said:

Or, if he gets a B450 Tomahawk, he can use the BIOS flashback to update it himself :)

Thank you for mentioning a motherboard, as I was going to buy a new motherboard as well. What features does this one have that makes it special? I looked at the price, and it seems a bit expensive.

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42 minutes ago, LaggyTech567 said:

Thank you for mentioning a motherboard, as I was going to buy a new motherboard as well. What features does this one have that makes it special? I looked at the price, and it seems a bit expensive.

It has a beefy VRM setup for the price and can easily power a future upgrade to 12 or more cores. 

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1 hour ago, 5x5 said:

It has a beefy VRM setup for the price and can easily power a future upgrade to 12 or more cores. 

Wow! I guess I'll get that one then.

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I just found a deal on Amazon: an i5 9600k for $220. Should I still get the Ryzen?

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10 hours ago, LaggyTech567 said:

I just found a deal on Amazon: an i5 9600k for $220. Should I still get the Ryzen?

Yes, it's more powerful that the 9600K. The 3600 also uses less power, runs cooler and doesn't suffer from the security flaws in Intel cpus that keep getting discovered these days

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11 hours ago, 5x5 said:

It has a beefy VRM setup for the price and can easily power a future upgrade to 12 or more cores. 

I just realized that the i5-9600K does not come with a cooler. If I were to overclock the Ryzen, would I still need to buy a new cooler anyway?

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2 minutes ago, LaggyTech567 said:

I just realized that the i5-9600K does not come with a cooler. If I were to overclock the Ryzen, would I still need to buy a new cooler anyway?

If you want to do overclocking yes, a good 30$ cooler would be ideal. But the OC headroom isn't that big, you will get more performance out of tightening memory timings that overclocking the core muktipliert

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Just now, 5x5 said:

Yes, it's more powerful that the 9600K. The 3600 also uses less power, runs cooler and doesn't suffer from the security flaws in Intel cpus that keep getting discovered these days

Okay. I checked geekbench, and the Ryzen has a higher multi core score while the I Intel has a higher single core score. Also, according to userbenchmark, the Ryzen has a higher percentage for "workstation." Third means that the i5 probably is better than the Ryzen for gaming, while the Ryzen is better for 3d modeling, correct?

 

Also, I have 2400 mhz ram. How will that affect the performance of the Intel and the Ryzen?

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35 minutes ago, LaggyTech567 said:

Okay. I checked geekbench, and the Ryzen has a higher multi core score while the I Intel has a higher single core score. Also, according to userbenchmark, the Ryzen has a higher percentage for "workstation." Third means that the i5 probably is better than the Ryzen for gaming, while the Ryzen is better for 3d modeling, correct?

 

Also, I have 2400 mhz ram. How will that affect the performance of the Intel and the Ryzen?

No, user benchmarks is a horrible source akin to the meme that is GPU Boss. The gaming performance is with 3% of each other depending on the game. Some like Ryzen higher IPC, others like Intels lower latency. For everything other than gaming, the 12 threads of the 3600 make it a good 40% faster

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8 minutes ago, 5x5 said:

No, user benchmarks is a horrible source akin to the meme that is GPU Boss. The gaming performance is with 3% of each other depending on the game. Some like Ryzen higher IPC, others like Intels lower latency. For everything other than gaming, the 12 threads of the 3600 make it a good 40% faster

Sorry, I would like to ask where you got that 40 percent statistic from? I apologize if it feels like I'm wasting your time or if I'm being rude, I'm just worried that you might be someone that's payed by AMD or is an employee for AMD.

 

Also, my ram speed is 2400 mhz. Will that make a significant performance decrease if I use the Ryzen?

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2 minutes ago, LaggyTech567 said:

I apologize if I feel like I'm being rude. ?

I can assure you he's not paid by amd lol, they probably wouldn't even bother going in a forum and i've seen him answer non amd related posts. The great improvement in terms of productivity comes from the fact that the 3600 has smt enabled, which gives him 12 threads contrary to the i5's 6 threads. And productivity workloads usually love these sweet threads

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5 minutes ago, LaggyTech567 said:

Sorry, I would like to ask where you got that 40 percent statistic from? I apologize if it feels like I'm wasting your time or if I'm being rude, I'm just worried that you might be someone that's payed by AMD or is an employee for AMD.

 

Also, my ram speed is 2400 mhz. Will that make a significant performance decrease if I use the Ryzen?

Don't worry. You're not being rude, just cautious. 

 

To ease your fear, I am not an AMD employee, I'd have a industry affiliate tag if I were from any tech company. 

 

The RAM is a tad slow for modern cpus but it will work fine. 

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6 minutes ago, LaggyTech567 said:

Sorry, I would like to ask where you got that 40 percent statistic from? I apologize if it feels like I'm wasting your time or if I'm being rude, I'm just worried that you might be someone that's payed by AMD or is an employee for AMD.

  

Also, my ram speed is 2400 mhz. Will that make a significant performance decrease if I use the Ryzen?

and the ram speed could decrease its performance by a bit, but you can do some tinkering and get great performance anyways

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15 minutes ago, Epimetheus said:

I can assure you he's not paid by amd lol, they probably wouldn't even bother going in a forum and i've seen him answer non amd related posts. The great improvement in terms of productivity comes from the fact that the 3600 has smt enabled, which gives him 12 threads contrary to the i5's 6 threads. And productivity workloads usually love these sweet threads

 

14 minutes ago, 5x5 said:

Don't worry. You're not being rude, just cautious. 

 

To ease your fear, I am not an AMD employee, I'd have a industry affiliate tag if I were from any tech company. 

 

The RAM is a tad slow for modern cpus but it will work fine. 

Phew. So is the Ryzen's "40%" increase in performance come from the fact that is has 12 threads? I trust that you're not an AMD employee, I'm just asking where that fact came from so that I can fact-check it. I'm not doubting you or anything, I'm just saying.

 

I think I'll be getting the Ryzen then, as it is cheaper and seems to be a better value compared to the i5. I never expected this many replies this quickly. Thank you for all your support!

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24 minutes ago, LaggyTech567 said:

 

Phew. So is the Ryzen's "40%" increase in performance come from the fact that is has 12 threads? I trust that you're not an AMD employee, I'm just asking where that fact came from so that I can fact-check it. I'm not doubting you or anything, I'm just saying.

 

I think I'll be getting the Ryzen then, as it is cheaper and seems to be a better value compared to the i5. I never expected this many replies this quickly. Thank you for all your support!

The extra threads means the cpu can handle more work per core in multi threaded applications. For example, streaming, heavy multi tasking, rendering, editing, cad and etc. It's the reason why people buy hyper threaded Intel cpus, it's the same situation. 

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