Ryzen 5 2600 Vs i5-9400f gaming

[unoit]

So my nephew is looking to getting into PC gaming.

Yes 11 year-old that thinks RGB increases performance.

 

However I am confused as whether to take a Ryzen 5 2600 or i5-9400f. I think I will pair it with a 1660 super and I expect him to mostly use it for Fortnite and esport titles and watch YouTube and streams.

 

The thing is, is it better going for the single thread performance of the Intel or is the Ryzen 5 2600 as good as people keep saying - or is it more a price to performance? 

[Daniel Z.]

Neither, get the newer 3600. It’s not much more and it’s significantly better than the chips you named

[Otto_iii]

If it has to be one of those two and you have no plan to upgrade, 9400f is better for gaming, definitely.

With 2600 the socket "AM4" still has support for next generation, CPUs that aren't even out (Ryzen 4000 Desktop CPUs/ "Zen3"), so you could go for that if he or you plan to upgrade the computer in a year or two.  Most people will tell you, and for good reason, to just go with 3600 as its best of both worlds for gaming and multi-threaded work, but understandable if 120$ is your hard cap for CPU price.  If hes just going to game, and you don't plan to work on or upgrade it with him in the future, nothing wrong with the 9400f if it and its motherboard are right price. 

1660 Super should be good card to pair any of those with so sounds good.

[GoldenLag]

R5 2600. Consistantly good performance, and you dont run into titles where a lack of threads leads to lower 1% lows. 

 

There are also plenty of good motherboards to pair it with

[hsdjfh]

2600, every time. More threads, better cooler, better platform with a better upgrade path. It's also unlocked, so you can probably overclock it past the 9400f anyway.