Cores/Threads/Cache

[DrQuickDroqqed]

Con someone explain what Cores/Threads/Cache do in a cpu and which ones are more important/what I should be looking ofr when buying a cpu

[The_russian]

It depends on what you will be doing with your computer. For gaming, generally higher clocks are better, while for productivity, some programs will benefit more from more cores/threads. 

[Electronics Wizardy]

Normally don't look at specs of a cpu, look at its performance in what you want to do. What do you want your cpu to do?

[Fasauceome]

these components all have definitions you can google. type "what is cache of a CPU" into google and see if it makes sense

 

none of these things are directly important for guessing performance because a CPU that has a ton of cache might be older than a CPU that's got less cache, but the new CPU would likely have better performance. same thing with cores, a super old CPU with a ton of cores can be outperformed by a modern CPU with less cores easily.

[callmejaccob]

Cores and threads are your processing units. More cores, more processing units. Cache is just very fast ram. Generally, Cache is something you don't really worry about as a general consumer. 

 

If gaming, faster cores/threads are better.

If productivity, more cores/threads.

 

Recommendation: Ryzen 5 3600 or i5-9400. 

 

Ryzen 5 3600 is very good in both worlds. If you prefer Intel, i5 is pretty good too.

 

What's your budget and what do you plan on doing?

 

[Dedayog]

Good place to start...

 

https://www.guru99.com/cpu-core-multicore-thread.html

 

Or Youtube as well.

[DrQuickDroqqed]

2 minutes ago, callmejaccob said:

Cores and threads are your processing units. More cores, more processing units. Cache is just very fast ram. Generally, Cache is something you don't really worry about as a general consumer. 

 

If gaming, faster cores/threads are better.

If productivity, more cores/threads.

 

Recommendation: Ryzen 5 3600 or i5-9400. 

 

Ryzen 5 3600 is very good in both worlds. If you prefer Intel, i5 is pretty good too.

 

What's your budget and what do you plan on doing?

 

I was looking at the ryzen 1600 for a balance of productivity and gaming 

[DrQuickDroqqed]

3 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Normally don't look at specs of a cpu, look at its performance in what you want to do. What do you want your cpu to do?

I'm going to both play games, record, sometimes stream, video edit. Looking at a ryzen 5 1600

[Jurrunio]

9 minutes ago, DrQuickDroqqed said:

what I should be looking ofr when buying a cpu

Benchmarks. With benchmarks, you dont even need to know what cores, threads and cache do

[callmejaccob]

Just now, DrQuickDroqqed said:

I was looking at the ryzen 1600 for a balance of productivity and gaming 

Why go with 1st gen ryzen? Why not second or third gen?

[minibois]

8 minutes ago, DrQuickDroqqed said:

Con someone explain what Cores/Threads/Cache do in a cpu and which ones are more important/what I should be looking ofr when buying a cpu

Don't look at individual pieces of a CPU, without looking at the full picture.

 

Cores are the 'brains' of a CPU. If your CPU has a lot of cores, it can do a lot of stuff at once. Some programs use a lot of cores, some only a few.

Threads are like the digital version of cores. A core has 1 thread, or 2 threads if your CPU has Intel Hyperthreading/AMD Simultaneous threading. The same logic as above follows.

Cache is something most people don't have to worry about.

 

What kind of tasks are you going to be doing on your PC? What is your full system budget? I could make some recommendations based upon that.

[DrQuickDroqqed]

1 minute ago, callmejaccob said:

Why go with 1st gen ryzen? Why not second or third gen?

It is because my budget is extremely tight

[DrQuickDroqqed]

I have around 200-250$ for the motherboard, cpu, pwoersupply, and ram. the GPU, case and ssd are already bought.

[DrQuickDroqqed]

1 minute ago, minibois said:

Don't look at individual pieces of a CPU, without looking at the full picture.

 

Cores are the 'brains' of a CPU. If your CPU has a lot of cores, it can do a lot of stuff at once. Some programs use a lot of cores, some only a few.

Threads are like the digital version of cores. A core has 1 thread, or 2 threads if your CPU has Intel Hyperthreading/AMD Simultaneous threading. The same logic as above follows.

Cache is something most people don't have to worry about.

 

What kind of tasks are you going to be doing on your PC? What is your full system budget? I could make some recommendations based upon that.

I have around 200-250$ for the motherboard, cpu, pwoersupply, and ram. the GPU, case and ssd are already bought.

[callmejaccob]

Just now, DrQuickDroqqed said:

I have around 200-250$ for the motherboard, cpu, pwoersupply, and ram. the GPU, case and ssd are already bought.

Uhh, idk chief. I'd save some more money. 

[Aragorn-]

buy the Ryzen 1600AF, they're $85 and are basically a 2600

[minibois]

4 minutes ago, DrQuickDroqqed said:

I have around 200-250$ for the motherboard, cpu, pwoersupply, and ram. the GPU, case and ssd are already bought.

I don't know what you have in terms of videocard, case and SSD (which could in fact alter the other recommendations)

But this:

PCPartPicker Part List

Motherboard: ASRock B450M PRO4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($74.98 @ Amazon) 
Memory: *G.Skill Aegis 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  ($69.99 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: Corsair CX (2017) 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($67.98 @ Amazon) 
Total: $212.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-02-26 13:21 EST-0500

+ one of those elusive 85$ Ryzen 1600 AF CPU's would probably be the cheapest you could get anything when buying new.

If you can't find a 1600AF, a 2600 is also possible.

 

To go under 250 USD, you would have to cut corners somewhere. Going to 8GB of RAM will save about 35 USD, getting a second hand CPU+Mobo+RAM combo is also possible, from someone upgrading perhaps.

[Puffing]

7 minutes ago, DrQuickDroqqed said:

I have around 200-250$ for the motherboard, cpu, pwoersupply, and ram. the GPU, case and ssd are already bought.

Used... generally safe join a community for this and ask lots of questions, and be patient you will get a full pc for that

[DrQuickDroqqed]

3 minutes ago, minibois said:

I don't know what you have in terms of videocard, case and SSD (which could in fact alter the other recommendations)

But this:

PCPartPicker Part List

Motherboard: ASRock B450M PRO4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($74.98 @ Amazon) 
Memory: *G.Skill Aegis 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  ($69.99 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: Corsair CX (2017) 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($67.98 @ Amazon) 
Total: $212.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-02-26 13:21 EST-0500

+ one of those elusive 85$ Ryzen 1600 AF CPU's would probably be the cheapest you could get anything when buying new.

If you can't find a 1600AF, a 2600 is also possible.

 

To go under 250 USD, you would have to cut corners somewhere. Going to 8GB of RAM will save about 35 USD, getting a second hand CPU+Mobo+RAM combo is also possible, from someone upgrading perhaps.

I am probably going to buy a powersupply for around 25$ for midweek madness which would cut 40$ giving my just enough space to fit the ryzen cpu for 85$

[porina]

7 minutes ago, DrQuickDroqqed said:

It is because my budget is extremely tight

Kinda could guess that part. I suppose then the question is, could you do any better for similar or less money? Probably not. At least with a system built around a 1600 you have easier future upgrade potential should you have more cash to spend. When I had one there was some give and take against Intel quad cores at the time. The more cores offsets the lower clock and overall efficiency in some workloads but not others. An overclock could help a bit. At least the coolers they were bundled then with didn't suck as bad as they do now.

 

3 minutes ago, Puffing said:

Used... generally safe join a community for this and ask lots of questions, and be patient you will get a full pc for that

That's my next thought. I had given away a 1600 in the past as it was essentially junk to me once Zen 2 came out. If others have also upgraded, there might be some bargains out there for used 1st gen Ryzen CPUs or even 2nd gen if you're looking in the right place at the right time.

[minibois]

1 minute ago, DrQuickDroqqed said:

I am probably going to buy a powersupply for around 25$ for midweek madness which would cut 40$ giving my just enough space to fit the ryzen cpu for 85$

??? What PSU did you find for 25$ ?

Keep in mind a PSU is the part in your PC that gives every components its power. Of course price is not an indication for quality, but I find it doubtful you can find a good quality power supply for 25 USD.