1440p gaming - AMD vs AMD vs Intel

[Bugses]

Trying to build myself a new system, but having a hard time deciding between CPUs since I don't know enough about it. 

I play in 1440p on a gsync monitor. Current system is a 5820K and 1070. Trying to decide between these CPUs:

3600

3600X

3700X

9700K

What would you choose if you used your computer for 90% gaming? The CPU is gonna be paired with a 2070 Super.

[Origami Cactus]

3600x or 3700x.

 

I personally would go with the 3700x because next gens consoles will use it, so for gaming it would be a safe bet. But depending on game optimization the 3600x will be probably also fine.

[Bugses]

Quote

next gens consoles will use it

I have seen that argument a few places, but what does that have to do with PC gaming? 

[Mathieu9836]

I will had the 2700 because they are very cheap these days, the 3600 and 2700 are well enough for 1440 gaming, the 2700 have 2 more cores then the 3600.

Edit: the 2700 and 3600 get the same kind of FPS in game, while the 3600 perform better in close scene, the 2700 get more fps in open environement.

[trevb0t]

6 minutes ago, Bugses said:

Trying to build myself a new system, but having a hard time deciding between CPUs since I don't know enough about it. 

I play in 1440p on a gsync monitor. Current system is a 5820K and 1070. Trying to decide between these CPUs:

3600

3600X

3700X

9700K

What would you choose if you used your computer for 90% gaming? The CPU is gonna be paired with a 2070 Super.

The 3600 would certainly be capable. I would rule out the 3600X, because... You can just overclock the 3600 if you want those extra few mhz.

In my mind, the 3700X is more or less a perfect mix of value and performance, so if it fit in the budget, I'd grab that myself.

The 9700K will perform admirably, but if you ever plan to stream/record/edit any footage, etc. the 3700X just makes so much more sense.

[Vortex88]

I just put a computer together that will be used primarily for gaming, and I went with a 3700X. If you want to save some money though, the common consensus seems to be that the 3600 is a great value for a gaming processor. I personally just wanted more cores. I don't necessarily need more cores, but I like the idea of having more for the future.

 

The 9700K seems to be the absolute best for gaming right now, but there is some speculation that you may see performance degradation over time due to intel updates designed to minimize or get rid of hardware vulnerabilities like meltdown and specter. It seems we keep hearing more and more about hardware vulnerabilities with Intel, but at the same time you'll probably never run into one. Not to mention, that you may see games start to utilize more and more threads now that AMD has released their 3000 series and now that AMD is going to be designing processors for the consoles.

 

This is all speculation though. For right now, the 9700K is the absolute best for gaming unless you're going with the 9900K. Otherwise, the 3600 is a great gaming CPU, and the 3700X doesn't build on gaming performance very much at all over the 3600. It's possible these dynamics can change over time, but it's definitely not a sure thing.

 

I personally went with the 3700X because I feel like it's a little more future proof, if there ever was such a thing, than the 3600, and it seems like every day that goes by we hear about another Intel hardware vulnerability. Not to mention that I'd rather support AMD right now, because Intel has been resting on its laurels for about a decade, just churning out CPU's with relatively little performance gain over the last generation. Intel just hasn't been innovating, so I'm kind of mad about that. I'd rather give my money to the company that is actually innovating.

 

Again though, that's all personal preference. If you're not getting the 9700K, the CPU that makes the most sense right now would be the 3600. Don't bother wasting your money on the 3600X either. There's virtually no difference between the 3600 and 3600X other than the price and name.

[Princess Luna]

16 minutes ago, Bugses said:

What would you choose if you used your computer for 90% gaming? The CPU is gonna be paired with a 2070 Super.

I would do the obvious choice here since this is a gaming specific system.

 

Keep the i7 5820K and replace the 1070 for the best video card you can afford which hopefully is the 2080 Ti specially if your focus is eye candy on single player games.

[Mathieu9836]

1 minute ago, Princess Luna said:

I would do the obvious choice here since this is a gaming specific system.

 

Keep the i7 5820K and replace the 1070 for the best video card you can afford which hopefully is the 2080 Ti specially if your focus is eye candy on single player games.

This. I would not upgrade your cpu just cause, get a better GPU and increase resolution.

[Vortex88]

10 minutes ago, Bugses said:

I have seen that argument a few places, but what does that have to do with PC gaming? 

It matters because a lot of PC games are just ports from console games. If you have similar hardware to what the consoles are going to be built on, then they'll likely run better. Now, I haven't heard anything about the consoles using the 3700X specifically, but you may still see better performance and any AMD CPU in future games just because the CPU architecture is similar.Again though, that's speculation and remains to be seen.

[Origami Cactus]

14 minutes ago, Bugses said:

I have seen that argument a few places, but what does that have to do with PC gaming? 

Unless you only play indie games and some fps games, it matters.

AAA games are developed for console, and then ported to pc. So the next gen open-world games for example will probably finally take proper use of all 16 threads of the cpu.

[Vishera]

The CPU you already have is good enough,

Buy a better GPU.

[Bugses]

I get why some of you are saying that I should just get a better GPU and leave my CPU alone. The thing is though, and I didnt put that in my OP, is that my current system would go to my gf, as her 3570K and R9 290 isnt really cutting it anymore. Plus I would use her old system as my Plex server. Thats the reason behind I want to change my whole system, as I would be able to check a lot of boxes at the same time.

[Mathieu9836]

Very few games use multiple cores and thread yet, so i doubt that within 1-2 years the next games will use more than 4 cores and 8 threads. There is no such thing as futur proofing, IMO futur proofing is a waste of money. Get what you need now and the hardware you will ''need'' later will be probably cheaper than you can get now.

[Mathieu9836]

1 minute ago, Bugses said:

I get why some of you are saying that I should just get a better GPU and leave my CPU alone. The thing is though, and I didnt put that in my OP, is that my current system would go to my gf, as her 3570K and R9 290 isnt really cutting it anymore. Plus I would use her old system as my Plex server. Thats the reason behind I want to change my whole system, as I would be able to check a lot of boxes at the same time.

Then i would buy a good motherboard ( B450\X470 with good VRMs or X570) get some faster RAM (around 3600mhz) and then buy a cheap 3600 CPU, the next gen Ryzen will be faster ( i hope) and you will be able to see if you need to change for more cores or keep the CPU you will be running, plus, the 3700X will be cheaper or maybe the 4700X will be way faster if you really need it.

[trevb0t]

32 minutes ago, Bugses said:

I have seen that argument a few places, but what does that have to do with PC gaming? 

Games are being made to adhere to console technology (which is common.)

 

31 minutes ago, Mathieu9836 said:

I will had the 2700 because they are very cheap these days, the 3600 and 2700 are well enough for 1440 gaming, the 2700 have 2 more cores then the 3600.

The 3600 is still a better buy. It beats even an overclocked 2700 in both gaming and most processes.

[Princess Luna]

11 minutes ago, Bugses said:

.

Oh that explains it, then either get the i7 9700KF if you want maximum gaming performance or the Ryzen 5 3600 since it is good enough for gaming and the 3700X does not increase gaming performance and even if in 2021~ when next next consoles happen and games start using 8 cores (have in mind *today* consoles already are octa-cores) then just upgrade the fairly cheap R5 3600 to something better.

 

It is a better path save now with the R5 3600 and just get a Zen 3 or whatever when you need it than get a 3700X with the promise it will matter someday... someday where there will be better octa-core processors on the market either ways.

 

Or like said if you got $ and want maximum fps you can get across the board then a 5ghz i7 9700KF it is.

[Mathieu9836]

Just now, trevb0t said:

The 3600 is still a better buy. It beats even an overclocked 2700 in both gaming and most processes.

I watched several benchs and both CPU average the same FPS in games. You get higher 1% lows with the 3600 until you get into open game environment, then the 3600 get lower then the 2700. But in close environment the 3600x get around 3-4% higher fps which is close to margin of error.

[Zberg]

2 hours ago, Princess Luna said:

I would do the obvious choice here since this is a gaming specific system.

 

Keep the i7 5820K and replace the 1070 for the best video card you can afford which hopefully is the 2080 Ti specially if your focus is eye candy on single player games.

This gal has a good point.  If you are looking at a mostly gaming PC, game at 1440p or 4k and grab the best GPU you can get your hands on.  At higher rez the CPU matters less, and honestly the whole lot of them at the top end (3600, 3700x, 3900x, 9900k, 9700k) tend to basically level out at 4k where its all GPU dependent.