Which CPU is better?

[Jasonfts]

I've been saving up for a while now and I can finally afford a decent build, however I'm not sure which CPU to pick. So my choice is between the Ryzen 3 3300X and Ryzen 5 1600 AF. 

I'm not sure which one to pick since they each have their own advantages so I would like a second opinion on what to choose.

I'll be using it for gaming (GTA5, DOOM, some newer AAA games if I can), Blender and possibly After Effects so it needs to be able to handle itself good enough. However every comparison video I have seen only tests the 2 CPUs for gaming and completely ignore the productivity side which I'm a bit more interested in. It will be paired with a GTX 1060 3gb for now

 

Also I see a lot of people saying that the 3300X is only good for now and the 1600AF is the better choice for the future, is that true? I wouldn't want to buy a "slower" CPU hoping for it to get better only for it not to.

[Haro]

The 3300x will probably be similar in workloads other than games and will absolutely beat it in games. But in workloads where it's literally just multi threaded. The 3300x won't have a chance. 

6 minutes ago, Jasonfts said:

is that true?

Depends. Games might scale to more then 4 cores and the 1600 af might last longer. But we don't know..

[Grabhanem]

4 minutes ago, Jasonfts said:

I've been saving up for a while now and I can finally afford a decent build, however I'm not sure which CPU to pick. So my choice is between the Ryzen 3 3300X and Ryzen 5 1600 AF. 

I'm not sure which one to pick since they each have their own advantages so I would like a second opinion on what to choose.

I'll be using it for gaming (GTA5, DOOM, some newer AAA games if I can), Blender and possibly After Effects so it needs to be able to handle itself good enough. However every comparison video I have seen only tests the 2 CPUs for gaming and completely ignore the productivity side which I'm a bit more interested in. It will be paired with a GTX 1060 3gb for now

 

Also I see a lot of people saying that the 3300X is only good for now and the 1600AF is the better choice for the future, is that true? I wouldn't want to buy a "slower" CPU hoping for it to get better only for it not to.

Generally the 3300X is a bit better for gaming, the 1600AF is a bit better for productivity.

 

Another consideration is motherboard choice-- 3300X requires a recent bios (either B550 or a MAX board), 1600AF won't run on B550.

[marmour]

If your on the US and want to build now, with the 3300X being out of stock basically everywhere, the decision is made for you

[Jasonfts]

23 minutes ago, Grabhanem said:

Generally the 3300X is a bit better for gaming, the 1600AF is a bit better for productivity.

 

Another consideration is motherboard choice-- 3300X requires a recent bios (either B550 or a MAX board), 1600AF won't run on B550.

I didn't know the 1600 AF doesn't work on B550, thanks for letting me know now I can make a better choice

[Jasonfts]

24 minutes ago, marmour said:

If your on the US and want to build now, with the 3300X being out of stock basically everywhere, the decision is made for you

Luckily I am in a country where stock is not bone dry. Maybe it's because most people already have decent rigs

[Jasonfts]

27 minutes ago, TofuHaroto said:

The 3300x will probably be similar in workloads other than games and will absolutely beat it in games. But in workloads where it's literally just multi threaded. The 3300x won't have a chance. 

Depends. Games might scale to more then 4 cores and the 1600 af might last longer. But we don't know..

I see, so it really depends on whether I'll be gaming more or using other applications. This is a tough choice for me I really want one that can last a few years

[Haro]

1 minute ago, Jasonfts said:

really want one that can last a few years

We don't know how things will scale in the future. The 3300x is better in almost every case. But in workloads that's just purely multi threaded. The 3300x just won't be able to keep up. 

[Haro]

7 minutes ago, comander said:

3600AF

The what now?

 

7 minutes ago, comander said:

MSRP, 120ish

100*

 

8 minutes ago, comander said:

up to 30% better MT performance than the 3300x. 

Depends on the workload. Not all MT threaded workloads will be the same. Some workloads, both cpus will be similar. ( Excluding gaming ). 

[Jasonfts]

9 minutes ago, comander said:

1600AF (original price $85, current price $170ish) - up to 30% better MT performance than the 3300x. 
3300x (original price, $130ish, currently $170ish) - up to 30% better ST/lightly threaded performance than the 1600AF. 
3600AF($170ish) - similar ST performance to the 3300x, up to 30% better MT performance than the 1600AF. 

The 1600AF (not AE) and 3300x are both basically out of stock everywhere. If they aren't out of stock, they're like $50-100 over what they're "supposed to be" and cost more than the 3600. 

As such your options basically become 3100x(110 MSRP, 120ish on newegg) at around the price the 3300x($130MSRP, $170ish online) is supposed to be or the 3600x ($170) which is the best of both worlds.

Unfortunately I'm not around the US, I live in South Africa. I haven't dealt with newegg yet do you think it would ship here?

[Jasonfts]

18 minutes ago, TofuHaroto said:

We don't know how things will scale in the future. The 3300x is better in almost every case. But in workloads that's just purely multi threaded. The 3300x just won't be able to keep up. 

I understand, however would overclocking the 1600 AF close the gap in any significant way when it comes to gaming?

[xg32]

27 minutes ago, Jasonfts said:

.

the 3300x will do better in most titles except the most intensive AAA games, and it also benefit from slightly faster ram, if you plan on going with cheaper ram and want it to last a few years for sure, then the 1600 af might be the better choice, it just has more cores. 

 

1600 af is the safer/cheaper choice while the 3300x is in general faster for now.

 

  

Just now, Jasonfts said:

I understand, however would overclocking the 1600 AF close the gap in any significant way when it comes to gaming?

if u oc both cpus the 3300x is even faster.

[Haro]

Just now, Jasonfts said:

would overclocking the 1600 AF close the gap in any significant way when it comes to gaming?

Ryzen doesn't have a big headroom for overlooking. Doesn't benifit from it a whole lot. And frequency is not the only thing that makes a cpu good or bad. 

[Jasonfts]

Thank you to everyone who replied you have really helped me a lot with this decision. I think I'll go with the Ryzen 5 1600 AF