Ryzen 1600 vs Core i5-8400 builds

[nicolas2465]

Here are two modest gaming builds I built on PC part picker.  I am considering both for my build next year.  I mostly play MMO's and RPGs like WoW and dark souls, sometimes running two games at once and with chrome always in the background.  The games I play are mostly single-threaded focused so I'm considering Intel at this point.

 

Ignoring the hard drive (can always be changed), what do you think of both builds?  Any recommendations?  What do you think I should choose for my use, ryzen or coffee lake?

 

Intel Build: https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/9Knr4C

Ryzen build: https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/dXCsTH

[Belgarathian]

Interesting. Using DDR4-2400 and CPU at stock speeds, the i5 would be the better pick. But with the DDR4-3000, and OC potential of Ryzen, I'd have to think the scores would be close for single thread performance. 

 

Multithreaded workloads the Ryzen will run away. 

[Misanthrope]

Honestly these are fairly equal in performance outside of gaming and even inside gaming the 8400 wins but not by that much. Right now I like the 8400 because with the money you save on the CPU you get a better motherboard with a z370 one vs the 1600 that would need a far cheaper B350 board before it's price goes over that of the 8400 + mobo combo. Ryzen might have a slight edge in productivity due to SMT (6 cores 12 threads vs 6/6) but nothing to lose sleep about: maybe 1 or 2 minutes on some render tasks at the very top if that.

 

BTW you're not gonna need that Evo cooler for the 8400 the stock one will do since you won't overcock.

[ARikozuM]

1 minute ago, Belgarathian said:

Interesting. Using DDR4-2400 and CPU at stock speeds, the i5 would be the better pick. But with the DDR4-3000, and OC potential of Ryzen, I'd have to think the scores would be close for single thread performance. 

The 8400 pulls away from the 1600 in nearly all scenarios including productivity when everything else is the same.

[Belgarathian]

Just now, ARikozuM said:

The 8400 pulls away from the 1600 in nearly all scenarios including productivity when everything else is the same.

Isn't that what I said? 

 

Hence the 4GHz potential OC with Ryzen and 3000Mhz RAM would help Ryzen a lot. That said, does the i5-8400 hold the 4GHz turbo on all cores with a 240mm AIO? 

[Misanthrope]

Just now, Belgarathian said:

Isn't that what I said? 

 

Hence the 4GHz potential OC with Ryzen and 3000Mhz RAM would help Ryzen a lot. That said, does the i5-8400 hold the 4GHz turbo on all cores with a 240mm AIO? 

No: regardless of cooling intel locks those clocks to only single. All core you can probably expect 3.6 or thereabouts though I'm just guessing I haven't seen the actual 8400 numbers for those on review yet.

[Crunchy Dragon]

Why not consider an i5-8600K?

[ARikozuM]

3 minutes ago, Belgarathian said:

Hence the 4GHz potential OC with Ryzen and 3000Mhz RAM would help Ryzen a lot. That said, does the i5-8400 hold the 4GHz turbo on all cores with a 240mm AIO? 

Z-chipsets have Enhanced Turbo which locks all cores to the Intel Turbo frequency (which is 4GHz for the 8400) on all cores. This speed can be attained on nearly any air cooler aside from Intel stock (though it probably could). CFL is looking to be a much cooler chip than KBL with common overclocks of the i5-K reaching 5.0-5.1 without delids. 

[dizmo]

Interesting choices. Do you have any money saved up so far? If so, I'd look at purchasing a few things (SSD, RAM, potentially graphics card) during Black Friday sales as you're likely to see some serious discounts. Cases also go on sale, but only a few.

 

Some other points:

• Why did you put a more expensive SSD into the Intel build? I'd just go with an MX300. No need to spend more really.
• You could save a bit of money by waiting until they release the B and H series motherboards in Q1.

11 minutes ago, Misanthrope said:

BTW you're not gonna need that Evo cooler for the 8400 the stock one will do since you won't overcock.

From a cooling stand point, perhaps not, but from an aesthetics stand point any cooler is better looking.

7 minutes ago, Misanthrope said:

No: regardless of cooling intel locks those clocks to only single. All core you can probably expect 3.6 or thereabouts though I'm just guessing I haven't seen the actual 8400 numbers for those on review yet.

3.8 on all cores iirc

3 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

Z-chipsets have Enhanced Turbo which locks all cores to the Intel Turbo frequency (which is 4GHz for the 8400) on all cores. This speed can be attained on nearly any air cooler aside from Intel stock (though it probably could). CFL is looking to be a much cooler chip than KBL with common overclocks of the i5-K reaching 5.0-5.1 without delids. 

Does it do that for all cores? I thought it could only reach 3.8 across all cores.

[nicolas2465]

15 minutes ago, Misanthrope said:

Honestly these are fairly equal in performance outside of gaming and even inside gaming the 8400 wins but not by that much. Right now I like the 8400 because with the money you save on the CPU you get a better motherboard with a z370 one vs the 1600 that would need a far cheaper B350 board before it's price goes over that of the 8400 + mobo combo. Ryzen might have a slight edge in productivity due to SMT (6 cores 12 threads vs 6/6) but nothing to lose sleep about: maybe 1 or 2 minutes on some render tasks at the very top if that.

 

BTW you're not gonna need that Evo cooler for the 8400 the stock one will do since you won't overcock.

Honestly I just slapped the EVO on there because I hate intel stock coolers for their look and Im looking for something quieter

 

8 minutes ago, dizmo said:

Interesting choices. Do you have any money saved up so far? If so, I'd look at purchasing a few things (SSD, RAM, potentially graphics card) during Black Friday sales as you're likely to see some serious discounts. Cases also go on sale, but only a few.

 

Some other points:

• Why did you put a more expensive SSD into the Intel build? I'd just go with an MX300. No need to spend more really.
• You could save a bit of money by waiting until they release the B and H series motherboards in Q1.

From a cooling stand point, perhaps not, but from an aesthetics stand point any cooler is better looking.

3.8 on all cores iirc

Does it do that for all cores? I thought it could only reach 3.8 across all cores.

I just put the cheapest 500gb SSD I could find at the time but I was rushing it so that can be changed.  

[dizmo]

12 minutes ago, nicolas2465 said:

I just put the cheapest 500gb SSD I could find at the time but I was rushing it so that can be changed.  

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i5-8400 2.8GHz 6-Core Processor  ($236.50 @ Vuugo)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG - H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler  ($46.75 @ Amazon Canada)
Motherboard: Asus - TUF Z370 Pro Gaming ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($199.99 @ Memory Express)
Memory: Team - T-Force / Night Hawk 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  ($174.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Crucial - MX300 525GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  ($182.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1070 8GB SC GAMING ACX 3.0 Black Edition Video Card  ($544.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Case: Fractal Design - Focus G ATX Mid Tower Case  ($64.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Power Supply: Corsair - CXM 550W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($79.99 @ PC Canada)
Total: $1531.19

 

$100 more, but a better cooler, more storage, and a 1070 instead of a 1060.

[Princess Luna]

Not worth buying z370 for locked chips in my opinion, either wait for the h310 boards appear or go ryzen.

[nicolas2465]

14 minutes ago, Princess Cadence said:

Not worth buying z370 for locked chips in my opinion, either wait for the h310 boards appear or go ryzen.

its a placeholder for now

[nicolas2465]

25 minutes ago, dizmo said:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel - Core i5-8400 2.8GHz 6-Core Processor  ($236.50 @ Vuugo)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG - H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler  ($46.75 @ Amazon Canada)
Motherboard: Asus - TUF Z370 Pro Gaming ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($199.99 @ Memory Express)
Memory: Team - T-Force / Night Hawk 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  ($174.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Crucial - MX300 525GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  ($182.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 1070 8GB SC GAMING ACX 3.0 Black Edition Video Card  ($544.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Case: Fractal Design - Focus G ATX Mid Tower Case  ($64.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Power Supply: Corsair - CXM 550W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($79.99 @ PC Canada)
Total: $1531.19

 

$100 more, but a better cooler, more storage, and a 1070 instead of a 1060.

Great setup.  Not sure about that cooler though, never heard of it.  Is it as quiet as the 212 ?  it's also more expensive.  Why not the 212 evo?  

[dizmo]

1 hour ago, nicolas2465 said:

Great setup.  Not sure about that cooler though, never heard of it.  Is it as quiet as the 212 ?  it's also more expensive.  Why not the 212 evo?  

The 212 Evo would work too. The H7 is just a better cooler not that it matters much with a locked chip. 

 

Really, if you got a B or H series board or got a deal on one of the Z's on Black Friday, you could get a 1080 at the same price point. 

[ARikozuM]

19 minutes ago, dizmo said:

The 212 Evo would work too. The H7 is just a better cooler not that it matters much with a locked chip. 

Good idea to get aftermarket since air coolers don't really break.

[Misanthrope]

Well if cooler looks are important I agree: go with air but with something that's better looking than the "Let's show off this bare aluminium plaque" Evo, The suggested Cryorig H7 is much nicer looking and while you're spending more cash I too would consider it a long term investment for multiple rigs (Even if intel changes out of the 115x mount, which I doubt, Cryorig is good about providing update brackets)

[ARikozuM]

Just now, Misanthrope said:

Well if cooler looks are important I agree: go with air but with something that's better looking than the "Let's show off this bare aluminium plaque" Evo,

Deepcool Gammaxx 400, be quiet! Pure or Dark Rock, Cryorig C7, Deepcool Lucifer... anything but the 212 Evo.

[nicolas2465]

1 hour ago, dizmo said:

The 212 Evo would work too. The H7 is just a better cooler not that it matters much with a locked chip. 

 

Really, if you got a B or H series board or got a deal on one of the Z's on Black Friday, you could get a 1080 at the same price point. 

I've never heard of the cooler.  Will look at reviews

[dizmo]

1 hour ago, ARikozuM said:

Good idea to get aftermarket since air coolers don't really break.

I always struggle between the aesthetics of an AIO and the simplicity of an air cooler.

[ARikozuM]

Just now, dizmo said:

I always struggle between the aesthetics of an AIO and the simplicity of an air cooler.

I don't really see any aesthetic value in AIO's aside from [shudders] Corsair's. Custom loops, sure, but air coolers can look cooler at times. 

[dizmo]

3 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

I don't really see any aesthetic value in AIO's aside from [shudders] Corsair's. Custom loops, sure, but air coolers can look cooler at times. 

RGB, more visibility of the motherboard and RAM, the head can look pretty neat. The better air coolers take up tons of space in the case, and sometimes look a little overpowering. Though as soon as Cryorig releases that Cu line up, there's a strong chance I'll be putting together a build around the copper colour.