should i get a 1600x or a 2600x?

[wujoh]

i'm building a new computer in the summer and I've decided i'm definitely getting ryzen but i'm not sure whether to get a 1600x or a 2600x, they both seem nearly identical. the 2600x is (probably) better but is it worth the cost to get the 2600x rather than a 1600x?

[geo3]

2600x without question.

[wujoh]

Just now, geo3 said:

2600x without question.

what is the reasoning? 

[geo3]

2 minutes ago, wujoh said:

what is the reasoning? 

Clocks higher, lower inter-core latency, better memory support. 

[Mr Technician]

Don't forget that the 2600x comes with a cooler and the 1600x does not.

[wujoh]

Just now, ThatFlashCat said:

Don't forget that the 2600x comes with a cooler and the 1600x does not.

is the cooler sufficient enough to overclock with? ( say to 4.0-4.4 GHz) 

[geo3]

1 minute ago, wujoh said:

is the cooler sufficient enough to overclock with? ( say to 4.0-4.4 GHz) 

Well it boosts to 4.2 out of the box...

[wujoh]

2 minutes ago, geo3 said:

Clocks higher, lower inter-core latency, better memory support. 

okay you convinced me lol, i'll go for the 2600x. I've also heard it runs better on fast memory, would 3000 mhz be enough or would i have to go for higher ram speeds?

[wujoh]

Just now, geo3 said:

Well it boosts to 4.2 out of the box...

oh damn okay i guess i didn't look into the boost clock enough. that's alot of boost out of the box, thanks!

[geo3]

1 minute ago, wujoh said:

okay you convinced me lol, i'll go for the 2600x. I've also heard it runs better on fast memory, would 3000 mhz be enough or would i have to go for higher ram speeds?

I'd personally try for at least 3200. CL14 if you can find it, but CL16 should be okay also.

[Streetguru]

12 minutes ago, wujoh said:

 

an R5 2600 and just overclock it.

Or just find an R7 1700 they're on sale for $200-250 for now

[wujoh]

3 minutes ago, geo3 said:

I'd personally try for at least 3200. CL14 if you can find it, but CL16 should be okay also.

i'm assuming 16gb is the way to go too.

[Emberstone]

1 minute ago, Streetguru said:

Or just find an R7 1700 they're on sale for $200-250 for now

Probably won't game as well as a 2600(X) because of the lower clocks and worse latencies on gen 1 Ryzen. Ryzen+ makes a big difference in games that were particularly rough on gen 1, like PUBG.

[geo3]

3 minutes ago, Streetguru said:

an R5 2600 and just overclock it.

Or just find an R7 1700 they're on sale for $200-250 for now

Of the 3 the 2600x should offer the best single threaded performance. So it depends on his use case.

 

1 minute ago, wujoh said:

i'm assuming 16gb is the way to go too.

Yes.

[knightslugger]

yeah 4.2 on single thread tasks.

all core boost will be a lot lower.

[Stefan Payne]

42 minutes ago, wujoh said:

is the cooler sufficient enough to overclock with? ( say to 4.0-4.4 GHz) 

That's the Default Clock anyway...

And with Ryzen OC is possible but doesn't work well at all.

[Crunchy Dragon]

45 minutes ago, wujoh said:

okay you convinced me lol, i'll go for the 2600x. I've also heard it runs better on fast memory, would 3000 mhz be enough or would i have to go for higher ram speeds?

3000Mhz is the minimum I see recommended for Ryzen.

[wujoh]

15 minutes ago, knightslugger said:

yeah 4.2 on single thread tasks.

all core boost will be a lot lower.

i plan on all core boosting it. would at least getting it to 4.0 all cores be obtainable without the silicon lottery?

[knightslugger]

2 minutes ago, wujoh said:

i plan on all core boosting it. would at least getting it to 4.0 all cores be obtainable without the silicon lottery?

yes. but not on the stock cooler.

[wujoh]

Just now, knightslugger said:

yes. but not on the stock cooler.

yeah i definitely plan on getting an AIO. 

[geo3]

Just now, wujoh said:

i plan on all core boosting it. would at least getting it to 4.0 all cores be obtainable without the silicon lottery?

If it can do 4.2 on 1 core it should be able to do it on all, in theory. But at this point thermal and power delivery become limiting factors more so than silicon quality.  Though there can be differences core to core even on the same die. However the vast majority of people have been getting 4.2 on Zen+ without much issue. 

[knightslugger]

2 minutes ago, wujoh said:

yeah i definitely plan on getting an AIO. 

of at least 240mm i hope. there is not a lot of liquid or girth on AIOs to make them terribly efficient in comparison to their open loop siblings.

[wujoh]

Just now, knightslugger said:

of at least 240mm i hope. 

yeah going for a h100i from corsair.

[wujoh]

1 minute ago, geo3 said:

If it can do 4.2 on 1 core it should be able to do it on all, in theory. But at this point thermal and power delivery become limiting factors more so than silicon quality.  Though there can be differences core to core even on the same die. However the vast majority of people have been getting 4.2 on Zen+ without much issue. 

that's good to hear. I plan on having good cooling for the cpu so hopefully I can get it that far.

[Taf the Ghost]

1 hour ago, wujoh said:

okay you convinced me lol, i'll go for the 2600x. I've also heard it runs better on fast memory, would 3000 mhz be enough or would i have to go for higher ram speeds?

2933 (i.e. 3000) is the point after which returns drop off, but you do get benefit from tuning your memory & running faster beyond that. If you don't have at least a 1070, you're really not going to encounter much benefit. However, given current RAM prices, going for 3200 normally costs about the same, so you're not really paying much for some added benefit.

1 hour ago, wujoh said:

oh damn okay i guess i didn't look into the boost clock enough. that's alot of boost out of the box, thanks!

The 2700X & 2600X don't really need to be OC'd. (Though, obviously, you can.) Ryzen parts now OC very similar to GPUs, so they push pretty close to the boundaries of the process node. The benefit where you can spend money for improvement is in RAM. A nice set of 3600 Samsung B-Dies can normally be tuned really far down, which can extract more performance out of 1080 cards & above. (But it also takes some work.)

 

3200 c14 memory is about the point where extracting benefit starts getting really expensive. Plus, it really only benefits you if you're running at least a 1080, so what GPU are you pairing with this? If it's a 1070 or less, I'd go with some 3200 c16 memory from a named manufacturer. It should work. If you're going with better, find a B-Die kit.

 

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820232530&cm_re=ddr4_3200_c14-_-20-232-530-_-Product Something like that. The 14-14-14-34 is normally the give away.

 

 

Steve recently did a deep dive into the benefit. Doesn't do a dang thing for encoding-type tasks, but anything that thrashes memory with really small chunks of information it does help. Which is most gaming, though if you're running some webserver, it'd help as well.