Out of the Loop - Best Budget CPU?

[Agent0range]

Got a bit out of the loop with the current range of CPU's as I've not upgraded for quite a while. I'm currently running the venerable i5-3570k which is quite heavily overclocked to about 4.4Ghz (from memory but at work at the mo).

However, I think I'm noticing a lot of bottlenecks on games i'm playing. I mainly play things like Squad, Hell Let Loose, Escape from Tarkov and some of the Total War games. I'm seeing my CPU sit at 100% continually in a lot of those games. My graphics card is the 1060 3GB.

I'm mainly a gamer, and don't do anything else with my PC that's particularly intensive. I've got about £350ish to spend on a CPU/RAM/Mobo set and was looking for a recommendation on which CPU to buy. I've currently narrowed it down to the i5-9400f or the Ryzen 3600. I'd like to ideally get 16GB of RAM too, and I'm not too bothered about my motherboard so will make some savings there, but I'm keen to get the right processor.

So what do you think is the best budget £150-180ish CPU currently? Are those two any good, or are there others that offer better bang for your buck?

 

[sideways14a]

As an all rounder the 3600 by a long long way.

 

[Joxeon]

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX (Socket AM4) DDR4 ATX Motherboard= £98.99
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Six Core 4.2GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £188.99
• 1 x Team Group Dark T-Force 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black/Grey (TDGED4= £62.99

Total: £361.47 (includes shipping: £10.50)

​

 

[Aretak]

Definetly the 3600 at that price point. It's a superb CPU. Though in terms of ultimate bang for your buck, the Ryzen 1600 AF version (which is essentially a 2600) at £90 is untouchable on that front. It would be another possible entry into getting a Ryzen setup without spending as much, with an eye towards the 4000-series chips that will be launching later this year and provide a host of drop-in upgrades.

 

[jonnypb]

Best bang for buck is definitively the Ryzen 1600AF 6C/12T CPU. I got it the other day for £79 and it's just wow. For your budget and uses, then definitely what Joxeon has said. The Ryzen 5 3600 in a Tomahawk Max is hard to beat. If you shop about then you can get the CPU, Mobo and Memory for ~£320

 

[~>Dg<~]

id say the amd 2700 currently doing the rounds at £120. with borderlands 3. sell the game close to £100 for a 8 core cpu.factor in a msi max board and mem you could do that for £250 for a 8 core gaming build.that extra £20 will get you possibly 1-2 years more at the end of the systems life.over a 6 core.

 

[wellibob]

id say the amd 2700 currently doing the rounds at £120. with borderlands 3. sell the game close to £100 for a 8 core cpu.factor in a msi max board and mem you could do that for £250 for a 8 core gaming build.that extra £20 will get you possibly 1-2 years more at the end of the systems life.over a 6 core.

Exactly this.

 

[greatash]

I would get a cheap 1600AF with a decent mobo+ram and look into upgrading to ryzen 4600/4700 when they release.

3600 is great if you dont want to bother upgrading again and just want something that works now.

 

[Drumroll]

3600/3600x or 3700x and forget upgrade for some time.

 

[Davanius]

id say the amd 2700 currently doing the rounds at £120. with borderlands 3. sell the game close to £100 for a 8 core cpu.factor in a msi max board and mem you could do that for £250 for a 8 core gaming build.that extra £20 will get you possibly 1-2 years more at the end of the systems life.over a 6 core.

This is what i have been thinking. 2700 and 2700x are fantastic and I can't believe how good the price to performance ratio is right now.

I would take a 2700x over the 3600 at current prices.

 

[Deleted member 209350]

This is what i have been thinking. 2700 and 2700x are fantastic and I can't believe how good the price to performance ratio is right now.

I would take a 2700x over the 3600 at current prices.

Only worth it if you really need the extra 2c/4t. Otherwise the IPC boost alone makes the 3600 better than the 2700x

 

[Wommers]

id say the amd 2700 currently doing the rounds at £120. with borderlands 3. sell the game close to £100 for a 8 core cpu.factor in a msi max board and mem you could do that for £250 for a 8 core gaming build.that extra £20 will get you possibly 1-2 years more at the end of the systems life.over a 6 core.

Yeah I nabbed a 2700 before summer last year with the view of longevity on the core front. I don't game at a low resolution so the IPC difference compared to the 3600 doesn't bother me and I think the extra two cores will go a long way. I'll drop in a 4000 once they are dirt cheap to drop into my MSI Tomahawk when the time comes (at least a couple of years from now).

 

[faceman123]

2700 all day long 9900k like performance ( non gaming ) for £100 wow it certainly is a new decade!! gone are the quads for £££££££ + 3% ipc improvement!!

 

[~>Dg<~]

Only worth it if you really need the extra 2c/4t. Otherwise the IPC boost alone makes the 3600 better than the 2700x

it depends on how long you keeping it. the small gain in ipc maybe worse over less cores if you keeping it for 3+ years. 8 cores are almost coming in as standard anyways. 6 cores is right now. so in a few years games could really make em sweat. the other way round is also if you only keeping it till next gen chips why pay more now then lose more ? you may aswell get a 2700 then sell that again if you getting the new 4000s you will lose next to nothing as well because its a 8 core . not a 6. its win win.

 

[Davanius]

Only worth it if you really need the extra 2c/4t. Otherwise the IPC boost alone makes the 3600 better than the 2700x

I now would only choose the 3600 over the 2700 if I had a 2080ti and played at 1080p resolution.

 

[Jayster]

I am in a similar position to OP, whats the story with using a B450 chipset board with a newer chip, what features are lost and im guessing they will support zen3? (bios support dependant obviously)

Also anyway to guarantee buying the 1600 af chip and not end up with the earlier part?

id say the amd 2700 currently doing the rounds at £120. with borderlands 3. sell the game close to £100 for a 8 core cpu.factor in a msi max board and mem you could do that for £250 for a 8 core gaming build.that extra £20 will get you possibly 1-2 years more at the end of the systems life.over a 6 core.

Cant seem to find it anywhere for less than 135

 

[IntMD]

I am in a similar position to OP, whats the story with using a B450 chipset board with a newer chip, what features are lost and im guessing they will support zen3? (bios support dependant obviously)

Also anyway to guarantee buying the 1600 af chip and not end up with the earlier part?



Cant seem to find it anywhere for less than 135

B450 with a 3000 series will need to have a BIOS on it that supports the 3000 series. If they have a supporting BIOS already installed, they'd normally have Ryzen 3000 ready on a sticker on the MB box, or if you can find one with BIOS flashback then that would be fine as you can flash the BIOS to a new one without a supported CPU installed. If you can't find one that is already flashed with a supported BIOS for 3000 series, or one with flashback then you would need an older chip to flash the BIOS to a supported version. The difference between B450, or X470 and X570 is essentially loss of PCIE4 (assuming you are using a 3000 series, with a 2000 series or earlier there isn't really a difference as they only support PCIE3).

The 1600 AF has AF in the full product box code - YD1600BBAFBOX, the original 1600 has AE instead of AF in the box code. Some sellers mention which version, some don't, and I believe the 1600AF comes with the Wraith Stealth, whereas the original 1600 came with a Wraith Spire as the included cooler (I may have got those versions wrong though). If you use google with that box code, you should be able to find some for significantly cheaper than 135 (Can't mention competitors here).

 

[humbug]

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX (Socket AM4) DDR4 ATX Motherboard= £98.99
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Six Core 4.2GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £188.99
• 1 x Team Group Dark T-Force 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black/Grey (TDGED4= £62.99

Total: £361.47 (includes shipping: £10.50)

​

This ^^^^

BTW the 3600 is now £155.

This is what i have been thinking. 2700 and 2700x are fantastic and I can't believe how good the price to performance ratio is right now.

I would take a 2700x over the 3600 at current prices.

If the 3600 was near £200 yes but the 3600 is a better gaming CPU and little behind in MT productivity.

 

[~>Dg<~]

i think it just down to budget 2700 and sell the game to make a 100 quid 8 core vs slightly quicker 6 core for £55 more. if you counting pound notes and maybe need a gpu £55 is half of a amd 570. so it can make a big difference. the op will know what he has to spend. one thing we can all agree on is right now is amazing time to build powerful pcs for low budget. ssds , memory , power cpus for bargin prices.

 

[Journey]

You can't buy the R7 2700 for £120 with a free game though, the cheapest you can get it is £134 with the game offer, and that game is now fetching £10 or £12 if you are lucky. The R5 3600 is ~£145-155, so £25-35 more after hoping you sell the game code for at least £10.

I'd say the best bang for buck are the 1600 AF (£85), the R7 2700(£134), and the R5 3600(£155), and each have merits where the others don't.

At £350 to spend on a CPU RAM and Mobo as per the OP's requirements for mainly games, the R5 3600's IPC gain is going to best the rest, but given the use of the GTX 1060 3GB we can only be talking 1080p.

R5 1600 AF with 16GB DDR4 3200 and a mid-level board (£60ish) that takes you to ~£200, use the remaining budget to get a new GPU, and sell the GTX 1060 3GB for £70-90. The £150 left + GTX money, £230ish total you can get a GTX 1660 Super, or for £15 more you can grab the RTX 5600 XT. That will be way better than any of the combinations above, and you'll be able to drop in a better 8-core 4xxx series CPU in a couple of years if you need to.