Please spec me a budget CPU for graphic design and gaming

[Cern]

I'm looking to build a new system as it's not viable to upgrade my existing rig for various reasons. I've always gone Intel in the past, but this time around I'm finding myself tempted by AMD and wondering what the best fit is for my usage (see below). My budget is fairly tight so I'm not really able to go above the cost of an i5-9600k + cooler, so around £270.

The CPUs I'm currently considering are:

i5-9600K
Ryzen 2700X
Ryzen 3600 / 3600X
Ryzen 3700X

Usage:

Productivity: heavy graphic design involving Photoshop, Illustrator and Corel Painter with large and complex images (high resolution, lots of layers). Occasional video editing, but nothing that serious.

Gaming: 1440p @ 60Hz. Typically games such as Witcher 3, Red Dead Redemption 2, Borderlands series, Mass Effect series, MMOs such as FFXIV and WoW. I only need a solid 60 fps due to monitor.

I'm most likely going to be combining this with 32GB DDR4, a GTX 1660 Super, 650W PSU and a motherboard in the sub £125 price range.

I'm not really that interested in overclocking and if I did it would be fairly mild. Mostly I just want something versatile that can handle everything I throw at it now out of the box and has a reasonable amount of future proofing as I won't want to upgrade again for 3-5 years.

Any advice is much appreciated, thanks in advance

 

[Cern]

If you can I would save a bit more and get a better GPU. I think you'll be a bit disappointed with the 1660 unless you don't mind medium setting ?

I realise the GTX 1660 Super is a bit of a compromise, but to upgrade to something like a RTX 2060 would mean cutting back on the CPU because of budget restrictions. So I guess it would be a question of 3700X + 1660 Super vs 2700X + 2060.

 

[Cern]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I don't really want to go down the route of recycling old parts or buying used, for a number of reasons, so it'll be a new components build.

I think the 3700X is perhaps a bit of a stretch for me, especially if I'm considering going beyond a GTX 1660 Super.

So I'm currently leaning towards the 3600 or 3600X paired with the MSI B450 Tomahawk as suggested and then hopefully a RTX 2060

Is the 3600X worth the extra £30 over the 3600? Or is that money better invested into upgrading the GPU? I note the 3600 and 3600X have different stock coolers.

 

[Cern]

Well, I'm close to placing my order and this is what my basket currently looks like:

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 7 3700X Eight Core 4.4GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £269.99
• 1 x MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX (Socket AM4) DDR4 ATX Motherboard= £98.99
• 1 x Corsair Vengeance LPX Black 32GB (2x16GB) 3200 MHz AMD Ryzen Tuned DDR4 Memory Dual Kit= £158.99
• 1 x Corsair RM Series RM650 650W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply (CP-9020194-UK)= £82.99
• 1 x Asus GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER Dual EVO OC 6144MB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £229.99

Total: £852.05 (includes shipping: £11.10)​

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I decided on stretching to the 3700X because I think 8 cores will future proof me better than spending extra on the GPU at this point in time (I'm happy with gaming at 1440p, 60Hz, High). The Asus RTX 2060 on sale for £299 is very tempting, but it's currently out of stock anyway.

Anyway, does the above basket look ok? Bear in mind I'm going to be running at stock or at most a mild overclock.