Ryzen 5 or Intel i5?

[Wikko]

I'm going for my first build here, been using a laptop previously for years and going to use the new pc for mostly gaming etc. The budget is around 1000 euros and I'm purchasing the computer in Finland

This is what I'm planning on so far.

AMD Ryzen 5 1600 AM4 3.4 GHz 6-core Boxed (Should I get the 1600x or i5 7600k instead?. Is the 1600 easy to overclock to 4ghz and would I need another cpu cooler. The 1600 comes with wraith cooler)

Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB (4x4GB) DDR4 2400MHz Quad Channel Kit (Could get something else if someone has any recommendations?)
MSI B350M GAMING PRO AMD B350 Socket AM4 Micro BTX
Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5 7200rpm SATA 6Gb/s 64MB
Samsung 250GB 850 EVO SSD 2.5 SATA III 540/520 MB/s
CORSAIR Carbide 88R Micro ATX Mid Tower
Cooler Master 550W, V550, 100% modulaarinen, 80PLUS GOLD

Other issue is with GPU. Not sure if going to go with 1060 or is the new 580 that's coming up any better? I'm going to be using the Benq Zowie 144hz monitor. Mostly going to play overwatch which I'd like to stay at +144fps, other new games coming up doesnt really matter as much

[chazus]

I'm wondering the same as well, if people have some insight. My question is more for WoW, or any Single Thread game.

Ryzen 1660 @ 3.4ghz @ $219 gets a single thread passmark score of 1855
I5-7600K @ 3.5ghz @ $229 gets a single thread passmark score of 2400

To me, that looks like the i5 is a clear winner (but looks very different in mutli-thread). Even if they both overclock to 4ghz, the results would be almost the same. I'd want some insight on this as well.

[ComputerNerd]

There is the possibility for "optimisations" to boost Ryzen performance, as Ashes of the Singularity proved, but that is taking advantage of its strength, multi-threading.
Blizzard games are heavily single-threaded, as well as blizzard historically being IMO slow to take advantage.

At the moment for single-threaded applications, Intel.

[Fascinate]

Definitely go with the 1600, im not sure the stock cooler can do 4ghz tho. I have a 1700 and im only comfortable with the temps at 3.8ghz, but maybe the six core its possible (same cooler, only mine has lights).

Also with ram you want to stay with 2 sticks, you will get the best results that way. Mind you ram compatibility is all over the place atm, if your ram does not hit rated speeds right away dont worry it should down the road. Ideally you want 3200mhz ram as it does actually increase gaming performance in some titles, but if its way more expensive than 2400 dont worry.

If overwatch is your main game definitely stick to nvidia, i have the evga ssc 1060 and it stays cool and quiet.

- - - Updated - - -

I'm wondering the same as well, if people have some insight. My question is more for WoW, or any Single Thread game.

Ryzen 1660 @ 3.4ghz @ $219 gets a single thread passmark score of 1855
I5-7600K @ 3.5ghz @ $229 gets a single thread passmark score of 2400

To me, that looks like the i5 is a clear winner (but looks very different in mutli-thread). Even if they both overclock to 4ghz, the results would be almost the same. I'd want some insight on this as well.

If literally all you do on your PC is play WoW yes the i5 will get higher framerates due to the higher clock speed. But then again ive watched videos on gul'dan and people with 7700k's clocked to 5ghz get similar FPS to my ryzen PC, so i dunno lol.

I personally cannot recommend anyone buy a i5 now that ryzen 5 is out, i5's are dead to me until they up the core count or add hyperthreading. For about 2 seconds i considered exchanging my 1700 for a 7700k (mind you, this is when i didnt know about the low FPS with balanced power plan) then realized how crazy it is to build a PC around a 12 year old game with terrible coding.

[ovm33]

Other issue is with GPU. Not sure if going to go with 1060 or is the new 580 that's coming up any better? I'm going to be using the Benq Zowie 144hz monitor. Mostly going to play overwatch which I'd like to stay at +144fps, other new games coming up doesnt really matter as much

The 580 is just going to be a re-brand of the 480 with slightly higher clocks. That being said I would still choose it over the 1060 6gb.

Ryzen loves fast memory. Try to get as high as you can afford and is supported by your mobo.

I would look at Seasonic / EVGA / Superflower / be quiet! for your power supply. By my understanding Cooler Master can be hit or miss with theirs.

I'm wondering the same as well, if people have some insight. My question is more for WoW, or any Single Thread game.

Ryzen 1660 @ 3.4ghz @ $219 gets a single thread passmark score of 1855
I5-7600K @ 3.5ghz @ $229 gets a single thread passmark score of 2400

To me, that looks like the i5 is a clear winner (but looks very different in mutli-thread). Even if they both overclock to 4ghz, the results would be almost the same. I'd want some insight on this as well.

The i5 is the way to go if your primary game is WoW or heavily pushes a single thread (Most MMO's.) WoW loves high IPC which intel beats Ryzen on. Anyone who tells you to go with Ryzen over intel for a WoW box is pushing an agenda. Now if you play Triple A titles as well as WoW, or do anything that likes multiple cores - encoding etc... then absolutely grab the 1600 over an i5 any day of the week.

[JRakan]

I "mainly" play wow, raid 3 hours a day 4 days a week, WQs every now and then, but I also like to play other random games from steam and such. When I play wow I also like to watch twich and web browser and I know the i5 will fall behind while doing that, already doing that on my 2500k, so I already planned on getting a R5 1600 over the i5 7600k.
On a side note, would you guys recommend waiting on a more stable motherboard for the ryzen since I wont be upgrading until probably june-july?Also, buy the R5 1600 now before it increases in price like already did in amazon?

[Gaidax]

Basically? It's simple - if WoW is your main thing - Intel no discussion.

And let's not pretend that I5-7600K will choke on any modern game either, so it's like obvious choice in your case. Ryzen is a good CPU, but it's just too rough at the moment and I suspect quite a few of its standing issues will only be solved when Zen+ comes out, compared to that with Intel you will get good performance without hassle or edge cases.

[Wikko]

Well I'm also a bit worried that the i5 will become less worth it in a few years. I'm planning on keeping this setup for a while or only upgrading when needed, so for longevity I was thinking mostly ryzen. At the same time I wouldnt want to get gimped in performance in the present...

[MonsieuRoberts]

What do we know about Zen2? WIll it still be AM4, DDR4 etc?

[Wikko]

What do we know about Zen2? WIll it still be AM4, DDR4 etc?

If I remember correctly, they said that the AM4 platform will stay on for a long time

[MonsieuRoberts]

If I remember correctly, they said that the AM4 platform will stay on for a long time

I never did upgrade because my 4670K's still chugging along just fine, and I'm really not seeing any development loads in Unity that are demanding more cores right now.

I desperately want to get off this 4th gen platform though. I want more USB! I want awesome MVNE! I want something that will serve me very well in the game development years to come! Perhaps Zen2 will deliver.

[Deleted]

If you are a little careful with what ram you choose you can run either with 3000Mhz ram. You can overclock Ryzen 5 1600(x) to 3.9-4.0Gz depending how lucky you are. On the intel side if you are only going to overclock the i5 7600k up to 4.5Ghz then it will run relatively the same as the Ryzen 5 on single thread performance. That is judging from some benchmarks i saw on tube. So the Ryzen 5 is a clear winner since you will have an additional 2cores for around the same price. Now having said that most i5's can overclock to 4.7-4.8Ghz with plenty going up to 5.0ghz. This is pretty much where intel will win in single thread, cause you can overclock it that much higher.

So the way i see it, it comes down to you how much you are going/willing to overclock (silicon lottery incl) and spend money on an aftermarket cooler. You want the best you single thread performance and will overclock high enough then go intel. If you are going to go for a mild overclock then go Ryzen.

[Akainakali]

Well I'm also a bit worried that the i5 will become less worth it in a few years. I'm planning on keeping this setup for a while or only upgrading when needed, so for longevity I was thinking mostly ryzen. At the same time I wouldnt want to get gimped in performance in the present...

IMHO, worrying about tech changes more than a year or two down the road is foolish.

By the time you hit a major tech change, so much else is likely to have changed, that your "future proofed" system is no longer "future proofed".

Basically the one and only one reason to go with something like Ryzen over an i5, is if you are doing heavily threaded work. Which simply isn't the case for 95% of the people out there. Ryzen kicks butt (especially on a cost basis) if you do, but falls short if you don't.

Despite the claims of CPU core fetishists, there are still very few games that benefit from > 2-4 cores and that is not likely to change to any significant degree in the next few years.

[Deleted]

Either Will do fine.

If you can put the 30 difference towards a better GPU/RAM then do that.

Ryzen is new so there are vast improvements to be had via updates and gaming optimizations and Intel is already proven to be good.

The line between Intel is better then AMD and vise Versa is getting blurrier by the day.

GTX 20's series is rumored to be released this year so the 10 series will go down in prices come winter if this happens it might be worth while holding off on the GPU.

If in doubt visit LinusTechTips on Youtube videos are easy to follow and fun

[Fascinate]

IMHO, worrying about tech changes more than a year or two down the road is foolish.

By the time you hit a major tech change, so much else is likely to have changed, that your "future proofed" system is no longer "future proofed".

Basically the one and only one reason to go with something like Ryzen over an i5, is if you are doing heavily threaded work. Which simply isn't the case for 95% of the people out there. Ryzen kicks butt (especially on a cost basis) if you do, but falls short if you don't.

Despite the claims of CPU core fetishists, there are still very few games that benefit from > 2-4 cores and that is not likely to change to any significant degree in the next few years.

I kept my last PC for over 5 years, predicting future trends is and absolutely should be a consideration for most buyers. The only people i could in good conscience recommend an i5 over a ryzen 5 to are people that only play WoW, and know 100% they wont be playing anything else on their PC. For everyone else, ryzen is simply the smarter play.

Let me also add its not like ryzen plays WoW poorly, and in fact will stay above 60 FPS just about as often as intel does.

[Akainakali]

I kept my last PC for over 5 years, predicting future trends is and absolutely should be a consideration for most buyers. The only people i could in good conscience recommend an i5 over a ryzen 5 to are people that only play WoW, and know 100% they wont be playing anything else on their PC. For everyone else, ryzen is simply the smarter play.

Let me also add its not like ryzen plays WoW poorly, and in fact will stay above 60 FPS just about as often as intel does.

So your 5 yr old computer had enough PCIe lanes to support multiple M.2 NVME drives and a x16 Graphics card, came with DDR4 and USB C 3.1?

Does it have the still massively useful [sarcasm alert] SATA express[/sarcasm alert]?

Did you buy it based on it's support for Quad SLI/Crossfire (basically no longer supported)?

Was thunderbolt compatibility an important consideration? It's been ever so useful in the past 5 years.

You were one of the "core fetishists" I was referring too. I remain unconvinced that >4 cores is going to be of significant use to most people even a few more years down the road. In many cases 4 cores is still not a major advantage over 2 and the 4 core chips have been the standard now for how many years?

You will eventually be right about the usefulness of > 4 cores, but as they say "even a stopped clock is right twice a day".

[Fascinate]

So your 5 yr old computer had enough PCIe lanes to support multiple M.2 NVME drives and a x16 Graphics card, came with DDR4 and USB C 3.1?

Does it have the still massively useful [sarcasm alert] SATA express[/sarcasm alert]?

Did you buy it based on it's support for Quad SLI/Crossfire (basically no longer supported)?

Was thunderbolt compatibility an important consideration? It's been ever so useful in the past 5 years.

You were one of the "core fetishists" I was referring too. I remain unconvinced that >4 cores is going to be of significant use to most people even a few more years down the road. In many cases 4 cores is still not a major advantage over 2 and the 4 core chips have been the standard now for how many years?

You will eventually be right about the usefulness of > 4 cores, but as they say "even a stopped clock is right twice a day".

You kind of missed the point i was getting at my dude, lots of people buy a PC every 4-5 years or longer and hamstringing yourself with a 4 core 4 thread CPU in 2017 is simply not a wise decision when the competition is offering what they are for less money.

Dual core CPU's are already disappearing from the market, intel finally gave pentiums hyperthreading because they know dual cores are simply not sufficient anymore. Also you need to take the console and mobile market into consideration here, they are whats really popular in the market and i think the PC is going to follow suit, thread count keeps going up and up in consoles and mobile chips.

It is a crystal ball situation and people looking to buy a PC have to place their bets, i know where my money is.

[Sturmbringe]

To me, that looks like the i5 is a clear winner.

You said it, man.

Apart from WoW, there's other games too that depend on IPC (Single Thread) performance: Total War games, Civ games, and so on.

I haven't managed to find a game that benefits from my 4770k HT yet, and AFAIK there's only a handful of games than benefit from more than 4 cores on the market.

So if you are a gamer, an Intel CPU is a no-brainer.

[Lathais]

IMHO, worrying about tech changes more than a year or two down the road is foolish.

By the time you hit a major tech change, so much else is likely to have changed, that your "future proofed" system is no longer "future proofed".

Basically the one and only one reason to go with something like Ryzen over an i5, is if you are doing heavily threaded work. Which simply isn't the case for 95% of the people out there. Ryzen kicks butt (especially on a cost basis) if you do, but falls short if you don't.

Despite the claims of CPU core fetishists, there are still very few games that benefit from > 2-4 cores and that is not likely to change to any significant degree in the next few years.

I would say this used to be true 5-10 years ago. However, with the minor advances we have seen over the past several years generation to generation, parts are lasting much longer than they used to. Granted, 1-2 years from now there could be some revolutionary breakthrough in quantum computing or something, but due to initial prices and adoption rates it will be a couple years before it is mainstream enough that game devs start optimizing for it. Seriously, when you still have people running 2500ks and 680s, and they are questioning the worth of upgrading, no reason not to plan for your hardware to last 3-5 years.

[Fascinate]

You said it, man.

Apart from WoW, there's other games too that depend on IPC (Single Thread) performance: Total War games, Civ games, and so on.

I haven't managed to find a game that benefits from my 4770k HT yet, and AFAIK there's only a handful of games than benefit from more than 4 cores on the market.

So if you are a gamer, an Intel CPU is a no-brainer.

Intel has a great product in the 7700k and its a hard choice between it and the 1700, but talking R5 vs i5 there simply is no discussion, ryzen is THE no brainer choice.