Ryzen 5 2600X vs. Ryzen 7 1700: Head to head CPU comparison

[144hzGamer]

The matter of this article is comparing 2 CPUs, but using different hardware and settings.
The 1700 used 2933Mhz ram and the 2600 used 3400Mhz.
They should have used either 3400 Mhz on both, or 2933Mhz.

The other thing to consider is that ram prices are dropping significantly, so there's no longer the issue of price.

And even with cheap ram you could get better speeds than 2933Mhz and CL15, on Ryzen 1.
I did have a cheap kit when Ryzen lauched, and managed to get it to 3200Mhz CL14.

You mean 3200 14-16-16 right? Because I dont see any 3200 14-14-14 capable kit for less than 190€. And there is a difference on those latencies

Either way the article shows that even with expensive ram, ryzen is a bottleneck

 

[evolucion8]

I have my 1700 OC to 3.80GHz and RAM at 3,400MHz with 15-15-15-30 timings and 1T command on an Asus Crosshair VI Hero motherboard.

 

[Jeff Harrison]

$ 149.00 1700x or $79.00 1600 ✔
https://www.microcenter.com/search/search_results.aspx?N=4294822457+4294819840&Ntt=1700x
https://www.microcenter.com/product...-am4-boxed-processor-with-wraith-spire-cooler

If you can get a 1600 for that price, and are lucky enough to live near a Micro Center then definitely go for it. I don't live near one and they usually reserve those types of awesome deals for in store purchases only.

 

[Jeff Harrison]

If you can get a 1600 for that price, and are lucky enough to live near a Micro Center then definitely go for it. I don't live near one and they usually reserve those types of awesome deals for in store purchases only.

Imagine needing to pair 200€-250€ ram with a 120€-160€ cpu to get the best out of it.

True, but being able to upgrade to a Ryzen 3000 at a later date may well make it worth it. BTW if your willing to not have RGB I have seen Gskill 3200 CL14 (B-die) 16gb kits for $160 US.

 

[Fimbulvetr]

I was recently deciding between a used 4770 and a Ryzen 5 1600 for a customer's build. Newegg had the 1600 on sale for $115 while the 4770 was $150. 8000 and 9000 series processor were off the table as the closest they had was the 4 core 4 thread i3 8100 for $140. Pretty much had no choice but the Ryzen in this case, 2 more cores and more then double the threads. Those Intel processors don't have a high enough clock speed to have a gaming advantage either. Also added a B450 motherboard in there and the cost was still well below $200.

Nice. As another poster mentioned, the 1600 is $80 bucks if you live near a Microcenter. Just got one with an open box B350 for $103 total.

 

[Lew Zealand]

One anecdote about using 3200MHz RAM on first gen Ryzen:

I bought the very cheapest mobo and Ryzen available for my kid a year and change ago, MSI B350M PRO-VD+ and R3 1200. Ran 8GB 2800 MHz CL15 RAM for over a year and currently runs 16GB 3200MHz CL17 RAM (Ripjaws V, not even Sammy B-Die) with no problems. Still on the BIOS it shipped with.

Which tells me that either I was lucky or Ryzen's memory issues were ironed out pretty quickly by the time I bought. IMO, every Ryzen should be tested with 3200 MHz RAM.

There are lots of Ryzen memory tests done on this site and others for those who want to have a look at memory performance scaling but, just like testing gaming at 1080p on an overkill 2080Ti, the memory should be tested at 3200MHz to remove that source of variability.

 

[144hzGamer]

3200 CL17 is pretty poopish tho. Almost same as 2666 CL15

 

[Lew Zealand]

3200 CL17 is pretty poopish tho. Almost same as 2666 CL15

Not for Ryzen it isn't. The increased MHz speed for CCX communication is very important and the raw latency of 3200 CL17 is still better than 2666 CL15. So it's faster in both ways.

Sure 3200 CL16 or CL14 is slightly better and IMO TS should use one of those as a reference for all Ryzen testing, but for an R2 1200, CL16 and especially CL14 is a waste of money.

 

[olymind1]

It would have been fair if they both were tested with the same memory. But I like these tests here at Techspot.

And for building a new Ryzen based pc:

A g.skill 2x8 GB 3000 MHz CL16 ram kit is quite/fairly cheap now, about 80 € (3200 MHz rams cost at least 20 € more).

An Asrock B450 motherboard is at the same price as the g.skill rams, which is also inexpensive I think.

I'm waitng for Ryzen 3xxx, but I don't want to spend more money on MB+RAMs than on the CPU, that's for sure.

Also for silent operation and OC I'll need a proper cooler too and that is an another 30-55 €.

I'm hoping the new 6 or 8 core Ryzens will be at least as fast as an i5 8400 in gaming.

 

[Mugsy]

One factor rarely (never) cited in TS's head-to-head tests is TDP power consumption.

I understand if your focus is "gaming" that you could probably care less about TDP, but this article DOES bring up the fact the 1700 wins out if your primary use is something other than games (such as Blender rendering) while coming in a near tie in gaming.

If transcoding & rendering are your primary functions, your computer can find itself running for hours on end, sucking down wattage like a thirty dog on a hot day.

The 1700, with eight cores yet using only 65watts is a *huge* advantage over a 2600X with just six cores yet consuming 95watts. And if your PC is on 12-24 hours a day, builders will factor in savings in electricity use, less heat being generated and easier cooling... all factors that easily makes the older 1700 the price/performance champ over the 2600X... IF your primary use is not games.

 

[John832]

The best value under $200 should be none other than this:
https://www.microcenter.com/product...-am4-boxed-processor-with-wraith-spire-cooler
$80 (or $50 if you consider the $30 mobo discount) for a R5 1600.

In any case I got a R7 1700 that I got for $140 like nearly a year ago, it has been running overclocked to 3.8 Ghz and it is pretty much par with a 2600x for games. The game benches are lacking the 1700 OC results. An overclocked 2600x is not observably faster for games than an overclocked 1700.

See:
https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/AMD-Ryzen-7-1700-vs-AMD-Ryzen-5-2600X/3917vs3956

And here is my R7 1700 at 3.8GHz and I am not even using fast DDR4 for this:
https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/12760336

The 2600x/2700x are all just terrible value, and still won't win the gaming benches against Intel. Real unbeatable value is in the R5 1600.