UserBenchmark: AMD Ryzen 5 2600 vs Intel Core i7-3960X

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AMDYD2600BBAFBOX

BUY • $155

IntelBX80619I73960X

BUY • $265

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Performance profile from 181,753 user samples

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179,588 User Benchmarks

Best Bench: 81% Base clock 4.1 GHz, turbo 4.05 GHz (avg)
Worst Bench: 67% Base clock 3.4 GHz, turbo 3.7 GHz (avg)

Poor: 67% Great: 81%

SPEED RANK: 331^st / 1442

Gaming 73%

Battleship

Desktop 76%

Battleship

Workstation 66%

Battle cruiser

2,165 User Benchmarks

Best Bench: 89% Base clock 3.3 GHz
Worst Bench: 66% Base clock 3.3 GHz, turbo 0.85 GHz (avg)

Poor: 66% Great: 89%

SPEED RANK: 270^th / 1442

Gaming 78%

Battleship

Desktop 79%

Battleship

Workstation 67%

Battle cruiser


Effective Speed Effective CPU Speed		73.3 %			77.7 %	Slightly faster effective speed. +6%


Memory Avg. Memory Latency	76.6 Pts		87.1 Pts	Lower memory latency. +14%
1-Core Avg. Single Core Speed	108 Pts	Faster single-core speed. +12%	96.7 Pts
2-Core Avg. Dual Core Speed	210 Pts	Slightly faster dual-core speed. +9%	192 Pts
4-Core Avg. Quad Core Speed	377 Pts	+2%	369 Pts
8-Core Avg. Octa Core Speed	621 Pts	Slightly faster octa-core speed. +6%	585 Pts


Memory OC Memory Latency	83.8 Pts	95.3 Pts	Lower OC memory latency. +14%
1-Core OC Single Core Speed	118 Pts	118 Pts
2-Core OC Dual Core Speed	232 Pts	233 Pts	+0%
4-Core OC Quad Core Speed	446 Pts	457 Pts	+2%
8-Core OC Octa Core Speed	676 Pts	715 Pts	Slightly faster OC octa-core speed. +6%

Market Share

Based on 67,776,437 CPUs tested

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Market Share Market Share (trailing 30 days)	0.47 %	Insanely higher market share. +∞%	0 %
Value Value For Money	86.1 %	Slightly better value. +9%	78.7 %
User Rating UBM User Rating	76 %	Much more popular. +43%	53 %
Price Price (score)	$155	Much cheaper. +42%	$265


Age Newest	72 Months	Much more recent. +52%	151 Months
TDP Thermal Design Power (TDP)	65 Watts	Much more energy efficient. +50%	130 Watts
Cores CPU Processing Cores	6 cores		6 cores
Threads CPU Processing Threads	12 threads		12 threads
Lithography Manufacturing process	12 nm	Much newer manufacturing. +62%	32 nm
Base Clock Base Clock Speed	3.4 GHz	+3%	3.3 GHz
Turbo Clock Turbo Clock Speed	3.9 GHz		3.9 GHz
64-Core OC Multi Core Speed	889 Pts	+0%	888 Pts
64-Core Avg. Multi Core Speed	800 Pts	Slightly faster 64-core speed. +10%	728 Pts


Series CPU Architecture	Zen+	Sandy Bridge-E
Socket Motherboard Socket	AM4	FCLGA2011
Graphics Integrated Graphics	None	None

The Ryzen 5 2600, from AMD’s second generation (Zen+) of high-end desktop Ryzen processors, supersedes the first generation Ryzen 5 1600. The newer generation sees a lithography reduction from 14nm to 12nm, but no increase in the number of cores and threads (6 and 12 respectively) over the ground-breaking first generation which continues to surpass similarly priced Intel CPUs in terms of multi-core performance. In other words, progress between generations is predominantly driven by power efficiency and therefore higher attainable clock speeds. The 2600 appears to have a stock base/boost clock of 3.4 / 3.9 GHz compared to the 1600’s 3.2 / 3.6 GHz which is expected to result in a modest increase in effective speed that said, early benchmarks are inconclusive. Included in the expected retail price of about $200 is a Wraith Stealth cooler, so the 2600, like the 1600 before it, represents great value for workstation users. The 2600 compliments the new 400 series motherboards and is also backwards compatible with the 300 series following a bios update. Even though the 2600 is plausible for multimedia production streamers should look elsewhere. Streaming with dedicated hardware such as NVENC or a separate stream PC will nearly always result in fewer dropped frames. ^{[Apr '18 CPUPro]}

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The fact that the near three year old Intel i7-3960X still tops the speed charts reflects just how little competition there is in the CPU market. Intel have dominated for so long that there is simply no economic incentive to push the speed boundaries at anywhere nearly the pace of improvement we saw in previous years. The i7-3960X has 6 cores and 12 threads which is two cores more than the vast majority of Intel's other top end processors. The extra two cores explain why the 3960X still performs so well compared to the majority of the 3960X's newer siblings. This processor will offer little more than a far cheaper i3 to regular desktop users but for server orientated workloads it is still one of the best processors available. ^{[Mar '14 CPUPro]}

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CPU	GPU	SSD
Intel Core i5-13600K $269	Nvidia RTX 4060 $295	Crucial MX500 250GB $40
Intel Core i5-12400F $133	Nvidia RTX 4060-Ti $385	Samsung 850 Evo 120GB $80
Intel Core i5-12600K $177	Nvidia RTX 4070 $539	Samsung 860 Evo 250GB $52

HDD	RAM	USB
Seagate Barracuda 1TB (2016) $39	Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3200 C16 2x8GB $40	SanDisk Extreme 64GB $72
WD Blue 1TB (2012) $37	Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 3000 C15 2x8GB $43	SanDisk Extreme 32GB $28
Seagate Barracuda 2TB (2016) $51	G.SKILL Trident Z DDR4 3200 C14 4x16GB $351	SanDisk Ultra Fit 32GB $16

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