Consider selling it, upgrading it, or using it for a project.
Consider selling it, upgrading it, or using it for a project.
I managed to secure a 5600X at the time of release. Although I had some reservations, I proceeded because I had thirty days to decide whether to return it. Right now I’m using an i5 6600K and considered upgrading to a Ryzen 3600 earlier, but chose to wait until the 5000 model came out. My system is mainly for software development and gaming (1440p at 60Hz, currently running a GTX 1060, aiming for a 3060 Ti or something more affordable than the 3070). I don’t play competitive games and am satisfied with the around 50 fps I achieve now. The reviews I’ve seen suggest that the single-threaded speed boost from the 5600X is most apparent in 1080p. This (maybe mistakenly) makes me think I won’t gain much from the 5600X compared to the 3600X, which is selling for about 120 euros less here—enough for a new MOBO I also need from Intel. Or perhaps I could buy a 3700X for the same price and gain those extra cores? Is that really what it would be? What do you think?
It depends on the software you're working with. The 5600X might offer a much better compilation speed thanks to its strong single-threaded performance. For gaming, the 3600 would have sufficed for a 60Hz display, but you could upgrade to a 1440p 144Hz monitor for a much smoother experience later.
In most professional setups the 5600x offers comparable results to the 3700x, eliminating its two core benefits and making it roughly 20% quicker in gaming at 1080p, around 15% at 1440p. If you believe those gaming gains are worth about 120 euros, consider the 5600x or 3600. The 3700x now seems less appealing because it matches the 5600x in gaming performance while being cheaper, and it provides similar professional results.
I believed multi-threaded performance improved compile times, though I might be mistaken. Since most of my work involves web and desktop apps in .NET, seeing significant gains in Visual Studio build or compile durations from the 5600 to the 3600 would be a strong reason to justify the additional expense. In my view, opting for a higher refresh rate monitor would be preferable over a faster refresh rate display, though opinions differ. Looking ahead, this upgrade is likely to be beyond my budget in the near term... Wouldn't it become more common for more apps and games to leverage increased thread counts?