Help me pick a cpu
Help me pick a cpu
You've spent a lot of time reviewing benchmarks and are still feeling uncertain. It seems you're considering an Intel PC and might want to upgrade your CPU later. You mentioned you'd likely need about $30 more for a better motherboard if you go with the 2700 X series, and you noticed few benchmarks that fully utilize the extra two cores.
It suggests a difference of about 30 watts, but after boosting the performance it should feel quite close.
3600 works well with a budget, especially when using 2700x. In gaming it's better than 2700x, but for productivity tools that run on multiple cores, 2700x is preferred over 3600.
Choosing a solid option between 2600 and 2700 ensures stable performance for many scenarios over time.
You believe the 3600 might drop slightly, but you're unlikely to receive anything until November or December. If we wait for the board or the situation, that's probably the best approach. Alternatively, you could invest 50-60 now and handle everything later.