All prices are correct as of 09/08/2017 and may feature some products on sale, please check with your favourite retailer for up to date pricing information.
It has been a lot of fun re-testing these processors. Actually, that’s a lie, it’s been two weeks of intense benchmarking on an evening between my other work. However, the results are certainly exciting and it’s fun to see how everything stacks up now that we’ve got a more unified testing structure. Of course, there are a lot of CPUs missing from these tests, but it’s not in my interest to retread too much old ground, it’s time to look forward.
The latest Ryzen chips are all here, the latest Intel chips are here. Over the next month or two, we’ve got more Skylake-X, more Kabylake-X, Coffee Lake hardware, Threadripper, and so much more! So what’s lacking on our charts now, is soon to be filled out by upcoming hardware. As I said, it’s time to look forwards. Of course, looking back, we still have our reviews of the older hardware pitted against hardware of their respective generations, that content isn’t going anywhere.
Many consumers just don’t want to spend $1000 on a CPU, and that’s fine. Of course, not everyone can afford to either, which is completely understandable. If you’re doing a bit of gaming on the evening, a bit of work in the day, and just want to stay in budget, there are some great options out there. That’s why we think these CPUs are great value for money for a wide range of users.
Ryzen 3 1300X
Both of the Ryzen 3 chips are good value, but the 1300X is a cut above the 1200. It’s priced less than Intel’s dual-core offerings, and for those gaming at HD resolutions, it’s going to be a competitive match with something like the RX570/580 or GTX 1060 graphics cards. It’ll get your work done in the office, your Facebooking done, and still keep you up to speed with the latest games. Not bad for a £125 chip!
You’re all about the gaming, it doesn’t matter if that’s HD or 4K, there’s a CPU out there for the job. Frame rates are all that matter, but also the cost. Some CPUs can be slower than the others, but for their respective price ranges, gamers should pay attention to what they need from their gaming rig. Not everyone needs a GTX 1080 Ti, not everyone games at the same resolution, or has the same budget.
Ryzen 5 1600X and Intel i7-7740X
Both these CPUs are great in their own respects. The Ryzen chip benefits from a greater core count, which helps in software that can take advantage. However, the i7 has a higher clock speed, which dominated in quad-core reliant software. Both have their benefits, and both are a nice balance of price and performance for their respective platforms. Keep in mind, however, that the 1600X is the more affordable of the two for now.
When it comes to all out number crunching, the pretty damn expensive and hot running i9 is king. Sure, it’s sparked a fair amount of controversy, but it gets the job done regardless of its problems. When you’re building a workstation for rendering video, heavy duty calculations, and even extreme resolution gaming, the i9 is top dog. Will that all change in the coming months with Threadripper CPUs, and the bigger core count chips from Intel? Yes, but right now, i9 is the way to go.
Intel Core i9-7900X Ryzen 1800X
Both chips are the current kings of their respective ranges. The i9-1900X is for those where the budget isn’t an issue. However, at less than half the price, the 1800X is an exciting proposition for any system builder. If the absolute best from AMD is what you want, it’s the only option till we have Threadripper. However, I still think the 1700X is the better value option of the two, even if it is marginally slower.
Some CPUs are better at some things than others, but there are a few that offer great value, great performance, and have a good feature set. For those CPUs, they have a fit that’s pretty great all around, and worthy of our editors choice award. When it comes to gaming, rendering, and day-to-day tasks, they have a lot to offer to anyone.
Ryzen 7 1700X
While the 1800X does out perform it in some tests, the fact that this chip closely matches its performance at a much lower price point makes it incredible value for money. It delivers great gaming performance, robust multitasking, and it’s great for heavy duty workloads too.
Why doesn’t every CPU here have an award? Well, they do in their stand-alone reviews. Remember this is a re-test and my main goal on this conclusion page was to pick the standout processors based on my own take on the results. Of course, what I really want to encourage is for you to digest the figures we’ve presented today, and see how they fit to your needs. If you’re looking for a CPU for gaming, work, or anything, you’ve likely already got a CPU in mind and came here to see how it stacks up. Hopefully, these benchmarks will have helped you make a more informed decision based on your requirements, not ours.
Threadripper from AMD, as well as the next wave of Intel CPUs. They’re all coming very soon, and we looking forward to sharing those with you. Stay tuned!
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