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Budget AMD CPU?

J

Jumpem

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Dec 1, 2000
Messages
1,064
I am looking at an i5-13600KF for $175. A micro-ATX motherboard with WiFI and Z790 chipset is $200.

Should I consider anything from AMD around this $375 for both price point? I have always used Intel.

The use case is to refresh an old PC with a 2070S for 2560x1440 gaming. It will probably get a 4080 passed down in the future.
 
At 1440P for $200, the 13600KF with a Z790 is a no-brainer. It beats any 5000 or 7000 series AMD CPU for gaming, and is neck-and-neck even with the 7800X3D. You might find a used 7800X3D for around $375, but a decent motherboard will cost around $150 (or $100 used).
 
I have a 5800X for my daughter, and comparing it with the same RTX 3070 (+120 Core Clock), here were the Geekbench6 CPU results:
13600K @5.5GHz = 130,8060 (OpenCL), 131,582 (Vulkan)
5800X with PBO = 74,793 (OpenCL), 77,816 (Vulkan)

If you want to test against whatever CPU you're using now, my score with the 13600K @5.6GHz and a RTX 2070 Super:
13600K @5.6GHz = 110,926 (OpenCL), 104,195 (Vulkan)
 
I think you're going to need to get some sort of discount deal or buy used to match that $175 i5-13600KF. A Ryzen 5 7600 is $180 on Amazon, but those aren't quite as fast in games and will be soundly beaten by a 13600KF in multithread. Anything faster will be more expensive. Personally I'd also lean towards 8 cores rather than 6 as it seems like more games are starting to prefer 8 cores. Of course I could make a cheaper combo using a cheaper board, but there are less expensive Intel boards as well.

If you happen to be near a Microcenter they have some nice bundle deals, like a 7600X3D + board + 32GB DDR5-6000 for $399.
 
Is that 13600 new or used? If new, you should be OK if you immediately upgrade the BIOS on the motherboard, but if it is used... well... you can't really determine how much life is left in it, and Intel will be unlikely to honor manufacturer warranty to a non-first party buyer.
 
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Vengance_01 said:
If you have a microcenter then the 7600x3d combo is what I would look at.
Click to expand...
That's still $590, and more than double the 13600KF build... OP can get his 13600KF and Z790 for $200, and 32GB DDR5 for about $80 - $90.

Any AMD X3D just isn't a budget build.
 
El_Capitan said:
I'm not playing this game again, just post the damn link. Still, it's nowhere near $200.
Click to expand...
Bundle Link: https://www.microcenter.com/product...ies-32gb-ddr5-6000-kit,-computer-build-bundle

If you just buy the 7600X3D from Microcenter it's $300. https://www.microcenter.com/product...-6-core-boxed-processor-heatsink-not-included

7600X3D is a Microcenter exclusive at least in the US, and they're offering it in a $400 bundle for the 6-core X3D proc, a board and 32GB of DDR5-6000 CL32 G.Skill ram. Ram is a notch short of the usual 6000 CL30 or 6400 CL32, but not bad. I'm a little down on 6-core procs these days since it seems like more games are taking advantage of 8, but I'd make an exception for that one - especially in a bundle with a board and ram for $400 + tax. $590 wouldn't be far off without the bundle deal.
 
El_Capitan said:
I have a 5800X for my daughter, and comparing it with the same RTX 3070 (+120 Core Clock), here were the Geekbench6 CPU results:
13600K @5.5GHz = 130,8060 (OpenCL), 131,582 (Vulkan)
5800X with PBO = 74,793 (OpenCL), 77,816 (Vulkan)

If you want to test against whatever CPU you're using now, my score with the 13600K @5.6GHz and a RTX 2070 Super:
13600K @5.6GHz = 110,926 (OpenCL), 104,195 (Vulkan)
Click to expand...
honestly geekbench is garbage anyways
 
The 7600X3D Microcenter bundle is a good deal, and would leave you with an AM5 motherboard that you could upgrade with a new CPU in the future.

Another alternative would be the 5700X3D which sells for $200. There are plenty of AM4 motherboard options below $100, and you can get 32GB of decent DDR4 for as cheap as $50 now so that's within your $375 price-point for CPU+Mobo+RAM. AM4 doesn't have an upgrade path, but neither does the older Intel Socket.

The deals for some of these 13 and 14 series parts are impressive, but read between the lines. The reason why they are cheap is because no one wants them. They are CPUs with known flaws at this point, to the extent that even Intel rushed out a replacement. The BIOS updates that are supposed to "fix" the issues with the 13 and 14 series CPUs also reduce performance, meaning that the CPUs will now actually perform worse than what you see in most benchmarks. And worst of all, no one actually knows if these BIOS updates fully fix the underlying issues since long-term data is needed to confirm that. So you would be buying into a CPU with a known flaw that got a "cross your fingers and hope this works" fix. I don't like to gamble with my hardware like that.

El_Capitan said:
It beats any 5000 or 7000 series AMD CPU for gaming, and is neck-and-neck even with the 7800X3D
Click to expand...

Only in your mind.

When a game can actually make good use of the extra CPU power, it's almost always a clean-sweep for the X3D CPUs. Example:
(At first, I thought that they didn't include the 13600K, but then I saw it, way way way at the bottom, lol...)

GN9800x3dBG3.jpg
 
GotNoRice said:
The 7600X3D Microcenter bundle is a good deal, and would leave you with an AM5 motherboard that you could upgrade with a new CPU in the future.

Another alternative would be the 5700X3D which sells for $200. There are plenty of AM4 motherboard options below $100, and you can get 32GB of decent DDR4 for as cheap as $50 now so that's within your $375 price-point for CPU+Mobo+RAM. AM4 doesn't have an upgrade path, but neither does the older Intel Socket.

The deals for some of these 13 and 14 series parts are impressive, but read between the lines. The reason why they are cheap is because no one wants them. They are CPUs with known flaws at this point, to the extent that even Intel rushed out a replacement. The BIOS updates that are supposed to "fix" the issues with the 13 and 14 series CPUs also reduce performance, meaning that the CPUs will now actually perform worse than what you see in most benchmarks. And worst of all, no one actually knows if these BIOS updates fully fix the underlying issues since long-term data is needed to confirm that. So you would be buying into a CPU with a known flaw that got a "cross your fingers and hope this works" fix. I don't like to gamble with my hardware like that.



Only in your mind.

When a game can actually make good use of the extra CPU power, it's almost always a clean-sweep for the X3D CPUs. Example:
(At first, I thought that they didn't include the 13600K, but then I saw it, way way way at the bottom, lol...)

View attachment 692256
Click to expand...
honestly building new I would never go AM4. get a cheap CPU and upgrade later as if AM4 is any indicator AM5 should be alive for a while
 
GotNoRice said:
The 7600X3D Microcenter bundle is a good deal, and would leave you with an AM5 motherboard that you could upgrade with a new CPU in the future.

Another alternative would be the 5700X3D which sells for $200. There are plenty of AM4 motherboard options below $100, and you can get 32GB of decent DDR4 for as cheap as $50 now so that's within your $375 price-point for CPU+Mobo+RAM. AM4 doesn't have an upgrade path, but neither does the older Intel Socket.

The deals for some of these 13 and 14 series parts are impressive, but read between the lines. The reason why they are cheap is because no one wants them. They are CPUs with known flaws at this point, to the extent that even Intel rushed out a replacement. The BIOS updates that are supposed to "fix" the issues with the 13 and 14 series CPUs also reduce performance, meaning that the CPUs will now actually perform worse than what you see in most benchmarks. And worst of all, no one actually knows if these BIOS updates fully fix the underlying issues since long-term data is needed to confirm that. So you would be buying into a CPU with a known flaw that got a "cross your fingers and hope this works" fix. I don't like to gamble with my hardware like that.



Only in your mind.

When a game can actually make good use of the extra CPU power, it's almost always a clean-sweep for the X3D CPUs. Example:
(At first, I thought that they didn't include the 13600K, but then I saw it, way way way at the bottom, lol...)

View attachment 692256
Click to expand...
Pick and choose much? 13600K would be a bit below the 13700K. You're also choosing 1080P medium. Relative performance stock for stock at 1440P is -10.1% for the 13600K vs the 7800X3D. +10.1% performance for twice the price seems like a stupid choice.

1000012912.png
 
El_Capitan said:
Pick and choose much?
Click to expand...

Ironic that you would say that while simultaneously posting what looks like the oldest benchmark results for the 13600K that you could find. Those benchmarks:

-Do not include the significant performance improvement that AMD Ryzen CPUs saw with the release of Windows 11 24H2.
-Do not include the significant performance regression that Intel 13 and 14-series CPUs show when the latest BIOS updates are applied.

In contrast, the numbers I posted were from late October.
 
GotNoRice said:
Ironic that you would say that while simultaneously posting what looks like the oldest benchmark results for the 13600K that you could find. Those benchmarks:

-Do not include the significant performance improvement that AMD Ryzen CPUs saw with the release of Windows 11 24H2.
-Do not include the significant performance regression that Intel 13 and 14-series CPUs show when the latest BIOS updates are applied.

In contrast, the numbers I posted were from late October.
Click to expand...
Awesome, I had a feeling you'd bring that up. Here's TechPowerUp's review from 11 days ago. The gap between the 13600K vs the 7800X3D is now -5.9% instead of -10.1%. GG, no re.

1000012913.png
 
El_Capitan said:
Awesome, I had a feeling you'd bring that up. Here's TechPowerUp's review from 11 days ago. The gap between the 13600K vs the 7800X3D is now -5.9% instead of -10.1%. GG, no re.

View attachment 692267
Click to expand...

I realize that you have a fetish for posting GPU-limited CPU benchmarks, but I'm still not sure what you think you are boasting about. For example, in your outdated numbers, the 13600K was notably ahead of the 5800X3D. Now in the 9800X3D review the 13600K is behind the 5800X3D. The reason why the averages seem so tight is because if you look at the individual game results, about half of them show basically no difference between the fastest and slowest CPU. Example:

elden-ring-rt-2560-1440.png


Only an idiot would take that to mean that there is no actual performance difference between all of those CPUs. It simply means that depending on the other hardware in your system and what game you are playing, your CPU isn't always the bottleneck. I've always maintained that people should look up benchmarks for the games that they actually play when making purchasing decisions, and there are certainly still games that benefit from a faster CPU; yes, even at 1440P and above. Upgrade potential also can't be ignored - a couple years from now when the person who bought that 13600k is doing a full system upgrade again because they went with a dead socket compared to the person who bought the 7600X3D who can just do a cheap CPU upgrade into their existing motherboard.
 
GotNoRice said:
I realize that you have a fetish for posting GPU-limited CPU benchmarks, but I'm still not sure what you think you are boasting about. For example, in your outdated numbers, the 13600K was notably ahead of the 5800X3D. Now in the 9800X3D review the 13600K is behind the 5800X3D. The reason why the averages seem so tight is because if you look at the individual game results, about half of them show basically no difference between the fastest and slowest CPU. Example:

View attachment 692274

Only an idiot would take that to mean that there is no actual performance difference between all of those CPUs. It simply means that depending on the other hardware in your system and what game you are playing, your CPU isn't always the bottleneck. I've always maintained that people should look up benchmarks for the games that they actually play when making purchasing decisions, and there are certainly still games that benefit from a faster CPU; yes, even at 1440P and above. Upgrade potential also can't be ignored - a couple years from now when the person who bought that 13600k is doing a full system upgrade again because they went with a dead socket compared to the person who bought the 7600X3D who can just do a cheap CPU upgrade into their existing motherboard.
Click to expand...
OP:
Jumpem said:
The use case is to refresh an old PC with a 2070S for 2560x1440 gaming. It will probably get a 4080 passed down in the future.
Click to expand...
I'd ask if you were daft, but I already know.
 
El_Capitan said:
I'd ask if you were daft, but I already know.
Click to expand...

OP said that he plays at 1440P and will likely have a 4080 in the near future. I didn't see that he said anything about what games he plays. You apparently seem to think that all games perform the same at the same resolution?

I play at a resolution above 1440P (3840x1600), with a 4080, and my 9800X3D absolutely blew away my 5800X3D in the games that I play, because they tend to be CPU-limited games.

If OP only plays games where he is likely to be GPU-bottlenecked with a 4080 at 1440P, then he should absolutely take that into consideration. I still wouldn't recommend buying a CPU with known flaws on a dead socket.
 
If you look at the individual game results from the review that you chose, you can clearly see which games actually benefit from more CPU power. Why do you think that the 13600k scored so low in those games? Could it be, maybe, because it's a slower CPU?

elden-ring-rt-2560-1440.png
baldurs-gate-3-2560-1440.png
 
El_Capitan said:
Pick and choose much?
Click to expand...

I'm just curious if you actually think that the CPUs are the same speed just because there is a GPU bottleneck in some situations. The way you seem to have such an inflexible singular focus on CPU benchmarks that are held-back by external variables leads me to believe that you don't really care about which CPUs are faster. I once again maintain that the OP should research benchmarks based on which games he plays. But even if he currently plays some GPU-limited games, I don't think I've ever known anyone in the history of computing who regretted choosing a faster CPU. I do know plenty of people who regretted going with a slower CPU just to save a few bucks up-front.
 
GotNoRice said:
I'm just curious if you actually think that the CPUs are the same speed just because there is a GPU bottleneck in some situations. The way you seem to have such an inflexible singular focus on CPU benchmarks that are held-back by external variables leads me to believe that you don't really care about which CPUs are faster. I once again maintain that the OP should research benchmarks based on which games he plays. But even if he currently plays some GPU-limited games, I don't think I've ever known anyone in the history of computing who regretted choosing a faster CPU. I do know plenty of people who regretted going with a slower CPU just to save a few bucks up-front.
Click to expand...
I'm trying to give the OP the best recommendation possible to fit his budget. He doesn't know when he's getting that 4080, and when he does, maybe the 10800X3D or even the 11800X3D will be available. Save money now, get a X3D CPU when it makes sense for him to get it if he wants it.
 
El_Capitan said:
Funny how people tend to recommend the top 2 most expensive "gaming" CPU's for every "budget" build out there (especially when it's AMD). Even when the OP set a budget of $375 for an AMD option, which leaves those 2 most expensive "gaming" CPU option out of the picture. Bingo, right there.
Click to expand...

The only specific AM5 CPU I see being recommended is the 7600X3D, with a link provided that clearly shows that it WOULD be within his budget.

And if we go with the TechPowerUp "Relative Performance" graph that you are so fond of, we see that there are actually about a dozen AM5 CPUs he could choose from that are equal or faster than the 13600k, not just 2.

And again, not going to just let this one go... 13th and 14th generation Intel CPUs aren't currently cheap because they are some special bargain. They are cheap because they have fundamental design flaws and no one wants to buy them! Vendors are literally dumping their stock of them because they don't want them either at this point. How can you honestly recommend a CPU with known issues to someone?
 
El_Capitan said:
Which is still out of his $375 budget, with you providing exactly 0 benchmatks of the 7600X3D.
Click to expand...

OP gave a $375 budget for CPU+Motherboard. The $399 bundle also includes 32GB DDR5. Just a guess, but that 32GB of DDR5 is probably worth the $25...

Not sure why you are hard-up for 7600X3D benchmarks all of a sudden since you've spent so much effort claiming that going with the objectively slow 13600k won't matter due to external factors.
 
GotNoRice said:
OP gave a $375 budget for CPU+Motherboard. The $399 bundle also includes 32GB DDR5. Just a guess, but that 32GB of DDR5 is probably worth the $25...

Not sure why you are hard-up for 7600X3D benchmarks all of a sudden since you've spent so much effort claiming that going with the objectively slow 13600k won't matter due to external factors.
Click to expand...
That's what I thought, no 7600X3D benchmarks, yet you're recommending it above OP's stated budget.
 
El_Capitan said:
That's what I thought, no 7600X3D benchmarks, yet you're recommending it above OP's stated budget.
Click to expand...

So you build systems without RAM? Most bundles include RAM. OP's post was ambiguous about what his RAM situation is, and has not responded back with any clarification.

Why do you need me to provide you with 7600X3D benchmarks? Did you forget how to use Google or something?

https://wccftech.com/review/amd-ryzen-5-7600x3d-cpu-review/4/


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Awz_CG2320E
 
El_Capitan said:
Lol, knew you'd refuse to answer that one. Why not help me out?
Click to expand...

I'm not your tutor. My responses in this thread were for the benefit of the OP. You can take a long walk off a short cliff for all I care :love:
 
Personally, I'd go for that microcenter deal any day (roughly around the date of this post, it's not that good). Keep in mind, though, that the mobo in that deal is not m-atx, which could change your total cost (both in money and time spent) estimate significantly.
 
Last edited:
mvmiller12 said:
Is that 13600 new or used? If new, you should be OK if you immediately upgrade the BIOS on the motherboard, but if it is used... well... you can't really determine how much life is left in it, and Intel will be unlikely to honor manufacturer warranty to a non-first party buyer.
Click to expand...
New.
 
GotNoRice said:
So you build systems without RAM? Most bundles include RAM. OP's post was ambiguous about what his RAM situation is, and has not responded back with any clarification.

Why do you need me to provide you with 7600X3D benchmarks? Did you forget how to use Google or something?

https://wccftech.com/review/amd-ryzen-5-7600x3d-cpu-review/4/


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Awz_CG2320E
Click to expand...

RAM would need to be purchased along with any CPU and motherboard. It isn't too relevaant unless there is bundle deal.
 
emphy said:
Personally, I'd go for that microcenter deal any day (roughly around the date of this post, it's not that good). Keep in mind, though, that the mobo in that deal is not m-atx, which could change your total cost (both in money and time spent) estimate significantly.
Click to expand...
The existing computer is micro-ATX. I don't want to spend $100 for a new case.
 
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