Group Test
PROCESSORS
3 4
Nearly a year on, however, and the story’s different.
Now Intel has a much more direct equivalent in the
shape of the 8600K, which has six cores and can
run at a considerably faster clock speed (although it
still lacks hyperthreading). However, AMD has kept
the fight going through the 1600X’s price.
It’s available for £180, making it an excellent
choice for those seeking a powerful multicore
machine, but who are still on something of a budget.
Combine it with a basic B350 motherboard and you
can have a strong six-core CPU-and-motherboard
combo for under £300, which is, frankly, ludicrous.
There are some caveats to consider, though.
Despite being multiplier-unlocked, there’s not all
that much headroom for overclocking, so around
4GHz is all you’ll likely get. Even without
overclocking, the 8600K maintains a strong lead in
single-thread performance, and so in terms of
gaming power, it’s the better of the two.
That said, the 1600X’s value can’t
be ignored, making it a great option.AMD RYZEN 5 1600X
http://www.amd.com £180
As well as packing in a huge number of cores, the
1800X also includes SMT technology so it can
handle 16 threads at a time. Plus, like all Ryzen
processors, it’s multiplier-unlocked for easy
overclocking and runs at a decent clock speed, with
a base clock of 3.6GHz and boost speed of 4GHz.
However, while the 1800X may be the fastest
Ryzen chip, it’s still some way off comparable chips
from Intel. Notably, the Core i7-8700K may have a
base speed of 3.7GHz but it can boost to 4.7GHz.
What’s more, the 1800X can’t be overclocked
that well. Our Asus Crosshair VI Hero motherboard
couldn’t push it far beyond a 4GHz base clock. That
provides a nice boost to multithreaded workloads,
but because overclocking disables the automatic
single-core overclocking, many will find single-
thread performance doesn’t improve or even drops.
While the 1800X is still a fairly decent option for
most gamers, it’s not the best. The
8700K would be the better way to
spend around £330 on a CPU.AMD RYZEN 7 1800X
http://www.amd.com £330
90 % 80 %
4At launch, the 1600X stood out in AMD’s Ryzen line.
Six cores, SMT, a decent clock speed and multiplier-
unlocked. Back then, Intel’s closest equivalent was a
quad-core chip that didn’t even have hyperthreading.
The Ryzen 7 1800X is AMD’s flagship mainstream CPU
and brings with it more cores than anything Intel can
offer for the same price. You can get an 1800X and
motherboard for well under £400.