Ryzen 2700 vs Ryzen 3600

Hi guys!
I am building a new PC. I have everything else sorted, just confused for processor between Ryzen 2700 (non x) and 3600 (non x). I can go for anyone of them as both are in my budget, 2700 being cheaper. Ryzen 2700 has more cores. Ryzen 3600 has more cache and better architecture. Which is more beneficial for unity? Ryzen 2700 or 3600?

Rest of the build, just in case:
Motherboard: ASUS Prime B450-plus
RAM: 16GB DDR4 3000MHZ
HDD+SSD: 1TB HDD + 240GB SSD
PSU: 650W
GPU: RX 580 8GB

 

3600 is the most cost effective CPU at the moment. Did you mean https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/B450-TOMAHAWK-MAX for the motherboard (it's very good).

Get 3200+mhz rated ram, 3000 will slow it down, you'll lose a few fps in games for sure. Not many but this difference is felt. The new architectures are hungry for memory speed.

Don't do fancy things with SSD. Get the best m2 SSD, the 1TB Evo 970. I'm pretty sure it for price is best.

 

Ryzen 3600 seems better overall, judging by this site:
https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/AMD-Ryzen-7-2700-vs-AMD-Ryzen-5-3600/3957vs4040

 

You can look it up on google. There are comparisons online, and from what I heard, that 2700 in some RARE circumstances has slightly better multicore performance (8x cores), but 3600 compensates for that with improved single-core performance of 3rd generation and thus is superior.

I faced similar question recently, and decided to get 3600. I don't regret it, although it is funny that in 6+ years the number of CPU cores on my PC remained unchanged.

https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/comments/cdduxw/amd_ryzen_7_2700_vs_amd_ryzen_5_3600/

 

It depends on your workload and any future upgrade plans. If you will primarily be doing workloads that benefit from having 2 extra cores over a bit faster IPC, and/or you're likely to upgrade the CPU to something like a 3900X as soon as its price starts dropping whenever Ryzen 4k hits, then the 2700 makes a lot of sense.

If you're planning on keeping the CPU for several years, and you're doing usual dev/gaming workloads where sometimes you do multicore heavy work but most of the time you'd benefit more from a bit faster IPC, then I'd go 3600.

 

One very important detail that no one has mentioned is that a B450 motherboard is not guaranteed to support a 3600 out of the box. If the motherboard you receive has the latest BIOS available out of the box it will support it, but if the motherboard doesn't you will either need a motherboard with BIOS flashback or an older CPU to do it with.

Below is a list of motherboards that have BIOS flashback. If you don't have an older CPU to flash the BIOS with I highly recommend purchasing one of these rather than taking the gamble the B450 you want has a newer BIOS.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/bvfo57/list_of_b350_b450_x370_and_x470_motherboards_with/

Below is a video showing how to use BIOS flashback on an MSI motherboard, but the way you do it is essentially the same for every motherboard supporting the feature. You load the latest BIOS onto the root of a flash drive, you insert it into the flashback port, you hit the button, and wait for the indicator lights to stop blinking. A CPU is not required for flashback.

Spoiler: How to use BIOS Flashback Button

 

If I unknowingly stumbled into this problem, I'd just pick up the cheapest AM4 CPU from a few years ago, flash the BIOS, and then resell the cheap CPU (or stash it away in case I ever needed to do it again). Of course this would be an irritating hassle if I was expecting my machine to be working when I first put it together.

For example, under $25 USD:
https://www.ebay.com/i/283488424933

 

Yeah, that.

It would be a good idea to check if the motherboard can be flashed without CPU, or update its bios before the cpu change. In my case I had to change the motherboard anyway, but the one I got supported Ryzen 3 out of the box.

 

I think most of the MSI boards are coming pre-flashed now, as well as having CPU free flash options. My B450 did, for instance.

 

Hi, Thanks for your reply.

No, I am getting ASUS Prime B450-Plus. I might get TOMAHAWK one if it is in my budget. I went to my local market on sunday to get an idea of prices, and few shops were closed. The ones that were open only had ASUS one. Planning on revisiting the market during weekdays after my office timings.

I'll try and get 3200mhz ram, if I can fit in my budget. Or upgrade a few months later.

I am getting a normal SSD SATA III one, 240 GB. Later I'll get NVME SSD, if required.

 

Hi, Thanks for your reply.

Yeah, I saw that before posting. My purpose for posting here was to find out which one is better for UNITY.

 

Hi, Thanks for your reply.

I did look it up on google. My purpose for posting here was to find out which one is better for UNITY. 3600 is looking like a better option. But if 2700 is overclocked right, it does perform well. And it is cheaper than 3600. I can spend that money for a better motherboard. I plan on upgrading within the next two years, if I save some money

 

Hi, Thanks for your reply.

I was meaning to ask which one's better for UNITY. I am planning to upgrade within the next two years. I also do video editing in premiere pro when ever I get a project.

 

Hi, Thanks for your reply.

You are right. The motherboard I am planning on getting, ASUS Prime B450-Plus, is not listed in the link you provided. I'll get B450 TOMAHAWK if it fits my budget with 3600. If not, then I'll have to go with ASUS motherboard and 2700. I plan on upgrading within the next two years.

 

Hi, Thanks for your reply.

That's not a bad idea. I might be able to borrow one from the store I'll be getting my PC at.

 

Hi, Thanks for your reply.

I'll check the motherboard before buying.

 

I wouldn't buy 2700 with intention to overclock. And if you're overclocking, then 3600 likely can be overclocked too.

The same online source mentioned higher number of instruction per count for 3600, so if money is the problem, it would be a good idea to save up instead of buying Ryzen 2 vs Ryzen 3. And if you want 8 cores, then you can save up for 3700. That's how I see it, anyway.

 

I have to agree with @neginfinity. I've watched a number of hardware reviewers overclock their Ryzen CPUs and the results are never good. You might be able to get as high as 300 MHz (less than 10%) but the cost of the cooler needed to do so is the same cost as going from a non-X model to an X model and that's above average results. Most people see lower gains.

AMD's CPUs are designed to run at nearly their maximum speeds on air and water cooling outside of the box meaning the only way to see overclocks on par with an Intel CPU (5+ GHz) is to overclock with liquid nitrogen, and when you overclock that way the chip will only last a very short time (eg a couple minutes on Cinebench) at that performance.

 

Ok so overclocking is out of question, then. Will wait until enough money to fit 3600 in my budget along with a better motherboard.

 

I think your motherboard is quite good, do not buy overpriced ones, save your money. Both of that Ryzens will work well on any casual B450 chipset motherboard.

If you search for the most effective processor for the Unity editor you have to forget about Ryzen 2700 and buy 3600 because 3600 has improved single-core performance which is the main thing for the Unity. As far as I know, Unity editor do not use all of your cores well, it's a single core program mostly.

 

I agree that I wouldn't install a 2700X or a 3600X onto a high-end motherboard, but I don't agree that they're overpriced because you do get what you pay for with them. A WiFi 6 USB adapter starts at around $20 but the quality ones with multiple antennas and a high performance rating can easily hit $50.

With just the WiFi adapter alone you've already made up the difference, but high-end motherboards also come with Realtek ALC1220 versus ALC892 audio which has a noticeable quality increase, Intel NICs instead of Realtek NICs, etc.

Stepping into X570 territory comes with massive improvements to peripheral ports. While there may not be that many PCIe 4.0 devices available, the chipset being on PCIe 4.0 means that you can have more SSDs, HDDs, USBs, etc and have more of them being accessed simultaneously (X470 and older chipsets cap at 4GB/sec, X570 chipset caps at 8GB/sec).

Basically don't just write off a motherboard because it's expensive. A cheap processor doesn't need a high-end board, but a high-end processor deserves a quality one to truly take advantage of what it offers.

 

Well, you are right. But as I understood that guy just needs working CPU + motherboard and do not have much money for that stuff. He do not need all that extra features.

 

And I wouldn't pair either of those processors with an expensive board. I'm just posting it in case someone with the budget for them does come along.

 

Unity has been getting a lot better with using multiple cores, especially with newer features available like Jobs and with DOTS on the horizon.

There's also the dreaded lightmap baking , which is irritating when you leave it on the default Auto Generate setting on slower or limited core count CPU's, but very effectively utilizes all available CPU cores to speed up the process. Higher core count CPU's see a lot of improvement, as performance monitor will show it nearly maxing out all your cores during the process.

(I still vote for 3600 unless the majority of your workloads utilize all cores)

 

You are right about lightmap baking. But now Unity has GPU lightmap baking that overheads CPU dramatically (according on my tests), so you don't need to use CPU for lightmaps anymore

 

BTW, the AMD Ryzen 3000 series is on sale right now. Ryzen 5 3600 is currently only $179.99 on Amazon.
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/big-third-gen-ryzen-3000-cpu-sale-savings-up-to-dollar60