1500 CHF (~1200$) PC for a friend

Nah, if it’s 95% gaming which is what I’m guess your friend will be doing the 9600k is better.

Check this one out

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/vnVHtg

Would recommend that.

Except in two years, when those 6 cores are all in use, it will become unbearable.

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That’s not happening.

We had the exact discussion with the 8350 vs the 2600k back in the day.

Don’t fall for the clock speed meme.

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If he has the additional money, he should go for the 2700X.

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Why pick an inferior CPU for more money for the task at hand?

The 2600x makes more sense if you’re going AMD.

Inferior is a harsh word. But I bought a 2500K back then and in hindsight a 8350 would have been better because more cores. From a GHz perspective a 2700X does really well and offers additional cores for possible additional workload. (Maybe the browser does something in the background, people don’t close everything just for gaming).

Besides, right now it’s two against one so by the power of democracy, you are wrong (:smiley: - kidding ofc)

Like a 6c/6t cpu that only has to offer 800MHz advantage?

Like @SgtAwesomesauce mentioned, the same discussion of the intel 9-series and AMD 2-series was had before in form of the 8350 vs 2600k. And guess what! The 8350 is now the faster CPU in games!

The 9600k only makes sense if you’re going to push it to 5.2GHz. If this is going to be an overclocking build, I’ll agree that the 9600k is a much better choice.

The 9600k, stock is 3.7GHz, just like the 2700x.

If OP’s friend is not tech savvy, he will probably not overclock like crazy. If you want a better 4GHz part, you go with the 2700x because it has an entire two additional cores

Additionally, you only see benefit of the 9600k above 140ish fps. Is OP’s friend going to use a 240hz monitor?

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Besides, doesn’t a Ryzen offer a better frame-time experience than the Intel counterparts? (Think I’ve heard something when Ryzen was released, but I’m not sure)

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It’s better “subjective smoothness” that everyone seems to agree on. They just say that at the same framerate, Ryzen seems to feel better.

I think it has to do with lower latency, although, I could be wrong.

Just to clarify, these are the prices (CHF I assume) from the site @Janick posted for the three mentioned CPUs:

2700X: 329
2600X: 242
9600k: 319

Hence, the 2600X probably offers the best value-propostion, but I’d stick with the 2700X as mentioned above…

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My friend is just on the verge of tech savvy. But I don’t think he will be overclocking soon (Hes original build didn’t include a custom CPU cooler.)

He is more the Intel guy but I think I could get him to buy whatever is better for the price.

As I remember he actually games on a standard 1080p 75Hz monitor at the moment but he will be upgrading there soon.

I don’t think he is going to buy a i5 (I know it’s mostly a really good deal)

It is a i7 or a AMD 2***X

Thanks for all the advice and constructive discussion.

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Yeah these Prices seem right.

My build is this at the moment:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 2700X (Not a Intel but better for the wallet)
CPU FAN: be quiet! Pure Rock (Better than stock)
MB: ASUS ROG Strix B450-F (Solid Motherboard with 2 M2 slots )
GPU: MSI RTX 2060 VENTUS (Better then the GTX 1070Ti)
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX (2x, 8GB) (not the fastest Ram but hey 16GB)
PSU: Corsair RM750x (750W) (750W will last for a long time and Gold rated)
SSD1: Samsung 970 EVO (250GB) (For OS and drivers a faster SSD)
SSD2: Samsung 860 EVO (1000GB) (for games )
HDD: Seagate Barracuda (2TB) (for all the other stuff)

Is there anything that could be better for the price?

If no OC the Intel K parts are not worth it.

2600x at those prices.

Go for the 2600X and a better GPU or use the 2700X and upgrade the GPU in the future ?

Best GPU you can get.

Honestly, at this point both options are valid. I’d pick the 2700X because of the 2 additional cores, but as mentioned above by @anon46267848 and myself the 2600X offers a better value-proposition.
My reasoning behind the 2700X is that your friend will upgrade the GPU in the no too distant future no matter if he picks a 2060, 2070, Vega 56, Vega 64 or even a Vega VII :stuck_out_tongue:
But he will likely keep the CPU.

Edit:

Is also a valid perspective xD

You need to decide for yourself…

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Case: FD Meshify c and Phanteks p350x look like cost-effective options to me (though I haven’t tried either).
CPU: Imo, 8700k/9700k if hes gonna upgrade his monitor to something with 144hz or more and get a gpu to match, if not, a slightly overclocked 2700 (non x) will do just fine for sub 100fps, I’d even mention getting something like a 1400 or 2600 and upgrading to a 3000 series when they come out. Though in all cases he’s gonna have to overclock if he intends to get the best price to performance.
CPU cooler: Check out the scythe mugen 5 or the fsp windale 6, they’re a fraction of the cost of similarly performing noctua or be quiet coolers.
SSD: 970’s are basically the best out there but they are a bit on the expenisve side of the SSD spectrum, a less costly (albeit slower) solution could be something like the crucial p1 or the xpg sx8200, check videos on load times with different types of ssds and see if it’s something of high importance to you.
GPU: Even though it’s an RTX card the 2060 is not too bad in terms of price/performance though it might be worth checking out the 1160 when it comes out. There’s also good deals on RX cards right now so it might also be worth keeping an eye on those.
RAM: Not much to say, if you’re going AMD don’t skimp on ram and anything beyond 3200mhz is overkill.
PSU: Depends on whether if he plans to upgrade in the future, those 2080ti’s can suck a lot of juice.