AMD Ryzen 5 2600X Processor, 6 Cores and 12 Threads with Wraith Spire Cooler

I have always bought AMD cpu's, they always delivered a good value and were the underdog. If nobody supported AMD or bought their chips, intel CPUS would be far more expensive. Ryzen is the first time in a while AMD has been competitive with Intel in terms of performance, not just price/value.Ryzen uses an all new architecture and requires an AM4 motherboard. It has things like artificial intelligence built into it and automatic overclocking in addition to boost. Reading about it versus using it, you would expect a far more advance CPU. When you go into further details, the AI is fairly rudimentary but nonetheless its a very cool feature. And it will probably get better overtime. I haven't tried it yet but amd also offers a software called StoreMI that automatically manage your hard drive and SSD, basically combining them together.The CPU was a little hard to install and the instructions were not clear as it had instructions for several types of CPUS. You literally have to screw the CPU fan onto the motherboard, it was pretty annoying. I was tempted to give it less stars because of this. Supposedly AMD coolers are much better now so you don't need an afterstock, based on this I didn't buy an afterstock. It works well and it's very quiet. I notice the cpu stays fairly cool also even after playing games. The heatsink/fan has sticky thermal paste on the bottom but if you have to re-attach which is not unlikely given how hard it is to install you should probably buy thermal paste. Thermal paste will also keep the cpu cooler by a few degrees.On the older version of windows 10, the CPU was blazing fast. But unfortunately I had to update windows for my graphics drivers so its a little slower. Although that's not the fault of AMD. Also probably because of Microsoft you can't use windows 7 with Ryzen out of the box. You have to pre-install special usb drivers in your windows 7 installation disk or usb. Windows 10 is the latest but all the other hardware I bought still supports windows 7 and you should be able to easily use both. So that's something to keep in mind.I've played a few newer games and everything works fine. The cpu is very smooth, its fast and I can run a bunch of things at the same time, even play intensive games and have stuff running in the background. I did tests with passmark and this CPU ranks in the 92 percentile of all Cpus. It also surpasses the I7 -6700k which is 150 dollars more. On math test and encryption test, 2600x ranks near the top 99 percentile. I included pictures.I would say for the price there is no better CPU and not only for the price, this thing is great and can run anything without a problem. I anticipate it will stay relevant for some time and be able to run the latest software and games for several years. This is the second gen or 'zen plus' line, there is slightly faster equivalent of zen 3, ryzen 3600x. But that's nearly 100 dollars more and only for 5-10 percent improve. Your better off going with this and now they've made some improvements and worked out the kinks over ryzen generation 1.So I give it a rare 5 out of 5 stars.

I changed my PC after ten years! I went with AMD as it was so much cheaper and better, looking at the data below. The i7-8700K, the Intel equivalent, is $380.00 verses $200.00 for the AMD 2600X. I used the same power supply, case, mouse, keyboard ETC as it all was newer. You can see the set-up I did this time. The GPU is in the middle slot to give the CPU cooler a tunnel of air straight through the system. The NVMe drive sits under the CPU cooler and gets air pulled across it. The GPU is AIO hybrid type so no hot air in the case. Yes, I oriented the cooler to shoot straight up as this seems best to send hot air UP out the top of the case and not into the GPU radiator. Temps so far support the set-up. Real neat and clean this time around.I have a pretty good CPU and NOCTUA DH-15S cooler, so it auto dynamic clocks (what AMD calls XFR2) to 4.9 GHz on all cores! I don't do a thing, as it is all stock. Even the fans are cool-and-quiet and ramp based on temps. This is a great PC! The ASRock X470 is great, too, with that 1 GB ADATA NVMe SSD drive blazing along with W10 pro. The memory XMP profiled to the right timings and speed straight away with the Taichi MB...dead stable.The Heaven 4.0 scores are 15 FPS faster than the i7-870 in the old system with the same 1070ti clocks (see attached). That AMD CPU kicks butt for the price. If you are thinking of a PC, the 2600X allows you to afford the a NVMe drive and/or a faster graphics card. I game at 1440P so the fastest CPU is a waste of money.Ran Wolfenstein - The New Order all day today and not a single hick-up. The system exceeded my expectations, that's for sure.AMD SYSTEMBRAND PRICEMB ASRock X470 Taichi AM4 AMD $199.99CPU AMD Ryzen 7 2600X 3.6GHz $209.99DDR4 MEMORY* G.Skill Flare-X 16GB 2 x 8GB DDR4-3200 - F4-3200C14D-16GFX $224.981GB ADATA SX8200 3D NAND NVMe Gen3x4 M.2 SSD $208.99OS W10 Professsional OEM 64 bit $149.50GPU EVGA 1070ti hybrid $550.00I kept my case and PS;Phantek ENTHOO PRO GlassCorsair HX-750Here is the data on XFR2 actual function.Look at the dynamic OC difference! ~4.3 GHz on one and ~4.9 GHz on the other! VCPU core adjust from less than a volt to 1.48 volts.Remember that the numbers are "max" at any time, not at one point in time. So ALL cores aren't likely ever at those frequencies at the same time, just the ones that are needing the boost. Unlike a manual over clock, you aren't stuck revving the CPU engine in neutral wasting power on cores that don't have work, and, generating HEAT that slows down the thread you DO want to be running hardest!This is why the AMD set-up is so compelling now, It allows every last bit of performance to be reached with minimal HEAT generation as ONLY the cores / clocks that NEED the boost get it. Eventually, they all seem to see a set peak GHz value (I don't think my 2600X can run 4.93 GHz on all cores simultaneously) running randomly at full tilt.If you look at the CPU and GPU utilization scores you'll see dramatic differences between games. One runs the CPU hard, the other the GPU.The CPU processor adjust to fit the requirements. And, it adjusts a LOT more than I ever though it would. With fixed over clock you really match ONE type of game and spin your wheels on the other. XFR2 senses the wheel spin on the CPU and backs it off if it can't drive performance forward on everything you do. And yes, it backs off the CPU voltage on that core, you can watch it dynamically change on each core. This lowers overall heats to the minimum at any point in time for the work being done.I sound like an add for AMD's XFR2, but I'm just the opposite, I was real nervous about the expense on a seemingly too good to be true dynamic OC program. But, it really does work and the data supports it 100% using real games and actual use situations. This CPU is 3.6 GHz base clock, but dynamically OC to near 5 GHz! And, this was gaming for 12 hours straight on Wolfenstein with ZERO crashes. Someone has to do this test, may as well be me. This PC is dead stable hitting those numbers. If you don't believe the AMD propaganda, it is true this time around.Let's add the second important variable, cooling. The AMD Cool and Quiet was panned in the beginning. Now, it supercharges the XFR2 capability as it cools ONLY when needed. The old way was top blow the house down 24/7. Now? I hear the fans spin up in game and then spin down again. The cooling is DYNAMIC as well, so less noise most of the time. The X470 Taichi MB chip set tested my fans min speeds at initialization so it knows their limits and away it went after that. Both systems work seamlessly on my PC. Seldom does this ever happen. I didn't mess with a thing, no CPU overclocks, no fan profiles, nothing. I see completely reasonable heats, too.The 2600X is definitely the little engine that could, and DOES! Or should I say, AMD DOES! HEAVEN WOLFENSTEINCPU LOWER HIGHERGPU 100% 40%CPU TEMP 57 C 67 CGPU TEMP 56 C 40 CCPU CLOCK 4.3 GHz 4.9 GHz