AMD Ryzen 5 1600X (6C12T) CPU Review

1. Ryzen 5 1600X: Introduction & Overclocking2. Ryzen 5 1600X Overclocking3. Testing Methodology4. CPU Tests 1: Cinebench, Handbrake, x265 Encoding5. CPU Tests 2: 7-Zip, Kraken, WPrime6. CPU & Memory Tests: SiSoft Sandra7. Gaming Tests 1: FutureMark8. Gaming Tests 2: GTA V, Metro LL, Witcher 3 (DX11)9. Gaming Tests 3: Ashes, GoW4, ROTTR, Total War (DX12)10. 4K Gaming Tests: GoW4, GTA V, Witcher 311. 1440P Gaming With A GTX 107012. Technical: Power & Temperatures13. Closing Thoughts14. View All Pages

7-Zip

7-Zip is an open source Windows utility for manipulating archives. We measure the Total Rating performance using the built-in benchmark tool. The test stresses all CPU cores to 100% and shows an affinity for memory bandwidth.

Mozilla Kraken

Mozilla Kraken is a browser-based JavaScript benchmark that tests a variety of real-world use cases. We use Chrome as the test browser. The test exhibits very little multi-threading and shows an affinity for CPU clock speed and IPC.

WPrime

WPrime is a leading multithreaded benchmark for x86 processors that tests your processor performance by calculating square roots with a recursive call of Newton’s method for estimating functions. We use the 1024M test in WPrime to analyse processor calculation performance.

7-Zip likes cores and memory bandwidth. Three times as many threads gives the 1600X a commanding lead over the Core i5-7600K. The Ryzen 5 flagship's performance lead is 71% at stock and 61% with both chips overclocked. Core i7-7700K is outperformed by the 1600X and it takes an overclock to 4.2GHz (plus quad-channel DDR4-3200 memory) for the 6800K to surpass Ryzen 5 numbers.

Kaby Lake’s clock speed and IPC are king in Kraken, so the i5-7600K beats out Ryzen 5 1600X at both frequency configurations. Ryzen 5 1600X is, however, able to put in a good showing against Intel’s more expensive 6C12T Core i7-6800K.

WPrime is heavily multi-threaded so the performance of Ryzen 5 1600X is a known by this point. Core i5-7600K is outperformed versus Ryzen 5 1600X by significant levels at both stock and overclocked frequencies. The more expensive 4C8T and 6C8T Core i7 processors also sit below Ryzen 5 in the chart, at stock frequencies. An overclock to the Broadwell-E 6800K puts it above Ryzen 5 performance levels.

CPU-related testing overview:

Ryzen 5 1600X continues to show its dominance versus the price-competitive i5-7600K in multi-threaded workloads. Core i7-7700K performance numbers are also surpassed and it takes a hefty overclock for Broadwell-E’s Core i7-6800K to beat Ryzen 5’s flagship. Positive stuff from a $249 part.

With that said, the Kraken benchmark shows that Kaby Lake’s mixture of stronger IPC and significantly higher clock frequency demote Ryzen 5 in the performance hierarchy. Single- or lightly-threaded workloads are best paired with Kaby Lake.

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