AMD Ryzen 5 Summit Ridge 1600X BOX (YD160XBCAEWOF)

Affordable 6-core processor

The AMD Ryzen 5 1600X is the youngest six-core processor based on the Zen architecture, which is a direct competitor to the "people's" Intel Core i5-7600K. But if the price of a chip from Intel is kept at the initial level of $220, AMD has gradually reduced its requests to a very tasty $160, which puts it in the “buy without hesitation” category.

Automatic CPU overclocking

The suffix "X" in the name of the chip means support for XFR technology, which automatically increases the processor frequency above the norm if the cooler allows it. The base frequencies of the 1600X are set at 3.6 GHz, when running in turbo mode, the clock speed reaches 4.0 GHz. The volume of cache memory of the second level is 3072 KB.

High performance in the most demanding games

Paired with a Radeon RX 570-caliber graphics card, this processor handles power-hungry games like Doom with ease and delivers a stable 50 FPS on Ultra graphics settings in the latest Far Cry 5. For comparison, the Core i5-7600K in games shows approximately the same results, however lags behind in synthetic tests by an average of 20%.

6 cores, 12 threads

But that is not all. The 1600X is a great option for building a PC with an eye for the future. It works with socket AM4 motherboards and supports AMD SMT multi-threading technology. Thanks to it, the chip can turn 6 physical cores into 12 virtual ones, evenly distributing the load between them. Even if these 12 threads are not needed so often now, in a couple of years they will certainly come in handy.

If we strictly adhere to the $150 low-cost stated in the title, then our choice will fall on the junior model of the line — AMD 1500X with a price tag of $145. It is made on the same 14 nm and has the same functionality as the older one, but cannot boast the same power — 4 cores instead of 6 and 2048 KB of L2 cache instead of 3072 KB. But its energy consumption is one and a half times lower.