Core i5-7600K vs Ryzen 5 1600

Gaming speed, cores and clocks

The Core i5-7600K and the Ryzen 5 1600 are within a few percent of each other for gaming. In a game, you will not see the difference.

The Core i5-7600K has 4 cores and 4 threads, and the Ryzen 5 1600 has 6 cores and 12 threads. The extra cores of the Ryzen 5 1600 help with video editing, streaming while you play and heavy multitasking more than with the game itself. Boost clocks are 4.2 GHz and 3.6 GHz.

Platform, power and price

The Core i5-7600K uses the LGA1151 socket and the Ryzen 5 1600 uses AM4, so they need different motherboards, and often different memory. When you compare prices, count the board as well as the chip.

Rated power is 91 W for the first and 65 W for the second. That is close enough that cooling needs will be similar.

At launch the Core i5-7600K cost $242 and the Ryzen 5 1600 $219, which gives 11.6 and 12.8 points of gaming performance per $100. Today's prices will differ.

Which graphics cards each one can feed, and which to buy

At 1080p the Core i5-7600K can feed a card up to the GeForce RTX 5050 before it holds the card back by more than 10 percent. The Ryzen 5 1600 reaches the GeForce RTX 5050. Both chips are in the same range for graphics card pairing.

Choose the Core i5-7600K if you want the faster gaming chip. Choose the Ryzen 5 1600 if you would rather spend the difference on a graphics card, which does more for frame rates in most games.