Core i5-8500 vs Ryzen 7 2700

Gaming speed, cores and clocks

On our gaming index the Core i5-8500 scores 38 and the Ryzen 7 2700 scores 36, about 6% faster for gaming. That gap is small and mostly shows up at 1080p with a very fast graphics card.

The Core i5-8500 has 6 cores and 6 threads, and the Ryzen 7 2700 has 8 cores and 16 threads. The extra cores of the Ryzen 7 2700 help with video editing, streaming while you play and heavy multitasking more than with the game itself. Boost clocks are 4.1 GHz and 4.1 GHz.

Platform, power and price

The Core i5-8500 uses the LGA1151 socket and the Ryzen 7 2700 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 65 W for the first and 65 W for the second. That is close enough that cooling needs will be similar.

At launch the Core i5-8500 cost $192 and the Ryzen 7 2700 $299, which gives 19.8 and 12.0 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 i5-8500 can feed a card up to the Radeon RX 6750 XT before it holds the card back by more than 10 percent. The Ryzen 7 2700 reaches the Arc B580. Both chips are in the same range for graphics card pairing.

Choose the Core i5-8500 if you want the faster gaming chip. Choose the Ryzen 7 2700 if you would rather spend the difference on a graphics card, which does more for frame rates in most games.