Core i5-9600K vs Ryzen 3 3300X

Gaming speed, cores and clocks

The Core i5-9600K and the Ryzen 3 3300X are within a few percent of each other for gaming. In a game, you will not see the difference.

The Core i5-9600K has 6 cores and 6 threads, and the Ryzen 3 3300X has 4 cores and 8 threads. The extra cores of the Core i5-9600K help with video editing, streaming while you play and heavy multitasking more than with the game itself. Boost clocks are 4.6 GHz and 4.3 GHz.

Platform, power and price

The Core i5-9600K uses the LGA1151 socket and the Ryzen 3 3300X 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 95 W for the first and 65 W for the second. That is close enough that cooling needs will be similar.

At launch the Core i5-9600K cost $262 and the Ryzen 3 3300X $120, which gives 16.0 and 34.2 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 i5-9600K can feed a card up to the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB before it holds the card back by more than 10 percent. The Ryzen 3 3300X reaches the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16GB. Both chips are in the same range for graphics card pairing.

Choose the Core i5-9600K if you want the faster gaming chip and the same or more cores. Choose the Ryzen 3 3300X if you would rather spend the difference on a graphics card, which does more for frame rates in most games.