Ryzen 5 1600X vs Core i7-6700K

Gaming speed, cores and clocks

On our gaming index the Ryzen 5 1600X scores 29 and the Core i7-6700K scores 28, about 4% faster for gaming. That gap is small and mostly shows up at 1080p with a very fast graphics card.

The Ryzen 5 1600X has 6 cores and 12 threads, and the Core i7-6700K has 4 cores and 8 threads. The extra cores of the Ryzen 5 1600X help with video editing, streaming while you play and heavy multitasking more than with the game itself. Boost clocks are 4 GHz and 4.2 GHz.

Platform, power and price

The Ryzen 5 1600X uses the AM4 socket and the Core i7-6700K uses LGA1151, 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 91 W for the second. That is close enough that cooling needs will be similar.

At launch the Ryzen 5 1600X cost $249 and the Core i7-6700K $350, which gives 11.6 and 8.0 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 Ryzen 5 1600X can feed a card up to the Radeon RX 7600 before it holds the card back by more than 10 percent. The Core i7-6700K reaches the GeForce RTX 5050. Both chips are in the same range for graphics card pairing.

Choose the Ryzen 5 1600X if you want the faster gaming chip and the same or more cores. Choose the Core i7-6700K if you would rather spend the difference on a graphics card, which does more for frame rates in most games.