Ryzen 5 2600 vs Ryzen 7 1800X

Gaming speed, cores and clocks

The Ryzen 5 2600 and the Ryzen 7 1800X are within a few percent of each other for gaming. In a game, you will not see the difference.

The Ryzen 5 2600 has 6 cores and 12 threads, and the Ryzen 7 1800X has 8 cores and 16 threads. The extra cores of the Ryzen 7 1800X help with video editing, streaming while you play and heavy multitasking more than with the game itself. Boost clocks are 3.9 GHz and 4 GHz.

Platform, power and price

Both chips use the AM4 socket, so they fit the same motherboards. You can swap one for the other without changing the board.

Rated power is 65 W for the first and 95 W for the second. That is close enough that cooling needs will be similar.

At launch the Ryzen 5 2600 cost $199 and the Ryzen 7 1800X $499, which gives 16.6 and 6.6 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 2600 can feed a card up to the GeForce RTX 4060 before it holds the card back by more than 10 percent. The Ryzen 7 1800X reaches the GeForce RTX 4060. Both chips are in the same range for graphics card pairing.

Choose the Ryzen 5 2600 if you want the faster gaming chip. Choose the Ryzen 7 1800X if you would rather spend the difference on a graphics card, which does more for frame rates in most games.