Ryzen 5 2600X vs Core i7-7700K

Gaming speed, cores and clocks

The Ryzen 5 2600X and the Core i7-7700K are within a few percent of each other for gaming. In a game, you will not see the difference.

The Ryzen 5 2600X has 6 cores and 12 threads, and the Core i7-7700K has 4 cores and 8 threads. The extra cores of the Ryzen 5 2600X help with video editing, streaming while you play and heavy multitasking more than with the game itself. Boost clocks are 4.25 GHz and 4.5 GHz.

Platform, power and price

The Ryzen 5 2600X uses the AM4 socket and the Core i7-7700K 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 2600X cost $229 and the Core i7-7700K $339, which gives 14.8 and 9.7 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 2600X can feed a card up to the Radeon RX 7600 XT before it holds the card back by more than 10 percent. The Core i7-7700K reaches the GeForce RTX 4060. Both chips are in the same range for graphics card pairing.

Choose the Ryzen 5 2600X if you want the faster gaming chip and the same or more cores. Choose the Core i7-7700K if you would rather spend the difference on a graphics card, which does more for frame rates in most games.