Recommended System Requirements | ||
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Game | Ryzen R5 1600 | Core i7-3930K 6-Core 3.20GHz |
Cyberpunk 2077 | 29% | 33% |
Assassins Creed: Valhalla | 4% | 10% |
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War | 31% | 35% |
Grand Theft Auto VI | 17% | 10% |
FIFA 21 | 33% | 37% |
Genshin Impact | 46% | 49% |
Far Cry 6 | 13% | 6% |
Hitman 3 | 4% | 10% |
Watch Dogs Legion | 4% | 10% |
World of Warcraft: Shadowlands | 11% | 4% |
In terms of overall gaming performance, the Intel Core i7-3930K 6-Core 3.20GHz is significantly better than the AMD Ryzen R5 1600 when it comes to running the latest games. This also means it will be less likely to bottleneck more powerful GPUs, allowing them to achieve more of their gaming performance potential.
The Ryzen R5 1600 was released over three years more recently than the Core i7-3930K 6-Core, and so the Ryzen R5 1600 is likely to have far better levels of support, and will be much more optimized and ultimately superior to the Core i7-3930K 6-Core when running the latest games.
Both CPUs exhibit very powerful performance, so it probably isn't worth upgrading from one to the other, as both are capable of running even the most demanding games at the highest settings (assuming they are accompanied by equivalently powerful GPUs).
The Ryzen R5 1600 and the Core i7-3930K 6-Core both have 6 cores, which is not likely to be a limiting factor for gaming.
Both the AMD Ryzen R5 1600 and the Intel Core i7-3930K 6-Core 3.20GHz have the same number of threads. Both the Ryzen R5 1600 and the Core i7-3930K 6-Core use hyperthreading. The Ryzen R5 1600 has 2 logical threads per physical core and the Core i7-3930K 6-Core has 2.
Multiple threads are useful for improving the performance of multi-threaded applications. Additional cores and their accompanying thread will always be beneficial for multi-threaded applications. Hyperthreading will be beneficial for applications optimized for it, but it may slow others down. For games, the number of threads is largely irrelevant, as long as you have at least 2 cores (preferably 4), and hyperthreading can sometimes even hit performance.
More important for gaming than the number of cores and threads is the clock rate. Problematically, unless the two CPUs are from the same family, this can only serve as a general guide and nothing like an exact comparison, because the clock cycles per instruction (CPI) will vary so much.
The Ryzen R5 1600 and Core i7-3930K 6-Core are not from the same family of CPUs, so their clock speeds are by no means directly comparable. Bear in mind, then, that while the Ryzen R5 1600 and the Core i7-3930K 6-Core both have the same clock frequency, this is by no means an indicator that the two CPUs will provide the same level of performance. As such, we need to look elsewhere for more reliable comparisons.
Aside from the clock rate, the next-most important CPU features for PC game performance are L2 and L3 cache size. Faster than RAM, the more cache available, the more data that can be stored for lightning-fast retrieval. L1 Cache is not usually an issue anymore for gaming, with most high-end CPUs eking out about the same L1 performance, and L2 is more important than L3 - but L3 is still important if you want to reach the highest levels of performance. Bear in mind that although it is better to have a larger cache, the larger it is, the higher the latency, so a balance has to be struck.
The Ryzen R5 1600 has a 2560 KB bigger L2 cache than the Core i7-3930K 6-Core, which means that it, at worst, wins out in this area, and at best, will provide superior gaming performance and will work much better with high-end graphics cards.
The maximum Thermal Design Power is the power in Watts that the CPU will consume in the worst case scenario. The lithography is the semiconductor manufacturing technology being used to create the CPU - the smaller this is, the more transistors that can be fit into the CPU, and the closer the connections. For both the lithography and the TDP, it is the lower the better, because a lower number means a lower amount of power is necessary to run the CPU, and consequently a lower amount of heat is produced.
The Ryzen R5 1600 has a 65 Watt lower Maximum TDP than the Core i7-3930K 6-Core, and was created with a 18 nm smaller manufacturing technology. What this means is the Ryzen R5 1600 will consume significantly less power and consequently produce less heat, enabling more prolonged computational tasks with fewer adverse effects. This will lower your yearly electricity bill significantly, as well as prevent you from having to invest in extra cooling mechanisms (unless you overclock).
CPU Codename | Zen | Sandy Bridge-E | |||
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MoBo Socket | Socket AM4 | LGA 2011/Socket R | |||
Notebook CPU | no | no | |||
Release Date | 11 Apr 2017 | 14 Nov 2011 | |||
CPU Link | GD Link | GD Link | |||
Approved | ![]() | ![]() |
CPU Cores | 6 | ![]() | vs | ![]() | 6 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
CPU Threads | 12 | ![]() | vs | ![]() | 12 |
Clock Speed | 3.2 GHz | ![]() | vs | ![]() | 3.2 GHz |
Turbo Frequency | 3.6 GHz | vs | ![]() | 3.8 GHz | |
Max TDP | 65 W | ![]() | vs | 130 W | |
Lithography | 14 nm | ![]() | vs | 32 nm | |
Bit Width | 64 Bit | ![]() | vs | ![]() | 64 Bit |
Max Temperature | - | vs | ![]() | 67°C | |
Virtualization Technology | no | vs | no | ||
Comparison |
L1 Cache Size | 512 KB | ![]() | vs | 384 KB | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
L2 Cache Size | 4096 KB | ![]() | vs | 1536 KB | |
L3 Cache Size | 16 MB | ![]() | vs | 12 MB | |
Max Memory Size | - | vs | ![]() | 64 GB | |
Memory Channels | - | vs | ![]() | 4 | |
ECC Memory Support | no | vs | no | ||
Comparison |
Graphics | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Base GPU Frequency | - | vs | - | ||
Max GPU Frequency | - | vs | - | ||
DirectX | - | vs | - | ||
Displays Supported | - | vs | - | ||
Comparison |
Package Size | - | vs | - | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Revision | - | vs | - | ||
PCIe Revision | - | vs | - | ||
PCIe Configurations | - | vs | - |
Performance Value | ![]() |
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Mini Review | The Ryzen R5 1600 is a high-end CPU based on AMD's 14nm, Zen microarchitecture. It offers 6 physical cores (12 logical), initially clocked at 3.2GHz, which may go up to 3.6GHz using Turbo Boost. It has an unlocked multiplier therefore it can be overclocked using traditional methods. It has 16MB of L3 Cache. Level 3 cache is a static memory bank of a processor and it is used to feed it instructions. This processor also supports DDR4 based RAMs with maximum memory support of 64GB. It has a maximum Thermal Power Design of 65W. It is on par with competitor processors. Among its many features, Simultaneous Multithreading, Cool n Quiet, CoolCore Technology, Extended Frequency Range (XFX), Pure Power and Precision Boost are enabled. It doesn't feature an integrated GPU. This CPU is likely to offer excellent computational performance and will not be the bottleneck in any modern gaming PC. | Core i7-3930K 6-Core 3.2GHz is an extreme processor based on the 32nm, Sandy Bridge architecture. It offers 6 Physical Cores (12 Logical), initially clocked at 3.2GHz, which may go up to 3.8GHz and 12MB of L3 Cache. Among its many features, HyperThreading, Turbo Boost and Virtualization are activated and the processor has multiplier unlocked. The processor DOES NOT integrated any graphics. and has a rated board TDP of 130W. Compared to Core i7-3770K there's an overall 24% performance boost. Its performance is exceptionally good and enough for even the most demanding applications. |
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