What I've always loved about Ryzen CPUs is their value compared to Intel. AMD is comparable to the 8700k (~$360), and some even consider it to be on par with the 9700k (~$420 on Amazon). Upgrading from a 1600 (on one computer) and 2600x (on another) is a breeze. Why? AM4 compatibility, which is something Intel decides not to do. Want to upgrade to Ryzen 2 (TBA at CES)? Just take off your cooler, take your current CPU out, and put this new one in WITHOUT the hassle of dropping another $190-$290 on a new motherboard. The 2700x even comes with a cooler, which the 9700k does not have, and a fine cooler at that. An aesthetically pleasing cooler and fully functional one that keeps one of my 2700x under 73C with Precision Boost 3 (which goes up to 5Ghz for me). My other 2700x is AIO water cooled, and can push out up to 6.5Ghz (on all cores) with Precision Boost 2 at 70C-80C.
This CPU at idle gives out 2% usage, which I took for granted until I looked at an i5 8400(?) which idled at 20%. Also, Ryzen Master, beautiful work of art. Instead of restarting my computer a million times to get a stable clock, I can just go into Ryzen Master, increase core clocks until it crashes, then raise the voltage and find a stable clock speed. Or you can leave it to Precision Boost 2, but I like to run my CPU at 4.2 Base with Precision Boost 2 enabled.
If you're doing a mid-tier budget build for all-purpose, I really suggest this CPU, as it can do everything equally well, as it is more around daily tasks than Intel's gaming tasks. I love this CPU so much, that I've fitted it in all four of the computers in the house with no complaints on gaming or such from others.
Edit:
Added photos of stock 2700x cooler. Fan colour changes and the ring around the fan has an RGB wave pattern. It can maintain a semi-idle 2700x at 35C-45C. Also uploaded some photos of it. Haven’t touched the software though and I personally don’t plan to.
Edit 2: Just got my 9900k, and it was a massive disappointment compared to this $310 Ryzen beast. In CS:GO, a CPU intensive game, it only ran 20FPS faster, which literally doesn’t matter since most monitors can’t go over 240HZ (2700x had 275 avg; 9900k has 300; but these CPUs max out at 500 in certain scenarios). My 9900k was even clocked at 5.3Ghz and costs $530, so compared to this Ryzen 2700x, it really isn’t worth it unless you want to show it off or do Adobe stuff which is optimised for Intel. But because I overclocked, my temps were 30C idle and up to 90C during gaming. On the 2700x, it never broke 60C, with the same cooler and fans.
Pros
-cost effective
-comes with a decent stock cooler
-easy overclock (if you like that sort of thing)
-easy to upgrade from Zen 1 or upgrade to Ryzen 2
-cheaper motherboards that can easily overclock
Cons
-not the best single-core performance, but what do you expect for $310 compared to Intel's $380 CPU
-not the best variety of motherboards (which isn't a 2700x problem, but just general)
-I can't think of anything else
| Processor | 4.3 GHz amd_ryzen_7 |
|---|---|
| RAM | 16 GB DDR4 |
