AMD Ryzen 5 3600 vs Intel Core i7-9700K
The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 and Intel Core i7-9700K sit within a few percent of each other on our index. Treat them as equivalent in raw performance and decide on price, power draw and — for graphics cards — video memory instead.
| Specification | AMD Ryzen 5 3600 | Intel Core i7-9700K |
|---|---|---|
| Manufacturer | AMD | Intel |
| Generation | Zen 2 | 9th Gen (Coffee Lake Refresh) |
| Multi-thread index | 86 (better) | 85 |
| Single-thread index | 91 | 93 (better) |
| Cores | 6 | 8 (better) |
| Threads | 12 (better) | 8 |
| Base clock | 3.6 GHz | 3.6 GHz |
| Boost clock | 4.2 GHz | 4.9 GHz (better) |
| Socket | AM4 | LGA1151 |
| TDP | 65 W (better) | 95 W |
| Release year | 2019 (better) | 2018 |
| Integrated graphics | No | Yes |
Green marks the stronger figure for that row only — for power draw and PSU requirement, lower is treated as better. Performance indexes are CanMyPcPlay estimates; read how they are derived.
Which should you pick?
- Games follow single-thread. For gaming, the single-thread index matters more than core count.
- Creative work follows multi-thread. Rendering, compiling and encoding scale with cores.
- Sockets differ. Moving between platforms usually means a new motherboard and often new memory.