AMD Ryzen 5 1600 vs Intel Core i5-8600

The AMD Ryzen 5 1600 (Summit Ridge, Zen architecture) and the Intel Core i5-8600 (Coffee Lake S architecture) were introduced as mainstream processors.

Both CPUs are manufactured in 14 nm and use PCIe 3.0 with a maximum memory bandwidth of 43 GB/s. The AMD Ryzen 5 1600 has 6 cores, 12 threads, and 16 MB of Level 3 cache. The Intel Core i5-8600 has 6 cores, 6 threads, 9 MB of Level 3 cache, and integrated Intel UHD Graphics 630.

The Intel Core i5-8600 offers significantly higher single-core performance. In multi-core applications, the AMD Ryzen 5 1600 is very competitive thanks to its 12 threads, delivering comparable performance in parallelized workloads. For gaming scenarios, the Intel Core i5-8600 is typically the better choice, as games often benefit from higher single-core performance and clock speeds.

Both processors have a comparable Thermal Design Power (TDP) and are energy-efficient. The AMD Ryzen 5 1600 offered an attractive price-performance ratio for multitasking. The Intel Core i5-8600 impressed with strong single-core performance and an integrated graphics unit. In summary, the AMD Ryzen 5 1600 is suitable for applications that benefit from many threads.

The Intel Core i5-8600 is ideal for gaming, less parallelized applications, and systems with an integrated graphics unit.