AMD Ryzen 1800X – Is Now The Right Time to Buy?

AMD Ryzen 1800X

The AMD Ryzen 1800X released about a year ago now. When it hit the market, it was the new flagship processor for the AMD Ryzen range, not counting the more workstation focused Ryzen Threadripper. Offering up eight cores and sixteen threads, it proved to be a multi-tasking powerhouse.

1700X or 1800X?

The 1700X has long been my go-to for many system builds. It proved to offer 90% of the trills of the 1800X at a more affordable price point. However, prices have really come down now, no doubt in response to the upcoming release of the Ryzen 2nd Generation series. Right now, the AMD Ryzen 1700X is really affordable, at around £238. Of course, the price gap between this and the 1800X has reduced greatly. More importantly, the 1800X is now just £266, representing incredible value for money.

Ryzen 7 1800X Specifications

• 8 Core with 16 Threads
• 4.00GHz Max Boost Clock
• 14nm FinFet Process
• 16MB L3 Cache
• Dual Channel DDR4 Controller
• 3 Year Warranty

Performance is King

With the Ryzen range, particularly the Ryzen 7 series, the 1800X is the fastest CPU they have to offer. With a base clock of 3.6GHz and a max boost clock of 4.GHz. It’s not miles ahead of the 1700X, but every little counts. When it comes to demanding tasks such as video encoding, file compression, content creation, crypto mining, and more, the 1800X pulls nicely ahead of its Intel rival. PCs do more than just game. For those of us like myself who spend as much time working as I do gaming, the 1800X proves to be much better value for money on a day-to-day basis.

How Many Cores Do You Even Need?

More cores, more multi-tasking. The eight cores of the Ryzen 7 range gives AMD a big advantage though, especially when you’re rendering, transcoding, encrypting and more.

What Kind of Gaming Benefits Can I Get?

As game developers begin to optimize their games to utilize more CPU cores, the 8-cores of an AMD Ryzen will give you an advantage too. If you’re running game streaming software to stream on services like Twitch. Of course, this also includes overlay software, video processing, audio streams, chat applications and more. With eight cores, you’ll find your average framerate stays much higher and resists stutter/lag which streamers will be familiar with on previous generations of processors.

Should I Overclock or Add a Custom Cooler?

AMD has significantly improved stock coolers with their new Wraith coolers. For those running the CPU at stock clocks, it’s more than up to the job. With the 1800X using XFR to automatically boost the clocks when you need it most, many consumers won’t need to overclock. However, if you add an aftermarket cooler to keep the temperatures lower, it’ll be able to hit higher frequencies for longer, or overclock to around 4.1GHz full-time for improved performance.

Future Proof

With the AM4 socket expected to be supported for years to come, you’ll have no issue upgrading your CPU on your existing AMD motherboard for quite some time. Picking up an affordable 1800X now is easily done, or you can wait for the 2nd generation or even 3rd generation Ryzen processors to launch.

What Do You Think?

I’m obviously quite a fan of the Ryzen 1800X. However, how well does the price and features it offers fit your needs? We would love to hear your feedback. If you’re just gaming and not streaming, perhaps a Ryzen 5 is best for you. However, are you’re a content creator, streamer, or something else? Let us know why you would want an eight-core CPU? What processor would you want to replace?