AMD made a spectacular comeback in the processor market with its Ryzen processor family, to which Intel responded with its 8th generation Core processor family that has 50-100% core-count increases across the lineup. These held Intel's fort until AMD responded with its 2nd generation Ryzen "Pinnacle Ridge" family. We've covered every other chip in this rather slick family of just four SKUs, and now we have a chance to look at the most affordable one, the Ryzen 5 2600.

When you think about the first-generation Ryzen family, more glamorous SKUs such as the 1800X or the 1600X come to mind, retailers however think of the Ryzen 5 1600 as their cash cow. This was because it was an unlocked 6-core/12-thread chip that included a cooler, and sold for around $200. The value proposition was overwhelming for Intel's paltry 7th generation Core i5 lineup, and it was only with Intel's introduction of the interestingly priced Core i5-8400 that Intel managed to put the brakes on AMD's success south of $200. Unlike Intel, which bloated its Core i5 6-core family with a staggering five SKUs, AMD's lineup is rather slim, with just two SKUs, the Ryzen 5 2600X and the Ryzen 5 2600. The 2600X impressed us in our launch review, and is still the one of the best sub-$300 processors in our books.