Today we’re checking out the $200 Ryzen 5 2600 and we’ll be taking it for a spin on the impressive new Asus ROG Crosshair VII Hero, a $300 AMD X470 motherboard with all the bells and whistles you can imagine. Even though the Ryzen 5 2600 is better suited to more affordable motherboards like the ROG Strix X470-F Gaming or the Prime X470-Pro considering its price, the motherboard choice shouldn't affect performance while we get the opportunity to showcase this ROG board, in what is another of the multiple different tests we've planned for the coming weeks.

The R5 2600 is $30 cheaper than the 2600X we tested on 2nd-gen Ryzen's launch day. That 13% saving sees operating clock speeds reduced by 6-7%, while the box cooler has been downgraded from the Wraith Spire to the dinky little Wraith Stealth. We’ll check out how that performs later on.