Best Budget CPU AMD Ryzen 5 2600 or Ryzen 5 2400G
For anyone who wants to spend as little as possible while still retaining acceptable (honestly, it's great) gaming and productivity performance, the six-core Ryzen 5 2600 is a no-brainer. It’s only $120, and though it's 28 percent slower in Cinebench R20 than its Ryzen 5 3600 successor, it’s also cheaper. Looking at gaming performance, the margin is smaller, with the 3600 claiming only a ~12 percent average FPS advantage over its predecessor.
Also worthy of consideration is the Ryzen 1600 AF if you can get it at the intended $85 price point, it's essentially a 2600 running a little slower clock speed.
Plus Graphics
If you require integrated graphics for an inexpensive build, you can go as low as the $80 Ryzen 3 2200G, though we feel matching the price of the R5 2600, the Ryzen 5 2400G is the way to go for most, thanks to the inclusion of SMT for 8 threads, which makes a massive difference and is well worth the extra $40.
The newer Ryzen 5 3400G is also of consideration at $140. When compared to the 2400G, it’s a soldered part, supports PBO and comes with the upgraded Wraith Spire 95 W cooler. For a small ~$10 premium we’d grab the 3400G everytime, but for $20 or more it becomes a tougher choice.
In case you're wondering, Intel has nothing to offer here. The Core i3-9100 comes in at $150 and gets trounced by the Ryzen 5 3400G. If you don’t need an iGPU the 9100F for $90 isn’t a bad deal, but you’ll be buying into a dead platform which is a bit of a downer. The box cooler also sucks.