Personally, I think 6 cores is killer for your average "desktop" user. I'm routinely astounded at the sheer range/number of tasks my 2600 will tackle simultaneously without a single hiccup. I get so much more done, not just in work, but leisure, too. I have a Ryzen 3 machine AND a 2nd gen Ryzen 5. I can do the same things on either, but the difference in how I operate is there. The flexibility of the 2600 is great, even if you're not an enthusiast concerned about processing capability. App to app, Windows 10 makes great use of these 12 threads, and little by little, apps and games are getting better optimized to use those capabilities internally the way Win10 already does across apps and the system as a whole.
It's not so much getting things done faster with better multi-threading imo (that may be more attainable later, again with better in-app optimization) right now, it's the transition from task to task - not having to wait for this to finish before you start that. And starting this not bogging down the "that" you already have going. It just makes everything more seamless and stable. Everyone at least beyond gramgramz and her solitaire can benefit. Most use their PC's for a wide range of tasks. Some cannot be combined, and others you don't really need to, but that doesn't mean that being able to combine more tasks doesn't ever come in handy. In fact, I think it's always gonna improve one's experience on the machine, even if it's not in a way that can be reliably benched. It's one of those things where you try to go back and the difference becomes hard to ignore.
It's like... ...it may be hard to see the value in that now, but when hardware capabilities increase in novel ways, people often adapt new habits around them in unexpected ways. And then devs see that and better gear their software to streamline that way of operating. And little by little the way we do things gets better in ways nobody ever sees coming. To that's part of what makes tech so cool, to me, anyway. Discovery. Newer, better paths to the same goals.
And the thing is, while 4 cores is more than serviceable, 6 or even 8 is still a perceptibly appreciable improvement. It's subtle but important. You don't realize where multitasking capabilities are holding you back until you're free to surpass what you're used to, because you've trained yourself to operate comfortably within your hardware's limitations. And that's not to say that quad cores are BAD at multitasking by any stretch. If that is what's available to you and is enough for you to have a good flow doing whatever it is you do, that's what you should go with. But what if you could have better flexibility for less money at little to no compromise on the single-core performance you need?
I mean, a lot more can be done with cross-core stuff than has been yet, while clocks and IPC have been smashing the same wall for so long that we're about to hit the point where there will be little to no variation between best and worst options on that front. It's becoming less meaningful of a comparison. With improvement being so stagnant there, multi-core aspects will naturally become the distinguishing features, even if not with Ryzen 3. That time is coming.
It's one thing when it costs significantly more - but that falls apart when you look at something like the 2600, which gives you 6c/12t at perfectly reasonable clocks/ipc for ~160 dollars. There are situations in that spot where I can see even a typical user benefiting more from having something like that than say a blistering-fast quad-core for another chunk of paper. Those 12 threads may be a screen door on a submarine, but the 6 physical cores are absolutely getting used over the course of the machine's service life. And it probably costs a little less.
With speed and ipc there are diminishing returns, too. Just like with crazy-high core counts, not everyone will be able to notice or make use of a couple bumps there. Not all of us are high-refresh-rate gamers or doing heavily CPU-bound rendering or whatever. Not everything runs appreciably better/more stable just because a CPU happens to be that much faster, even if the difference is measurable. Many things are already fast or simply don't speed up much more, much like nvme SSD's are not always the upgrade you'd think they'd be coming from a 4x slower SATA SSD. I think its wise to ask yourself whether you really need something that is singularly fast over something maybe a bit more flexible and all-around more steady and efficient. Gas-guzzler or diesel?
The way I see it, we're moving in a direction where conversations about whether we need more cores will be nullified, likely should we ever have available to us CPU's that both have more cores and at least match the clocks/ipc of the lower-core-count speedsters of yesterday aaand possibly even be a better value. Whether you think you need the cores or not, you benefit. Dual-cores become dinosaurs, while fast quad cores become entry level! Even if it's a luxury for you, that luxury comes free, or because it comes free, what you need is now available for less in order to still compete and sell.
That, to me, is the ideal form of progress in tech. Over time, you get better performance for what you pay while yesterday's best goes down in value simply by merit of comparison to what is available now. That's how it should be. Obsolescence through innovation. That is why I think people are getting so excited. Most are more than happy to pay what new tech is worth, but nobody wants to spend the same money they spent on their last iteration of a part to get a sidegrade, or pay for new iteration that performs as well as the tier above the last gen version did for the same money that hardware ran you when it was new. Modern computing got to where it is today because of advancements towards making better tech cost less.
We'll see. For me, the excitement isn't over the fact that I can have more cores for my money. Now that I have them, I'm never going back, but honestly what I think would be truly awesome to see would be AMD actually competing with Intel on efficiency, clocks, AND raw ipc, core counts be damned. Throw a couple extra cores per price bracket on top and you will have some seeriously competitive offerings.
I dunno, to me it represents interesting possibilities. There are legit arguments to be had over whether everyone needs a $300 8-core. But what about a $240 6-core? Or a $150-$170 4c/8t that's fast enough to game and still a kickin multitasker? If this is truly the new precedent, the question becomes not "Do we need these cores?" but instead "What will we do with all of these cores?" Lotta potential usage there - but then, actually it doesn't matter much right now. The only real justification needed for the market to take it in is price and all-around performance, multi and otherwise. That's the appeal being garnered here - the hope is that the merit of it goes well beyond more cores.
Sometimes I think part of the critical attitude towards "moar coarszz!" comes from the fact that AMD tried to push that agenda one before, and the things were hot garbage for the money... ...I mean they were really very hot. Completely lopsided performance and usage profiles. Not putting words in anyone's mouth, but there's gotta be a sour taste there for those who remember. This time around it's more than a nice idea though. They've already started to deliver with Zen+. That's your proof of concept. And with a significant node shrink on top of refinements to an already known-good design, I don't see why Zen 2 wouldn't be a very nicely-balanced bag of chips. It's all gonna come down to pricing. And with the jump to 7nm, that really could go either way.
Like I said, it's about what's available to you for the money. I'm very interested in seeing if AMD doesn't turn around and provide many people the most suitable options available for the money, cores notwithstanding. They do that, they win this battle. And then maybe Intel comes back with something good!