How does Ryzen 9 270 handle gaming, and how large is the gap versus cheaper models?

  Treat it as a mainstream processor for gaming — comfortable at 1080p high-refresh and 1440p; pair the GPU to the monitor, and don't let the Ryzen 9 name skew the budget split.

  If it's priced close to the Ryzen 7 250, either works; if notably more expensive, the cheaper one games identically. For productivity, check GPU acceleration support in your software first — many workloads lean on the card, narrowing CPU differences.