AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 6-core review – is it good for gaming?

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Is Ryzen 5 5600X good for gaming? Runs Cool, while gaming at 60fps in blizzard games is around 45 degrees C with a dark rock slim cpu cooler. Idle it can be around 30 degrees C. Comes with a amd wraith cooler which I like having as a back up in case of emergency. Find details in AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 6-core review.

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Pros & Cons – AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 6-core

Pros

  • Strong performance in content creation and productivity tasks
  • IPC gain, boost frequencies
  • Awesome gaming performance
  • Wraith Stealth included
  • Decent overclocking potential
  • Low TDP
  • Compatible with Socket AM4
  • High overclock ceiling
  • Power efficiency
  • PCIe Gen4 support
  • Bundled cooler

Cons

  • No integrated graphics
  • Needs an AIO for best performance
  • Overclocking does little for gaming

Specs – AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 6-core

  • Cores: 6 CPU Cores
  • System Memory: Up to 3200MHz DDR4 RAM
  • Threads – 12
  • Lithography – TSMC 7nm
  • Base clock – 3.7GHz
  • L3 Cache – 32MB
  • Memory support – DDR4 3200MHz
  • Socket – AM4
  • TDP – 65W
  • Cooler – Wraith Stealth
  • Boost Clock: Up to 4.6GHz Max Boost Clock
  • Game Cache: 35 MB GameCache for game performance
  • PCI Express Version: Processors with PCIe 4.0, delivering double the graphics and storage bandwidth

Price

Zen 3 Ryzen 5000 Series ProcessorsRCP (MSRP)Cores/ThreadsBase/Boost Freq.TDPL3 Cache
Ryzen 9 5950X$79916 / 323.4 / 4.9 GHz105W64MB (2×32)
Ryzen 9 5900X$54912 / 243.7 / 4.8 GHz105W64MB (2×32)
Ryzen 7 5800X$4498 / 163.8 / 4.7 GHz105W32MB (1×32)
Ryzen 5 5600X$2996 / 123.7 / 4.6 GHz65W32MB (1×32)

AMD also left a noticeable gap in its product stack – you’ll have to take a steep $150 step up the pricing ladder to get above the entry-level six-core twelve-thread Ryzen 5 5600X. 

Compare AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 6-core vs. Intel

AMD Ryzen 5 5600XIntel Core i5-10600KIntel Core i5-9600K
List Price$299$262$262
Cores666
Threads Supported12126
L3 Cache32MB9MB9MB
Base Clock3.7GHz4.1GHZ3.7GHz
Boost Clock4.6GHz4.8GHz4.6GHz
Integrated GraphicsN/AIntel UHD 630Intel UHD 630
TDP Rating65 watts95 watts95 watts
SocketAM4LGA 1200LGA 1151

AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 6-core review

Build

The Ryzen 5000 series processors come as four models that span from six cores and twelve threads up to 16 cores and 32 threads. AMD increased its Precision Boost clock rates across the board, with a peak of 4.9 GHz for the Ryzen 9 5950X.  

Design

The chiplets have been redesigned, however, and now measure ~80.7mm^2 and have 4.15 billion transistors. That’s slightly larger than Zen 2’s CCDs with ~74mm^2 of silicon and 3.9 billion transistors.  For more details of the magic behind the 19% increase in IPC

AMD leverages its existing Ryzen SoC for the 5000 series chips. Zen 3 uses the same 12nm I/O Die (IOD) paired with either one or two 8-core chiplets (CCD) in an MCM (Multi-Chip Module) configuration. For the Ryzen 5 5600X, the chip comes with one CCD with six cores enabled, while CPUs with 12 or 16 cores come with two chiplets. 

The IOD still contains the same memory controllers, PCIe, and other interfaces that connect the SoC to the outside world. Just like with the Matisse chips, the IOD measures ~125mm^2 and has 2.09 billion transistors. 

Gaming focused – Is Ryzen 5 5600X good for gaming?

That isn’t the only change from Zen 2 to Zen 3, however. Since it is a gaming-focused CPU, the move to a single eight-core core complex (CCX) design in Zen 3 gives the 5600X a leg up over the Ryzen 5 3600X. In the Ryzen 5 3600X, the processor was split between two four-core CCXs, made up of two dual-core core chiplet dies (CCDs) each, with one CCX disabled in the second CCD.

Having the cores spread across two CCDs meant that there was increased travel time for any tasks that utilized all six cores at once, which, for example, games like GTA V and titles in the Civilization series are both known for. By that same note, lightly threaded titles like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Rainbow Six: Siege both suffered slightly on the Ryzen 5 3600X and on the follow-up refresh in the Zen 2 stack, the AMD Ryzen 5 3600XT, due to increased latency.

RAM

The Ryzen chips continue to expose 20 lanes of PCIe 4.0 to the user and stick with DDR4-3200 memory as the base spec. However, if the silicon lottery shines upon you, we found that the chips offer much better memory overclocking due to improved fabric overclocking capabilities. 

Motherboard

These chips drop into existing AM4 motherboards with 500-series chipsets, like X570, B550, and A520 models. AMD says it will also add support for 400-series motherboards starting in Q1, 2021, but that comes with a few restrictions. Regardless, some motherboard vendors have jumped ahead and are already offering support on 400-series motherboards, so that initiative is well underway. Just remember that you’ll lose support for the PCIe 4.0 interface on those older motherboards. 

TDP

The 5600X has a 65W TDP, and limits itself to drawing 76W from the socket. That’s impressively low for a modern CPU, and means that there is the potential for some overclocking shenanigans if that’s your thing. This is an unlocked chip by the way, although you’re going to need a decent cooler to really exploit this fact. 

AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 6-core Performance review

Ryzen 9 5950X peaked at 5 GHz at stock settings, albeit sporadically, and reached 5.125 GHz after overclocking. We didn’t have as much luck with our Ryzen 5 5600X sample as we did with the 5950X, but the 5600X frequently beat it’s advertised 4.6 GHz boost clock with a 4.65 GHz boost on a single core.

AMD increased the boost clock speeds, but it also reduced base frequencies compared to the previous-gen processors. AMD says that if you top the chip with an adequate cooler, it will rarely (if ever) drop to the base frequency. We recorded many cases of a 4.55 GHz all-core boost with the Ryzen 5 5600X, which certainly wasn’t possible with the previous-gen chips. We’ll cover that more in-depth below.

Zen 3 Ryzen 5000 Series ProcessorsRCP (MSRP)Cores/ThreadsBase/Boost Freq.TDPL3 Cache
Ryzen 9 5950X$79916 / 323.4 / 4.9105W64MB (2×32)
Core i9-10980XE$815 (retail)18 / 363.0 / 4.8165W24.75MB
Ryzen 9 3950X$74916 / 323.5 / 4.7105W64MB (4×16)
Ryzen 9 5900X$54912 / 243.7 / 4.8105W64MB (2×32)
Core i9-10900K / F$488 – $47210 / 203.7 / 5.3125W20MB
Ryzen 9 3900XT$49912 / 243.9 / 4.7105W64MB (4×16)
Ryzen 7 5800X$4498 / 163.8 / 4.7105W32MB (2×16)
Core i9-10850K$45310 / 203.6 / 5.295W20MB
Core i7-10700K / F$374 – $3498 / 163.8 / 5.1125W16MB
Ryzen 7 3800XT$3998 / 163.9 / 4.7105W32MB (2×16)
Ryzen 5 5600X$2996 / 123.7 / 4.665W32MB (1×32)
Core i5-10600K / F$262 – $2376 / 124.1 / 4.8125W12MB
Ryzen 5 3600XT$2496 / 123.8 / 4.595W32MB (1×32)

The 6-core 12-thread $299 Ryzen 5 5600X’s base clocks come in at 100 MHz less than the previous-gen 3600XT, while boosts are 100 MHz higher at 4.6 GHz. AMD’s 6C/12T Ryzen 5 3600XT had a 95W TDP, but AMD dialed that back to 65W with the 5600X, showing that Zen 3’s improved IPC affords lots of advantages. Despite the reduced TDP rating, the 5600X delivers explosive performance gains. 

CPU – AMD Ryzen 5 5600X
Cooler – Zadak Spark AIO / Wraith Stealth
Motherboard – Gigabyte X570 Aorus Master
Memory – 16GB Thermaltake DDR4 @3,600MHz
GPU – Nvidia RTX 2080 Ti
Storage – 2TB Sabrent Rocket PCIe 4.0
PSU – Ikonik Vulcan 1200W

This is still a powerhouse compared to Intel’s similarly priced 10600K though, with stronger figures in the X264 video encoding and Cinebench R20 3D rendering benchmarks. In fact the 5600X is closer to Intel’s 10700K, which is impressive given that is an eight-core CPU. The Zen architecture really has come on that much.Advertisementhttps://0949c6256cd3ebd269cabadcfddc2993.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html

If you like to pepper your gaming with more serious work, then something higher up the stack is probably where your money should go. The 5900X is a lot more expensive, but it does offer almost double the performance of this chip in rendering and encoding terms. That is because it is essentially two 5600Xs in one package. The gaming performance is the same regardless though…

AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 6-core Customer review

Great processor for a gaming PC

I bought this processor when my Ryzen 5 3600 failed (computer crashing and rebooting randomly, also failed stress test). So far, this Ryzen 5 5600x has been running great and is compatible with Windows 11. I use it to play various Steam games and it handles them with ease. The motherboard I use with this processor is the Aorus Pro Wifi B450, but it’s important to note that since it was only advertised as Ryzen 3000 ready, it needed to have the BIOS updated so it could accept Ryzen 5000 series processors (proceed with caution with this task).

By Holly at Best Buy

Alternate of AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 6-core

Intel Core i5 12600K

Specs
  • Cores: 6+4Threads: 16Base Clock: 3.7 GHz P-core, 2.8 GHz E-core
  • Boost Clock: 4.9 GHz P-core, 3.6 GHz E-core
  • Overclocking: YesL3 Cache: 20 MB
  • Processor Base Power: 125 W
  • PCIe 5.0 lanes: 20
REASONS TO BUY

+The best CPU for gaming in 2021

+A more efficient Alder Lake chip

+Faster than the Core i9 11900K

REASONS TO AVOID

-Doesn’t play nice with some games

-Still more power hungry than Ryzen

Intel’s 12th Gen Alder Lake processors are a vital return to form for Intel. Its underlying hybrid design was seen as a gamble when it was first announced, with its combo of performance and efficient cores not obviously bringing much to the desktop experience. It’s a gamble that has unquestionably paid off though, and the gaming performance offered by Intel’s latest CPUs is nothing short of incredible. 

The Core i5 12600K is the standout processor for gamers because it not only offers great gaming performance across the board, but it does so at a price point that isn’t going to reduce you to tears. It not only beats the similarly priced 5600X in pretty much every game, but it outperforms the $750 Ryzen 9 5950X in plenty of tests too. That it soundly beats the Core i9 11900K is just the icing on the cake. Not bad for a $320 mid-range chip.

As this is a new platform, you will need to pick up a new motherboard and probably new memory while you’re at it—Alder Lake supports DDR5 as well as DDR4. That means the initial outlay may be a bit more than you planned, but the performance is worth it, and it isn’t a power-draining beast either, so you won’t need an outlandish cooler to get the most from it. Throw in future-looking support for PCIe 5.0 and we have a new gaming CPU king. Long live the king.

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