AMD Ryzen 5 5600, 6C/12T, 3.50-4.40GHz, boxed

AMD released several new Ryzen processors in early spring, but we only now found the time to test them. In this review, we're looking at the Ryzen 5 5600, which is now the most affordable Zen 3 Ryzen 5000 processor from AMD. But wait, how about the Ryzen 5 5500 and 5600G, which are more affordable? That's correct, but those are based on the monolithic APU silicon called "Cezanne," which has a smaller L3 cache and only supports PCI-Express 3.0. While both are certainly decent processors, you really want the "Vermeer" chip design, especially for gaming with a discrete graphics card. Vermeer is what powers all the Ryzen 5800 and 5900 processors.

The 5600X was a little too expensive at 50 USD per core, this non-X model cost 33 USD per core, and that does bring a smile to my face considering the game performance you can draw from this proc. Even this six-core component will be a feisty product in terms of general PC Desktop performance, but it will also perform admirably in PC gaming. You get your 12-threads, which most games appreciate. While we would want to push you toward an 8-core CPU, we appreciate that not everyone has the financial means to do so. With the price of $33 for each ZEN3 core, this is an interesting product. If you don't need a many-core CPU for intensively threaded activities and workloads, the 5600 might be a good choice. This includes typical workloads from surfing Guru3D to editing in Photoshop as well as gaming. As a result, it's tough to argue against this processor family. We believe that a 6-core 5600 or a nice 8-core part are the better processors to acquire. Pick up a suitable B450 or B550 motherboard, and you can construct yourself a superb performing PC with enough gaming power for not too much money. Without a doubt, highly recommended.

Zen 3 gets cheap.