AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Review

 

AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Review

As a six-core, 12-thread processor, the $299 AMD Ryzen 5 5600X slots perfectly into the market for midrange gaming-focused CPUs, and brings with it the best balance of core count and cost in the company's latest launch of Zen 3-based processors. When put up against the so-so Intel Core

 i5-10600K, the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X comes out shining on the other side, presenting serious competition for Intel (albeit at a slightly higher price point than we're used to from Ryzens). The Ryzen 5 5600X set records in some of our gaming results, as well as being one of the best values in price-to-

performance that AMD offers in 2020. It lacks the integrated graphics that some buyers in the midrange might be looking for, but that's a small ding on an otherwise stellar showing for this Editors' Choice pick among gaming CPUs, alongside the also-great budget-model Ryzen 3 3300X.To start, if you'd like 

a deeper dive into all the improvements that AMD has made to its newest line of desktop CPUs in the Zen 3 launch, we recommend checking out our comprehensive review of the Ryzen 9 5900X. But as a 

situational summary, here's a quick overview of the specs for the Zen 3 midrange desktop stack of Ryzen 5000-series CPUs, as well as a reminder of the previous-generation chips they're set to replace. 

On the second tab, you'll find our comparison to Intel's closest offerings from its 10th and 9th Generation lines...The $299 six-core/12-thread AMD Ryzen 5 5600X lands in the arena as the company's lowest-end Zen 3 option, just behind the $449 eight-core/12-thread Ryzen 7 5800X. As with

 the rest of the Zen 3 launch, the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X is priced $50 higher than its predecessor was at the time of launch.