As it stands, the Ryzen 5 5600X is AMD's least expensive desktop processor in the Zen 3 family, but it just got even cheaper.

Until recently, the chip almost always sold for a list price of $299.99, which is not a huge discount; Antonline charges $319.99 if you buy directly from their website rather than through an eBay auction.

Let's talk specs: the Ryzen 5 5600X has 6 cores and 12 threads, runs at 3.7 GHz (base) to 4.6 GHz (max boost), and has a 32 MB L3 cache. In addition, because it is a Zen 3 CPU, it has access to PCI Express 4.0 connectivity (on supported platforms) and can take full advantage of the highest and fastest SSD, which delivers speeds of up to approximately 7,000 MB/sec.

So what are you missing out on by not choosing a Zen 3 CPU with more cores and threads? In gaming, this is one of the best CPUs for gaming. As we highlighted in our review, that's where the 5600X really shines. In most cases, its gaming performance rivals that of a Ryzen 7 5800X or Ryzen 9 5950X (there are exceptions, of course).

Where the additional cores and threads pay more meaningful dividends is in tasks such as 3D rendering, video encoding, and streaming. But if you are only interested in gaming, this is a great chip. It is also the only Zen 3 processor that comes bundled with a cooler, making it a value proposition.