The original Ryzen 5 5600X (open in new tab) was the standout chip for gamers when AMD first introduced Zen 3. It didn't have the staggering core count of the Ryzen 9 5950X (open in new tab) or 5900X (open in new tab), but it still had an impressive focus on gaming were impressively focused when it came to gaming. In fact, it was even our processor of choice (opens in new tab) for a year and a half until Intel's Alder Lake shook AMD's dominance.

The Ryzen 5 5600, along with the cache-rich Ryzen 7 5800X3D (open in new tab), Ryzen 5 5500 (open in new tab), and Ryzen 7 5700X, are AMD's answer to Intel's 12th generation chips. With the exception of the 5800X3D, these are all lower-priced versions of previous products. And giving Intel the short end of the stick is not a bad thing for us.

This chip has 6 cores and 12 threads and is very similar to its namesake, the Ryzen 5 5600X, except that the list price has been lowered to $159 and the operating frequency is slightly lower. The base clock is 3.5 GHz and the maximum turbo clock is 4.4 GHz, both 200 MHz slower than the 5600X.

It has the same DDR4 and PCIe 4.0 support, 32MB of L3 cache, and an impressive silent Wraith Stealth cooler. It is built on the same 7nm TSMC manufacturing process and has the same 65W TDP. Everything a gamer needs without having to pay a fortune.

Don't be fooled by the lack of an X at the end, it is still an unlocked chip, so if you want to spend money on a serious cooler, you can push a little harder with a sensible overclock. The benefits of such activity are not as obvious as they once were, especially when it comes to gaming, but it is certainly at least an option if you want to get the most out of your purchase.

This assumes, of course, that the performance of the chip will be demonstrated in the most important situations: actual gaming.

A good gaming chip does not have to top gaming benchmarks. They simply need to offer strong performance at a reasonable price point. This is why the original Ryzen 5 5600X was our pick, and why it was replaced by the more affordable Core i5 12600K (open in new tab) rather than the "fastest gaming CPU" that keeps appearing at nearly $500. In this regard,

the 5600 falls slightly behind its big brother's pace in some games, but not by much, and the potential savings offered make the difference a hit worth taking.

In our gaming suite, there is a 9% difference in the worst-case scenario of F1 2021, and essentially no difference in games like Total War: Three Kingdoms and Shadow of the Tomb Raider. In fact, in Lara Croft's latest game, this CPU has a slight lead, albeit within the margin of error. In general, however, we are talking about a difference of an order of magnitude in frame rates.

Since this chip is unlocked, it is possible that with enough cooler and PBO tweaks this difference could be made up; not bad for a chip that can be had for half the price that the Ryzen 5 5600X was originally released for. [If you need to do 3D graphics rendering or video encoding on your CPU, you may want to buy a chip like the 5900X or 5950X. 5900X and 5950X are expensive, but they are quite fast.

However, this does not detract from the positive aspects for gaming. This is a great CPU at a great price. This is exactly the way a low-cost version of a popular CPU should be released late in the game; it's a shame that AMD had to wait so long to reach this price point, but they finally got there.

If there is a problem with the Ryzen 5 5600, it is that the Ryzen 5 5600X does not exist in a vacuum, and the Ryzen 5 5600X has also dropped significantly from its original $299 retail price. Currently, the 5600X can be had for $189, which is only $30 more than the $159. Especially when it comes to gaming, the real expense is not so secure, but $30 for a few more frames here and there is not ridiculous.

A slightly more difficult problem is that Zen 4 is right around the corner; the decision to support DDR5 makes the upgrade path more expensive, and whatever the launch price of the Ryzen 5 5600X is, the Ryzen 5 7600X equivalent could be twice as expensive as this chip.

Overall, the Ryzen 5 5600 is a great chip. However, few can compete head-to-head in terms of performance. Especially when it comes to gaming. Combined with a cheap B550 or X570 motherboard, 16GB of RAM, and a fast PCIe 4.0 SSD, you can build a great core for not much money, which allows you to invest more money in a quality graphics card. That's the way it should be.