Built on the new Zen 3 architecture, the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X promises to offer a leap forward in performance.

Find out in our in-depth review why we agree, and gave it our Reviewer’s Choice Award!

AMD Ryzen 5000 Series : Built On Zen 3

The AMD Ryzen 5000 series is designed using the new AMD Zen 3 architecture, which promises to deliver 19% more instructions per cycle (IPC) over the last generation, thanks to these new features :

• improved load / store performance and flexibility
• double the size of directly-accessible L3 cache per core
• a unified 8-core complex (CCX) with direct access to the 32 MB L3 cache
• wider issue in floating point and integer engines
• Zero Bubble branch prediction

The new architecture also reduces memory latency through improved core and cache communication, and offer a higher maximum boost clock.

This allows the Ryzen 5000 series desktop processors to deliver up to 2.8X more performance-per-watt versus the competition.

AMD Ryzen 5 5600X : Price + Availability

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X processor is available for sale starting 5 November 2020, at these RRP inclusive of tax :

• Malaysia : RM 1,349 (~US$324) inclusive of 6% tax
• United States : RM 299

Note : Unlike the Ryzen 9 5950X, Ryzen 9 5900X and Ryzen 7 5800X, the Ryzen 5 5600X will NOT come with a free copy of Far Cry 6.

Here are some online purchase options :

• Malaysia : CPU Only | CPU Only | CPU Only
• Singapore : CPU Only | CPU Only | CPU Only | CPU Only
• UK : CPU Only | CPU Bundle | CPU Bundle | CPU Bundle | CPU Bundle
• Australia : CPU Only

AMD Ryzen 5 5600X : Specifications

Here is how the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X compares to the other Ryzen 5000 series processors :

Unboxing The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X comes in a slimmer box, with a bundled AMD Wraith Stealth cooler inside.

The Wraith Stealth is the most basic cooler AMD ships, usually with entry-level processors like the Ryzen 5 2400G and Ryzen 3 3300X.

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Up Close!

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X has six Ryzen processor cores, with a 3.7 GHz base clock, and a 4.6 GHz boost clock.

It has a 65 watt TDP, and supports SMT (simultaneous multi-threading), which means it can handle up to 12 threads simultaneously.

Like the 3rd Gen Ryzen, it has 512 KB L2 cache per core, for a 3 MB L2 cache size; and a large 32 MB L3 cache.

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X can be installed unto existing AMD 500 series motherboards, and later, the AMD 400 series as well, after a simple BIOS update.

Next Page > AMD Zen 3 Architecture + SoC Design | Benchmark Notes

Support Tech ARP!

If you like our work, you can help support us by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donating to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!

AMD Zen 3 Architecture

Codename Vermeer, Zen 3 is the next evolution of the Zen architecture, delivering a 19% improvement in instructions per clock (IPC) through these improvements :

Front-End Enhancements

• Faster fetching, especially for branchy and large-footprint code 
• L1 branch target buffer doubled in size to 1024 entries for better prediction latency 
• Improved branch predictor bandwidth 
• Faster recovery from misprediction 
• “No bubble” prediction capabilities to make back-to-back predictions more quickly and better handle branchy code 
• Faster sequencing of op-cache fetches 
• Finer granularity in switching of op-cache pipes

Execution Engines

• Reduce latency and enlarge structures to extract higher instruction-level parallelism (ILP)
• New dedicated branch and st-data pickers for integer, now at 10 issues per cycle (+3 vs. Zen 2)
• Larger integer window at +32 vs. Zen 2
• Reduced latency for select float and int operations
• Floating point has increased bandwidth by +2 for a total of 6-wide dispatch and issue
• Floating point FMAC is now 1 cycle faster

Load Store

• Larger structures and better prefetching to support the enhanced execution engine bandwidth 
• Overall higher bandwidth to feed the appetite of the larger/faster execution resources 
• Higher load bandwidth vs. Zen 2 by +1 
• Higher store bandwidth vs. Zen 2 by +1 
• More flexibility in load/store operations 
• Improved memory dependence detection 
• +4 table walkers in the TLB

SOC Architecture

• Reduce dependency on main memory accesses, reduce core-to-core latency, reduce core-to-cache latency.
• Unify all cores in a CCD into a single unified complex consisting of 4, 6, or 8 contiguous cores 
• Unify all L3 cache in a CCD into a single contiguous element of up to 32MB 
• Rearchitect core/cache communication into a ring system

AMD Zen 3 SoC Design

In addition to micro architectural improvements, Zen 3 (Vermeer) also features SoC design changes.

In Zen 2, each CCD (Compute Die) is made up of two CCX (core complexes), each with a 16 MB L3 cache.

Zen 3 uses a unified complex, in which each CCD now contains a single CCX with a unified 32 MB L3 cache.

This unified CCD design eliminates CCX-to-CCX communication, greatly improving core-to-core latency.

On the other hand, AMD reused the chiplet design, with one or two CCDs (fabricated on 7 nm) paired with a 12 nm IOD (I/O Die).

Reads from CCD to IO are still 2X write, to conserve die area and transistor budget. And it uses the same IOD from Matisse (Zen 2).

The new Zen 3 CCD has 4.15 billion transistors, with a die size of 80.7 mm². The Matisse-era IOD remains the same – 2.09 billion transistors, with a die size of 125 mm².

AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Benchmarking Notes

In this review, we will take a look at the content creation and gaming performance of the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X, comparing it to 6 other processors :

• AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
• AMD Ryzen 7 3700X
• AMD Ryzen 7 2700X
• Intel Core i7-8700K
• AMD Ryzen 5 2600X
• AMD Ryzen 3 3300X

Here are the specifications of the Intel and AMD testbeds we used.

Next Page > 3D Rendering, Transcoding, Radial Blur Performance

Support Tech ARP!

If you like our work, you can help support us by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donating to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!

AMD Ryzen 5 5600X : 3D Rendering Speed

CINEBENCH R20 is a real-world 3D rendering benchmark based on the MAXON Cinema 4D animation software.

It is a great way to accurately determine the actual performance of a processor in 3D content creation.

CINEBENCH R20 Single Core Performance

This Single Core test is not reflective of real world performance, but it is useful to find out the performance of the individual core.

Look at that! What a phenomenal boost in single-core performance!

The Ryzen 5 5600X was 19.5% faster than the Ryzen 7 3700X, even though it only has a 4.5% higher boost clock!

That works out to a 14.3% better performance per clock, over the last-generation Ryzen.

CINEBENCH R20 Multi Core Performance

The Multi Core test shows the processor’s real-world 3D rendering performance.

This is very good performance for a 6-core processor, performing just 12.6% slower than the Ryzen 7 3700X, which is an 8-core, 16-thread processor.

More so when you realise that it was actually 12.3% faster than the Ryzen 7 2700X, which is an older 8-core, 16-thread processor.

Multi-Threading Boost

This is not a CINEBENCH benchmark result. The Multi-Threading Boost is our calculation of the performance boost that the processor’s Multi-Threading capability provides.

While the Zen 3 microarchitecture gave it a big boost in single core performance, its SMT performance appears to have taken a slight hit.

AMD Ryzen 5 5600X : Transcoding Speed

HandBrake is a free, open-source video transcoding utility, which converts a video file from one resolution / format to another.

As you can imagine, it’s very compute-intensive, which makes it a great benchmark for multi-core processors. In our test, we converted a 4K video of 1.3 GB in size into a 1080p video (HQ1080p30).

Look at that! Despite having just six cores, the Ryzen 5 5600X was slightly faster than the Ryzen 7 2700X, which has 8 cores.

AMD Ryzen 5 5600X : Radial Blur Speed

The radial blur filter adds the perception of motion to a picture. This is a compute-intensive operation that benefits from multiple processing cores.

This radial blur test was performed on Photoshop 2020 using a single 13.5 megapixel photo, with a filesize of 4,910,867 bytes.

Even though it was a 6-core processor, the Ryzen 5 5600X was just slightly slower than the Ryzen 7 2700X, which has 8 cores. Impressive!

Next Page > Gaming Performance : 3DMark | F1 2019

Support Tech ARP!

If you like our work, you can help support us by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donating to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!

Synthetic Game Test : 3DMark

We used 3DMark’s Time Spy and Time Spy Extreme synthetic benchmarks, which supports DirectX 12, and the latest features like asynchronous compute, and multi-threading support.

Time Spy – 2560 x 1440

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X was 5% slower than the Ryzen 7 2700X, and 5% faster than the Core i7-8700K.

Of course, the CPU only has a slight influence on a game’s performance, so its effect on the overall gaming score is less significant.

Time Spy Extreme – 3840 x 2160

At the higher 4K resolution, the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X was 8.3% faster than both the Ryzen 7 2700X and the Core i7-8700K.

Now check out the processors’ effect on the overall gaming score… Obviously, CPU performance only has a small effect at this resolution.

F1 2019

F1 2019 is a racing game by Codemasters, released on 28 June 2019. We tested it on three resolutions at the Ultra High settings :

• 1080p : 1920 x 1080 pixels
• 1440p : 2560 x 1440 pixels
• 2160p : 3840 x 2160 pixels

1080p Gaming Resolution

Look at that. The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X delivered 6.5% higher frame rates than the Ryzen 7 3700X, and 12.5% higher frame rates than the Ryzen 7 2700X!

1440p Gaming Resolution

At the higher 1440p resolution though, the effect of CPU performance was negligible, even with the GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER.

2160p Gaming Resolution

At 4K resolution, processor performance had no effect. The game was graphics-limited, not CPU-limited.

Next Page > Gaming Performance : World War Z | Strange Brigade

Support Tech ARP!

If you like our work, you can help support us by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donating to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!

World War Z

Based on the 2013 movie, World War Z is a relatively recent third-person shooter game, released in April 2019.

We tested it on three resolutions using the Vulkan API at the High settings :

• 1080p : 1920 x 1080 pixels
• 1440p : 2560 x 1440 pixels
• 2160p : 3840 x 2160 pixels

1080p Gaming Resolution

Look at that! The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X delivered the best performance in this comparison, matching the Ryzen 7 5800X.

It delivered 17% higher frame rates than the Ryzen 7 3700X, and 21% higher frame rates than the Core i7-8700K.

1440p Gaming Resolution

When we bumped the resolution up to 1440p, it really didn’t matter that much which processor we used. They all performed about the same.

2160p Gaming Resolution

At 4K resolution, processor performance had absolutely no effect. The game was completely graphics-limited.

Strange Brigade

Strange Brigade is a third-person shooter game, released in August 2018. We tested it in three resolutions using the Vulkan API at the Ultra High settings :

• 1080p : 1920 x 1080 pixels
• 1440p : 2560 x 1440 pixels
• 2160p : 3840 x 2160 pixels

1080p Gaming Resolution

CPU performance had only a small effect on frame rates in Strange Brigade, even at 1080p.

1440p Gaming Resolution

At 1440p, they were virtually all equal in performance. The game was already graphics-limited.

2160p Gaming Resolution

It was the same at 4K, of course – the game was completely graphics-limited.

Next Page > Gaming Performance : Metro Exodus | AotS

Support Tech ARP!

If you like our work, you can help support us by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donating to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!

Metro Exodus

Metro Exodus is a first-person shooter game, released in February 2019. We tested it in three resolutions using the Ultra settings :

• 1080p : 1920 x 1080 pixels
• 1440p : 2560 x 1440 pixels
• 2160p : 3840 x 2160 pixels

1080p Gaming Resolution

Metro Exodus is graphics-intensive, so CPU performance has limited effect on its frame rate.

1440p Gaming Resolution

All of the processors performed the same at 1440p, with a slight edge to the Core i7-8700K.

2160p Gaming Resolution

At 4K, the game was completely graphics-limited, so it didn’t matter which processor we tested.

Ashes of the Singularity

Ashes of the Singularity is a 2016 game that supports multi-core processing and asynchronous compute.

In this game, the single core CPU performance has a significant effect on the actual frame rate.

We tested it on three resolutions using the DirectX 12 API at the High settings :

• 1080p : 1920 x 1080
• 1440p : 2560 x 1440
• 2160p : 3840 x 2160

1080p Gaming Resolution

Nice! The Ryzen 5 5600X was almost as fast as the Ryzen 7 5800X, and delivered 9.4% higher frame rates than the Core i7-8700K, and 11.3% higher frame rates than the Ryzen 7 3700X.

1440p Gaming Resolution

At 1440p, the Ryzen 5 5600X delivered 12.8% higher frame rates than both the Core i7-8700K and the Ryzen 7 3700X.

2160p Gaming Resolution

Even at 4K, CPU performance mattered in Ashes of the Singularity. The Ryzen 5 5600X delivered 9.2% higher frame rates than both the Core i7-8700K and the Ryzen 7 3700X.

Next Page > Our Verdict + Award | Price + Availability

Support Tech ARP!

If you like our work, you can help support us by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donating to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!

AMD Ryzen 5 5600X : Our Verdict + Award!

There is no doubt that the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X is a leap forward for AMD, thanks to the new Zen 3 core and SoC design.

Its single-core performance has been improved significantly over its predecessors, offering a nice boost to content creation and gaming performance.

Gamers, in particular, will favour this model over the Ryzen 7 5800X because it delivers the same gaming performance at 2/3rds the cost.

It also handily beats the Ryzen 7 3700X in gaming performance, making it a better option for gaming systems.

Even though the Ryzen 5 5600X uses a new microarchitecture, it continues to use the AM4 socket and will support AMD 500 Series chipsets on launch day (with a BIOS upgrade).

That’s really great news for those planning to upgrade from their existing Ryzen processors.

Those on AMD 400 Series motherboards will have to wait until Q1 2020, before they receive BIOS upgrades to support Zen 3.

But while the Ryzen 5 5600X’s performance may be a leap forward, so is its price tag…

You may recall that the last-generation Ryzen 5 3600X had a launch price of $249 (RM859), with a Wraith Spire cooler.

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X costs substantially more at $299 (RM1,349), and ships with the smaller and cheaper Wraith Stealth cooler.

That said, the Ryzen 5 5600X truly provides a significant boost in performance, and it deserves our Reviewer’s Choice Award.

So who should, or should NOT, buy the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X?

• Buy : If you want the best possible 6-core processor for a new gaming system.
• Buy : If you are upgrading from a first-generation Ryzen processor.
• Consider : If you are upgrading from a second-generation Ryzen processor.
• Skip : If you are already using a 3rd Gen Ryzen processor.

Those on a budget can consider purchasing a Ryzen 5 3600X. It may not be as fast, but the money you save can be used towards the upcoming Radeon RX 6000 series graphics card!

AMD Ryzen 5 5600X : Price + Availability

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X processor is available for sale starting 5 November 2020, at these RRP inclusive of tax :

• Malaysia : RM 1,349 (~US$324) inclusive of 6% tax
• United States : RM 299

Note : Unlike the Ryzen 9 5950X, Ryzen 9 5900X and Ryzen 7 5800X, the Ryzen 5 5600X will NOT come with a free copy of Far Cry 6.

Here are some online purchase options :

• Malaysia : CPU Only | CPU Only | CPU Only
• Singapore : CPU Only | CPU Only | CPU Only | CPU Only
• UK : CPU Only | CPU Bundle | CPU Bundle | CPU Bundle | CPU Bundle
• Australia : CPU Only

AMD Ryzen 5 5600X : Specifications

Here is how the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X compares to the other Ryzen 5000 series processors :

Recommended Reading

• AMD Ryzen 9 5950X In-Depth Review : 16-Core Behemoth!
• AMD Ryzen 7 5800X In-Depth Review : 8-Core Powerhouse!
• AMD Ryzen 5000 CPUs : Malaysia Price List + FREE Game!
• AMD Infinity Cache Explained : L3 Cache Comes To The GPU!
• Radeon RX 6000 vs GeForce RTX 30 : Faster + Cheaper!
• RX 6900 XT, RX 6800 XT, RX 6800 : Features + Specifications!
• AMD Radeon RX 6000 Series : What You Need To Know!
• Dell G5 15 5500 Review : Affordable RTX Gaming @ 144 Hz!
• AMD Ryzen 5000 Series : What You Need To Know!
• XPS 13 (9310) with Intel Tiger Lake : What’s New?
• VMware vSphere 7 Now Supports AMD SEV-ES Encryption!
• Ryzen 7 3700C | Ryzen 5 3500C | Ryzen 3 3250C Revealed!
• AMD Athlon Gold 3150C + Athlon Silver 3050C Revealed!
• 11th Gen Intel Core (Tiger Lake) : What You Need To Know!
• HUAWEI MateBook X Pro (2020) Review : Ultra-Light Beast!
• AMD Ryzen PRO 4000 Desktop APUs : All You Need To Know!
• AMD Athlon PRO 3000 Desktop APUs : All You Need To Know!
• AMD Athlon 3000 G-Series with Radeon Graphics Revealed!
• AMD Ryzen 4000 G-Series with Radeon Graphics Revealed!
• Google Cloud Confidential VM With 2nd Gen AMD EPYC!

Go Back To > First Page | Computer Hardware | Home

Support Tech ARP!

If you like our work, you can help support us by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donating to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!