After years of taking part in catch-up to their Intel rivals, AMD have undoubtedly come out swinging with the launch of their new Ryzen 3000 CPUs. Their high-end Ryzen 7 3700X, for instance, made a fairly good impression once I reviewed it a few weeks in the past, and as an general worth for cash play might be properly value contemplating over Intel’s Core i7-9700K, even when its gaming efficiency isn’t fairly as much as the identical degree. Now, AMD hope to repeat the trick with the Ryzen 5 3600X, their prime mid-range gaming CPU that has its sights set squarely on Intel’s Core i5-9600K. Does AMD’s new 7nm processor have what it takes to be the brand new mid-range champ in our best gaming CPU line-up? Here’s wot I believe.
On paper, it doesn’t seem like a lot has modified since its 2nd Gen predecessor, the Ryzen 5 2600X. After all, the Ryzen 5 3600X continues to be a six-core, twelve thread CPU with a 95W thermal design level (or TDP), and it even comes with the identical AMD Wraith Spire cooler within the field. It’s had a little bit clock velocity bump of 200MHz, taking its base velocity to a nippy 3.8GHz and its max increase clock as much as 4.4GHz, however in any other case they’re each fairly related.
In follow, nonetheless, the Ryzen 5 3600X couldn’t be extra completely different. Jumping from a 12nm (nanometer) manufacturing course of to a 7nm one for AMD’s third Gen Ryzen chips has massively benefited the 3600X right here, giving each its gaming chops and normal desktop efficiency a sizeable shot within the arm over its 2nd Gen predecessor, and even provides its 2nd Gen Ryzen 7 2700 / 2700X cousins a run for his or her cash as properly – a lot so, in reality, that I wouldn’t even advocate shopping for both of these 2nd Gen Ryzen 7 chips any extra, because the 3600X provides much more for nearly precisely the identical amount of cash.
Really, although, it’s how the £240 / $249 Ryzen 5 3600X stacks as much as Intel’s Core i5-9600Okay that I’m most involved in, and whether or not AMD’s new 7nm chip is a greater CPU for gaming than (at time of writing) its equally priced £227 / $255 Intel rival.
As I’ve famous in all of my different gaming CPU critiques lately, although, getting an correct image of a CPU’s gaming chops continues to be a considerably tough train. As our pals at Digital Foundry have explained in the past, loads of PC benchmarks both don’t take a look at your CPU correctly, or just aren’t very correct within the first place.
Fortunately, a handful of gaming benchmarks have gotten loads higher at this lately, with the likes of Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Forza Horizon 4, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and extra all offering an in-depth take a look at your CPU’s efficiency in addition to what your graphics card’s doing. That mentioned, there are additionally a number of different components that may impression gaming efficiency, corresponding to your graphics card, the kind of RAM you’ve acquired, and even what kind of storage you’ve put in the game on. As a consequence, getting a very correct image of a CPU’s gaming efficiency is difficult, however I’ve performed one of the best I can with the tools out there to me.
Now, eagle-eyed readers will discover a few big-ish adjustments to my testing setup this time spherical, specifically that I’ve examined the Ryzen 5 3600X on a unique X570 motherboard in comparison with the Ryzen 7 3700X and Ryzen 9 3900X, and I’ve used a unique cooler. That’s as a result of the Ryzen 5 3600X arrived individually to my preliminary Ryzen testing pack, and I’ve since needed to ship all that stuff again to AMD.
I’m assured my outcomes ought to nonetheless be fairly comparable, nonetheless, as my motherboard benchmarking outcomes present the Asus Crosshair Hero VIII is just about on par with the Gigabyte X570 Aorus Master (critiques coming quickly). I’m additionally not too bothered about having a unique cooler, as I believe the overwhelming majority of individuals will use the one which comes with the Ryzen 5 3600X within the field (the Wraith Spire I’ve used right here), somewhat than spend much more cash looking down the higher-end Wraith Prism that comes with the 3700X and 3900X.
Taking a take a look at mentioned outcomes, then, the sunshine purple Core i5-9600Okay nonetheless has a transparent lead over the darkish crimson Ryzen 5 3600X in all the pieces besides the Ryzen-friendly Assassin’s Creed Odyssey relating to taking part in games at 1920×1080. Admittedly, it’s tougher to say whether or not you’ll see precisely the identical form of efficiency hole on a extra mid-range-level graphics card – the type you’re extra prone to be pairing with a CPU like this, corresponding to Nvidia’s RTX 2060 or AMD’s Radeon RX 5700, for instance – but when I’m being sincere, I’m unsure my eyes are actually ok to note the distinction between, say, 113fps and 104fps. Some individuals will (or suppose they may), and if that’s the case, then by all means snap up the Core i5-9600Okay.
However, once we shift as much as 2560×1440, the hole turns into loads narrower – even with an RTX 2080 Ti at my disposal. At this decision, the Ryzen 5 3600X is just about neck and neck with its Intel rival, and even provides Intel’s Core i7-8700 a run for its cash, too. Here, the Ryzen 5 3600X turns into much more compelling than the i5-9600Okay, even when it’s a smidge dearer than i5 for these shopping for within the UK. That mentioned, it’s additionally value declaring that whereas the Ryzen 5 3600X comes with its personal fairly first rate cooler bundled within the field, the Core i5-9600Okay doesn’t, so it’s prone to find yourself because the dearer CPU by the point you’ve factored in the price of a cooler.
The Ryzen 5 3600X additionally makes a really robust case for itself over within the normal desktop division, too. Again, as I’ve acknowledged in earlier CPU critiques, I’m not likely that bothered about how good a CPU is for inventive purposes and the like. My PC is for gaming and gaming alone, and my prime precedence is discovering one thing that can give me the quickest body charges, not the quickest rendering instances for packages I don’t personal or will ever use.
And but, once I put it by Cinebench R20’s single core take a look at, the Ryzen 5 3600X put in a surprisingly first rate exhibiting in comparison with the i5-9600Okay, providing a 10% improve over the i5’s inventory, out of the field velocity, and falling simply 6% behind in comparison with its overclocked velocity. For the report, I didn’t tinker with the Ryzen 5 3600X’s overclocking settings, for regardless of being unlocked identical to its Intel rival, it will even have disabled among the intelligent issues happening beneath the hood of the 3600X, corresponding to its SenseMI gubbins, Precision Boost 2 tech and XFR (or Extended Frequency Range).
As for its multicore efficiency, properly, AMD have at all times been miles forward of Intel on this respect, and the Ryzen 5 3600X isn’t any completely different. Not solely does it sail previous the Core i5-9600Okay’s Cinebench rating, nevertheless it’s even nippier than the Ryzen 7 2700, which is fairly darn spectacular.
All in all, then, yeah, I reckon the Ryzen 5 3600X stands up fairly properly towards Intel’s Core i5-9600Okay, and might be the gaming CPU you ought to purchase on this explicit worth vary in case you’d somewhat not have the effort of shopping for an additional cooler and need to save a bit of money within the course of. Plus, you get a free three month subscription to Xbox Game Pass for PC with it, too, making it even higher worth general. I’d most likely nonetheless advocate the Core i5-9600Okay if you need absolutely the bestest greatest gaming speeds round within the mid-range CPU class, significantly in case you’re taking part in games at 1080p, however for 1440p avid gamers and above, the Ryzen 5 3600X is a tricky act to beat.
