AMD Ryzen 5 7600X vs Ryzen 5 5600X: Which Is the Better CPU?

The Ryzen 5 5600X is one of the cheapest 6-core CPUs from AMD. It is succeeded by the Ryzen 5 7600X, but is it better than the old one?

Picture of AMD Ryzen 5 7600X vs Ryzen 5 5600X
AMD Ryzen 5 7600X vs Ryzen 5 5600X (Image via AMD)

Both the Ryzen 5 5600X and the Ryzen 5 7600X are two of the most popular AMD CPUs. They have the 6-core configuration, but the latter is newer, has a higher clock, and supports faster DDR5 RAM, among other things. Are these upgrades going to be enough for the Ryzen 5 7600X to be faster than the Ryzen 5 7600X? That’s exactly what we plan to find in this article, with a detailed comparison of the two CPUs. Read on to learn more.

Note: Parts of this article are subjective and reflect the writer’s opinions.

AMD Ryzen 5 7600X vs Ryzen 5 5600X: Detailed Comparison

The Ryzen 5 7600X was released in 2022 and is based on the Zen 4 architecture. On the other hand, the Ryzen 5 5600X is based on the Zen 3 architecture and was released in 2020. Let’s start comparing the two CPUs, starting with their specs.

Specs Comparison

Picture of AMD Ryzen 5 5600X
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X (Image via AMD)

Here are the specs of Ryzen 5 7600X and Ryzen 5 5600X:

SpecificationsRyzen 5 7600XRyzen 5 5600X
ArchitectureZen 4Zen 3
Core/Thread count6/126/12
Max clock speed5.3 GHz4.6 GHz
L3 cache32 MB33 MB
RAM supportDDR5-5200DDR4-3200
PCIe Gen supportGen 5Gen 4
Platform SocketAM5AM4
Thermal design power (TDP)105W Typical | 142W Max65W Typical | 88W Max
Manufacturing nodes5nm, 6nm7nm,12nm

The major difference between the two CPUs is in clock speeds, RAM support, PCIe generation, platform, and others, but the core count remains the same. Therefore, it will be interesting to see how much of a performance increase there is between them.

Synthetic Performance Comparison

It’s time we put the specs aside and looked at the actual performance differences between the two CPUs. Here’s how the two Ryzen CPUs perform in popular benchmarks:

BenchmarksRyzen 5 7600XRyzen 5 5600X
Cinebench R23 (Single-Core)19761593
Cinebench R23 (Multi-Core)1531510988
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)28462113
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)127149281
CPU-Z Benchmark 17 (Single-Core)767624
CPU-Z Benchmark 17 (Multi-Core)62764784

According to the benchmarks, the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X scored 29% higher than the Ryzen 5 5600X on average in single-core. On the other hand, in multi-core benchmarks, the former is around 37% faster on average than the latter. Now, that is an impressive number considering there’s no increase in core count.

Game Performance Comparison

Let’s check how the Ryzen 5 7600X and Ryzen 5 5600X perform in actual games:

GamesRyzen 5 7600XRyzen 5 5600X
Red Dead Redemption 2178 FPS136 FPS
Forza Horizon 5273 FPS213 FPS
Cyberpunk 2077152 FPS92 FPS
Fortnite317 FPS242 FPS
Witcher 3206 FPS147 FPS
Warzone Season 3214 FPS155 FPS
Microsoft Flight Simulator116 FPS88 FPS

Note: The two CPUs were tested at 1080p resolution with the RTX 4090 GPU to eliminate any GPU bottleneck. All FPS numbers were sourced from the Hardware Tested channel on YouTube.

The Ryzen 5 7600X delivers around 35.6% more FPS on average than the Ryzen 5 5600X in many popular games. Therefore, the performance improvements seen in the synthetic benchmarks also apply to the gaming side of things. Also, this means CPU-bound may see an even bigger performance boost from the Ryzen 5 7600X.

Price Comparison

AMD Ryzen 5 7600X (Image via AMD)

The Ryzen 5 7600X is currently available for $179 at Amazon, while the Ryzen 5 5600X is selling for $158.99 at Amazon. This means the former is 12% more expensive than the latter.

Final Verdict on AMD Ryzen 5 7600X vs Ryzen 5 5600X

The AMD Ryzen 5 7600X is around 35-37% faster than the Ryzen 5 5600X in gaming and productivity. The former is also 12% more expensive, but it is still better than the latter, especially considering the performance it delivers. Therefore, if you are in the market for a new 6-core budget CPU, go for the Ryzen 5 7600X.


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