Ryzen 5 5500 vs. Ryzen 5 3600, Most Affordable Zen 3 Worth It? 21 Game Benchmark, 1080p & 1440p

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Video Index:
00:00 - Welcome back to Hardware Unboxed
03:17 - Test System Specs
03:53 - Assetto Corsa Competizione
04:40 - Battlefield V
05:15 - Cyberpunk 2077
05:42 - Rainbow Six Extraction
06:08 - F1 2021
06:35 - Forza Horizon 5
06:54 - Hitman 3
07:12 - The Riftbreaker
07:32 - Dying Light 2
07:45 - Watch Dogs Legion
08:03 - 21 Game Average
08:38 - Radeon RX 6950 XT
09:05 - Radeon RX 6600 XT
09:28 - Final Thoughts

Ryzen 5 5500 vs. Ryzen 5 3600, Most Affordable Zen 3 Worth It? 21 Game Benchmark, 1080p & 1440p

Disclaimer: Any pricing information shown or mentioned in this video was accurate at the time of video production, and may have since changed

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[marcasswellbmd]

I love that they keep using the B350 Board for all the testing.. It's like an extra slap in Intel's face every time they do it!!

[ausnorman]

Saved for my R5 3600, big step up from my old AM3 FX9590 ! Still doing just fine but these video's are a great help in deciding when to upgrade.

[dughuff]

What's interesting to me in a number of these comparisons is that with an older gfx card it makes almost no sense to upgrade the CPU - framrates seem almost always to be virtually the same.. As an aside, the 5500 is currently retailing for GBP 115 to 120 which is quite a drop in price...

[christopherbennett]

Definitely interested in the 3600 vs 5800 3D. It looks like the best AM4 CPU that will ever be made. I think a lot of people would like to upgrade to that and then ride that setup until its obsolete. No one wants to deal with a new platform ATM, DDR5 issues etc
I'd be interested to see how much more performance I'd get from my 3070

[Syssnck]

I'm actually amazed how well my "old" Ryzen 5 3600 holds up to the 5600. There is no reason whatsoever to upgrade to a better CPU if you play in 1440p with a midrange GPU, like I do. Even in 1080p the performance increase is minimal if you play with a 6600 XT/RTX 3060 (probably even up to 6700 XT) or slower.

[vlastimil-furst]

Here in Czechia, R5 5500 costs about 40 % less than R5 5600. Combined with very good deals on B450 boards, this makes R5 5500 a rather popular CPU. I would gladly recommend it with some cheaper GPUs, sadly the cheapest that is worth recommending is RX 6600 and I suppose the CPU can be the limiting factor in 1080p even with that one in some games. Still, if the budget was tight, I'd rather get this pairing than R5 5600 with RX 6500 XT :)

[artursokolowski]

I was just waiting for a comparison of the Ryzen 5 5500, especially with the Radeon RX 6600 XT. But 2 weeks ago there was a promotion in the store and I bought a new one for $115. I have a B450 board and replaced the Ryzen 5 1600 just with the 5500, and I am mega happy with this processor. Performance in combination with RX 6600 XT sensational in 1080p. For my needs it was definitely better to buy the 5500 than the 5600, too much difference in price, too little difference in performance. Thx for great video and benchmarking with two GPUs.

[MidWitPride]

I'd like to see more games like the Civilization games included in these gaming CPU benchmarks. Comparing the impact of different CPUs on turn lengths etc. Or a Factorio test map designed to just have bunch of actions going on at once.
Games that aren't just about pushing frames to the GPU, but will actually get CPU bottlenecked even at low frame rates.

[countinfinity]

I went from my 1600 to the 5500, managed to get my memory to run at 3800 (3200 rated) and the OC'd the cpu and its great so far, pretty awesome for a 70$ upgrade after selling my 1600.

[tomvandongen]

Can't wait to hear more about this Ryzen 5 3060! 😅 Understandable mistake, too many similar product names!

[AliShaikh_]

I would like to see a 3600 vs 5800X3D video. Thanks Steve for your hard work. Every time there is a major CPU/GPU release I pretty much immediately look to your videos.

[kevinbrewer]

Thanks for the video. My wife is still rocking a 1500x and I was wondering about the 5500 as an upgrade. Looks like I am buying a 5800x3d and she will just get the 3600x out of my system! 🤣🤓

[ShashankKR]

Yes! 3600 vs 5800x3d benchmarks would be very interesting.

I've a 3080 with a 3600 and play at 1440p. Thought of getting the 5800x3d, would be interesting to know how they compare at that resolution for single player titles.

[humnaset]

I'm still on 1600. Upgrading to 5500 is so tempting since my motherboard just got a bios update to support 5 series. The 5500 is around $55 cheaper than the 5600, and if I sell my 1600, I only need to add around $50 to buy the 5500, which is a huge upgrade for the money. But money wise, upgrading computer is the very last thing on my priority list....

[MadScientist]

My entire pc is all pcie 3.0 so the whole "lack of pcie 4.0" doesn't matter to me. Also.. I'm getting this ryzen 5 5500 upgrade for free as a gift to replace my R3 3200g, so I cant complain. Plus.. all I care about is making my pc fast enough for games to be playable at medium settings. I run at a pretty low resolution anyways using an overclocked out-of-the-box gt 1030 from evga. people always complain saying... "oh this part right here is crap".. yet they don't really take the time to think how bad other people have it. some people cant afford an expensive gaming rig and appreciate what upgrades they get.. even if they are small.

[tonderr]

Great video Steve, and useful info for me as a 1600X owner for an upgrade path. However, it cracked my ears hearing Steve refer to the 3600 as "3060" on at least three occasions, but these can happen with number heavy parts nowadays :D

[Psyko_Blood]

I'm totaly fine with my Ryzen 5 3600, I paid a year ago 120 Euro with box and cooler.. and he runs like a champ :D Next is a good Graphics card.. RTX 3060TI ♥
So i didnt need yet a upgrade tbh, I play so much random games xD LoL, DayZ, Raft. For the King, Battlefield 5, The witcher 3 ect ect.. and the 3600 makes a great job.

[Yavor]

two mounts ago i buy my first gaming pc whith ryzen 5 5500 and a520 motherboard and i am verry happy

[charpkun]

Loving these recent cpu benchmarks with top of the line gpu to mainstream gpu comparisons. Goes to show that pairing does matter. The performance advantage of zen 3 clearly doesnt matter if 1080 p gaming is the target when it is paired with a midrange current gen gpu

[MHCP]

Today the R5 5500 is between 90-110USD.
EXCELLENT DEAL for old chipset upgrade or even a low-range build + old GPU or RX 6600/RTX 3060