I'm considering upgrading from a Ryzen 5 3600 to a tray Ryzen 5 5600 or 5600X. My system has an RX 7600 and 32GB of DDR4 memory, and I mainly play at 1080p. The 5600 costs €104, while the 5600X is €120. Is the extra €16 worthwhile in real-world gaming, or would the performance difference be too small to notice? I'm also planning to use an Arctic Freezer 36 cooler and don't expect to upgrade the CPU again, so I'd like the better long-term choice. A Ryzen 7 5700X is available for €151, but that is stretching my budget.
4 Answers
With an RX 7600, the 5600 should be a good match for 1080p. You may see somewhat better minimums and higher frame rates than with the 3600, especially in CPU-heavy games, but the 5600X will not feel dramatically faster than the 5600. The Freezer 36 is more than adequate for either processor.
If you truly want to keep the CPU for a long time and can stretch the budget, the 5700X gives you eight cores instead of six. That is more useful for heavy multitasking, streaming, productivity, and future games than the small difference between the 5600 and 5600X. For gaming with the RX 7600 on a tight budget, though, the 5600 remains the sensible choice.
One thing to check is whether you already have a compatible cooler. The boxed 5600 usually includes a basic cooler, while tray CPUs may not. Since you are buying an aftermarket cooler anyway, that does not change the recommendation: choose the 5600 unless the 5600X price drops close to it.
The Ryzen 5 5600 and 5600X are essentially the same CPU, and both have 32MB of L3 cache. The 5600X only has slightly higher clock speeds, so the real gaming difference is usually around 1–3%, depending on the game. At €16 more, it is not a major upgrade; I’d get the 5600 and keep the money unless the price gap matters less to you than having the fastest version.
The percentage difference depends on the local prices. If the tray 5600X is only a few euros more, it can be reasonable, but at a full €16 the 5600 is the better value.