I'm upgrading from a Ryzen 5 2600X but need to stay on AM4 because moving to AM5 would add roughly £400 to the build. I've already ordered a 2TB SN7100 SSD and a Radeon 9060 XT 16GB, and I'll be gaming at 1080p for the next three or four years.
The Ryzen 5 5600X costs about £150, while the Ryzen 7 5700X is around £185 and may require spending more on a cooler. I'm mainly considering games that can be relatively CPU-heavy, including Battlefield 6, Warhammer 40,000: Darktide, Space Marine 2, Total War, Mount & Blade: Bannerlord, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, Ace Combat 8, Red Dead Redemption 2, Cyberpunk 2077, Jedi Survivor, Star Wars Outlaws, and Doom: The Dark Ages.
The 5600X seems to perform very well in most games, and many benchmarks show only a small average FPS difference compared with the 5700X. However, I'm wondering whether the 5700X's extra cores and threads would provide better 1% lows, smoother performance, or more longevity in newer CPU-heavy games. Is it worth paying roughly £35–£60 more for the 5700X, especially if I need to add a cooler, or would the 5600X be just as suitable?
3 Answers
The 5700X isn’t essential for gaming, but it’s a sensible upgrade if the additional cost fits your budget. At 1080p, the difference will depend heavily on the game and your target frame rate: some titles will show almost no change, while large battles, simulation-heavy games, and busy multiplayer scenes may benefit more from the extra threads. The 5600X remains a strong value option, but the 5700X gives you more breathing room for future releases without requiring a platform change.
The 5600X is probably around 95% of the 5700X for many games, so both are reasonable choices. However, since you want to keep the system for at least three or four years and the price difference is relatively small, I’d lean toward the 5700X. Newer games are making better use of additional cores and threads, and the extra CPU headroom can help with frame-time consistency and 1% lows even when average FPS barely changes.
The 5700X is also fairly efficient and doesn’t need an expensive cooler. A basic tower cooler in the Hyper 212 class should be more than adequate. The 5600X’s included cooler can technically work, but it may run hot and loud under sustained loads.
The included cooler situation shouldn’t decide this upgrade by itself. Even if you choose the 5600X, a low-cost tower cooler is worthwhile for lower temperatures and noise. If the total price of the 5700X plus a basic cooler is still manageable, I’d choose it for a long-term AM4 build. If money is tight, put the savings toward the graphics card or keep the 5600X—there’s no guarantee the 5700X will produce a large FPS increase in every game.
That makes sense. My main concern was that benchmarks often show only a 3–4% average difference, so I wasn’t sure whether the extra cores would be noticeable. The possible improvement to 1% lows and the cooler noise are useful points.