AMD Ryzen 5 7600X vs AMD Ryzen 5 5600X | Is it Worth the Upgrade?

Back in 2020 when AMD launched the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X, it became an instant classic as the best bang for the buck gaming CPU. At that time, the competition from Intel was weak. When AMD released the Zen 4 Architecture in the form of Ryzen 7000 Series CPUs in 2022, everyone (including us) was excited for the CPU name-sake equivalent of the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X i.e., AMD Ryzen 5 7600X. The popular questions are “Is AMD Ryzen 5 7600X a worthy successor of the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X?” and “Is it worth Upgrading from AMD Ryzen 5 5600X to AMD Ryzen 5 7600X?”. In this article, we will make a AMD Ryzen 5 7600X vs AMD Ryzen 5 5600X comparison and try to find out the answers to all these questions.

Here, we will look at the specifications of both the CPUs and then, we’ll perform some tests in terms of gaming, synthetic benchmarks, and regular applications and see how 7600X and 5600X perform. In the process, we will also observe the CPU temperatures and power consumption for a comprehensive comparison.

A Brief Note on AMD Ryzen 5 7600X

As AMD announced the high-end CPUs in the form of the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X and the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X, no every is interested in spending that chunk of money. Hence, along with these powerful processors, AMD also launched the reasonably priced AMD Ryzen 5 7600X.

It is based on a new architecture, the Zen 4 and a brand-new socket, the AM5. Similar to its expensive and powerful comrades, the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X supports only DDR5 memory and has only PCIe 5.0 support.

With a launch price of $299 and the traditional 6 core 12 thread design, the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X is the contender for the best bang for the buck gaming CPU.

AMD completely revamped the architecture with Zen 4 that has 13% better IPC performance. The next biggest change is the CPU socket. AM4 has been a successful platform for both AMD and the consumers. They supported it well beyond their initial promise.

But starting with Ryzen 7000 Series CPUs, AMD moved away from the PGA AM4 socket to the new LGA AM5 socket. That’s right. Now the pins are on the motherboard rather than the CPU.

Unlike Intel, which made its 13^th Gen Raptor Lake CPUs support both DDR4 and DDR5 Memory, AMD completely ditched the DDR4 Memory in favor of DDR5. When you combine this with a new AM5 Motherboard, you are looking at a significant investment.

Coming back to the Ryzen 5 7600X, it has a base clock of 4.7 GHz and a boost clock of 5.3 GHz. Unlike Intel and Apple, AMD struck with its traditional 6 core 12 thread CPU.

Important Features of Ryzen 5 7600X

• 6 Cores 12 Threads
• Zen 4 Architecture
• AM5 Socket
• Supports only DDR5 Memory
• Cache: L2 is 1 MB per core (Total 6 MB) and L3 is 32 MB per CCD (Total 32 MB)
• Total 28 PCIe 5.0 lanes (4 of them are reserved for chipset)
• RDNA2 based Integrated Graphics (base clock of 0.4 GHz and boost clock of 2.2 GHz)
• TDP is 105 Watts
• Manufacturing Node is TSMC 5 nm for CCD and TSMC 6 nm for IOD

A Brief Note on AMD Ryzen 5 5600X

It was a time during which AMD is dominating the productivity and gaming market (especially the entry-level and mid-level systems). AMD launched the Ryzen 5000 Series CPUs in November 2020. Of all the processors in the line-up, the one that most tech enthusiasts were excited for was the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X.

Today, the core count number are all over the place. But back when AMD released the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X, a 6 core CPU with a $299 price tag and the performance it offered, was just unthinkable.

Based on the updated Zen 3 Architecture, the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X has 6 cores and 12 threads and was manufactured using TSMC’s 7 nm process node.

The clock frequencies of the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X are 3.7 GHz base clock and 4.6 GHz boost clock. The TDP of the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X is 65 Watts.

Important Features of Ryzen 5 5600X

• 6 Cores 12 Threads
• Zen 3 Architecture
• AM4 Socket
• Supports only DDR4 Memory
• Cache: L2 is 512 KB per core (Total 3 MB) and L3 is 32 MB per CCD (Total 32 MB)
• Total 24 PCIe 4.0 lanes (4 of them are reserved for chipset)
• No Integrated Graphics
• TDP is 65 Watts
• Manufacturing Node is TSMC 7 nm for both CCD and IOD

AMD Ryzen 5 7600X vs AMD Ryzen 5 5600X: Specifications

In the following table, we made a side-by-side list of all the essential specifications of the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X and the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X.

		AMD Ryzen 5 7600X	AMD Ryzen 5 5600X
Cores (Threads)		6 (12)	6 (12)
Base Clock Rate		4.7 GHz	3.7 GHz
Turbo Clock Rate		5.3 GHz	4.6 GHz
Cache	L2	6 MB (1 MB per Core)	3 MB (512 KB per Core)
	L3	32 MB (32 MB per CCD)	32 MB (32 MB per CCD)
Power		TDP 105 Watts	TDP 65 Watts
Process Technology	Core Complex Die	TSMC 5 nm	TSMC 7 nm
	Input Output Die	TSMC 6 nm
Socket		AM5 (LGA)	AM4
Code Name (Architecture)		Zen 4	Zen 3
PCIe Lanes		Total 28 PCIe 5.0 Lanes of which 24 are available for Motherboard Manufacturers and 4 are reserved for Chipset	Total 24 PCIe 4.0 Lanes of which 20 are available for Motherboard Manufacturers and 4 are reserved for Chipset
Memory Support	DDR4	—	Up to DDR4 3200 MT/s
	DDR5	Up to DDR5 5200 MT/s	—
Integrated Graphics		AMD RDNA2 GPU (Base Clock 0.4 GHz and Boost Clock 2.2 GHz)	None
Price		MSRP $299	MSRP $299

AMD Ryzen 5 7600X vs AMD Ryzen 5 5600X: Performance

Let us now compare the performance of the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X CPU against the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X.

Test System

Before we begin, here is a quick look at our Intel and AMD test systems.

Application Benchmarks

Cinebench R23 Multi-Core (Higher is Better)

Let us start with the most popular benchmark tool, the Cinebench R23. After the 10-minute multicore loop test, the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X got a score of just under 15000 points while the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X could only score slightly over 11500 points. If you compare the performance of AMD Ryzen 5 7600X and AMD Ryzen 5 5600X, then the former boasts a 30% performance improvement.

Cinebench R23 Single-Core (Higher is Better)

Coming to the single core performance in the Cinebench R23, the story doesn’t change much. The single-core performance of the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X is significantly better than the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X with over 32% difference.

PassMark’s CPUMARK 10.2 Multi-Threaded/Overall (Higher is Better)

Next, we have another popular benchmark tool from PassMark, the CPU Mark. The following results show the overall or multi-threaded CPU Mark Score of all the processors in this test.

While the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X shows a lot of improvement over the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X, where it leads by almost 16%.

PassMark’s CPUMARK 10.2 Single-Threaded (Higher is Better)

Coming to the single threaded performance in CPU Mark, the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X continues its dominance with a significant 22% performance boast over 5600X.

Blender Open Data Render Time (Lower is Better)

Another popular open-source tool is Blender. For the next couple of tests, we will see the render times and number of samples per minute in Blender version 3.4. The AMD Ryzen 5 7600X took 10 seconds over 14 minutes while the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X took almost 20 minutes. A good 40% performance difference.

Blender Samples Per Minute (Higher is Better)

The results for number of samples in a minute for Blender Render is also very similar to the render time results. Here you can see the samples per minute score across the three test scenes: monster, junkshop, and classroom. The AMD Ryzen 5 7600X could push over 230 samples while the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X couldn’t even cross 180 samples.

Adobe Photoshop 2022 Puget System Benchmark (Higher is Better)

The Adobe suite has a couple of important tools that many creators and artists use. We will start with the Adobe Photoshop 2022. It has a built-in Puget System Standard Benchmark.

If you look at the overall scores, the performance gap between the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X and the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X is around 48%.

Adobe Premier Pro 2022 Puget System Benchmark (Higher is Better)

Next application in the Adobe suite is the Premier Pro 2022. The results in this test are not that similar to the Adobe Photoshop 2022. Here, the performance of the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X is only 26% better than the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X.

7-Zip File Manager Compression (Higher is Better)

One of the popular and widely used open-source applications is the 7-Zip File Manager. It helps in archiving files. For this test, we are performing the built-in benchmark feature. Here is the result in million instructions per second (MIPS) for compressing using a standards 32 MB dictionary size and 10 passes.

7-Zip File Manager Decompression (Higher is Better)

In decompression, the AMD Ryzen CPUs are generally dominant. But in this test, the performance gap between the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X and the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X is roughly 16%.

Chromium Code Compilation Time (Lower is Better)

Developers working on large projects need a stable multi-threaded system with a powerful CPU. So, we tested the code compilation performance by taking the open-source Chromium project code.

The performance of AMD Ryzen 5 7600X is not that great as it took over 82 minutes to compile the code. But this is much better than the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X, which took close to 125 minutes.

Corona 1.3 Render Time (Lower is Better)

The last “application” benchmark is the Corona 1.3, which is a high-quality shading engine for production rendering. Let us now see the rendering time of different Intel and AMD CPUs.

Gaming Benchmarks

Let us move to some gaming performance. We tested some popular titles at a resolution of 1920 × 1080 (1080p) as anything beyond, the GPU will dominate the performance. We are running all the games in DirectX 12 with Ray Tracing and DLSS off.

Far Cry 6

• Resolution: 1920 × 1080
• DirectX 12
• Game Setting: Ultra
• DirectX Raytracing: Off

The first game is Far Cry 6. Here, the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X shows its dominance over the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X. Here are the rounded off average frames and also 1% low fps.

Cyberpunk 2077

• Resolution: 1920 × 1080
• DirectX 12
• Game Setting: Ultra
• Texture: High
• Ray Tracing: Off
• DLSS: Off

Next, we have another popular title, Cyberpunk 2077. The story is the same, where the Intel Core i5 13600K can pump over 140 fps on average while the Ryzen 7000 Series CPUs struggle to push past 130 fps. The performance of all the Ryzen 7000 Series CPUs is very similar. But surprisingly, the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X marginally beats the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X on average performance (but 1% number are identical).

Shadow of the Tomb Raider

• Resolution: 1920 × 1080
• DirectX 12
• Game Setting: High
• DLSS: Off

Last but not least, we tested the Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Once again, the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X show significant improvement as it could easily push over 230 fps while the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X could only push slightly over 180 fps. What surprised in this game is the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D beating all the current gen Intel and AMD flagships.

Clock Speed

We ran the AIDA64 Stress Test for 10 minutes and here are the maximum frequency and average frequency of all cores. AMD improved the clock speeds of the 7600X compared to 5600X a lot.

CPU Temperature

During the same AIDA64 Stress Test, we monitored the CPU Temperatures with Corsair iCUE H150i RGB Elite Liquid CPU Cooler. Here are the CPU temps for your reference.

Power Consumption

During the Blender render, we measured the CPU Package Power Draw using the HWiNFO tool. The following table consists of the peak CPU Package Power Draw as reported by HWiNFO. The difference in power consumption is very clear as the TDP values of both 7600X and 5600X are quite different.

Is It Worth the Upgrade from AMD Ryzen 5 5600X to AMD Ryzen 5 7600X?

At the time of the launch, many tech enthusiasts recommended the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X as the go to CPU for gaming. It is now over two years old and AMD recently launched the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X.

Both these processors have 6 cores and 12 threads. But the similarities end there. The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X is based on Zen 3 while the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X is based on the latest Zen 4.

The amount of L2 Cache and TDP of the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X has also doubled. Additionally, the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X doesn’t have any integrated graphics but the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X has a basics RDNA2 graphics (not recommended for gaming).

If you are planning to upgrade from AMD Ryzen 5 5600X to the latest AMD Ryzen 5 7600X, then go ahead and proceed. It is definitely a worthy upgrade if you compare the raw CPU performance.

But the important thing here is the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X is not based on AM4 but rather uses the latest AM5 socket. So, if you plan to upgrade, you have look for a new motherboard as well as DDR5 RAM.

With a retail price of $299, we cannot complain about the performance of the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X. But with a new motherboard and DDR5 Memory, the Ryzen 7 7700X seems like a better choice for only $100 more.