AMD Ryzen 5 5600 (6-core, 12-thread, AM4)

Our analysis

35 MB of cache against 104 MB on the Ryzen 7 7800X3D, and AM4 against AM5: the two sit at opposite ends of AMD's gaming range, and the socket you already own picks between them. This one drops into an AM4 board with DDR4 and comes with a Wraith Stealth cooler; the 7800X3D needs AM5, DDR5 and a cooler bought separately.

What stands out

• One part instead of three: on a B450 or B550 board with DDR4, a BIOS update is the only prep, so you keep your motherboard and your memory.
• Zen 3 with 35 MB of cache. Six cores, 12 threads and a 4.4 GHz boost, per AMD: a newer generation for a board that still runs a Ryzen 1000 or 2000.
• Cooler in the box: it ships with the Wraith Stealth and is rated at 65 W, so a new cooler is not a day-one expense.
• Unlocked multiplier: you can tune it, a freedom the Core i5-14400F, the equivalent upgrade on Intel, does not give you.

Where it falls short

• The lowest boost clock of the five chips in our CPU guide: 4.4 GHz against 5.4 GHz on the Ryzen 5 9600X.
• AM4 gets no newer chips; the top of its gaming line is the 5800X3D.
• There are no integrated graphics, so a dedicated card is mandatory.

Look elsewhere if

You are building from scratch: it costs about the same as the Ryzen 5 9600X, which moves you to Zen 5 and to AM5, the platform that still has upgrades ahead, and adds integrated graphics. If your current board is LGA 1700 instead, the Core i5-14400F follows the same logic on Intel: ten cores and you keep the motherboard.

We sort the options by socket in our best gaming CPU guide, and the 2-minute bottleneck test tells you if your current processor is really what is holding you back.