The AMD Ryzen 5 5600 and Ryzen 5 7600 are two excellent CPUs in the mid-range category. Even though both have the same target audience, their performance and features vary a lot. There's also a huge difference in the prices of the two processors. The Ryzen 5 7600 is newer, so it costs more, but does it have enough performance uplift to justify the higher price tag?
This article compares the two CPUs to determine which is the best for gaming.
Note: Some aspects of this article are subjective and solely reflect the writer's opinions.
AMD Ryzen 5 5600 vs Ryzen 5 7600
The Ryzen 5 5600 is based on AMD's Zen 3 architecture, which offers decent performance for its price. On the other hand, the Ryzen 5 7600 is based on the current Zen 4 architecture, which is a successor to the Zen 3 CPUs and brings better performance and features.
Let's look at the specs of the two processors to get a better idea of how capable they are.
Specs comparison
Here are the specs of the two CPUs:
The differences between the two CPUs lie in the clock speed, RAM, and PCIe support.
The Ryzen 5 7600 has a significantly higher clock speed, which, combined with the DDR5 RAM, can significantly boost its gaming performance. The new AMD processor also has PCIe Gen 5 support, which means it will be compatible with the latest Gen 5 SSDs and next-gen GPUs like the Nvidia RTX 5090.
Synthetic performance difference
Now, it's time to check out how the AMD Ryzen 5 5600 and Ryzen 5 7600 perform in actual benchmarks like Cinebench, Geekbench, and more. Here are the benchmarks of the two CPUs:
According to these benchmarks, the Ryzen 5 7600 is about 26% faster than the Ryzen 5 5600 in single-core performance. In multi-core benchmarks, the former CPU scores 33% more than the latter.
Even in 3D rendering benchmarks, the Zen 4 processor trumps the Zen 3 chip by 31.6%.
Gaming performance benchmarks
The Ryzen 5 7600 has some incredible performance advantages in synthetic productivity benchmarks, but what about gaming? Let's find out in this gaming benchmarks comparison. The FPS data here has been sourced from the NJ Tech YouTube channel.
Note: The test was run at 1080p resolution at the highest settings with the RTX 3080 GPU.
On average, the AMD Ryzen 5 7600 has a 20% better score than the Ryzen 5 5600. The performance difference between the two CPUs is even bigger in some games. For example, the Ryzen 7600 is almost 30% faster in Spider-Man: Miles Morales.
Price comparison
The AMD Ryzen 5 7600 currently costs $193, which is around 52% more than the Ryzen 5 5600 ($127).
Final verdict of AMD Ryzen 5 5600 vs Ryzen 5 7600
The AMD Ryzen 5 7600 is the best CPU for gaming. It is around 26% - 33% faster in productivity and 20% - 30% better in gaming. It also comes with newer features, such as PCIe Gen 5 for SSDs and GPUs. However, it also costs around 52% more, so keep that in mind when deciding between the two processors.