Is AMD Ryzen 5 7600X worth buying?

The Ryzen 5 7600X will hit retail shelves starting tomorrow. This processor is a mainstream performance-focused chip in the Zen 4-based lineup that AMD is introducing this fall.

The 7600X comes with six cores and 12 threads, with a base clock of 4.7 GHz and a boost clock of 5.3 GHz. Like other Ryzen 7000 chips, this processor also comes with a two-core RDNA 2-based Radeon IGPU. Although the performance of this GPU is questionable, users can enjoy competitive titles at 40-45 FPS with the resolution set to 1080p.

Despite being a more budget and gamer-focused processor, the 7600X needs to be paired with expensive DDR 5 memory and a costly AM5 motherboard. According to several industry experts, this robs the processor of its value proposition. However, the community has been in wait for benchmarks and performance cues before judging this six-core chip.

With media coverage of the Ryzen 7000 processors rolling in, users have gotten a glimpse at what the performance-focused chip is capable of.

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Should gamers buy the Ryzen 5 7600X?

The Ryzen 5 7600X packaging (Image via AMD)

Based on reviews and AMD's claims, the Ryzen 5 7600X is a much better processor when compared to its last-gen counterpart, the Ryzen 5 5600X. The new chip is about 12% faster across several video games, without up to 15% performance uplift in 1% low metrics.

Compared to the competition, the Core i5 12600K, the latest Ryzen 5 addition is about 11% faster across all workloads.

The all-new Ryzen 5 beats the much costlier Core i9 12900KS in several gaming workloads. This is thanks to the improved single-core performance metrics the new Zen 4 chips are capable of.

Thus, at $300, there is no better option other than the all-new six-core Ryzen 5 until more chips come out or any manufacturer cuts prices on some high-end processors.

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Should professionals and content creators buy the latest Ryzen 5?

A Ryzen 7000 CPU (Image via AMD)

Although the latest Ryzen 5 provides awesome performance lifts in gaming and single-core workloads, the processor significantly falls apart when compared to the competition, thanks to its low core count.

The Ryzen 5 7600X scores 1,961 points in the Cinebench R23 single-threaded test, which makes each Zen 4 core 7% faster than what the 12600K can achieve. However, the processor loses to Intel's equivalent in the multi-thread benchmark. While the 12600K scored 15,974 points, the latest Ryzen 5 only managed a score of 15,121.

Thus, users who will primarily be running CPU-intensive workloads that benefit from higher core counts should consider Intel's offering over AMD's latest chips. The former also has more motherboard choices and supports the much cheaper DDR 4 memory.

However, the chip is fast enough for beginners who will not be performing extremely heavy workloads on their rigs. This scenario applies to a very niche audience of gaming creators.

The target audience of hobbyist renderers and casual creators is huge and the latest Ryzen 5 can add significant value to these users' rigs.

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Conclusion

The Ryzen 5 7600X is a generational leap for single-core and gaming performance. However, the processor has been specially designed with gamers in mind and is not built for multi-core performance workloads. Thus, creators and professionals should explore other options on the market.