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AMD launched the Ryzen 5 3600 back in 2019 as a mid-range sub-$200 gaming chip for those on a budget. The processor continues to be a solid option for playing the latest games like Hogwarts Legacy and the Resident Evil 4 remake when paired with a capable video card. The best part of the CPU is that it doesn't bottleneck some high-end graphics cards like the RTX 2080 and the RTX 3070.
It also supports PCIe Gen 4, high-speed DDR4 memory, and can easily be paired with a cheap B450 motherboard. All of these factors make the Ryzen 5 3600 a lucrative option.
However, not all gamers should spend their cash on this aging CPU. This article will go over the pros and cons of the Ryzen 5 3600 to help you make an informed decision.
The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 is only good for a select few gamers these days
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The Ryzen 5 3600 is based on AMD's Zen 2 architecture. The chip packs six cores and twelve threads, like any other recent Team Red chip with the '5' moniker.
It is a couple of generations old at this point, but even almost three and a half years after its release, it is still listed on leading websites like Newegg and Best Buy for an insanely low price of $116.
Specs
Before continuing with the comparisons and performance, let's have a look at the spec sheet of the 3600 to find out what the chip brings to the table.
The processor is limited to just 65W. This ensures that gamers don't have to spend a premium on cooling their chip. Even a decent single-tower air cooler will suffice. The chip packs a bundled AMD Wraith Stealth stock cooler, which should be enough for most gamers.
The processor packs a base clock of 3.6 GHz and can boost up to 4.2 GHz by default. It is unlocked, and users can manually overclock it via the bundled Ryzen Master utility.
Performance
The Ryzen 5 3600's closest competitors are the latest Core i3 offerings from Team Blue. These processors are insanely cheap, power efficient, and can be paired with the cheapest H610 motherboards based on the LGA 1700 socket.
The Ryzen 5 5600, although more expensive, fights a close battle with the 3600. It is based on the same AM4 socket, so gamers can buy an affordable B450 motherboard to pair it with. However, to its benefit, it is based on the improved Zen 3 architecture that delivers solid single-core performance.
In the benchmark results listed above, it is evident that the Core i3 chips are nowhere close to the six-core Ryzen 5 processors in terms of multi-core performance. However, the Team Blue offerings defeated Ryzen processors in the single-core test.
Most modern video games don't use more than one or two cores of any CPU, and gaming is a workload that doesn't utilize the high core count that modern processors pack. Thus, the Core i3 chips offer a much better gaming experience.
In addition, the iGPU-less Core i3 12100F is available for as low as just $75 these days. Thus, its value proposition is way higher than the Ryzen 5 3600, and Intel is winning in the budget category for now.
However, if you're looking for a budget chip for workloads that utilize multi-core performance like video editing, game development, 3D modeling, and others, the Ryzen 5 chips are your best option.
