AMD launched its Zen 4 generation of desktop processors in October with the mighty AMD Ryzen 9 7900X and 7950X. Not only did the company come out with a new architecture to take on Intel's Raptor Lake processors, but it also introduced an entirely new platform and socket. While this does mean it's no longer possible to upgrade from older AMD CPUs to the new 7000 series, we're able to take advantage of PCIe 5.0, DDR5, and other technological advances with the new platform.

To kick off 2023 with a bang, AMD is launching three new 65W processors. Today, we're going to take an in-depth look at the new, affordable option, the AMD Ryzen 5 7600. It has slightly slower clock speeds for base and boost and the aforementioned lower TDP of just 65W. Let's see if it's good enough to make our best CPU list or even just worth considering for your next PC build.

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AMD Ryzen 5 7600: Pricing and availability

The AMD Ryzen 5 7600 is set to launch on Jan. 10, 2023, for $229. It's a 6-core processor with multithreaded technology for a total of 12 threads. These are some impressive numbers for a processor that's considered entry-level, although it seems set to take on the Intel Core i5-13600K. Intel has the upper hand with core and thread count, but with the instructions-per-cycle (IPC) gains AMD has made with Zen 4, one can expect to see better per-core performance for Team Red.

Compared to other AMD processors, this is essentially the Ryzen 5 7600X with eco-mode activated. When you don't need full performance from the 7600X, activating this mode allows you to quickly underclock the processor, putting it in a similar performance range as the 7600. That begs the question of whether it would be better to spend the extra $70 on the 7600X for better performance.

Interestingly, retailers have bumped the price of the 7600X back up to $299 MSRP (or higher). Up until a few days ago, it was possible to purchase the CPU for just $240, making the 7600 seem like a bad deal.

Zen 4: Architecture and features

Source: XDA-Developers

There's good and bad news with the new AMD Zen 4 architecture. Sure, we're getting considerable gains in performance, more efficient processors, and support for DDR5 and PCIe 5.0. However, what AMD had to do to achieve all this is to start with a fresh new platform. AM5 is required for the new AMD Ryzen 7000 series processors, so you'll need to replace that older AM4 motherboard and DDR4 memory.

First, let's take a look at how the new 65W processors stack up against one another:

We've gone over the new architecture in detail, but to serve as a small refresher: AMD improved the overall performance of its processors and added full support for PCIe 5.0 and DDR5 with the new AM5 platform, but unlike Intel, is not continuing to support DDR4. It's not possible to locate a single AM5 motherboard with support for the older generation of system memory.

Utilizing the new X670, X670E, B650, and B650E chipsets on the best motherboards, AMD continues to work on refining the efficiency of its Ryzen processors without simply adding more cores onto the chip. These 65W processors are another step in the right direction to offer a better choice for the consumer who may not require more powerful or power-hungry CPUs.

Performance: Can handle the load

Source: XDA-Developers

To test the AMD Ryzen 5 7600, we installed the CPU in the same test bench PC as the AMD Ryzen 7 7700 and Ryzen 9 7900. This consisted of the following:

• Gigabyte X670E Aorus Master motherboard
• 64GB Kingston Fury DDR5-7200 RAM
• AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX
• FSP Dagger Pro 850W PSU
• Stock coolers and be quiet! Pure Loop 2 FX AIO

AMD sent us a stock cooler for each of the three 65W Ryzen 7000 processors. We used them to see how the performance and thermal results would be if you purchased the processors and not use an aftermarket cooler. For comparison, we also deployed the be quiet! Pure Loop 2 FX AIO with a 360mm radiator and three fans.

Source: XDA-Developers

CPU-Z, Geekbench 5, and 7-Zip

Being CPU-focused benchmarking utilities, Geekbench and CPU-Z allow us to get some hard numbers on processor performance for comparison against competing products. We'll use 3DMark and other tests to see how it fares for gaming, but for productivity and general use, it's good to use Geekbench or CPU-Z to quickly see how the AMD Ryzen 5 7600 holds up against the Intel Core i5 and other AMD processors. In general, higher numbers signal better results.

As expected, the AMD Ryzen 5 7600 can keep up with both the Ryzen 5 7600X and Intel Core i5-13600K, but a notable difference is present in both CPU-Z and Geekbench for multi-core scores between Team Red and Blue.

Cinebench R23, HandBrake, and Corona 1.3

Next up, we're moving into the realm of rendering with Cinebench and Corona. The former is one of the more stressful tests for a CPU to go through, and we also utilize this utility to perform thermal tests to see how hot a processor gets under intense loads. You'll likely never encounter such instances when using this CPU inside your PC.

The results were as expected since the Intel Core i5-13600K has more threads than both the AMD Ryzen 5 7600 and its X sibling. Single-core performance is very similar across the board, however. Interestingly, Cinebench kept crashing when running the multi-core benchmark with the Ryzen 5 7600 though one could expect it to perform just below the 7600X. The same goes for HandBrake, where we kept encountering a BSOD within Windows 11.

PCMark 10

PCMark is a great tool to test how good a CPU is for productivity and general use. It attempts to simulate real-world usage, so the GPU plays an important factor here. Generally, higher numbers are better.

So what do all these results mean? The AMD Ryzen 5 7600 is placed just below the Ryzen 5 7600X, which will save you $70 MSRP. The difference in performance is a mixed bag. In some cases, you'll barely notice a difference, but in other tests, there's a considerable difference between the two. Whether this warrants the extra $70 depends on your budget.

This makes sense since we're only dropping the clock speed slightly and lowering the TDP. Still, for the price, this thing punches way above its weight. With the stock cooler, we saw temperatures of up to 90 degrees Celsius with stress loads applied and around 55 degrees Celsius when idle.

Using the 360mm AIO was a better show for temperature readings. Pulling up to 90W from the socket, the CPU still hit high temperatures when stressed, but idle and gaming loads were vastly improved.

Competition: How does it hold up against the Ryzen 5 7600X?

This mighty AMD processor has two direct competitors: the Intel Core i5-13600 and AMD Ryzen 5 7600X. Intel has the upper hand in terms of cores and threads, but when you look at the numbers from benchmarks, you'll find that doesn't make a huge difference. In fact, you'll often find AMD's processor the better pick for gaming and productivity.

Here's how the AMD Ryzen 5 7600 holds up against its slightly more powerful sibling.

As you can see, there's not much to differentiate the AMD Ryzen 5 7600 and Ryzen 5 7600X on paper. If all you want to do is enjoy your favorite games and save as much as possible, the non-X chip is a solid choice. You won't lose out on much unless you're attempting to push frames through the best graphics card.

It's unlocked, too, so you could make up ground to match or exceed what the 7600X is capable of by default since we saw a difference of up to 5% in a select few games. For better results, we'd recommend stepping up to a Ryzen 7 CPU. The choice of AMD vs. Intel largely comes down to personal preference and whether you have a motherboard ready to go.

Should you buy the AMD Ryzen 5 7600?

Source: XDA-Developers

You should buy the AMD Ryzen 5 7600 if:

• You're a gamer and want a good mid-range processor
• You don't need more cores and threads for multi-core tasks
• You already own (or plan on buying) an AM5 motherboard and DDR5 RAM
• You don't want to spend more than $230
• You're comfortable overclocking the CPU

You shouldn't buy the AMD Ryzen 5 7600 if:

• You need more cores and threads
• You don't already have an AM5 motherboard and DDR5 RAM
• You don't want to do manual overclocking to match or beat the 7600X

If you want the latest from AMD but don't plan on using the PC for intensive tasks, a more affordable Ryzen 5 processor should suffice, and the AMD Ryzen 5 7600 is now the cheapest AM5 processor to date. It's slightly slower than the Ryzen 5 7600X due to the lower default target TDP and slower speeds, but it's still an absolute monster despite being an entry-level CPU.

The six physical cores are excellent for gaming and any other tasks you'd perform on the PC. It's capable of handling some rendering, too, though results will (as expected) be a far cry from what's possible with a more powerful processor. Even though Intel is winning the core count game with the Intel Core i5-13600K, we don't expect there to be much to differentiate the two in terms of performance.