Conclusion
The AMD Ryzen 5 7600 was introduced on January 10th, 2023, with an original introductory MSRP of $229 this new “Non-X” variant from AMD ushered in a new series of 65W processors in the mainstream market. These new 65W CPUs filled in the AMD Ryzen 7000 series CPU line based on the Zen 4 architecture and AM5 platform supporting PCIe 5.0 and DDR5.
The Ryzen 5 7600 has the same core count as the Ryzen 5 7600X, but a lower 65W TDP and thus a lower clock speed. The Ryzen 5 7600 is a 6-core/12-thread CPU that has a base clock of 3.8GHz and a boost clock of up to 5.1GHz, but only under lightly threaded usage. It has the same cache as the Ryzen 5 7600X. On the plus side, the Ryzen 5 7600 comes with the AMD Wraith Stealth air cooler in the box, so you also save money not having to purchase a cooler of your own. Be sure to check current online prices, to see what they are at the current time, they can change over time and are different than launch MSRP now.
CPU Performance of Ryzen 5 7600 vs Ryzen 5 7600X
In today’s CPU performance comparison review, we put the Ryzen 5 7600 versus the Ryzen 5 7600X to see how they compare. We also enabled PBO on the Ryzen 5 7600 to see if boosting past the 65W TDP can regain some performance closer to the Ryzen 5 7600X.
Starting with synthetic system benchmarks, in PCMark 10 the Ryzen 5 7600 was just 4% slower than the Ryzen 5 7600X. That is a small difference, and this represents lightly threaded, lighter workloads, not something that would maximize all cores at the same time. That is still important because it does replicate more closely what is done in office work. In Geekbench multi-core performance the Ryzen 5 7600 was only 5% slower than the Ryzen 5 7600X, and in single-core performance, it was 6% slower. 3DMark had one of the widest differences with the multi-core performance of the Ryzen 5 7600 being 7% slower than the Ryzen 5 7600X. In single-core performance, it was 6% behind.
Moving on to the rendering benchmarks, we see much of the same replicated here. In Cinbench multi-core the Ryzen 5 7600 is 7% slower, and in single-core, it is 6% behind. In Blender, the Ryzen 5 7600 is 5-7% slower than the 7600X. In HandBrake there is also a difference, there are several minutes difference in encoding time, and it can add up for long render times.
In all of these synthetic benchmarks, enabling PBO slightly boosted performance, but it was not to a great degree. We saw 1% differences at best, and as we found out this was due to a relatively lower frequency boost when enabling PBO on the Ryzen 5 7600 versus the Ryzen 5 7600X. The overall small frequency boost meant that while TDP went up, the performance gain it clawed back wasn’t as significant with only a 75MHz frequency gain. It may not be worth the added power and temperatures, to enable PBO on the Ryzen 5 7600. Instead, it is best to accept the innate power and temperature savings on the 65W Ryzen 5 7600 as is.
When it comes to games, there was just simply not much difference in gaming performance at 4K and 1440p, even with an RTX 4090. In fact, even at 1080p, there was maybe a 4% difference at best. The fact is, while gaming, the Ryzen 5 7600 performs exactly the same as the Ryzen 5 7600X, yet uses less power, and runs cooler.
Final Points
In our testing, we found that the AMD Ryzen 5 7600 performs very closely to the Ryzen 5 7600X even at its worse. Meaning, we only saw at maximum, with all cores being utilized, a deficit of 7% performance under the Ryzen 5 7600X with the Ryzen 5 7600. This was in rendering benchmarks, or synthetic benchmarks that push all-core performance. Overall, that isn’t huge. In addition, single-thread, or lightly-threaded applications were even closer at with small performance differences.
When it comes to gaming performance our testing showed that there simply wasn’t any difference in gaming performance between the Ryzen 5 7600 and Ryzen 5 7600X. Whether you are gaming at 4K, 1440p, or 4K, even with a fast GeForce RTX 4090 you won’t lose gaming performance saving money with the Ryzen 5 7600. The Ryzen 5 7600X offers no significant advantage in gaming performance.
What stands out is the fact that the AMD Ryzen 5 7600 is an amazingly efficient CPU. It uses 23% less power than the Ryzen 5 7600X, but only performs at worse, 7% slower. You also get a huge reduction in operating temperatures pegging the CPU on all cores, this means you don’t need expensive cooling solutions. In fact, the Ryzen 5 7600 comes with a cooler in the box that will work well and means no added cost for cooling. There really aren’t a lot of downsides here, so if the Ryzen 5 7600 can be found cheaper, the value could very much be worth it.
If you are already in the market for a 6-core/12-thread CPU for a lower-budget AM5 build, the Ryzen 5 7600 may be more economical, with little loss in performance. You basically get a similar computing experience to the 7600X. Be sure to check the latest prices, they have changed a lot since launch, and you may find really good deals these days on the Ryzen 5 7600.