Introduction
AMD’s Ryzen 9000 series CPUs based on the new Zen 5 architecture are launching and will be available in retail soon on store shelves and online retailers. Announced at Computex 2024, the AMD Ryzen 9000 series CPUs and Zen 5 architecture launch a new generation from AMD on the client, desktop PC segment for the AM5 platform. The Zen 5 architecture is a new generation architecture that supersedes the previous Zen 4 architecture found in the current lineup of AMD Ryzen 7000 series desktop CPUs.
The Ryzen 9000 series CPUs will be launched in a staggered form, after a short delay that was meant for a July 31st, 2024 release. Now, AMD will be launching the midrange CPUs Ryzen 7 9700X and Ryzen 5 9600X first, with retail availability on August 8th, 2024. Following these two CPUs AMD will be launching the Ryzen 9 9950X and Ryzen 9 9900X with retail availability on August 15th, 2024.
This is our review of the AMD Ryzen 5 9600X, which has its MSRP announced at $279. The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X (Granite Ridge) directly replaces the previous generation Ryzen 5 7600X which was launched in September of 2022. The AMD Ryzen 5 7600X had a launch MSRP of $299 in 2022. Therefore, the AMD Ryzen 5 9600X has had a 7% price reduction compared to the previous generation, based on the release MSRP. Note that while the Ryzen 5 7600X has an MSRP of $299, the actual available street pricing in 2024 is around the $200 mark, which changes the perspective. We’ll talk about that more later.
We have previously disclosed a lot of information about the AMD Ryzen 9000 CPUs and the Zen 5 architecture lately, with several different content pieces. We will link all the places you can go to on both our Website, and our YouTube channel to read and watch more information and our thoughts and opinions on the Ryzen 9000 CPU series, we are not going to dive into it too much in this review.
You can start by reading our Computex 2024 announcement coverage article. Then you will want to mosey over to our YouTube channel and catch our detailed Ryzen 9000 CPU coverage with commentary and thoughts. Finally, you will want to check out our YouTube channel for our detailed Ryzen 9000 CPU and Zen 5 architecture coverage with commentary and thoughts as well as our article on our Website on the same topics.
AMD Ryzen 5 9600X
The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X is manufactured from TSMC at 4nm for the CCD and 6nm for the I/O die on the AM5 socket platform from AMD on the Zen 5 architecture. It is a 6-core/12-thread CPU with a base clock of 3.9GHz and a max boost of 5.4GHz. It has a combined cache of 38MB (32MB L3) and a TDP of just 65W. It officially supports DDR5 5600MT/s JDEC. It supports PCIe 5.0 and has 24 lanes of PCIe.
| Ryzen 5 9600X | Ryzen 5 7600X | |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture | Zen 5 | Zen 4 |
| Process | 4nm CCD/6nm IOD | 5nm CCD/6nm IOD |
| Cores/Threads | 6/12 | 6/12 |
| Cache (L2+L3) | 38MB (32MB L3) | 38MB (32MB L3) |
| Base Clock | 3.9GHz | 4.7GHz |
| Turbo Clock | 5.4GHz | 5.3GHz |
| TDP | 65W | 105W |
| Launch MSRP | $279 | $299 |
In AMD’s first-party performance graphs, AMD shows the Ryzen 5 9600X between 8% and all the way up to 94% faster than the Intel Core i5-14600K, but that one could be an outlier, most are in the 20% range. In gaming, the performance is anywhere from 5% up to 29%, depending very much on the game. Efficiency is a key point, where the Ryzen 5 9600X is a 65W TDP CPU while the Ryzen 5 7600X is a 105W TDP CPU. Noteworthy as well is that the AM5 platform support has been extended to 2027 or beyond.
AMD Ryzen 5 9600X Pictures
The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X looks identical to the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X and all other Ryzen 7000 and Ryzen 9000 CPUs. It has the familiar design and fits the AM5 socket. The Ryzen 5 9600X does not come with a cooler in the box.
Installation went smoothly into our ROG CROSSHAIR X670E HERO motherboard, and we had no issues with this CPU working on our X670E chipset AM5 motherboard. This CPU worked fine on the latest public official BIOS from ASUS’s website (2124), without needing a special BIOS. That BIOS uses AGESA ComboAM5PI_1200a.
However, AMD did provide a slightly newer BIOS (2201) for the motherboard that includes a “PatchA” to use for testing Ryzen 9000 CPUs. The full AGESA used for our Ryzen 7 9700X CPU was: AGESA ComboAM5PI_1200a PatchA that we used. We asked AMD what the PatchA adds, and AMD responded with this information: “Patch A has some tweaks specific to the 12 and 16c 9000 Series. We recommend using the one we provided, with Patch A, to keep the versions consistent with your upcoming 12+16c review.” So that is no problem, the newer PatchA BIOS was used for all Ryzen 9000 CPUs.