There's nothing like a good sale to brighten your day. The AMD Ryzen 5 1600 processor is currently at its all-time lowest price at Newegg and Amazon. For a limited time, you can grab AMD's hexa-core chip for a mere $119.99, saving you $70 off the normal retail price.
The Ryzen 5 1600 might be AMD's previous-gen chip, but don't let that fool you. The six-core, 12-thread processor still holds its own today against other modern processors. At a discounted price of $119.99, you're paying about $20 for each core.
The Ryzen 5 1600 has 16MB of cache and runs at a 3.2GHz base clock speed and 3.6GHz boost clock. On top of that, it comes with an unlocked multiplier, which means you can overclock the processor to squeeze more performance out of it.
AMD Ryzen 5 1600 Specs Comparison
| Row 0 - Cell 0 | Cores /Threads | Base /Boost Clock Speed (GHz) | Cache(MB) | PCIe 3.0 | Interface / Chipset | Unlocked Multiplier | DRAM | TDP | Price (at time of writing) | PricePer Core |
| Intel Core i7-8700K | 6 / 12 | 3.7 / 4.7 | 12 | 16 | 1151 / Z370 | Yes | Dual DDR4-2666 | 95W | $365.99 | $61 |
| Intel Core i5-9600K | 6 / 6 | 3.7 / 4.6 | 9 | 16 | 1151 / Z390 | Yes | Dual DDR4-2666 | 95W | $264.89 | $44.15 |
| AMD Ryzen 5 2600X | 6 / 12 | 3.6 / 4.2 | 16 | 16 | AM4 / X470 | Yes | Dual DDR4-2933 | 95W | $179.99 | $30 |
| Intel Core i5-9400F | 6 / 6 | 2.9 / 4.1 | 9 | 16 | 1151 / Z370 | No | Dual DDR4-2666 | 65W | $174.89 | $29.15 |
| AMD Ryzen 5 2600 | 6 / 12 | 3.4 / 3.9 | 16 | 16 | AM4 / X470 | Yes | Dual DDR4-2933 | 65W | $164.99 | $27.50 |
| AMD Ryzen 5 1600X | 6 / 12 | 3.6 / 4 | 16 | 16 | AM4 / X370 | Yes | Dual DDR4-2666 | 95W | $152.50 | $25.42 |
| AMD Ryzen 5 1600 | 6 / 12 | 3.2 / 3.6 | 16 | 16 | AM4 / X370 | Yes | Dual DDR4-2666 | 65W | $119.99 | $20 |
Should You Buy This CPU?
We highly recommend you check out our in-depth review of the AMD Ryzen 5 1600 before opening your wallet. You can also review our CPU buying guide for help. To see where this processor ranks among others currently available, including from rival Intel, check out ourCPU hierarchy page. And for other CPUs we love, see our favorite gaming CPUs, the best CPUs for productivity performance and best cheap CPUs pages.
The Ryzen 5 1600 comes bundled with the AMD Wraith Spirecooler, which means you don't have to spend extra cash to invest in an aftermarket CPU coolerfor your new processor. The Wraith Spire is designed to dissipate up to 95W of heat, so it's more than enough to cool the Ryzen 5 1600 comfortably given that the hexa-core chip has a very modest 65W TDP (thermal design power).
What About the Motherboard?
If you don't already have a motherboard with the AM4 CPU socket, there are many decent options on the market, since the hexa-core chip can be accommodated into motherboards using the the A320, B350, B450, X370, or X470 chipsets. They range from $60 for the low-tier offerings up to $280 for the high-end offerings. If you need motherboard shopping advice, see our motherboard buying guide and our list of the best motherboards overall right now.
