Chinese retailer JD.com (opens in new tab) has listed the AMD Ryzen 5 3500X on its online store. The processor is in all likelihood the older brother of the previously leaked AMD Ryzen 5 3500.
AMD is looking pretty serious about trying to steal some of Intel's market share in the budget CPU market. The latest listing shows that the Red Team isn't just working on the Ryzen 5 3500 as a budget chip, but the Ryzen 5 3500X as well.
JD.com lists the Ryzen 5 3500X as a six-core, six-thread processor with a 3.6 GHz base clock, 4.1 GHz boost clock, 65W TDP (thermal design power) and 32MB of L3 cache. If you've been following AMD's Matisse rumors, the Ryzen 5 3500X's specifications are almost identical to those of the Ryzen 5 3500, except the latter is rumored to only have 16MB of cache. AMD will seemingly the Wraith Stealth CPU cooler with the Ryzen 5 3500X.
Specs
Model | Cores / Threads | Base Clock | Boost Clock | L3 Cache | TDP | PCIe Lanes | Memory Support | MSRP |
AMD Ryzen 5 3500X* | 6 / 6 | 3.6 GHz | 4.1 GHz | 32MB | 65W | PCIe 4.0 x 24 | Dual DDR4-3200 | ? |
AMD Ryzen 5 3500* | 6 / 6 | 3.6 GHz | 4.1 GHz | 16MB | 65W | PCIe 4.0 x 24 | Dual DDR4-3200 | ? |
Intel Core i5-9400F | 6 / 6 | 2.9 GHz | 4.1 GHz | 9MB | 65W | PCIe 3.0 x 16 | Dual DDR4-2666 | $182 |
*Specifications in the table are unconfirmed
Based on the marketing material from JD.com, the Ryzen 5 3500X specifically targets the Intel Core i5-9400F. Both processors share the same core count, boost clocks and TDP rating, but that's where the similarities end. On paper, the Ryzen 5 3500X has the upper-hand, with a 700 MHz higher base clock, 23MB more L3 cache, not to mention native support for the PCIe 4.0 interface and DDR4-3200 memory modules.
The JD.com listing also includes real-world gaming results between the Ryzen 5 3500X and Core i5-9400F. The processors were said to be paired with the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 graphics card for the tests. The charts say that the Ryzen 5 3500X's gaming performance is in the same ballpark as the Core i5-9400F. What we'd like really love to see, though, is how the Ryzen 5 3500X fares against the Core i5-9400F in a office, rendering or productivity environment as that's where AMD's chip could really shine.
The Ryzen 5 3500X's success will depend hugely on how AMD prices the six-core chip. Intel's Recommended Customer Price (RCP) for the Core i5-9400F is $182. However, we can usually find it on sale for $139.99. The price for the Ryzen 5 3500X on JD.com is 1,099 yuan, which converts to $155. There's also the more powerful AMD Ryzen 5 3600 selling for $199. If AMD could match the price of the Core i5-9400F, it'll be strong competition for the Intel chip.