AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Nears All-Time Lowest Price

AMD Ryzen 5 3600
(Image credit: AMD)

As we keep waiting for new AMD CPU SKUs to hit retailers, we've been seeing some good deals on Ryzen 3000 CPUs. A couple days ago, we spotted the Ryzen 7 3700X for cheaper than ever (that deal's still going on, by the way). Today, we're looking at the Ryzen 5 3600, a slightly less powerful CPU on sale for $166.99, or $33 off.

This dual salvo of price drops is probably in anticipation of the Ryzen XT 3000-series, announced earlier this week. Even so, the XT-series probably isn’t going to give a massive boost in performance over the standard Ryzen 3000-series. With 6 CPU cores and 12 threads, the Ryzen 5 3600 is still one of the best CPUs in this price point. Slotting into the AM4 CPU socket, it sports a base clock of 3.6 GHz and a max boost clock of 4.2 GHz and supports DDR4 RAM and PCIe 4.0. 

AMD Ryzen 5 3600 CPU: was $199.99, now $166.99 on Newegg

AMD Ryzen 5 3600 CPU: <a href="https://click.linksynergy.com/deeplink?id=kXQk6%2AivFEQ&mid=44583&u1=hawk-custom-tracking&murl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newegg.com%2Famd-ryzen-5-3600%2Fp%2FN82E16819113569%3FDescription%3DRyzenm%25205%25203600%26cm_re%3DRyzenm_5_3600-_-19-113-569-_-Product%26quicklink%3Dtruehttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.newegg.com%2Famd-ryzen-5-3600%2Fp%2FN82E16819113569%3FDescription%3DRyzenm%25205%25203600%26cm_re%3DRyzenm_5_3600-_-19-113-569-_-Product%26quicklink%3Dtrue" data-link-merchant="newegg.com"">was $199.99, now $166.99 on Newegg
The Ryzen 5 3600 is an AMD CPU with 6 cores, 12 threads and an included Wraith Stealth cooler in the box. It has a base clock speed of 3.6G Hz and a max boost clock speed of 4.2 GHz.

In our AMD Ryzen 5 3600 review, we tested it across a suite of 10 games, and it averaged 118 frames per second (fps), while hitting an average of 144.6 fps in multi-threaded visual productivity benchmarks like Cinebench. That’s pretty impressive for a processor that you can get for under $170, plus it comes with the stock Wraith Stealth cooler.

Since AMD has yet to announce the desktop Ryzen 4000-series, this is still one of the best buys available right now. Not convinced? Newegg's deal is just $7 away from the chip's cheapest price ever, according to CamelCamelCamel.

Michelle Ehrhardt

Michelle Ehrhardt is an editor at Tom's Hardware. She's been following tech since her family got a Gateway running Windows 95, and is now on her third custom-built system. Her work has been published in publications like Paste, The Atlantic, and Kill Screen, just to name a few. She also holds a master's degree in game design from NYU.

  • NightHawkRMX
    Newegg has had the R5 3600 for $164.99 as a deal exclusive to their email subscribers (which is free) off and on for a while.

    Here is an email I got over 3 months ago with the Ryzen 5 3600 at $164.99
    https://ibb.co/XzMznQw
    Reply
  • InvalidError
    According to PCPartsPicker, Walmart has had the 3600 up at $166.89 for three weeks already, beating NewEgg's new "lowest" price by $0.10.
    Reply
  • kanewolf
    MicroCenter in-store cost $159.99 here for boxed processor.
    Reply
  • InvalidError
    kanewolf said:
    MicroCenter in-store cost $159.99 here for boxed processor.
    That is an in-store-only price to get people to walk in and hopefully buy more stuff. Great for people who happen to live near one, useless for the rest of the world so MC's in-store-only prices are not considered for online shopping comparisons.
    Reply
  • kanewolf
    InvalidError said:
    That is an in-store-only price to get people to walk in and hopefully buy more stuff. Great for people who happen to live near one, useless for the rest of the world so MC's in-store-only prices are not considered for online shopping comparisons.
    But many people don't even think to check for an in-store price that can beat the on-line prices. With on-line charging sales tax for US shoppers, there is no penalty to an in-store choice.
    Reply
  • InvalidError
    kanewolf said:
    there is no penalty to an in-store choice.
    Unless you happen to have one located within convenient range from your home, there are the opportunity/time and transportation costs of making the extra detour. Unless your time and gas are worthless to you, those can quickly negate most in-store-only discounts and any savings/cheating on applicable taxes.
    Reply
  • kanewolf
    InvalidError said:
    Unless you happen to have one located within convenient range from your home, there are the opportunity/time and transportation costs of making the extra detour. Unless your time and gas are worthless to you, those can quickly negate most in-store-only discounts and any savings/cheating on applicable taxes.
    I am NOT saying that it is right (or available) for everyone. All I am saying is to check your local retailers. A 5 mile trip is an acceptable drive to me. Maybe you disagree.
    Reply
  • InvalidError
    kanewolf said:
    All I am saying is to check your local retailers. A 5 mile trip is an acceptable drive to me. Maybe you disagree.
    If any of the very few remaining reasonably local PC-centric stores to me have lower in-store prices, they aren't advertised online and I am not going to bother visiting them on a maybe.
    Reply