AMD recently expanded its Ryzen 5000 (Vermeer) family with seven new Ryzen chips. The Ryzen 5 5500, which is part of the latest additions, poses to become one of the best CPUs for gaming if some leaked benchmarks are any indication.
Hardware sleuth Benchleaks recently unearthed a Ryzen 5 5500 submission in Geekbench 5 that gives us a small taste of the Ryzen chip's single-threaded and multi-thread performance. The submitter tested the Ryzen 5 5500 on the MSI MEG X570 Godlike, the exact motherboard we used for our testbed. However, we used different memory for our reviews so that the actual margins may vary.
| Processor | Single-Core Score | Multi-Core Score |
|---|---|---|
| Core i5-12400 | 1,758 | 8,941 |
| Ryzen 5 5600X | 1,649 | 8,335 |
| Ryzen 5 5600G | 1,532 | 7,725 |
| Ryzen 5 5500 (Geekbench submission) | 1,468 | 7,629 |
The Ryzen 5 5600G delivered 4.4% higher single-threaded performance than the Ryzen 5 5500. However, for multi-threaded performance, the Ryzen 5 5600G was only 1.3% faster than the Ryzen 5 5500.
We observed a 12.3% higher single-threaded performance on the Ryzen 5 5600X compared to the Ryzen 5 5500. The multi-threaded margin was around 9.3%.
The Core i5-12400 is faster than the Ryzen 5 5600X, so it makes perfect sense that the Ryzen 5 5500 isn't a match for the hexa-core Alder Lake chip. In addition, the Core i5-12400 offered 20% and 17.2% better single-and multi-threaded performance, respectively, than the Ryzen 5 5500.
AMD prices the Ryzen 5 5600 at $199 and the Ryzen 5 5500 at $159. With the recent price cuts, the Ryzen 5 5600X presently retails for $224.99. It'll take more than a single Geekbench result to determine whether the Ryzen 5 5500 is the new budget processor for consumers. Let's not forget that Intel also has the Core i5-12400F, which costs $179.99, so there is much competition in this price range.
Wielding AMD's renowned Zen 3 cores, the Ryzen 5 5500 checks in with a six-core, 12-thread configuration. It's a recipe that has worked for the chipmaker, so it makes little sense to change it now. The core configuration is similar to AMD's design on the Ryzen 5 5600X and Ryzen 5 5600. However, there are some very substantial differences between the trio of Ryzen 5 SKUs.
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The Ryzen 5 5500 only has 16MB of L3 cache, whereas the Ryzen 5 5600X and Ryzen 5 5600 boast a 32MB L3 cache. Therefore, It's safe to assume that the Ryzen 5 5500 utilizes a monolithic die, like the Ryzen 5 5600G APU. The silicon for the Ryzen 5 5500 could be defective dies that don't qualify for the Ryzen 5 5600G or dies where AMD has disabled the iGPU.
Although AMD's Ryzen 5 parts have a 65W TDP, the clock speeds vary from one model to the next. The Ryzen 5 5500 has a 3.6 GHz base clock and 4.2 GHz boost clock. That's a 100 MHz lower base clock and 400 MHz lower boost clock compared to the Ryzen 5 5600X. Comparing the Ryzen 5 5500 to the Ryzen 5 5600G, we're looking at a 300 MHz and 200 MHz lower base and boost clock speeds.
Zhiye Liu is a news editor, memory reviewer, and SSD tester at Tom’s Hardware. Although he loves everything that’s hardware, he has a soft spot for CPUs, GPUs, and RAM.
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cryoburner ReplyThe Core i5-12400 is faster than the Ryzen 5 5600X, so it makes perfect sense that the Ryzen 5 5500 isn't a match for the hexa-core Alder Lake chip.
I guess that depends on what workloads you are testing, along with the system configuration. Geekbench is a pretty questionable benchmark that legitimate review sites are not going to use, so it's not exactly something to base meaningful performance numbers off of, at least when comparing processors with different architectures.
In actual application and game workloads, many reviews show the 5600X to be a little faster than a 12400, though I've seen others that suggest the 12400 might be slightly faster. They're likely in a roughly similar performance tier overall. The exact numbers can also can depend on whether a review site paired the 12400 with unrealistic hardware, like DDR5-6000 on a high-end Z690 motherboard, which would make no sense for a $200 processor.
Another thing to consider when comparing prices is that B660 motherboards currently tend to cost more for a given feature-set than a similar B550 motherboard, resulting in the cost between a 12400 and 5600X build being rather close, at least ever since the 5600X's price was reduced. And of course, that could give the 5500 a bit more of a pricing edge in budget systems.
Aside from possibly pricing, the 5500 doesn't seem all that interesting though, seeing as it appears to be based off a cut-down 5600G, with slightly lower clocks and lacking the integrated graphics. It could be a fine enough option for a budget gaming system, but the current cost of graphics cards makes budget gaming systems a bit impractical for the time being, aside from perhaps for a big system builder has a steady source of reasonably-priced GPUs. -
jacob249358 These will only work out of they are cheaper than MSRP and/or b660 boards stay above $120Reply -
wifiburger meh, those Zen3 core are starting to show their age; nothing to see hereReply
AMD waited too long to drop price / introduce new SKU -
cryoburner Reply
The 5600X (and likely the 5600) offers similar performance and pricing to Intel's products around this price range, at least once the adjusted pricing and motherboard costs come into play, so they are viable products. The 5500 is based on the 5600G though, with half the cache and only PCIe 3.0 to allow for the (disabled) integrated graphics, so it performs a little behind those other models, though it's also priced lower to account for that. About the only real issue I see with the 5500 is that it lacks the integrated graphics, which isn't ideal for a more budget-oriented processor, at a time when budget dedicated cards are lacking. Of course, these prices can be reduced further if needed, just as we saw Intel slash prices in response to the Ryzen 5000 series when it first launched a little less than a year and a half ago.wifiburger said:meh, those Zen3 core are starting to show their age; nothing to see here
AMD waited too long to drop price / introduce new SKU