AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Review: Non-X Marks the Spot

Reviews
By Paul Alcorn
last updated

Why you can trust Tom's Hardware Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.

Far Cry 5

Image 1 of 3

The Ryzen 5 3600 lags the 3600X by 2.7 FPS at stock settings, and while tuning the 3600 improves its performance, it still lags the overclocked 3600X by the same amount.

The Core i5-9400F is faster than the 3600 at stock settings, but AMD's unlocked multiplier evens the score. 

Final Fantasy XV

Image 1 of 3

We run this test with the standard quality preset to sidestep the impact of a bug that causes the game engine to render off-screen objects. This title scales well with additional cores and threads, and tuning brings the 3600 within 0.4 FPS of the overclocked 3600X, meaning they offer essentially the same performance after overclocking.

Meanwhile, the stock Ryzen 5 3600 handily beats the Core i5-9400F.

MORE: Best CPUs
MORE: Intel & AMD Processor Hierarchy
MORE: All CPUs Content

Paul Alcorn
Paul Alcorn
Managing Editor: News and Emerging Tech

Paul Alcorn is the Managing Editor: News and Emerging Tech for Tom's Hardware US. He also writes news and reviews on CPUs, storage, and enterprise hardware.

See more CPUs Reviews
8 Comments Comment from the forums
  • RodroX
    Three things to comment,
    1. Why aren't any temps readings on the article ?

    2. I did some Cinbench testing with stock cooler and only PB enable (no PBO nor AutoOC) and I usually get around 359X to 360X. After changing the stock cooler for a better tower cooler, temps went down, frecuency went up and cinbench results landed at even better 365x to 366x.
    This was on Windows 10 (1903) + Avast antivirus and hwinfo running, with AGESA 1003 ABB and the latest AMD chipset drivers on a Gigabyte B450 Gaming X, is funny and strange to see that a very expensive motherboard like the one used is getting such lower results, wonder if the motherboard could be affecting other benchmark results aswell.

    Once again, this numbers I wrote are with stock BIOS settings, no PBO nor AutoOC, no manul oc, no vcore offset, nothing (Ive checked, had the 3 PBO options disable on BIOS).

    3. Also why not more recent and better optimized games like Shadow Of Tomb Raider or Battlefield V, or anyof the Assassin Creeds ?

    Cheers
    Reply
  • Neal4iu
    am using
    Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo CPU Cooler w/ 4 Continuous Direct Contact Heatpipewith graphite pad and even on overclock to 4ghz staying at 39C so... is nice
    Reply
  • djbillyd9849
    For all the glorious review, I just wish I could get the system to post. I replaced a 3-2200 with the 5-3600, and nothing I knew to do made it post. I found the BIOS upgrade, and ran it, but I haven't tried the thing since. I'm just weird-ed out by it all. Anything I should do differently?

    And Oh, BTW, it's sitting on a Gigabyte AORUS B450 Pro WiFi mobo....
    Reply
  • RodroX
    djbillyd9849 said:
    For all the glorious review, I just wish I could get the system to post. I replaced a 3-2200 with the 5-3600, and nothing I knew to do made it post. I found the BIOS upgrade, and ran it, but I haven't tried the thing since. I'm just weird-ed out by it all. Anything I should do differently?

    And Oh, BTW, it's sitting on a Gigabyte AORUS B450 Pro WiFi mobo....

    You do have a graphic card on your system right ?

    The Ryzen 5 3600X does not come with an integrated GPU. Your R3 2200 is an APU = CPU+GPU
    Reply
  • djbillyd9849
    Yeah, I got a MSI GeForce GT 710.
    Reply
  • Pnky
    When upgrading the bios are you leaving the ryzen 2200 in the socket for the bios upgrade? youll need the earlier cpu in socket to upgrade the bios then you should be able to swap out cpus or if youre lucky and that MBO has a usb bios flashback port you can do it through that.
    Reply
  • runephilosof
    Why do you write "No cheap B-series motherboards with PCIe 4.0", what about for instance a Gigabyte B550M S2H?
    Reply
  • TheMillz
    Rookies I got my R5 3600 stable @4400, your cooler and board are Key I run a x570 Asus tuf and a Cool Master Master Cool W/ A plane Jane Rtx 2060@ 2025mhz o.c Playng warzone @ 160-170 fps
    Reply