Home > CPU Comparison > Ryzen 5 3600 or Ryzen 5 2600: what's better?

AMD Ryzen 5 3600 vs Ryzen 5 2600

39 out of 100
AMD Ryzen 5 3600
VS
31 out of 100
AMD Ryzen 5 2600
AMD Ryzen 5 3600
AMD Ryzen 5 2600

We compared two 6-core desktop CPUs: the 3.6 GHz AMD Ryzen 5 3600 against the 3.4 GHz Ryzen 5 2600. On this page, you'll find out which processor has better performance in benchmarks, games and other useful information.

  1. Review
  2. Differences
  3. Performance
  4. Specs
  5. Comments (2)

Review

General overview and comparison of the processors
Single-Core Performance
Performance in single-threaded apps and benchmarks
Multi-Core Performance
Measure performance when all cores are involved
Power Efficiency
The efficiency score of power consumption
The "iGPU" and "Power Efficiency" have a minor impact on the NanoReview Score for desktop CPU.
NanoReview Final Score
Choose your main usage scenario to recalculate the Final Score and see which CPU suits your needs.
πŸ”Œ Usage Scenario:

Value for money (Beta)

Global average CPU prices are used by default! For better accuracy, enter your current prices and click β€œCalculate".
Currency
VS
104.9
(Excellent)
Value Index
40.5
(Average)

Key Differences

What are the key differences between 2600 and 3600
Advantages of AMD Ryzen 5 3600
  • Has 16 MB larger L3 cache size, helping fully utilize a high-end GPU in gaming
  • Supports up to 128 GB DDR4-3200 RAM
  • More modern manufacturing process – 7 versus 12 nanometers
  • 43% faster in a single-core Geekbench v6 test - 1662 vs 1162 points
  • Newer PCI Express version – 4.0
  • Newer - released 10 months later
  • 8% higher Turbo Boost frequency (4.2 GHz vs 3.9 GHz)
  • Around 3.97 GB/s (9%) higher theoretical memory bandwidth

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks
CPU:
Ryzen 5 3600
vs
Ryzen 5 2600

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
Ryzen 5 3600 +30%
516
Ryzen 5 2600
396
Cinebench 2026 (Single) 388 -
Cinebench 2026 (Multi) 2039 -
Submit your benchmark results

GeekBench v6

The new version of this benchmark emulates common operations often used in real-world apps
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Ryzen 5 3600 +43%
1662
Ryzen 5 2600
1162
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Ryzen 5 3600 +38%
7249
Ryzen 5 2600
5239
File compression 660.6 MB/sec 582.9 MB/sec
Clang compilation 59 Klines/sec 39.8 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 146 pages/sec 134.6 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 207.8 Mpixels/sec 160.4 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 143.3 pages/sec 102.9 pages/sec
Background blur 37 images/sec 22.9 images/sec
Photo processing 54.2 images/sec 48 images/sec
Ray tracing 12.9 Mpixels/sec 8.95 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2] – 1134 & 840 samples

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Ryzen 5 3600 +14%
2559
Ryzen 5 2600
2235
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
Ryzen 5 3600 +35%
17667
Ryzen 5 2600
13133
Integer math 48.5 GOps/sec 44.4 GOps/sec
Floating point math 28.6 GOps/sec 22.9 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 109M Primes/sec 37M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 23.6M Strings/sec 21.5M Strings/sec
Data encryption 13.9 GBytes/sec 12.4 GBytes/sec
Data compression 219.6 MBytes/sec 186.9 MBytes/sec
Physics 1146 Frames/sec 669 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 14.4B Matrices/sec 7.2B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] – 37442 & 15855 samples

Blender

3D rendering test that measures CPU performance in 3D modeling tasks (uses all cores)
Blender CPU
Ryzen 5 3600 +26%
135.61
Ryzen 5 2600
107.32

Performance Per Watt

Shows the score you get per each watt of PL1 TDP
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 7.9 PPW 6.1 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 111.5 PPW 80.6 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 271.8 PPW 202 PPW
Blender / Watt 2.09 PPW 1.65 PPW
These are rough calculations, as most CPUs surpass PL1 TDP wattage even in multicore workloads.

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
AMD Ryzen 5 3600
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2026-07-16 (abdou)Cinebench 2026388 / 2039
πŸ“˜ 2026-03-31 (Ike)Cinebench 202470 / 517
πŸ“˜ 2025-12-16 -> JeromeneilCinebench 202471 / 511
πŸ“˜ 2025-11-02 (BeastAsLow)Cinebench 202464 / 479
πŸ“˜ 2025-10-17 (RandomStorm)Cinebench 202472 / 419
Add View all (15)
AMD Ryzen 5 2600
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2026-02-25 (Friendly_Name)Cinebench 202461 / 420
πŸ“˜ 2025-06-10 (Edwardvansloan)Cinebench 202460 / 396
πŸ“˜ 2024-08-25 (Guest #2)Cinebench 202456 / 328
Add View all (3)

Specifications

Full technical specification of AMD Ryzen 5 3600 and Ryzen 5 2600

General

Vendor Amd Amd
Released July 7, 2019 September 11, 2018
Type Desktop Desktop
Instruction Set x86-64 x86-64
Codename Zen 2 (Matisse) -
Integrated GPU No No
Rival Equivalent - - Intel Core i5 8500
Successor - AMD Ryzen 5 7600 - AMD Ryzen 5 7600
AMD Ryzen CPU ranking (163rd and 179th place)

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 6 6
P-Threads 12 12
Base Frequency (P) 3.6 GHz 3.4 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (P) 4.2 GHz 3.9 GHz
Total
Total Cores 6 6
Total Threads 12 12
Bus Frequency 100 MHz 100 MHz
Multiplier 36x 34x
L1 Cache 64K (per core) 96K (per core)
L2 Cache 512K (per core) 512K (per core)
L3 Cache 32MB (shared) 16MB (shared)
Unlocked Multiplier Yes Yes

Package

Transistors 3.8 billions 4.8 billions
Fabrication Process 7 nm 12 nm
TDP (PL1) 65 W 65 W
Socket AM4 AM4
Peak Temperature 95Β°C 95Β°C
Desktop CPU ranking (151st and 176th place)

Memory Support

Memory Types - DDR4-3200 - DDR4-2933
Max. Memory Size 128 GB 64 GB
Memory Channels 2 2
Max. Memory Bandwidth 47.68 GB/s 43.71 GB/s
ECC Support Yes Yes

Misc

Official Site AMD Ryzen 5 3600 official page -
PCI Express Version 4.0 3.0
PCI Express Lanes 16 20

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
254 (73.6%)
91 (26.4%)
Total votes: 345

Competitors

1. AMD Ryzen 5 3600 vs AMD Ryzen 5 7600
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3. AMD Ryzen 5 3600 vs AMD Ryzen 5 5500 (5)
4. AMD Ryzen 5 3600 vs Apple M3
5. AMD Ryzen 5 3600 vs Apple M1
6. AMD Ryzen 5 3600 vs Intel Core i3 12100F (1)
Compare other CPUs (460+)

Comments

So which CPU will you choose: AMD Ryzen 5 2600 or Ryzen 5 3600?
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Avatar
Karl dela Cruz July 19, 2020 at 06:49 PM
If you are a power user and has extra money, then go with 3600 . If you care more on lesser CPU power consumption and lesser CPU temperature, then go with 2600. Performance wise, in paper, 3600 is better than 2600 but in real world, almost no difference will be noticed. I can assure you that my claims are true because I am currently using 3600 while my gf has 2600.
+71 Reply
Avatar
Wayne November 7, 2021 at 11:27 AM
I have just read your comment and it has set my mind at ease. I have two sons. One has a r5 2600 with stock cooler, runs around 50 degrees in game. The other has a r5 3600 with a h100i aio, runs around 62 in games. That's just how it is right? Is there something in the reported temps of the 3600? Coolant temps are around 30.
+14 Reply
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