Home > CPU Comparison > Ryzen 5 5500 or Ryzen 5 3600: what's better?

AMD Ryzen 5 5500 vs Ryzen 5 3600

45 out of 100
AMD Ryzen 5 5500
VS
39 out of 100
AMD Ryzen 5 3600
AMD Ryzen 5 5500
AMD Ryzen 5 3600

We compared two 6-core desktop CPUs: the 3.6 GHz AMD Ryzen 5 5500 against the 3.6 GHz Ryzen 5 3600. 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 (5)

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.
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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
130.1
(Excellent)
Value Index
104.9
(Excellent)

Key Differences

What are the key differences between 3600 and 5500
Advantages of AMD Ryzen 5 5500
  • Newer - released 2 years and 9 months later
  • 18% faster in a single-core Geekbench v6 test - 1961 vs 1662 points
Advantages of AMD Ryzen 5 3600
  • Has 16 MB larger L3 cache size, helping fully utilize a high-end GPU in gaming
  • Newer PCI Express version – 4.0

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks
CPU:
Ryzen 5 5500
vs
Ryzen 5 3600

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
Ryzen 5 5500 +14%
588
Ryzen 5 3600
516
Cinebench 2026 (Single) 424 388
Cinebench 2026 (Multi) 2421 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 5500 +18%
1961
Ryzen 5 3600
1662
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Ryzen 5 5500 +13%
8220
Ryzen 5 3600
7249
File compression 819.4 MB/sec 660.6 MB/sec
Clang compilation 61.3 Klines/sec 59 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 147.3 pages/sec 146 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 233.2 Mpixels/sec 207.8 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 191.9 pages/sec 143.3 pages/sec
Background blur 40.4 images/sec 37 images/sec
Photo processing 61.4 images/sec 54.2 images/sec
Ray tracing 15.4 Mpixels/sec 12.9 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2] – 907 & 1134 samples

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Ryzen 5 5500 +20%
3061
Ryzen 5 3600
2559
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
Ryzen 5 5500 +9%
19247
Ryzen 5 3600
17667
Integer math 64.6 GOps/sec 48.5 GOps/sec
Floating point math 36.8 GOps/sec 28.6 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 55M Primes/sec 109M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 24.7M Strings/sec 23.6M Strings/sec
Data encryption 14.8 GBytes/sec 13.9 GBytes/sec
Data compression 245.4 MBytes/sec 219.6 MBytes/sec
Physics 881 Frames/sec 1146 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 17.3B Matrices/sec 14.4B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] – 15772 & 37442 samples

Blender

3D rendering test that measures CPU performance in 3D modeling tasks (uses all cores)
Blender CPU
Ryzen 5 5500 +6%
143.63
Ryzen 5 3600
135.61

Performance Per Watt

Shows the score you get per each watt of PL1 TDP
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 9 PPW 7.9 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 126.5 PPW 111.5 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 296.1 PPW 271.8 PPW
Blender / Watt 2.21 PPW 2.09 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 5500
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2026-06-10 (leosangester)Cinebench 2024429 / 2105
πŸ“˜ 2026-06-04 (Aideau)Cinebench 2026424 / 2421
πŸ“˜ 2026-02-21 -> sububurbiabomb22Geekbench 6 CPU2028 / 8385
πŸ“˜ 2026-02-21 -> sububurbiabomb22Cinebench 202488 / 627
πŸ“˜ 2026-02-21 -> sububurbiabomb22Geekbench 6 CPU1972 / 8289
Add View all (15)
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)

Specifications

Full technical specification of AMD Ryzen 5 5500 and Ryzen 5 3600

General

Vendor Amd Amd
Released March 15, 2022 July 7, 2019
Type Desktop Desktop
Instruction Set x86-64 x86-64
Codename Zen 3 (Cezanne) Zen 2 (Matisse)
Integrated GPU No No
Rival Equivalent - Intel Core i5 11400 -
Successor - AMD Ryzen 5 9500F - AMD Ryzen 5 7600
AMD Ryzen CPU ranking (138th and 163rd place)

CPU

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

Package

Transistors - 3.8 billions
Fabrication Process 7 nm 7 nm
TDP (PL1) 65 W 65 W
Socket AM4 AM4
Peak Temperature 90Β°C 95Β°C
Desktop CPU ranking (129th and 152nd place)

Memory Support

Memory Types - DDR4-3200 - DDR4-3200
Max. Memory Size 128 GB 128 GB
Memory Channels 2 2
Max. Memory Bandwidth 47.68 GB/s 47.68 GB/s
ECC Support No Yes

Misc

Official Site AMD Ryzen 5 5500 official page AMD Ryzen 5 3600 official page
PCI Express Version 3.0 4.0
PCI Express Lanes 24 16

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
770 (55.5%)
617 (44.5%)
Total votes: 1387

Competitors

1. AMD Ryzen 5 5500 vs AMD Ryzen 5 5600G (1)
2. AMD Ryzen 5 5500 vs AMD Ryzen 5 5600 (5)
3. AMD Ryzen 5 5500 vs Intel Core i5 12400F (1)
4. AMD Ryzen 5 3600 vs Intel Core i3 12100F (1)
5. AMD Ryzen 5 3600 vs Apple M1
6. AMD Ryzen 5 3600 vs Apple M3
7. AMD Ryzen 5 3600 vs AMD Ryzen 5 5600
8. AMD Ryzen 5 3600 vs AMD Ryzen 5 7600
Compare other CPUs (460+)

Comments

So which CPU will you choose: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 or Ryzen 5 5500?
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Avatar
justin March 20, 2024 at 12:47 PM
Your page is incorrect. Neither possesses PCIe 4.0, and even if one did, it wouldn't be the R5 3600 as it was released before PCIe 4. Additionally, both have a 16MB L3 cache.
+45 Reply
Avatar
Sasi May 25, 2024 at 06:12 PM
Yeah, but 3600 have full 32mb of L3 cache
+19 Reply
Avatar
Tony May 30, 2024 at 01:11 PM
Just tested a 3600 in a B550 board - the graphics (6600XT) and NVMe SSD (Crucial P3 Plus) are both running at 4.0 speeds. I think you can only get PCIe 4.0 in the 500 series boards, but it's 4.0 nonetheless
+27 Reply
Avatar
Ryzen 5 3600 November 6, 2025 at 09:51 PM
3600 is pci-e 4.0 & 5500 is pci-e 3.0. Get real knowledge!
+6 Reply
Avatar
Please stop January 2, 2026 at 04:03 PM
The Ryzen 3600 supports PCIe 4.0, while the 5500 supports PCIe 3.0, so get your facts straight it’s wild you got that many likes.
+3 Reply
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