AMD’s Ryzen 5 3500X is now available at major online retailers and could be the cheapest 6-core Zen processor you can buy right now. The AMD Ryzen 5 3500X was launched in 2019, along with the Ryzen 5 3500X and was then targeted at the next-generation Intel Core range. However, the range offers excellent performance to budget users and could be the best option for them if they are looking for a 6-core chip.
AMD Ryzen 5 3500X is retailing for less than US $ 200, the cheapest 6-core AMD processor you can get right now
The AMD Ryzen 5 3500X and Ryzen 5 3500 could be aggressively priced for 6 base chips for their time, but back then, AMD was competing with Intel, which was reluctant to offer SMT on its budgets and main chips. As such, the Ryzen 5 3500 series CPUs also came without SMT support and, as such, had only 6 wires adjacent to the 6 cores. Now, modern applications and games are developing well with more threads, especially AMD whose SMT performance is widely recognized as stellar compared to Intel. Even without SMT, the AMD Ryzen 5 3500 series processors offer good value if you are primarily building a budget AMD computer.
AMD Ryzen 5 3500X Desktop CPU Specifications
Starting with the AMD Ryzen 5 3500X, we look at a base clock of 3.6 GHz and a rise clock of 4.1 GHz. The processor has 32 MB of cache, a TDP of 65W and a price of almost 150 USD. It is highly appreciated that AMD would choose a price of 149.99 USD in the USA for this specific chip.
The chip comes with 24 PCIe Gen 4 bands, 3200 MHz memory support. The 32 MB cache is also said to offer much better latencies in a wide range of e-sports titles, so this is something to consider for budget players when it comes to selecting between an AM4 and LGA 1151 platform.
AMD and Intel 6 Core processor prices
At Newegg, the AMD Ryzen 5 3500X is listed for US $ 172.48, while the Ryzen 5 3600 retails for US $ 238.99. Ryzen 5 5600X costs are much higher, at about $ 380, due to low supply. Amazon has the Ryzen 5 3500X listed for a much higher price than $ 244.85, which is the same price as the Ryzen 5 3600, and the latter is really the best option.
While the Ryzen 5 3500X is the cheapest basic AMD 6 option, it is certainly not the overall 6-budget champion. This title goes to the Intel Core i5-10400F, which sells for $ 159.99 (Newegg) and $ 157.99 (Amazon). Even the latest Core i5-11400F costs $ 179.99 at Newegg and $ 174.99 at Amazon. Both Intel processors have 6 cores and 12 wires, which makes them a much more attractive value.
The only downside is that, unlike the Ryzen 5 3500X, you can’t overclock the Intel chips and also come with a smaller cache. Motherboard manufacturers offer power limit overclocking, but this will lead to higher temperatures and power consumption than the standard 65W TDP (PL1).