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AMD Ryzen 5 5500 and Ryzen 5 5600 fail to beat Intel rivals like the i5-12400 in gaming benchmarks

Ryzen 5 5500 and Ryzen 5 5600 reportedly fail to topple Intel rivals. (Image source: AMD)
Ryzen 5 5500 and Ryzen 5 5600 reportedly fail to topple Intel rivals. (Image source: AMD)
A review by Tom's Hardware of the Ryzen 5 5500 and the Ryzen 5 5600 has shown that the chips fail to dominate their Intel rivals in gaming performance. Both CPUs try to go toe-to-toe with the Intel Core i5-12400 and the Intel Core i3-12100 but come up short, in most scenarios.

Last month, AMD refreshed its Zen 3 lineup with the launch of Ryzen 7 5800X3D, Ryzen 7 5700X, Ryzen 5 5500, and the Ryzen 5 5600. While the Ryzen 7 5800X3D is there to take the gaming performance crown from Intel Alder Lake CPUs, the low and mid-tier offerings, the Ryzen 5 5500 and the Ryzen 5 5600 respectively are arguably the most important. These are the chips that most people are interested in.

AMD’s intention with the Ryzen 5 5500 and the Ryzen 5 5600 is to go head-to-head and hopefully beat the Intel Core i5-12400/F and the Core i3-12100. But, according to a review by Tom’s Hardware of AMD’s newest budget Zen 3 chips, the Ryzen 5 5500 and the Ryzen 5 5600 fail to beat their intended rivals in gaming performance and instead threaten AMD CPUs.

In gaming benchmarks, the Ryzen 5 5500 was on average 5.2% slower than the Intel Core i3-12100 at 1080p. However, it was within touching distance of the Ryzen 5 5600G with an average performance difference of 1.3% in favor of the Ryzen 5 5600G. Things got worse for the Ryzen 5 5600G at 1440p where Ryzen 5 5500 delivered more average fps while failing to match the Core i3-12100’s gaming chops at stock settings.

To put this into perspective, the Intel Core i3-12100 retails for US$129, US$30 less than the US$159 MSRP of the Ryzen 5 5500. The Ryzen 5 5600G, on the other hand, retails for US$220 while offering almost the same gaming performance as the Ryzen 5 5500.

Moving on to the Ryzen 5 5600, the chip failed to offer better performance than the Core i5-12400 at 1080p and matched Intel’s offering at 1440p. At 1080p, the Ryzen 5 5600 was on an average 2% slower than the Core i5-12400. However, the Ryzen 5 5600 posted almost identical performance numbers to the Ryzen 5 5600X.

In other words, the Ryzen 5 5600 with a retail price of US$199 fails to beat the Core i5-12400 with a similar price and instead makes choosing the Ryzen 5 5600X which costs US$230 a lot harder. For folks who only need a CPU for gaming, Tom’s Hardware terms the Ryzen 5 5600 a “5600X-killer.”

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Average performance at 1080p compared to Core i5-12400. (Source: Tom's Hardware)
Average performance at 1080p compared to Core i5-12400. (Source: Tom's Hardware)
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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > News > News Archive > Newsarchive 2022 04 > AMD Ryzen 5 5500 and Ryzen 5 5600 fail to beat Intel rivals like the i5-12400 in gaming benchmarks
Fawad Murtaza, 2022-04- 6 (Update: 2022-04- 6)