AMD Ryzen 5 9600X Zen 5 CPU overtakes Intel's flagship Core i9-14900KS in leaked single-core benchmark

After months of leaks and speculations, AMD officially unveiled the Ryzen 9000 Zen 5 CPUs at Computex 2024 last month. The Zen 5 series features the same product tiers as the Zen 4 Ryzen 7000 series. So, we are looking at:

One look at these product tiers is enough to confirm that most gamers will be interested in the Ryzen 5 9600X and the Ryzen 7 9700X as they should offer a nice compromise between price and performance. Courtesy of a Geekbench 6 listing, we now have a look at the performance of the Ryzen 5 9600X, and the processor does seem like a phenomenal chip for gaming if the benchmark result is anything close to reality (via Wccftech).

Ryzen 5 9600X performance

Right off the bat, we can see that the Ryzen 5 9600‌‌‌X has strong single-core performance with a Geekbench 6 single-core score of 3,284. According to numbers compiled by Wccftech, the single-core of the Zen 5 chip is a 15% uplift over the Ryzen 5 7600X. The chip even managed to beat the beastly Intel Core i9-14900KS in this test which is quite impressive when you consider that it has a 65 W TDP and Intel’s flagship has a 150 W TDP with a PL1 of 320 W.

Before we move on, it is important to mention that the Ryzen 5 9600X sample on show was apparently running with Precision Boost Overdrive (PBO) enabled as it was boosting to 5.5 GHz. For reference, AMD’s official figures put the Ryzen 5 9600X boost clock at 5.4 GHz. So, the processor could have been using more than 65 W of power.

As far as multi-core performance is concerned, the Ryzen 5 9600X earned a score of 14,594 in the Geekbench 6 multi-core test, putting the chip 14% ahead of the Ryzen 5 7600X and slightly below the Ryzen 7 7700. Interestingly, where the single-core performance of the Ryzen 5 9600X seemingly beats Intel’s top dog, the multi-core performance trails the mid-range Core i5-14600K.

Ryzen 5 9600X: The next value gaming champ?

We noted in our review of the Ryzen 5 7600X that the chip was faster than the Intel Core i9-12900K. At a launch price of just $299 (now available for $171.5 on Amazon), this was a big deal for value shoppers since they could get great gaming performance without spending a ton of money. 

Rumors now state that the Ryzen 5 9600X is only going to cost between $249 and $299. At a potential price that, at worst, matches the launch price of the Ryzen 5 7600X, the Ryzen 5 9600X could be a no-brainer for budget-focused gamers if the chip performs as leaked.

But, as Geekbench entries don’t paint the whole picture, we have to wait for the official Zen 5 launch to give our verdict. Till then, take the performance presented here with a grain of salt.