AMD Ryzen 5 5600G vs Intel Core i7-6700K

AMD Ryzen 5 5600G

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600G is a Zen 3-based, desktop-grade APU featuring the Radeon Vega 7 graphics adapter. This Ryzen 5 was unveiled in H1 2021. It features six SMT-enabled CPU cores for 12 threads in total, running at 3.9 GHz to 4.4 GHz.

The CPU ships with AMD's Wraith Stealth cooler (as long as it's not an OEM version).

Architecture

Zen 3-based processors bring a moderate performance boost over Zen 2 generation CPUs. Core counts are left where they were before, while per-MHz performance is getting several percentage points higher.

Ryzen 5 5600G's CPU cores have access to 16 MB of L3 cache. The processor is compatible with DDR4-3200 RAM and has plenty of PCI-Express 3.0 lanes for connecting graphics cards, SSDs and other devices. Four PCI-Express 3.0 lanes allow for read/write rates of up to 3.9 GB/s, provided a sufficiently fast NVMe SSD is used. PCI-Express 4.0 spec is not supported here, since Ryzen 5 5600G is pretty much a laptop-grade SoC in disguise rather than a "proper" desktop chip, like a Ryzen 5 5600X.

You can replace this Ryzen with a faster CPU easily as it uses AMD's AM4 socket interface. Another way to get a performance boost would be to overclock the CPU, which is easy to do with AMD's very own software (many motherboard vendors offer overclocking software of their own as well).

Performance

The six Zen 3 cores will rip through most workloads rutlessly, more demanding ones included (like gaming and high-res video editing). Multi-thread benchmarks put the R5 5600G in the same league as the Core i5-10600K, Core i7-10700, Core i5-11600K, Core i7-11850H. A huge advantage of the Ryzen over the aforementioned alternatives is its decent integrated graphics adapter - more on this below.

Graphics

The Radeon RX Vega 7 iGPU has seven Compute Units (= 448 shaders) and runs at up to 1,900 MHz. It is casual gaming-friendly, allowing one to play most games at 900p / Low quality preset. On the other hand, there is no SUHD 4320p monitor support here, nor can the graphics adapter HW-decode AV1, the latest video codec.

Fast RAM is a prerequisite for decent gaming performance as the Vega has no memory of its own.

Power consumption

This Ryzen 5 is manufactured on TSMC's 7 nm process for great, as of early 2022, energy efficiency.

The chip has a default TDP of 65 W (also known as the long-term Power Limit). According to AMD's guidelines, that 65 W value can be reduced by PC makers significantly, the lower limit being 45 W, resulting in lower temperatures, lower clock speeds and lower performance. Either way, an active cooling solution is a must for a system built around this Ryzen.

Intel Core i7-6700K

The Intel Core i7-6700K is a high-end quad-core desktop processor based on the Skylake architecture, which was announced in August 2015. The CPU, which is manufactured in a 14 nm process, runs at 4.0 up to 4.2 GHz (2 cores: 4.0 GHz, 3 cores: 4.0 GHz, 4 cores: 4.0 GHz) and can execute up to 8 threads simultaneously thanks to Hyperthreading. Being a so called "K"-model, the Core i7-6700K has a free multiplier and can be easily overclocked. 

Performance

Even though the Core i7-6700K has a slightly lower clock than the old i7-4790K (4.0 GHz - 4.4 GHz), the performance is slightly better compared to the Haswell predecessor. Depending on the application, the per-MHz performance was increased by roughly 5-10 %. Even the most demanding applications and games are no problem for the high-end CPU.

Graphics

Graphics are handled by the integrated Intel HD Graphics 530 with 24 EUs (Execution Units), which is clocked at 350 - 1150 MHz. Compared to the HD Graphics 4600 (Haswell, 20 EUs), the performance is increased by around 25 percent. The overall GPU performance is still low-end, so modern games can, if at all, only be played smoothly with low settings. 

Power Consumption

The TDP was slightly raised from 88 to 91 Watts compared to the predecessor.