The Ryzen 5 3500 apparently scores up to 25% more than the Ryzen 5 1500X in 3DMark; 3% more than the Intel Core i5-9400 too

Intel has already released a plethora of 9th generation Core desktop processors, with the company bringing the Core i5-9400, Core i5-9500, Core i5-9600 and their derivatives like the Core i5-9400F to market this year. All four are 6 core and 6 thread processors, with Intel also offering 4 core and 4 thread Core i3 alternatives, for reference.

By contrast, AMD's cheapest current-gen desktop CPU is the Ryzen 5 3600, a 65 W and 6 core chip that supports Simultaneous Multithreading (SMT), allowing it to execute up to 12 threads simultaneously. Information published by prolific leaker @TUM_APISAK suggests that AMD has a cheaper alternative in the works, called the Ryzen 5 3500.

The Ryzen 5 3500 will be a 6 core Zen 2 CPU with a 3.6 GHz base clock like the Ryzen 5 3600, although it will have a 100 MHz lower boost clock according to @TUM_APISAK. AMD will distinguish the two CPUs by omitting SMT from the Ryzen 5 3500, meaning that it will only be able to execute one thread per core. The lack of SMT has caused a stir on Twitter, with some people hoping that AMD would maintain SMT on all its Zen 2 processors.

@TUM_APISAK also claims that the Ryzen 5 3500 scores over 12,800 points in 3DMark Fire Strike Physics, putting it around 3% ahead of the Core i5-9400. Moreover, the Ryzen 5 3500 scores around 25% more than the Ryzen 5 1500X, the last non-SMT Ryzen processor on the 3DMark database.

Presumably, AMD will price the Ryzen 5 3500 more aggressively than the Ryzen 5 3600, with the latter currently retailing for around US$197 on Amazon. By contrast, the Core i5-9400 costs around US$150 online, so expect AMD to price the Ryzen 5 3500 at between US$140 and US$175 depending on how hard it plans to gun for Intel's market share.