AMD has released yet another Zen 3-based Ryzen processor for its venerable AM4 platform, showing how old doesn’t mean dead. Joining the plethora of Ryzen 5000 chips, the Ryzen 5 5600F is yet another six-core affair that should slot in the entry range, offering an affordable alternative for budget users. It should provide an even lower entry than the Ryzen 5 7400 and Ryzen 5 7400F, for those who don’t mind the limitations that come with a nine-year-old platform.
Spotted by @momomo_us on X, the Ryzen 5 5600F is, as its name implies, a close relative to the well-known Ryzen 5 5600, which was the go-to cheap option for many years. Thus, it features the same 6-core/12-thread Zen 3 design, mainly differing in frequency. Where the 5600 clocks at 3.5GHz base and 4.4GHz boost, the 5600F makes do with 3.0GHz base and 4.0GHz boost. This should translate into less overall performance, though not to any extreme levels, since both carry the same 32MB of L3 cache and 65W TDP.
And besides, frequency can always be slightly improved using overclocking, a thing that can’t be done for cache. Knowing games’ love of larger caches, the Ryzen 5 5600F seems a better choice than the Ryzen 5 5600G, which only offers 16MB, unless you need an integrated GPU. Funnily enough, while AMD uses the F suffix to indicate GPU-less processors, aside from the APU lineup, the Ryzen 5000 series never had an integrated GPU to begin with. So, the F doesn’t mean much in this instance.
Regarding availability, this chip is set to launch in the Asia Pacific and Japan region, but a worldwide release may follow later. You can expect to find it in affordable OEM or prebuilt systems targeting office workers or budget gamers. The latter is more likely since the machine would need a dedicated GPU anyway. As for pricing, we expect the Ryzen 5 5600F to retail around $90, considering the Ryzen 5 5600’s $99 to $122 price range and the Ryzen 5 5500’s $71 to $87.
| Model | 5600F | 5600 | 5600X | 5600G |
| Architecture | Zen 3 | Zen 3 | Zen 3 | Zen 3 |
| Cores / Threads | 6/12 | 6/12 | 6/12 | 6/12 |
| Base / Boost Frequency | 3.0 /4.0GHz | 3.5 /4.4GHz | 3.7 /4.6GHz | 3.9 /4.4GHz |
| L3 Cache | 32MB | 32MB | 32MB | 16MB |
| TDP | 65W | 65W | 65W | 65W |
| GPU | NA | NA | NA | Vega |
AMD introduced its AM4 platform back in September 2016. Initial plans promised support up to 2020 with the release of the Zen 3 Ryzen 5000 series. Yet, here we are nine years later, and new CPUs are still launching, albeit not faster than existing models. Nevertheless, this shows how a platform can be maintained for long durations, if the brand cares to.
