Mark Tyson Social Links Navigation News Editor Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom's Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason.
Pemalite The 3600 is a little long in the tooth as we enter 2026… Only great for the super budget gamers, even then the Ryzen 5500 will give you more performance for only $8 more. Reply
King_V Pemalite said: The 3600 is a little long in the tooth as we enter 2026… Only great for the super budget gamers, even then the Ryzen 5500 will give you more performance for only $8 more. Agreed. Though, you'd be surprised how many people say the 3600 either equals the 5500 or, insist that the 3600 outperforms the 5500. Reply
quilciri For an all around PC, I'd agree. From a *strictly* gaming perspective, however, the 3600 does offer a bit better experience than the 5500. Entirely due to L3 cache; it edges out the 5500 in 1% and 0.1% lows. Reply
thestryker I fail to see who exactly this (or anything this performance level) is for unless someone is already on AM4 and is running original Zen. If you're building new and on a budget saving more for LGA 1700 is a better choice and if you're looking long term saving up for AM5 would be best. Reply
Moxylite I've always really liked AMD's stock coolers & absolutely hated Intel's "4 Twisty Springs" pin design :devilish: There, finally off my chest- hehe! Reply
Third-Eye thestryker said: I fail to see who exactly this (or anything this performance level) is for unless someone is already on AM4 and is running original Zen. If you're building new and on a budget saving more for LGA 1700 is a better choice and if you're looking long term saving up for AM5 would be best. I would think this is for people looking to upgrade their AM4 systems without spending $75-100+ to do it. Probably people still using some quad core Athlon or Ryzen 1000 on a A320 or B350 motherboard. It may also be more appealing to someone that doesn't trust used parts. It's not a bad CPU, it's just old. Reply
Neilbob Far cry from the £169.99 I paid for mine back in early 2020. I guess that would have been about $200. It still clings on for me, but I do wonder when it, or another component, will give up the ghost and I'll have to decide whether I've been priced out of the market or not. Reply
RodroX After some unfortunate events, I came back to my old R5 3600 for my main PC. Where I live PC part prices are a mess, even more now with AI boom. I have to admit, for 1440p gaming (high settings), with a RTX 4060 ti, the R5 3600 still offer a solid performance. Of course the 5500, 5600, and above will show better numbers, but for 1440p I don't think its worth the investment if you already own the R5 3600. For a new PC do go with the 5xxx chips. Reply
King_V thestryker said: I fail to see who exactly this (or anything this performance level) is for unless someone is already on AM4 and is running original Zen. If you're building new and on a budget saving more for LGA 1700 is a better choice and if you're looking long term saving up for AM5 would be best. Normally, I'd say the price of DDR4 creeping up would support your statement – but with the price of DDR5 seeing what DDR4 is doing, and responding with "hold my beer," for a budget system or someone who wants to game without the need for the latest and greatest, it's not a bad proposition at all. Reply
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Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/cpus/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/pc-components/cpus/amd-ryzen-5-3600-with-wraith-stealth-cooler-drops-to-all-time-low-usd67-on-amazon#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com
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Informational only. No financial advice. Do your own research.