AMD Announces Ryzen 5000 Series Desktop Processors

Source: AMD AMD Announces Ryzen 5000 Series Desktop Processors

New Ryzen Processors Arrive on November 5th

Zen 3 is here, and AMD is calling the new Ryzen 5000 Series “the fastest gaming CPUs in the world”. If so, Intel is in trouble – with Gen 11 desktop processors not arriving until early 2021.

How did AMD do it? Huge single-threaded performance improvement, with AMD claiming a 19% uplift compared to the previous generation – their largest IPC gains since the introduction of the Zen architecture in 2017.

“Featuring a remarkable 19% IPC increase over the prior generation in PC workloads, the “Zen 3” architecture pushes gaming and content creation performance leadership to a new level. ‘Zen 3’ architecture reduces latency from accelerated core and cache communication and doubles the directly accessible L3 cache per core while delivering up to 2.8X more performance-per-watt versus the competition.”

AMD Announces Ryzen 5000 Series Desktop Processors - Processors 2

The New AMD Zen 3 Desktop Processor Lineup

The announced Ryzen 5000 Series desktop processor lineup includes just four CPUs (so far), ranging from the 6-core Ryzen 5 5600X at $299 to the 16-core Ryzen 9 5950X at $799.

AMD Ryzen 5000 Series Desktop Processors
Model Cores / Threads Base / Boost (up to) Unlocked Total Cache Cooler TDP Price Launch Date
Ryzen 9 5950X 16 / 32 3.4 Ghz / 4.9 GHz Yes 72MB N/A 105W $799 11/5/20
Ryzen 9 5900X 12 / 24 3.7 Ghz / 4.8 GHz Yes 70MB N/A 105W $549 11/5/2020
Ryzen 7 5800X 8 / 16 3.8 Ghz / 4.7 GHz Yes 36MB N/A 105W $449 11/5/2020
Ryzen 5 5600X 6 / 12 3.7 GHz / 4.6 GHz Yes 35MB Wraith Stealth 65W $299 11/5/2020

At the top of the stack is the Ryzen 9 5950X, AMD’s Zen 3 replacement for the 16-core Ryzen 9 3950X that maintains a 16-core configuration but does increase max boost clocks by 200 MHz to 4.9 GHz.

The top of the line 16 core AMD Ryzen 9 5950X offers:

  • The highest single-thread performance of any desktop gaming processor
  • The most multi-core performance of any desktop gaming processor and any desktop processor in a mainstream CPU socket

The $799 price will keep this 16-core, 32-thread processor in the high-end desktop category, and is up $50 from the $749 launch price of the Ryzen 9 3950X. In fact, the launch prices are up $50 compared to the previous generation.

The other Ryzen 9 is the 5900X, which has the same 12c/24t configuration as the Ryzen 9 3900X, and as with the 5950X the clocks are higher by 200 MHz over its Zen 2 predecessor (and by 100 MHz over the faster 3900XT).

But the star of the show, regardless of which Ryzen 5000 processor we talk about, is the new Zen 3 architecture, which – in the case of the Ryzen 9 5900X – is an “average of 26% faster in 1080p gaming across select titles generationally”.

Compatibility and Availability

It looks like this new launch will finally force 300 and 400 series motherboard owners to upgrade, as 500 series (X570, B550) is the only listed platform for Zen 3 in AMD’s press release:

“AMD 500 series motherboards are ready for AMD Ryzen 5000 Series desktop processors with a simple BIOS update. This broad ecosystem support and readiness includes over 100 AMD 500 series motherboards from all major motherboard manufacturers.”

As to availability, as mentioned above the new AMD Ryzen 5000 Series desktop processors “are expected to be available for purchase globally on November 5, 2020”.

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About The Author

Sebastian Peak

Editor-in-Chief at PC Perspective. Writer of computer stuff, vintage PC nerd, and full-time dad. Still in search of the perfect smartphone. In his nonexistent spare time Sebastian's hobbies include hi-fi audio, guitars, and road bikes. Currently investigating time travel.

8 Comments

  1. Brother Michigan

    I think the 5800X -> 5900X comparison is going to be the most interesting. That’s the first division in the product stack when it comes to CCX count, and each CCX in the 5900X gets less cache per core than the 5800X. There could be some interesting performance comparisons to be had there.

    Reply
  2. Luthair

    Interesting skipped the 5700x, everyone I knew bought either the 3700x or the 3600x

    Reply
  3. BigTed

    Looks like you may not need to make a choice between PCIE4 and absolute gaming performance when benching new GPUs if the hype is to be believed. Looking forward to the review. Also I think 400 series mobos should get an updated bios in the new year.

    Reply
  4. Killergran

    I’m currently on a Ryzen 5 2600. Not sure it’ll be worth it to upgrade, with the cost of an upgrade being about 400$, depending on the cost of a new motherboard.

    It’ll be hard to resist, but I think I can manage.

    Reply
    • BigTed

      Yeah, its not like the old days when an upgrade could double performance.

      Reply
      • Ryan mcfarland

        It is for some of us haha. I’m hoping to upgrade my 4770k to a 5950X. I feel like I my get a 2X upgrade in gaming performance at least in some games. There are certainly times when loading in new assets in open world games that a 4 core just can’t keep up anymore.

        Reply
        • BigTed

          That’s not far off what I did – 4790k to 3950X. I didn’t notice too much in gaming, but video encoding was streets ahead. Oh, and while the video encodes you can get on with something else without the performance tanking.

          Reply
  5. mike

    I can’t wait to hear your next podcast about Zen 3

    Reply

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