AMD Ryzen 5 3500X Review: Cheapest Zen 2 vs. R5 2600 vs. Core i5-9400F

[Julio Franco]

If you haven't heard about the Ryzen 5 3500X until now it's likely because this CPU is mostly being sold and marketed to OEMs and system integrators. Initially it was reported as an OEM-only part for China, but it turns out you can pretty much buy it anywhere, though the conditions will vary from one region to another.

Read the full article here.

https://www.techspot.com/review/1966-amd-ryzen-5-3500x/

 

[Adi6293]

This CPU should cost no more than $100 to make any sense next to Ryzen 5 2600

 

[Hardware Geek]

This really goes to show how much multi-core processors with four cores and eight threads are already outdated when it wasn't all that long ago they were the pinnacle of PC gaming for average consumers.
Also impressive to me how effective AMD's SMT is at increasing performance in sufficiently threaded workloads. I would like to see how it compares to Intel's SMT all other factors being equal, or as close to it as possible. Perhaps it would make a good article.

 

[Adi6293]

This really goes to show how much multi-core processors with four cores and eight threads are already outdated when it wasn't all that long ago they were the pinnacle of PC gaming for average consumers.
Also impressive to me how effective AMD's SMT is at increasing performance in sufficiently threaded workloads. I would like to see how it compares to Intel's SMT all other factors being equal, or as close to it as possible. Perhaps it would make a good article.

Its already a common knowledge that AMD's SMT is better than Intel's HT

 

[Hardware Geek]

Its already a common knowledge that AMD's SMT is better than Intel's HT

I know that, I'm just curious by how much and if the gap is widening or narrowing.

 

[erickmendes]

Down here in Brasil the 3500 (non X) is priced higher then 2600, not worth It, but people is being lured by the "3500" moniker. It should be called Ryzen 5 3100. A B450M mobo+CPU kit is being sold for US$329 for a 3500X kit, while a 3600 non X kit is US$346.

 

[Porkous]

It makes me wonder. If this is one decent CPU to buy at the lowest price, that has a decent amount of threads... What would the next gen console employ? A kind of chiplet design with cpu's picked for a base clock somewhere in between 2.4Ghz to 3.4Ghz? If anything, AMD custom designs are of science fiction now days. With that being said, I wonder... Why there isn't a featured CPU with low frequency but high core count, using latest zen arch? PC prefers high frequency, while consoles can do without...
A configuration with 3600 + a decent gpu and you'd already be past some budget options.

 

[Steve]

Apologies @LeGrenade for the mistake, I've corrected the data now.

 

[ChristopherB]

With the R7 2700X being $158.99 on Amazon U.S. for a the past few weeks, why would anyone in the U.S. buy the 3500X?

 

[Hardware Geek]

With the R7 2700X being $158.99 on Amazon U.S. for a the past few weeks, why would anyone in the U.S. buy the 3500X?

Businesses which buy in bulk at a significant discount looking for inexpensive workstations would be a good target demographic for this product. Only the most uninformed consumer would purchase this though at current retail prices or really at all unless the price came way down and they has a specific use case for this product.

 

[hahahanoobs]

Businesses which buy in bulk at a significant discount looking for inexpensive workstations would be a good target demographic for this product. Only the most uninformed consumer would purchase this though at current retail prices or really at all unless the price came way down and they has a specific use case for this product.

Worldwide? I doubt you'll see, let alone even hear about this chip anywhere in North America after today. It was never, and will never be a widely distributed chip in comparable numbers to offically launched AMD products in North America and beyond. It's an AMD part licensed to a Chinese company that has restrictions on what it can do with it.

Check out Gamers Nexus' review.

 

[hahahanoobs]

Its already a common knowledge that AMD's SMT is better than Intel's HT

The added [Ryzen] threads can also be a complete waste in a gaming computer, but I'd still like to see your data.

This CPU should cost no more than $100 to make any sense next to Ryzen 5 2600

Please read the first paragraph again. You missed something. A big something.

 

[Steve]

The added [Ryzen] threads can also be a complete waste in a gaming computer, but I'd still like to see your data.

Yeah that's not true for a 6-core part, hell it's mostly not true for the 12-core part.

 

[hahahanoobs]

Yeah that's not true for a 6-core part, hell it's mostly not true for the 12-core part.

Gamers Nexus had some titles with more serious differences. Maybe it's a lot better now, but it was/is a thing.
AMD even put a toggle in the driver. So either AMD is trying to look busy, or it does come in handy enough to include it. Google search has people requesting the feature as far back as 2017.

 

[pyro226]

The added [Ryzen] threads can also be a complete waste in a gaming computer, but I'd still like to see your data.

That's clearly why i7's have outpaced i5's for the last decade...

 

[hahahanoobs]

That's clearly why i7's have outpaced i5's for the last decade...

Look at the spread of Intel CPUs in a review chart, then look at AMD's....

Spoiler: Intel chips have wider gaps in performance when EVERY AMD chip performs the same all clumped together.

A 3600 should not perform the same as a 3900X for example.

 

[hadahan]

Hi, I am from Russia, I bought 3500X on TaoBao for $110
Where is overclocking?! - It's free!
3500X OC 4300Hz / Ballistiks 2x 8GB OC 3666Hz
Cinebench R20: 2795
Overclocking the RAM and CPU gives a good performance boost!
p.s. I'll wait for the Ryzen 4000 release, I'll see, I think I can sell the 3500X profitably and upgrade to a new generation, at the moment I have enough performance.

 

[ArmyOfAll]

Update for any who come along, you can now pick these up from Chinese sellers for $75 with a wraith cooler which makes them quite a bargain.

 

[msroadkill612]

This whole thing seems dumb.

The article could be reduced to ~"threads add ~XX% to perf"

prices will vary over time & borders so $/perf measures r of little use

the elephant in the room is zen2 7nm & pcie 4

why do so few get that getting 8GB/s of chipset bandwidth on x570 mobos via its 4x pcie 4 lane feed from the cpu is a huge benefit? Its sad really.

I would take the 3500x in preference in a heart beat - its a no brainer to get a foot in the door of the new gen zen on a limited budget.