As expected, AMD has officially launched its Ryzen 5 series of CPUs targeted at home and business PC users. The lineup consists of four models, the Ryzen 5 1600X, Ryzen 5 1600, Ryzen 5 1500X and Ryzen 5 1400, and they slot in below the previously launched Ryzen 7 models. AMD expects that these CPUs will be even more disruptive than the Ryzen 7 models, since they will appeal to the huge number of gamers, content creators and casual users who wouldn’t want to spend more than Rs. 20,000 on a CPU.
The Ryzen 5 1600X and Ryzen 5 1600 are priced at Rs. 18,199 and Rs. 15,799 respectively. Both are six-core models, with the ability to run two threads per core. While the former is clocked at 3.6GHz with a boost speed of 4.0GHz, the latter has a base speed of 3.2GHz and can go up to 3.6GHz on demand. The Ryzen 5 1600X has a TDP of 95W and benefits from AMD’s eXtended Frequency Range technology which uses a network of embedded sensors to determine if there is enough power and thermal headroom to push itself beyond even the 4.0GHz boost speed on demand. It is also the only model in the Ryzen 5 range that doesn’t come with a stock cooler, because it is targeted at enthusiasts who would use a beefier cooler anyway. On the other hand, the Ryzen 5 1600 has a 65W TDP and comes with AMD’s Wraith Spire cooler.
AMD is specifically pitting the Ryzen 5 1600X against Intel’s top-end Core i5 model, the 7600K. AMD claims up to 87 percent more performance, which is plausible in some tests the 1600X has twelve threads in comparison to four on the 7600K. As we saw in our review of the AMD Ryzen 7 1800X, AMD’s claims are largely accurate but favoured heavily multi-threaded test scenarios.
The Ryzen 5 1500X and Ryzen 5 1400 are both quad-core CPUs capable of running eight threads, and are priced at Rs. 13,799 and Rs. 12,199 respectively. The former runs at between 3.5GHz and 3.7GHz, while the latter runs at between 3.2GHz and 3.4GHz. Both have 65W TDP ratings, but while the Ryzen 5 1500X comes with the same Wraith Spire cooler, the Ryzen 5 1400 is designed to work with the more compact Wraith Stealth cooler.
All AMD Ryzen CPUs have unlocked multipliers and can be overclocked. While the XFR feature is designed to reward enthusiast-grade cooling and makes the biggest difference with models that have an X suffix, the entire lineup is based on the same Zen architecture that powers the Ryzen 7 enthusiast lineup and AMD’s recently announced “Naples” server chips. All Ryzen 5 CPUs benefit from the same architectural features including the Infinity Fabric interconnect, and Precision Boost which allows rapid, fine-grained ramping of clock speeds.
Ryzen 5 CPUs also use the same AM4 socket as Ryzen 7, and will work in the same motherboards. Partners including Asus, Gigabyte, MSI, ASRock and Biostar have already shipped motherboards using the AMD X370, B350 and A320 platform controllers.
