Choose between the Ryzen 3600 and 5500 based on your needs.
Choose between the Ryzen 3600 and 5500 based on your needs.
Hello. I’m considering upgrading from my current Ryzen 3100 CPU. Within my budget, the 3600 and 5500 models are available, with prices around $5 apart locally. Benchmarks show they perform similarly. My 3100 works well overall, but games like BF5, Squad, and Arma 3 sometimes cause stutter or underutilize the GPU (GTX 1070). I’m curious what others recommend. I also play at 1440p and probably won’t replace my CPU for another two years.
3600 runs slower compared to 5500, but PCIe 4.0 support isn’t a big deal right now. The 5500 is noticeably quicker than the 3600, sitting somewhere between them. Gen4 isn’t crucial at the moment, though it might matter in five years. It also has a pretty low IMC—actually a Cezanne with over 2500 fCLK—that’s more for serious builds, not everyday use. For most people without a solid RAM upgrade, that’s not much of a deal. By the time you get a GPU that really benefits from Gen4, the CPU might start being the bottleneck. You might already be switching platforms by then. If you’re looking at RAM upgrades, it’s a nice bonus to have a higher IMC.
Sure thing.
Right now I'm using 16GB with a 2666 OC-D to 2866, but it doesn’t seem like it’s having a big impact.
5500 remains quicker than 3600. The imc is merely a pleasant addition. Just double-checking the phoon burner for the ram IC would help confirm its purpose, as basic units like mfr and cdie lack sufficient headroom (mfr around 3466, cdie at 3600), while better options such as rev e or higher bin djr can reach 4800+. It seems you might have rushed the RAM selection without verifying the IC, which likely accounts for the slow performance of the 2866.