AMD announces new “fastest gaming CPU” Ryzen 5000 processors

We’re in the middle of the next-gen hype, which means announcements from big companies on new computing and gaming components that will usher in the next graphical revolution whether our wallets are ready or not.

AMD has just announced its new line-up of Ryzen 5000 processors for desktops, which will represent the company’s biggest jump in processing power yet. These new chipsets feature AMD’s next-gen Zen 3 architecture, and the new 500 processers are still using the 7nm process but offer a 19% increase in instructions per cycle and a completely new chip redesign that improves speed output. In total, AMD promises an average 26% performance increase, and with the chip compatible on existing motherboards, consumers don’t need to purchase a whole new board to run them.

A breakdown of the new 5000 series chips can be seen below, via The Verge:

AMD RYZEN 5000 ZEN 3 CPUS

Model	Cores/ Threads	TDP (Watts)	Boost / Base Frequency (GHz)	Cache (MB)	US Price
AMD Ryzen 9 5950X	16C/32T	105W	Up to 4.9 / 3.4 GHz	72	$799
AMD Ryzen 9 5900X	12C/24T	105W	Up to 4.8 / 3.7 GHz	70	$549
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X	8C/16T	105W	Up to 4.7 / 3.8 GHz	36	$449
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X	6C/12T	65W	Up to 4.6 / 3.7 GHz	35	$299

AMD is also claiming that its top of the range Ryzen 9 5950X is now the “world’s fastest gaming processor”, a claim it takes from Intel’s new Core i9-10900K model and it has a comparison graph to back this boast up. We’ll ultimately need to wait for more actual hardware comparisons to surface to verify these claims. While AMD’s processor clocks out at 4.9 GHz, which is down from Intel’s 5.3 GHz, its higher thread count thanks to its 7nm chips, is what helps it get more computing power out at lower speeds while reportedly saving on power too. Intel is already teasing new CPUs for early 2021, so expect that to all change again in the next few months.

With both AMD and Intel working on faster processors, its perhaps not a matter of which console you support but whether a PC gamer is on the AMD or Intel side. AMD is probably ahead at the moment, though you certainly can’t fault Intel’s current CPU power and you won’t go wrong no matter which side of the board you sit on. If you can afford it that is, as most of us will probably just have to stay a few generations behind.

Last Updated: October 9, 2020