AMD Ryzen 5 3600XT CPU Review – 4.6GHz OC!

1. Ryzen 5 3600XT - Enhanced Silicon2. All-Core and Boost Operating Frequencies3. Manual Overclocking - 4.6GHz On All Cores!4. Testing Methodology5. CPU Tests: Cinebench R20 & Blender6. CPU Tests: 7-Zip Decompression & Compression7. CPU Tests: Handbrake H264 & H2658. Memory Tests: Memory Bandwidth and Latency9. Gaming: Red Dead Redemption 210. Gaming: Shadow of the Tomb Raider11. Gaming: The Division 212. Technical: Power Draw, Efficiency, Temperatures13. Value: Cinebench Performance per £14. Closing Thoughts15. View All Pages

The new Ryzen 5 3600XT brings small but measurable improvements over the Ryzen 5 3600X thanks to improved silicon quality, increased maximum clock speed, and better boost clock residency. Coupled with the identical MSRP of $249 USD, those improvements are positive.

Overclocking is the key area where the Ryzen 5 3600XT had us impressed. We managed a comfortable 4.6GHz on all six cores with tolerable thermals. This gives users a guaranteed performance upgrade as 4.6GHz is higher than maximum boost frequency and the all-core operation speed of the stock part. The gains were notable and worthwhile.

Versus the Core i5-10600K, AMD’s Ryzen 5 3600XT is the faster CPU in general compute and lightly threaded tasks. The Core i5 is better at gaming and that will be important to high refresh rate gamers with a high-end graphics card. For a balance between gaming and general compute work, the Ryzen six core is arguably the better overall buy, bolstered by its superior and lower cost AM4 platform and bundled CPU cooler.

Clearly, the £240-250 Ryzen 5 3600XT is AMD’s attempt to plug the product gap between the £210 3600X and the £290 3700X in its current line-up. But that does not mean that a buyer with £250 should automatically gravitate towards AMD’s Ryzen 5 3600XT.

Value is where the Ryzen 5 3600XT struggles to deliver. The new enhanced processor is £30 or 14% more expensive than the Ryzen 5 3600X but never delivers performance improvements near 14%. Equally so, the £70 cheaper Ryzen 5 3600 is a truly challenging contender to the 3600XT as that budget six core part is only a little slower than the Ryzen 5 3600X when used with comparable cooling.

If a user has already made the decision to spend an extra £70 to go from the Ryzen 5 3600 to the 3600XT, we would argue that another £50-60 to get 33% more cores and a better cooler from the Ryzen 7 3700X are justifiable. This puts the Ryzen 5 3600XT in a difficult position from a value perspective – the cheaper six cores are not far off its performance levels and the more expensive eight core delivers better productivity performance.

Where I see some reasonable value for the Ryzen 5 3600XT is to upgraders already running the AM4 platform. Spending more money to upgrade to the 3600XT versus the 3600X may make sense if you can extend the life of your current AM4 system even a little further.

The other key area of value is through pure silicon quality. If you are a user who will overclock the Ryzen 5 3600XT to its maximum and run it at those levels 24/7, the 200-300MHz improvement over the 3600 and 3600X can perhaps be justified. There’s also an element of enjoyment in overclocking the 3600XT and seeing frequency numbers north of four-and-a-half GHz.

The Ryzen 5 3600XT is £249 USD MSRP and is currently available from Overclockers UK for £248.99.

Put simply, the Ryzen 5 3600XT is difficult to justify from a purely cost and value perspective when the cheaper Ryzen 5 six core chips exist. However, the improved silicon quality, better boost frequencies, and excellent overclocking capability are all key positives that may justify the cost increase to some users. Plus, you maintain all the Zen 2 and AM4 platform goodness that makes the Ryzen 5 3600XT highly competitive against Intel’s 10^th Gen Core i5-10600K.

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Pros:

• Better boost clock residency than the 3600X.
• Improved all-core and heavily loaded clock speeds.
• Maximum and averaged single-threaded boost clocks beyond AMD’s rated 4.5GHz.
• Excellent overclocking capability to 4.6GHz with simplicity.
• 1900MHz Infinity Fabric overclock worked well.
• Highly competitive versus the more expensive Core i5-10600K.
• Bundled Wraith Spire cooler is of some value.

Cons:

• More expensive than the 3600X but does not deliver proportionally higher performance.
• Significantly more expensive than the Ryzen 5 3600.
• Would have liked an upgrade to Wraith Prism RGB over Wraith Spire.
• Slightly more expensive Core i5-10600K is the better gaming CPU for high refresh rate gamers.

KitGuru says: The improvements in maximum operating frequencies and boost clock residency are highly impressive for the Ryzen 5 3600XT. Equally impressive is the ease at which we overclocked to 4.6GHz. The value perspective makes for difficult justification, but those who are impressed by the clock speed may see the 3600XT’s worth.

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