AMD’s limited-edition $229 Ryzen 5 5600X3D comes with all the goodness of the company’s game-boosting 3D V-Cache technology, propelling it to the highest gaming performance in the mid-range price class. Overall, the 5600X3D is ~20% faster in gaming than the Intel Core i5-13400 that currently tops our list of the best CPUs for gaming. However, in a move that defies convention, the Ryzen 5 5600X3D comes to market as a Micro Center exclusive and will only be available while supplies last.
The six-core 12-thread Ryzen 5 5600X3D is a smaller version of the immensely popular eight-core $289 Ryzen 7 5800X3D that remains a top pick for gamers. However, the 5600X3D delivers 95% of the 5800X3D’s gaming performance for 20% less cash. As you can see in our CPU benchmarks hierarchy, at stock settings, the 5600X3D is also faster in gaming than the entire standard Ryzen 7000 lineup — including the $599 Ryzen 9 7950X. That’s because even though the Ryzen 5 5600X3D comes with two fewer cores and slightly lower clock speeds than its pricier 5800X3D counterpart, it still wields the same 96MB of game-boosting L3 cache.
The Ryzen 5 5600X3D rounds out AMD’s portfolio of gaming-specific X3D processors, which now spans from $229 up to $669. The chip excels at gaming, but all the usual caveats of 3D V-Cache technology apply — this tech results in lower clock speeds that ultimately reduce performance in some productivity apps, and the tech doesn’t accelerate all games.
The 5600X3D is a new entry in the older Ryzen 5000 series, so it comes with the Zen 3 architecture, 7nm process node, and drops into last-gen AM4 motherboards. In contrast, AMD's newest Ryzen 7000 chips come with the faster Zen 4 architecture etched on the 5nm process and drop into newer AM5 motherboards. However, those chips carry a premium and require more expensive DDR5 memory, while the 5600X3D supports more economical DDR4, giving it an easy win in terms of total system cost.
Micro Center will also sell a $329 bundle with the Ryzen 5 56003XD, an ASUS B550-Plus TUF motherboard, and 16GB of G.Skill Ripjaws V DDR4 memory, a nearly unbeatable value. The retailer will also offer a pre-built $849 PowerSpec G516 system with a Radeon 6650XT, 16GB of memory, and a 500GB NVMe SSD.
Micro Center will only sell the Ryzen 5 5600X3D processors in its stores while supply lasts, beginning July 7. AMD and Micro Center haven’t confirmed the number of processors that will be available, but the retailer expects to have stock for a few months. Micro Center currently has 25 outlets in 18 states, so the chip will be US-only. Let’s dive into the details.
