As is now plain to see, Ryzen 5 9600X and other Zen 5 processors aren’t a huge leap over their predecessors. This leaves AMD in a predicament, as its Zen 4 CPUs are much, much cheaper. Case in point, Ryzen 5 7600X just returned to its all-time low price. Team Red’s headache is potentially your gain, as this chip’s value is impossible to pass up if you’re considering upgrading to AM5.
Cutting to the chase, Amazon is selling Ryzen 5 7600X for £187.97 making for a £142.02 (43%) discount compared to its MSRP. It’s a similar story stateside, as the processor is available for $194.97, saving you $104.03 (43%) relative to its cost at launch. More importantly, though, it’s £82.02/$84.03 cheaper than Ryzen 5 9600X. That’s motherboard money right there, which you’ll need for either CPU.
Ryzen 5 7600X
“Ryzen 5 7600X, if priced right, remains a fine CPU for many a mainstream build.”
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As our Ryzen 7 9700X & Ryzen 5 9600X review illustrates, there really isn’t a lot in it between the latter processor and Ryzen 5 7600X. More pertinently to the pricing at hand, there certainly isn’t £80/$80~ worth of performance separating them. This is especially true when it comes to gaming, with each chip sharing near-identical frame rates in CPU-bound scenarios.
To be fair to Ryzen 5 9600X, it does boast a few advantages that you give up by opting for Ryzen 5 7600X. It runs much cooler and draws less power under load, but the differences will only bother the most efficiency-conscious of buyers. Its Zen 5 cores also give it a slight lead in certain production workloads like Photoshop. Again, though, these uplifts are relatively minor and make it hard to justify the higher price.
If you’re debating between a Ryzen 5 7600X and Ryzen 5 9600X, chances are you haven’t upgraded to AM5 yet. With this in mind, it makes perfect sense to save some cash on a similarly performing, slightly older processor to put towards other platform necessities. After all, you’re going to need a cooler, DDR5 RAM, and a motherboard. With this base setup, you’ll be able to upgrade to another CPU like 7800X3D or a Zen 6, possibly even Zen 7 chip.
As an Amazon deal, Ryzen 5 7600X is eligible for Prime Delivery, so your CPU can get processing away as soon as possible. For those unsure about what the service offers, we’ve got everything you need to know about what you get with an Amazon Prime subscription. Don’t forget, new customers can sign up for a 30-day free trial, so you can try it out for yourself with at no charge.