AMD releases new Ryzen 5 5500F and Ryzen 5 7500 for budget PC builders — new budget Zen 3 and Zen 4 CPUs soften the blow from high RAM prices
AMD has officially launched the Ryzen 5 5500F and Ryzen 5 7500, two strong contenders for the best CPUs on the market if you’re on a budget. Both are hexa-core chips, with the Ryzen 5 5500F featuring AMD’s Zen 3 execution cores and the Ryzen 5 7500 using the newer Zen 4 execution cores. The Ryzen 5 5500F and Ryzen 5 7500, priced at $99 and $189, respectively, are available at U.S. retailers starting today.
The Ryzen 5 5500F, despite its similar model name to the Ryzen 5 5500, belongs to a different family in AMD’s portfolio. The Ryzen 5 5500F hails from the Ryzen 5000 series (codenamed Vermeer), which uses a multi-chiplet architecture. Meanwhile, the Ryzen 5 5500 comes from the Ryzen 5000G series (codenamed Cezanne), which uses a monolithic die design.
Therefore, it is more sound to call the Ryzen 5 5500F a lower-binned version of the Ryzen 5 5600, rather than an iGPU-less variant of the Ryzen 5 5500, which lacks integrated graphics to begin with. The distinction matters because the Ryzen 5 5500F is closer to the Ryzen 5 5600, albeit with a 500 MHz lower boost clock speed and half the L3 cache.
The Ryzen 5 5600, which launched at $199, now retails for around $159, making the new Ryzen 5 5500F approximately 38% more affordable. Meanwhile, the Ryzen 5 5500, which debuted at $159, has lost substantial value over the years. OEM tray versions of the Ryzen 5 5500 now start at just $74, so it is still the most cost-effective entry point into the AM4 ecosystem. Compared to the Ryzen 5 5500, the Ryzen 5 5500F carries a 34% price premium. The latter justifies its higher cost with a slightly higher boost clock speed, which translates to better gaming performance, and support for PCIe 4.0, unlocking faster SSDs and graphics cards.
Ryzen 5 5500F and Ryzen 5 7500 Specifications
| Processor | MSRP / Current Price | Architecture / Codename | Platform | Cores / Threads | Base / Boost Clock (GHz) | L2 Cache (MB) | L3 Cache (MB) | Graphics Model | Graphics Core | Graphics Frequency (MHz) | Memory Support | PCIe Lanes | TDP (W) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ryzen 5 7600 | $229 / $226 | Zen 4 / Raphael | AM5 | 6 / 12 | 3.8 / 5.1 | 6 | 32 | AMD Radeon | 2 | 2,200 | DDR5-5200 | 24 PCIe 5.0 | 65 |
| Ryzen 5 7500 | $189 / $189 | Zen 4 / Raphael | AM5 | 6 / 12 | 3.7 / 5.0 | 6 | 32 | AMD Radeon | 2 | 2,200 | DDR5-5200 | 24 PCIe 5.0 | 65 |
| Ryzen 5 7500F | $179 / $157 | Zen 4 / Raphael | AM5 | 6 / 12 | 3.7 / 5.0 | 6 | 32 | N/A | N/A | N/A | DDR5-5200 | 24 PCIe 5.0 | 65 |
| Ryzen 5 5600 | $199 / $159 | Zen 3 / Vermeer | AM4 | 6 / 12 | 3.5 / 4.4 | 3 | 32 | N/A | N/A | N/A | DDR4-3200 | 20 PCIe 4.0 | 65 |
| Ryzen 5 5500F | $99 / $99 | Zen 3 / Vermeer | AM4 | 6 / 12 | 3.0 / 4.4 | 3 | 16 | N/A | N/A | N/A | DDR4-3200 | 20 PCIe 4.0 | 65 |
| Ryzen 5 5500 | $159 / $74 | Zen 3 / Cezanne | AM4 | 6 / 12 | 3.6 / 4.2 | 3 | 16 | N/A | N/A | N/A | DDR4-3200 | 20 PCIe 3.0 | 65 |
When it comes to the Ryzen 5 7500, little mystery surrounds its place in AMD’s product stack. True to its name, the Ryzen 5 7500 is the same processor as the Ryzen 5 7500F, which launched three years ago, but with integrated Radeon graphics. This small addition suits users who need basic display output and do not plan to spend money on a discrete graphics card. Apart from the integrated graphics, all core specifications remain identical between the two models.
As a result, the difference between the Ryzen 5 7600 and the Ryzen 5 7500 stands. The former boasts a 100 MHz higher base and boost clock, so performance is somewhat better in certain processor-intensive workloads or gaming scenarios. However, most users may not notice the difference.
The Ryzen 5 7500F hit the market at $179, but over time its retail price has dropped to about $157. In contrast, the Ryzen 5 7600 has held its value over the years, falling only slightly from its original MSRP of $229 to around $226. As a result, the Ryzen 5 7500 positions itself as a mid-point option, priced 16% lower than the Ryzen 5 7600 and 20% above the Ryzen 5 7500F.
The Ryzen 5 7500 makes sense in this market because not everyone is a gamer, so integrated graphics mean you do not have to spend a fortune on a discrete graphics card at today’s ridiculous prices. However, because it runs on AMD’s AM5 platform, the Ryzen 5 7500 is still bound by the sky-high cost of DDR5.
Source: tomshardware.com