The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X arrives at a time when CPUs have been too hot and too power-hungry for a couple of years. Chips from both Intel and AMD have faced severe overheating problems, but this CPU is part of the answer to the problem. It doesn’t feature quite as much of a performance improvement over the Ryzen 5 7600X as in past generations, but it makes up for it by being much cooler and more power efficient.
And given that the Ryzen 5 has always been more geared towards beginner PC builders that are perhaps not familiar with underclocking their processors, coming out of the box with lower temperatures and power consumption makes it a much more approachable CPU. That alone makes it one of the best processors on the market right now, especially for beginners.
A Cooler Approach
When the Ryzen 5 7600X launched, Team Red tuned it to reach for maximum performance by having the CPU sit around the temperature limit whenever it was under load. When it comes to processors, more power means higher core clocks and better performance. The Ryzen 5 7600X had an essentially uncapped power limit, so as long as it wasn’t at the maximum temperature, or 98°C, it would pull in more power to boost performance. This resulted in a faster processor, but it meant that whenever the CPU was under load, it was constantly hot.
The Ryzen 5 9600X does things differently. Power is capped at 88W, and once it reaches that point, the performance curve evens out, no matter what the temperature is. This means you get less of a performance boost when the CPU is under heavy load, but you also have much more manageable temperatures, which means the chip will last much longer.
Both strategies can make for a great processor, but for a midrange chip, the Ryzen 5 9600X makes more sense. Because while performance is limited by default, the temperatures are much less scary at a glance. Plus, if you want that extra performance, the 9600X is an unlocked processor, so you can overclock it.
AMD Ryzen 5 9600X – Specs
Like the Ryzen 7 9700X, the AMD Ryzen 5 9600X is built on the Zen 5 architecture, which brings improved efficiency and better IPC (instructions per clock) performance. So, even though the Ryzen 5 9600X consumes much less power than the Ryzen 5 7600X, it can still meet or exceed it in actual performance.
The Ryzen 5 9600X is still a 6-core, 12-thread CPU, like its predecessor, but the max turbo speed goes up to 5.4GHz, rather than the 7600X’s 5.3GHz. It’s a minor improvement, but thanks to the improved IPC of Zen 5, you get a bit more performance out of that clock speed. Even with the slightly higher clock speed, the default TDP (Thermal Design Power) is down to 65W, from its predecessor’s 105W. The default power limit is also much more conservative, with the Ryzen 5 9600X limited to 88W, while the 7600X could go all the way up to 142W, which is almost as much as some graphics cards consume.
The lower power limit means much lower temperatures too. In my testing suite, the Ryzen 5 9600X peaked at just 76.1°C, compared to 93°C on the 7600X. So if you were waiting on a more reasonable processor that you could upgrade to without also upgrading your cooler, the 9600X is it.
Luckily, the 9600X is using the same AM5 platform as its predecessor, which means all existing 600-series AMD motherboards are compatible. AMD has assured me that it plans to stay on the AM5 platform until at least 2027, which just means it’ll be easy to upgrade from the 9600X in the future when new processors come out.
AMD Ryzen 5 9600X – Performance
The AMD Ryzen 5 9600X is an extremely solid mid-range processor, even if it doesn’t mark a colossal improvement over the Ryzen 5 7600X. Despite its more conservative approach to power and temperatures, the Ryzen 5 9600X is easily able to meet or exceed the 7600X’s performance, but without the high temp baggage.
For instance, in Cinebench R23, which measures multi-threaded performance in a 3D rendering workload, the Ryzen 5 9600X scores 15,781 points, compared to the 14,761 points of the Ryzen 5 7600X. However, it still lags far behind the Intel Core i5-14600K, which manages a whopping 24,587 points. Team Red makes up for that in single-core performance, however, with the 9600X managing 2,167 points to the 14600K’s 2,074.
The Ryzen 5 9600X is also great for creative workloads. In the Pugetbench Adobe Premiere test, the Ryzen 5 9600X scores 11,990 points compared to 11,561 for the Ryzen 7600X and 13,254 points. However, in the less threaded Photoshop test, the 9600X scores 10,850 points to the Intel Core i5-14600K’s 9,849. Keep in mind, too, that the $299 Intel Core i5-14600K consumes nearly double the power, and peaks at 92°C.
In gaming, the AMD Ryzen 5 9600X is extremely powerful, thanks to its strong single-core performance. In the heavily CPU-bound Total War: Warhammer 3, at 1080p with the Ultra quality preset, the Ryzen 5 9600X manages 264 fps, beating even the Core i9-14900K. However, in Cyberpunk 2077, the Ryzen 5 9600X falters a bit, managing 163 fps, compared to 177 fps with the Intel Core i5-14600K.
Of course it would have been awesome to see the AMD Ryzen 5 9600K wipe the floor with all existing processors, and in some ways it absolutely does. It might not be the fastest processor in its class, but it manages extremely solid performance, while also cutting power consumption and thus temperatures. Especially if you’re the type to use a traditional air CPU cooler, the AMD Ryzen 5 9600X is a much more reliable part than its predecessor. The CPU arms race seems to have calmed down, which is great news for anyone that wants their processor to last more than a few years.
Jackie Thomas is the Hardware and Buying Guides Editor at IGN and the PC components queen. You can follow her @Jackiecobra
