AMD Ryzen 5 5600G Processor Review – A Band Aid Solution To The GPU Crisis

Introduction

While the latest AMD Ryzen 5000 series processors are without a doubt AMD’s most successful and powerful Ryzen CPUs, its pricing is currently out of reach for budget-oriented gamers, To this day, the Ryzen 5 3600 remains to be the most coveted Ryzen processor despite its age as AMD has yet to fill a Ryzen 5000 series processor in the Php 10,000 to Php 12,000 price range. The recent announcement of the new Ryzen 5000 G series APUs sheds some light on our budget-oriented gamer friends as the new 5000 G series APUs are priced lower than their CPU-only counters. The Ryzen 5 5600G will be our focus for this review with its 6-core and 12-thread setup rivaling the popular Ryzen 5 3600 and Intel’s very own Core i5 11600K CPU.

AMD Zen 3 Overview

The Ryzen 5000 series processors are still under the 7-nanometer process node by TSMC but are under an all-new Zen 3 architecture. In AMD’s last press event, Lisa Su talked about the Ryzen 5000 series processors getting a 19-percent Instructions Per Clock uplift and a massive performance-per-watt efficiency. AMD did a ground-up redesign with the Zen 3 architecture to achieve a +19% IPC uplift alongside some functionality improvements over the previous Zen 2 architecture.

Achieving +19% IPC

AMD’s engineering team did remarkable work with the Zen 3 CPUs as they improved the pipeline allowing for faster fetching, reduced latency, and reduced memory and cache dependency.

The AMD Ryzen 5000 series has undergone design changes at the SoC architecture as well. Zen 2 CPUs utilized a union of two core complexes(CCX) per compute die(CCD), whereas Zen 3 processors now feature a unified CCD meaning each CCX can consist of up to 8C/16T & 32MB L3 Cache instead of Zen 2’s 4C/8T & 16MB L3 Cache per CCX. The consolidated core and cache complex on Zen allows better performance, especially on latency-sensitive workloads. The Zen 3 layout design eliminates CCX-to-CCX communication within the die and enables a direct-access pool of the 32MB L3 Cache. CPU intensive games will significantly benefit from Zen’s redesigned CCD and CCX layout

AMD Ryzen 5 5600G

AMD recently launched the Ryzen 7 5700G and Ryzen 5 5600G CPUs prior to the announcement of the AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT. These APUs feature the same core and thread count as their X counterparts but feature RX Vega 8 and RX Vega 7 CUs. The new Ryzen 7 5700G and Ryzen 5 5600G  Cezanne APUs are a significant upgrade over the Zen+ Picasso models that launched last 2019. Originally, the 5700G and 5600G were limited to OEM systems alongside the Ryzen 3 5300G.

The AMD Ryzen 5 5600G runs at a base clock of 3.9Ghz which is 200Mhz lower than the Ryzen 5 5600X and 300Mhz faster than the Ryzen 5 3600. Its boost clock can go up to 4.4Ghz, 200Mhz faster than the Ryzen 5 3600 but also 200mhz slower than the 5600X. The RX Vega 7 CU operates at 1.7Ghz with a boost clock of  1.9GHz. Depending on the usage, the Ryzen 5 5600G’s TDP ranges from 45W to 65W.

There’s an included Wraith Stealth cooler for the retail variant of the AMD Ryzen 5 5600G. Frankly, if you plan to use the Ryzen 5 5600G together with its iGPU, investing in an aftermarket cooler is a must in order to yield lower temps thus getting more FPS and better framerate stability.

Benchmark Setup and Methodology

Gadget Pilipinas’ testing philosophy is to provide detail-oriented results as accurately as possible that our readers can replicate our tests given that these conditions are met. Different benchmarking apps and sequences are used depending on the component or device being tested.

We use CapFrameX 1.6.2 as our FPS capture and analysis tool for all our gaming benchmarks. The latest build version of Windows 10 and WHQL certified drivers are used for our benchmarks. Readings such as temperatures and power draw are recorded using HWMonitor, HWInfo64, and other relevant software for cross-checking.

Our benchmark list and methodology may change in the future, depending on the industry trend.

AMD Ryzen 5 5600G CPU Benchmarks

SuperPI 32M

SuperPI is a single-threaded benchmark application that lets the CPU calculate Pi(π) to the nth digit. In this benchmark, we selected the Pi calculation to 32M, the highest available for the app.

wPrime 1024M

wPrime is a benchmark tool similar to SuperPI, but the former takes on finding prime numbers using Newton’s Method. The benchmark is set to calculate 1024 million prime numbers, and the performance is measured according to calculation time.

AIDA64 Memory Benchmark

AIDA64 is a very popular and powerful monitoring tool, as well as a benchmarking application. AIDA64 is commonly used to stress test CPUs, especially testing if an overclock is stable. We used AIDA64’s Memory Benchmark to measure the data transfer bandwidth of the system memory.

GeekBench 5

Geekbench is a multi-platform benchmark used to gauge CPU performance and compare them across Windows, Mac, and Mobile. Geekbench 5 is the latest version and doesn’t rely on memory than the previous Geekbench 4, making it a great tool to measure both single-core and multi-core CPU performance.

CINEBENCH R20

Maxon’s Cinebench benchmark is one of the most iconic benchmark applications used by reviewers and enthusiasts. The latest Cinebench R20 uses the latest rendering architectures, including Intel’s Embree ray tracing technology and other advanced features from AMD and Intel that allow users to render the same scene on the same hard. Cinebench R20 uses a larger and more complex testing scene than Cinebench R20 by about 8x computational power and requires 4x the memory.

GOOGLE OCTANE 2.0

Google Octane 2.0 is a benchmark that measures a Javascript engine’s performance by running multiple tests representing different use cases of JavaScript applications. While Google Octane is retired and no longer maintained, it is still a good representation of today’s dynamic, interactive web applications. Our Google Octane 2.0 is run on Microsoft’s latest Chromium-based Edge browser.

V-RAY

V-Ray Benchmark is a stand-alone version V-Ray developed by Chaos Group. It is designed to test the CPU and GPU by rendering sample scenes at a fixed amount of time. V-Ray is a plug-in mostly utilized by 3D computer graphics software applications mainly for industrial design, product design, architecture, film, and video game production. V-Ray is not limited to 64-threads as it supports multi and mega-threading.

HWBOT x265

HWBOT x265, developed by Czech overclocker Havli, is a multi-threaded application that takes advantage of modern CPU instruction sets with support for older CPUs.  HWBOT x265 benchmark uses the x265/HEVC encoder that renders a video in 1080p or 4K resolution.

HANDBRAKE

Handbrake is a top-rated open-source video conversion software that is used by professionals, enthusiasts, and even reviewers as a reference point mainly because of its wide variety of media codecs. The rise of streaming and blogging makes video content, both encoding, and transcoding important for these people, regardless if they’re seasoned professionals or just starting out. Handbrake also takes advantage of AVX-512 and OpenCL to accelerate certain types of media codecs. Our Handbrake benchmark converts a 500MB MP4 video to H.264 to measure the processor’s performance.

BLENDER

Blender is a widely used, free, opensource 3D creation suite. It supports the whole 3D pipeline process from modeling, rigging, animation, simulation, rendering, and even motion tracking. Blender has become a standard for CPU benchmarks with the BMW27 and Classroom scene most used. This prompted the company to release Blender Open Data Benchmark in 2018, a benchmark-specific version which allows users to run a preset benchmark and share the results online similar to 3D Mark.

CORONA RENDERER

Corona Renderer is an unbiased photorealistic render available for Autodesk 3Ds Max, Maxon Cinema 4D, and as a stand-alone application. Its popularity, similar to Blender, led Chaos Group to develop a benchmark version of the app which runs using Corona Renderer 1.3. Workstation systems, especially CPUs, can utilize Corona Benchmark as up to 72 threads can be used in the benchmark, making it very suitable for CPUs with various price segments.

PCMark10

From the same developers of the popular game benchmarking tool 3DMark, PCMark 10 is a benchmarking app for measure a whole PC’s performance. It covers a wide variety of tests to reflect common tasks performed in a modern workplace. We selected PCMark 10’s extended benchmark and reported both the overall score and Digital Content Creation Score.

AMD Ryzen 5 5600G Gaming Benchmarks

3DMARK

3DMark is the go-to benchmark for gamers because of the ability to share and compare results online. We used Time Spy DirectX 12 benchmark and Fire Strike DirectX 11 benchmark to gauge the CPU’s performance using different APIs.

DOTA 2

Most gamers play at least one of the following free-to-play titles: League of Legends, CS: GO, Dota 2, and/or Fortnite.  Dota 2 is a good representation of the F2P titles as it is the most demanding game in the spectrum. The benchmark will give you an idea of the laptop’s relative performance on other lesser demanding titles. Our benchmark sequence is based on a replay of OG vs. Liquid in the TI9 grand finals from the team fight that happened from 28:30 to 29:30.

Far Cry 5

FarCry 5 is an FPS game published by Ubisoft and uses the Dunia engine. It heavily relies on and takes advantage of DirectX 11 to render a realistic environment that makes it taxing to both the CPU and GPU.

Rainbow Six Siege

Rainbow Six Seige is one of the few popular AAA games that’s still popular in 2019 due to its competitive gameplay mechanics. R6S uses the AnvilNext game engine, which is developed by the game’s publisher, Ubisoft. As of writing, Rainbow Six Siege is currently the most popular Tom Clancy title beating out Wildlands, Breakpoint and even, Division 2.

Cyberpunk 2077

Cyberpunk 2077 is arguably the most hyped game of 2020. Developed by CD Projekt Red, the dystopian open-world, action-adventure RPG sports is one of the most demanding titles to date. Cyberpunk 2077 also supports three Ray Tracing settings as well as DLSS which makes the game a great tool to measure Ray tracing performance for both AMD and Nvidia graphics cards.

Horizon Zero Dawn

Horizon Zero Dawn is one of the most popular console-port RPG developed by Guerilla Games and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Horizon Zero Dawn is a multi-award-winning action RPG and its popularity resulted in an exclusive Complete Edition game bundle in Steam.

Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is the latest franchise installment from Ubisoft. It’s by far the most popular and stable Assassin’s Creed title since AC IV: Black Flag. It uses the AnvilNext 2.0 game engine, an updated version of Rainbow Six Siege’s game engine, and uses the DirectX 12 API.

F1 2020

F1 2020 is the official video game of the 2020 Formula 1 and Formula 2 championships developed by Codemasters. F1 2020 is the twelfth installment in the franchise and uses the Ego Engine 3.0. F1 2020 is a good representation of racing games thanks to its realistic graphics and fairly demanding spec requirements.

GOD FALL

God Fall, developed by Counterplay Games is an action RPG that was one of the first titles to support Vulkan Ray Tracing making it a great addition to our benchmark suite. Godfall is running on Unreal Engine 4. As of writing, Ray Tracing on Godfall is currently exclusive to AMD 6000 series video cards.

Grant Soriano

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Grant is a Financial Management graduate from UST. His passion for gadgets and tech crossed him over in the industry where he could apply his knowledge as an enthusiast and in-depth analytic skills as a Finance Major. His passion allows him to earn at the same time help Gadget Pilipinas' readers in making smart, value-based decisions and purchases with his reviews and guides.