GoKawiilAMD 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 close to the Ryzen 5 5600, albeit with a 500 MHz lower boost clock speed and half the L3 cache. The "F" suffix on the Ryzen 5 5500F is present because Vermeer does come with integrated graphics, so AMD uses it to explicitly indicate the absence of this feature.
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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
Swipe to scroll horizontally 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.
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