Review Ryzen 5 3600

[HardwareReviews]

This review is still in progress so check back later to read the full article.

I have been using the Ryzen 5 3600 processor
along with the asrock b450m steel legend and 16gb of coarsair vengeance 3000mhz ram for the past 2 months and I am very impressed with the price to performance ratio of this chip, seriously, I think this has the best "bang for your buck" of any CPU on the market from both intel and AMD.

Overclocking
Overclocking has never been a strength for Ryzen although I believe I got a reasonably capable chip and the better efficiency of the 7nm process node allows for you to expect an avg overclock of about ~5% with only a small voltage increase. Personally I managed to get 200mhz extra on all cores with very little tinkering and only a very small voltage change, but as I was still using the wraith stealth stock cooler I decided to stick with the stock speeds. I was very impressed with the power delivery of the VRMs on my motherboard and it is probably one of the best in this sector for its low price of £80. The ram was a different story though, with it being already reasonably fast at 3000mhz I did manage to get it to 3200mhz with timings of 14-14-14-42 but it did run a little hotter than I would have liked so I kept those tight timings but stuck with 3000mhz speed.

Performance Gain

 

[COLGeek]

Thanks for sharing. What heatsink are you using with your Ryzen?

 

[HardwareReviews]

I'm using the stock wraith stealth cooler, although I would not recommend using it with an overclock and even suggest downclocking it if using a case with little airflow.

 

[drea.drechsler]

.... suggest downclocking it if using a case with little airflow.

Probably better to just run it stock (auto clock speed, auto voltage) as it will effectively down clock itself anytime temperature gets a tad warm.

 

[HardwareReviews]

Probably better to just run it stock (auto clock speed, auto voltage) as it will effectively down clock itself anytime temperature gets a tad warm.

I have had problems in the past with my i7 2700k at stock speeds a couple years ago in a very bad airflow case and it eventually died from this, it probably is very different with more modern CPUs although I am still uncomfortable with temps above about 80°C

 

[COLGeek]

The Wraiths are okay for stock use, but I don't recommend using for any OCing. They also tend to be rather loud, even at stock settings, when under a heavy CPU load.

 

[drea.drechsler]

I have had problems in the past with my i7 2700k at stock speeds a couple years ago in a very bad airflow case and it eventually died from this, it probably is very different with more modern CPUs although I am still uncomfortable with temps above about 80°C

My understanding is that while a 3600's max temp is 95 C (ref: https://www.amd.com/en/products/cpu/amd-ryzen-5-3600 ) the algorithm starts increasingly weak boosting as temperature gets above 75 C.

If it's above 80 C and you're at base frequency, you've got something extremely wrong. Like maybe a cocked heat sink that's not sitting flat on the heat spreader. Or maybe my idea of a case with poor airflow is different from yours. I mean, there's a point when it's no longer poor airflow and what effectively becomes a sealed case with NO airflow.