Bang4Buck and Bang4Watt
Understanding how the performance stacks up against other Ryzen chips and Intel's latest offerings is straightforward enough; we have readily commented upon the Ryzen 5's really solid multi-core performance and adequate single-thread speed.
What is more enlightening is how these new chips shake out once value is put into the equation, thus bringing the HEXUS bang4buck back from the ashes.
We have taken both single- and multi-threaded applications in the form of PiFast and Cinebench and then calculated how our 12 chips line up once price, taken from official lists, is factored in. The cheaper processors do better in PiFast because they don't have a surfeit of threads while Cinebench's love of multi-core goodness plays well for AMD in particular - the company takes all the top spots.
There are variables to consider here. You cannot have a chip that has excellent single- and multi-threaded performance whilst being inexpensive: something has to give. What is impressive from AMD's point of view is that both Ryzen 5s are in the top half of the two graphs, meaning they are great all-rounders once price has been factored into performance.
Next up, we can also graph up single- and multi-threaded relative performance with the TDP factored in, hence a bang4watt for both PiFast and Cinebench. This is important if you are using a small, thermally-restricted chassis and want the best punch for the watt.
The Core i3-7350K scores very well in the first chart because it has a 15-second time yet is imbued with a 60W TDP. The PiFast energy graph does no real favours to massively-threaded chips equipped with 100W-plus TDPs. Referencing our review chips, the Ryzen 5 1500X's 65W TDP and near-identical time to 1600X means it does well.
Moving to multi-threaded, both review chips are close together. This is because the 1600X's higher TDP is more than offset by its higher performance. Nothing gets close to the Ryzen 7 1700 because it's able to hit over 1,400 marks with a 65W TDP.
Readers need to decide which metrics are important to them and purchase accordingly. Our analysis shows that both Ryzen 5 chips offer above average performance on every front.
