Conclusion
...AMD needs to knock £50 off both chips for them to stand out.There's little denying that AMD Ryzen 5000 Series represent desktop processor excellence. Fast in every scenario, they are straightforward to recommend for a wide range of buyers. Power users look toward Ryzen 9 while those with more modest aspirations gravitate to Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 5.
Focussing on the review Ryzen 7 5800X first, this eight-core, 16-thread chip runs at impressive frequencies that help distance it from the last generation in rendering and, especially, gaming. It would ordinarily be worthy of outright recommendation for these two factors alone, but pricing is such that the Intel Core i9-10850K hoves into view, offering more cores, similar application performance and gaming that's on par. Such comparisons make the Ryzen 7 5800X a tougher automatic sell. Good but not great in the current pricing climate.
Ryzen 5 5600X also finds itself in a somewhat awkward spot due to the £280 street pricing. Great for gaming and everyday tasks, rival Intel remains strong at this end of the market, carries onboard graphics, so unless you absolutely need PCIe 4.0 support right now, it's another good processor that doesn't quite fit the great grade.
We feel as if AMD needs to knock £50 off both chips for them to stand out in a congested crowd of decent chips. Make no mistake, Ryzen 5000 Series is very good, and a wholesome tweak to Ryzen 5/7 pricing is all that's required for them to become fantastic in every regard.
The Good The Bad Fantastic at gaming
PCIe 4.0 support
Better overclocking than last gen
Restrained power for R5 5600X
Lots of 500 Series motherboards
Bang4buck not amazing
No game with 5600X
Stock very thin on the ground
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X
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TBC.
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