AMD Ryzen 5 2600 or AMD Ryzen 5 3600 - which processor is faster? In this comparison we look at the differences and analyze which of these two CPUs is better. We compare the technical data and benchmark results.
The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 has 6 cores with 12 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 3.90 GHz. Up to 64 GB of memory is supported in 2 memory channels. The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 was released in Q2/2018.
The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 has 6 cores with 12 threads and clocks with a maximum frequency of 4.20 GHz. The CPU supports up to 128 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 was released in Q3/2019.
The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 has 6 CPU cores and can calculate 12 threads in parallel. The clock frequency of the AMD Ryzen 5 2600 is 3.40 GHz (3.90 GHz) while the AMD Ryzen 5 3600 has 6 CPU cores and 12 threads can calculate simultaneously. The clock frequency of the AMD Ryzen 5 3600 is at 3.60 GHz (4.20 GHz).
Processors with the support of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can process many calculations, especially audio, image and video processing, much faster than classic processors. Algorithms for ML improve their performance the more data they have collected via software. ML tasks can be processed up to 10,000 times faster than with a classic processor.
The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 or AMD Ryzen 5 3600 has integrated graphics, called iGPU for short. The iGPU uses the system's main memory as graphics memory and sits on the processor's die.
no iGPU
GPU
no iGPU
GPU frequency
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--
GPU (Turbo)
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GPU Generation
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Technology
Max. displays
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Compute units
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--
Shader
--
No
Hardware Raytracing
No
No
Frame Generation
No
--
Max. GPU Memory
--
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DirectX Version
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Hardware codec support
A photo or video codec that is accelerated in hardware can greatly accelerate the working speed of a processor and extend the battery life of notebooks or smartphones when playing videos.
no iGPU
GPU
no iGPU
No
Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit)
No
No
Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit)
No
No
Codec h264
No
No
Codec VP9
No
No
Codec VP8
No
No
Codec AV1
No
No
Codec AVC
No
No
Codec VC-1
No
No
Codec JPEG
No
Memory & PCIe
The AMD Ryzen 5 2600 can use up to 64 GB of memory in 2 memory channels. The maximum memory bandwidth is 46.9 GB/s. The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 supports up to 128 GB of memory in 2 memory channels and achieves a memory bandwidth of up to 51.2 GB/s.
The thermal design power (TDP for short) of the AMD Ryzen 5 2600 is 65 W, while the AMD Ryzen 5 3600 has a TDP of 65 W. The TDP specifies the necessary cooling solution that is required to cool the processor sufficiently.
Cinebench R23 is the successor of Cinebench R20 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.
Cinebench R23 is the successor of Cinebench R20 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.
Geekbench 5 is a cross plattform benchmark that heavily uses the systems memory. A fast memory will push the result a lot. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.
Geekbench 5 is a cross plattform benchmark that heavily uses the systems memory. A fast memory will push the result a lot. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.
Geekbench 6 is a benchmark for modern computers, notebooks and smartphones. What is new is an optimized utilization of newer CPU architectures, e.g. based on the big.LITTLE concept and combining CPU cores of different sizes. The single-core benchmark only evaluates the performance of the fastest CPU core, the number of CPU cores in a processor is irrelevant here.
Geekbench 6 is a benchmark for modern computers, notebooks and smartphones. What is new is an optimized utilization of newer CPU architectures, e.g. based on the big.LITTLE concept and combining CPU cores of different sizes. The multi-core benchmark evaluates the performance of all of the processor's CPU cores. Virtual thread improvements such as AMD SMT or Intel's Hyper-Threading have a positive impact on the benchmark result.
Cinebench R20 is the successor of Cinebench R15 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.
Cinebench R20 is the successor of Cinebench R15 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.
In the Blender Benchmark 3.1, the scenes "monster", "junkshop" and "classroom" are rendered and the time required by the system is measured. In our benchmark we test the CPU and not the graphics card. Blender 3.1 was presented as a standalone version in March 2022.
Some of the CPUs listed below have been benchmarked by CPU-monkey. However the majority of CPUs have not been tested and the results have been estimated by a CPU-monkey’s secret proprietary formula. As such they do not accurately reflect the actual Passmark CPU mark values and are not endorsed by PassMark Software Pty Ltd.
Blender is a free 3D graphics software for rendering (creating) 3D bodies, which can also be textured and animated in the software. The Blender benchmark creates predefined scenes and measures the time (s) required for the entire scene. The shorter the time required, the better. We selected bmw27 as the benchmark scene.
The CPU-Z benchmark measures a processor's performance by measuring the time it takes the system to complete all benchmark calculations. The faster the benchmark is completed, the higher the score.
The CPU-Z benchmark measures a processor's performance by measuring the time it takes the system to complete all benchmark calculations. The faster the benchmark is completed, the higher the score.
Cinebench R15 is the successor of Cinebench 11.5 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.
Cinebench R15 is the successor of Cinebench 11.5 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.
The Cinebench 2024 benchmark is based on the Redshift rendering engine, which is also used in Maxon's 3D program Cinema 4D. The benchmark runs are each 10 minutes long to test whether the processor is limited by its heat generation.
The Multi-Core test of the Cinebench 2024 benchmark uses all cpu cores to render using the Redshift rendering engine, which is also used in Maxons Cinema 4D. The benchmark run is 10 minutes long to test whether the processor is limited by its heat generation.
Efficiency of the processor under full load in the Cinebench R23 (multi-core) benchmark. The benchmark result is divided by the average energy required (CPU package power in watts). The higher the value, the more efficient the CPU is under full load.
The comparison between the two processors AMD Ryzen 5 2600 and the AMD Ryzen 5 3600 is also a comparison between two different Ryzen generations. While the AMD Ryzen 5 2600 is still based on the optimized Zen cores (Zen +), the more powerful and efficient Zen 2 CPU cores are already at work in the AMD Ryzen 5 3600.
By jumping to the 7 nm manufacturing technology of the AMD Ryzen 5 3600, AMD was able to increase the clock frequencies compared to the AMD Ryzen 5 2600, which was still manufactured in 12 nm. The clock increases are between 200 and 400 MHz, depending on the processor. Together with further optimizations, AMD was able to increase the raw performance per clock (IPC) of the Ryzen 3xxx processors again.
Both the AMD Ryzen 5 2600 and the AMD Ryzen 5 3600 have 6 cores and can process up to 12 threads simultaneously or in parallel through activated SMT. Like almost all Ryzen desktop processors, the processors presented here can be overclocked very easily. Both processors do not have an integrated graphics card (iGPU). A dedicated graphics card is therefore required for operation.
While the Zen + (Ryzen 2xxx) processors support RAM up to DDR4-2933, the newer Zen 2 CPU cores can already address DDR4-3200 RAM. By overclocking the RAM, speeds of DDR4-3600 are usually possible without any problems. The older Zen + CPU cores mostly support up to DDR4-3466. AMD has doubled the supported amount of RAM with the Ryzen 3xxx processors from 64 to 128 GB.
The level 3 cache has also doubled, which was a bit of a problem with the Zen + processors. In some applications and especially in PC games, the Ryzen 2xxx desktop processors were not always convincing and were especially inferior to the fast Intel processors. This has changed with Ryzen 3xxx: they can also keep up very well with Intel's Core i5 / i7 / i9 processors in PC games.