Ryzen 5 5500 vs AMD Ryzen 5 9600 — Specs & Performance Compared

Verdict: The AMD Ryzen 5 9600 is ahead of the Ryzen 5 5500 on all 7 shared benchmarks on file, by 43% to 85%, including 59% in Cinebench R23 single (2,171 vs 1,365).

Side-by-side CPU comparison of the Ryzen 5 5500 and the AMD Ryzen 5 9600. Released 2022 (Ryzen 5 5500), 2024 (AMD Ryzen 5 9600). Specs, synthetic benchmarks, AI inference tok/s, and Amazon availability below; each column header links to that part's benchmark page.

AMD · Zen 3

Ryzen 5 5500

6 cores65W TDP$159 MSRP2022

Full Ryzen 5 5500 benchmarks →

AMD · Zen 5

AMD Ryzen 5 9600

6 cores65W TDP2024

Full AMD Ryzen 5 9600 benchmarks →

*Price sourced from Amazon.com. Price and availability subject to change.

Where to buy

A listing for each part; the current price and stock are on the retailer's page.

Specs side-by-side

Spec	Ryzen 5 5500	AMD Ryzen 5 9600
cores	6	6
threads	12	12
base clock ghz	3.6	3.8
boost clock ghz	4.2	5.2
tdp w	65	65
l2 cache mb	—	6
l3 cache mb	16	32
process nm	7	4
socket	AMD Socket AM4	AM5

Synthetic benchmarks

Each row says whether a higher or a lower number is better (ranks and times are lower-is-better). Scores come from NanoReview, GadgetVersus, CGDirector, PCSpecs.io, PCGamesN, StorageReview, Geekbench Browser, HardwareDB, SiliconCat, TopCPU, CpuTronic and PassMark; each row links its sources, and where they differ the cell shows their median. Empty cells mean we don't yet have that benchmark on file for the SKU.

Benchmark	Ryzen 5 5500	AMD Ryzen 5 9600
Cinebench 2024 Multi-Core (higher is better) Source: NanoReview	588 pts	—
Cinebench 2024 Single-Core (higher is better) Source: NanoReview	82 pts	—
Cinebench R23 multi (higher is better) Source: GadgetVersus, CGDirector, PCSpecs.io, PCGamesN, StorageReview	10,561 points	16,335 points
Cinebench R23 single (higher is better) Source: GadgetVersus, CGDirector, PCSpecs.io, PCGamesN, StorageReview	1,365 points	2,171 points
Geekbench 6 multi (higher is better) Source: Geekbench Browser, HardwareDB, StorageReview, GadgetVersus, SiliconCat, TopCPU, CpuTronic	7,745 points	14,295 points
Geekbench 6 Multi-Core (higher is better) Source: NanoReview	8,220 pts	—
Geekbench 6 single (higher is better) Source: Geekbench Browser, HardwareDB, StorageReview, GadgetVersus, SiliconCat, TopCPU, CpuTronic	1,902 points	3,167 points
Geekbench 6 Single-Core (higher is better) Source: NanoReview	1,961 pts	—
PassMark CPU Mark (higher is better) Source: PassMark	19,267 pts	29,287 pts
PassMark CPU Mark single thread (higher is better) Source: PassMark	—	4,379 points
PassMark Single Thread (higher is better) Source: PassMark	3,062 points	4,374 pts
PassMark Single Thread Rating (higher is better) Source: PassMark	3,060 points	4,379 points

Quick answers

Which is faster, the Ryzen 5 5500 or the AMD Ryzen 5 9600?

The AMD Ryzen 5 9600 is ahead of the Ryzen 5 5500 on all 7 shared benchmarks on file, by 43% to 85%, including 59% in Cinebench R23 single (2,171 vs 1,365).