Few weeks ago, AMD launched its Ryzen 7 processors, which were extremely powerful but not cheap. Today, AMD unveiled details with regard to the new Ryzen 5 processor line-up. Unlike the Ryzen 7 series, which consists entirely of 8-core/16-thread processors, the Ryzen 5 family has two tiers consisting of 6-core/12-thread and 4-core/8-thread processors. Ryzen 5 is based on the Zen microarchitecture and is manufactured on GF’s 14 nm process. Ryzen 5 is marketed toward the mid-range performance market. The Ryzen 5 is positioned against Intel’s mid-range mainstream Core i5 processors, offering competitive performance at lower prices.
At the top of the stack is the Ryzen 5 1600X — which has a 6-core configuration with base and turbo clocks of 3.6GHz and 4.0GHz respectively. The Ryzen 5 1500X has a 4-core/8-thread CPU configuration, but with base and turbo clocks of 3.5GHz and 3.7GHz, and also has support for an extended XFR frequency range of up to 3.9GHz. The Ryzen 5 1600 is a 6-core/12-thread processor, with 3.2GHz base and 3.6GHz boost clocks. The entry-level part is the Ryzen 5 1400, a 4-core/8-thread CPU with 3.2GHz/3.4GHz. With XFR, the absolute maximum frequency for all of the Ryzen 5 processors will be somewhat higher, but AMD hasn’t disclosed specifics for all parts. AMD’s Ryzen 5 processor line-up will work with the very same AM4 platform as the higher-end Ryzen 7.