AMD’s affordable Ryzen 5 5500 falls again, to its lowest cost yet
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The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 remains a popular low-cost option for entry-level gaming and decent daily use. Its sub-$100 cost underscores this, and a new deal makes the affordable processor even more so.
Amazon has hit the 5500 with a new discount, making it available for an all-time low with the retailer of just $73. That’s a further drop from recent discounts and ducks under what price-tracker Camelcamelcamel calls Amazon’s average price, $82. Given the several hundred-dollar cost of modern Ryzen CPUs, it might be wondered what this option can achieve. For the money, quite a bit.
AMD Ryzen™ 5 5500 with Wraith Stealth Cooler
Why we like the AMD Ryzen 5 5500
Honestly, the longer lower-cost computing components are available, the better for users. This 6-core, 12-thread processor can drive an entry-level gaming and daily use system, with some caveats, including PCIe 3 support and the need to opt for a low-cost GPU. But at this price, you’re likely not opting for a 5090.
- Core specs – The Ryzen 5 5500 is a 6-core, 12-thread CPU with a 3.6GHz base speed and 4.2GHz boost speed, and a TDP of 65W.
- PCIe 3.0 – This CPU doesn’t support PCIe 4.0, which is worth knowing when selecting a graphics card, since modern GPUs require 8x or 16x PCIe 4 lanes. More powerful GPUs will have much reduced performance if paired with the 5500, while lower-end options will be less impacted.
- Performance – Fair for productivity and daily use of apps and home office programs.
- Socket AM4 – As an entry-level Socket AM4 processor, there are several viable upgrade options for the future (availability depending). The Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 9 5000 series CPUs would provide a boost and would unlock PCIe 4.0 support for greater GPU pairings.
- Cooler included – Bundled with the AMD Wraith Stealth cooler
Who is this AMD Ryzen 5 5500 deal for?
This deal is for PC fans who want to build an entry-level gaming system for less demanding games, or a very affordable mixed-use PC. There are some caveats here, though, even though the Ryzen 5 5500 offers good value at this price. If some of the best graphics cards of modern generations interest you, AMD’s Ryzen 5 5600 is the better option at just north of $100 because it supports PCIe 4.0.
PCIe 4.0 will also be useful for NVMe SSD drives in your system. However, if you’re happy with last-gen GPUs like the AMD RX 6600, or some of the best budget GPUs where performance may not be as impacted by bandwidth caps, the Intel Arc B580, then the 5500 remains a CPU worth opting for.
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