AMD’s Ryzen 7 is all about hard-core performance which again comes at a price, with the cheapest of the Ryzen 7 coming in at around $329. That’s not exactly cheap and it is here that the Ryzen 5 range comes into the picture.
Built to provide the right balance of power and price, the new Ryzen 5 series that AMD launched is expected to have a mass market appeal and operate in the same segment as that of the Intel Core i5. Comprising of 4 processors, the range starts with the Ryzen 5 1400 that is priced at $169 and operate at 3.2-3.4GHz. Next up is Ryzen 5 1500X that is priced at $189 and runs at 3.5-3.7GHz. Both 1400 and 1500X have quad core 8 thread architecture.
The upper echelons in the Ryzen 5 series are comprised of the Ryzen 5 1600 and Ryzen 5 1600X. Both the chips boast of six core architecture with each core able to run two threads.
Of these, the Ryzen 5 1600 is designed to run at 3.2 GHz but can be boosted to 3.6 GHz as well and is priced 9.
The top of the range Ryzen 5 1600X has a base clock speed of 3.6 GHz but can be boosted to all the way up to 4 GHz as well. No surprisingly, it also is the costliest in the Ryzen 5 family with its $249 sticker price. All the Ryzen 5 chips are slated for market launch on April 11.
AMD had earlier set the ball rolling with its new Ryzen 7 series that offered superior performance but at a price that is just a fraction of that of comparable Intel Core i7 processors.
AMD believes its new Ryzen 5 family of chips will also play spoilsport in the segment that currently is dominated by the Intel Core i5 range.
Interestingly, while the Ryzen 7 offers considerable price advantage over its Core i7 counterpart, the Ryzen 5 family in turn is priced quite competitively vis-a-vis Core i5 offerings. For instance, while the least priced Ryzen 5 1400 comes in at $169, a similar offering from the Core i5 family, the 7400 is priced $182.
Similarly, the Ryzen 5 1500X which is priced $189 is just a few notches below the Core i5-7500 that is priced at $197. The price difference though is a bit more perceptible with the Ryzen 5 1600 and 1600X both of which comes in at $219 and $249 respectively. Comparable Core i7 models, the i7-6800K and i7-6850K are priced $434 and $623 respectively.
In the end, what can be said with quite a bit of surety is that AMD is back in the business with its new Ryzen family of chips, offering better competition to Intel’s Core i7 and Core i5 family of chips than ever before. Anything more definitive of the new Ryzen members have to be said after they have been subjected to a thorough review.
