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expiredphoinix | Staff posted Jul 29, 2026 5:53 AM
AMD Ryzen 5 5500 3.6 GHz Six-Core AM4 Processor
$74
$82
9% off
+ Free S&Hat Amazon
Top Comments
The 5500 is a massive trap compared to a trusty old 3600.
For anyone looking at this deal, keep these two massive downgrades in mind:
Half the L3 Cache: The 3600 has 32MB of L3 cache, while the 5500 only has 16MB. Games absolutely crave cache, so cutting it in half completely wipes out any generational architecture architectural gains.
Locked to PCIe 3.0: The 3600 fully supports PCIe 4.0, but the 5500 is strictly locked to PCIe 3.0. If you plan to pair this with a modern budget GPU that uses limited PCIe lanes (like an RX 6600 or RTX 4060) or want a fast Gen 4 NVMe SSD, the 5500 is going to actively bottleneck your bandwidth.
The 5500 is literally just a mobile laptop chip (the 5600G) with the integrated graphics disabled. AMD gutted the cache and the PCIe lanes just to fit it into a laptop power envelope. If you already have a 3600, this is a side-grade at best, and a platform downgrade at worst. Stick with the 3600.
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19 Comments
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The 5500 is a massive trap compared to a trusty old 3600.
For anyone looking at this deal, keep these two massive downgrades in mind:
- Half the L3 Cache: The 3600 has 32MB of L3 cache, while the 5500 only has 16MB. Games absolutely crave cache, so cutting it in half completely wipes out any generational architecture architectural gains.
- Locked to PCIe 3.0: The 3600 fully supports PCIe 4.0, but the 5500 is strictly locked to PCIe 3.0. If you plan to pair this with a modern budget GPU that uses limited PCIe lanes (like an RX 6600 or RTX 4060) or want a fast Gen 4 NVMe SSD, the 5500 is going to actively bottleneck your bandwidth.
The 5500 is literally just a mobile laptop chip (the 5600G) with the integrated graphics disabled. AMD gutted the cache and the PCIe lanes just to fit it into a laptop power envelope. If you already have a 3600, this is a side-grade at best, and a platform downgrade at worst. Stick with the 3600.I still have a 1060 and a decent backlog so its limitations vs the 3600 are fine with me.
The 5500 is a massive trap compared to a trusty old 3600.
For anyone looking at this deal, keep these two massive downgrades in mind:
- Half the L3 Cache: The 3600 has 32MB of L3 cache, while the 5500 only has 16MB. Games absolutely crave cache, so cutting it in half completely wipes out any generational architecture architectural gains.
- Locked to PCIe 3.0: The 3600 fully supports PCIe 4.0, but the 5500 is strictly locked to PCIe 3.0. If you plan to pair this with a modern budget GPU that uses limited PCIe lanes (like an RX 6600 or RTX 4060) or want a fast Gen 4 NVMe SSD, the 5500 is going to actively bottleneck your bandwidth.
The 5500 is literally just a mobile laptop chip (the 5600G) with the integrated graphics disabled. AMD gutted the cache and the PCIe lanes just to fit it into a laptop power envelope. If you already have a 3600, this is a side-grade at best, and a platform downgrade at worst. Stick with the 3600.I see your comment on the cache as backwards. Yeah games do like it, but the generational uplift of the 5500 compensates for the difference. You're arguing the cup is half empty. I'm arguing it's half full. If you're buying new I think the 5500 is generally better here.
The pcie gen lane is most likely irrelevant as well. Yes there are numerical differences but in the real world you'll unlikely ever notice any. If your gpu has at least 8gb of vram you're good here.
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The 5500 is a massive trap compared to a trusty old 3600.
For anyone looking at this deal, keep these two massive downgrades in mind:
- Half the L3 Cache: The 3600 has 32MB of L3 cache, while the 5500 only has 16MB. Games absolutely crave cache, so cutting it in half completely wipes out any generational architecture architectural gains.
- Locked to PCIe 3.0: The 3600 fully supports PCIe 4.0, but the 5500 is strictly locked to PCIe 3.0. If you plan to pair this with a modern budget GPU that uses limited PCIe lanes (like an RX 6600 or RTX 4060) or want a fast Gen 4 NVMe SSD, the 5500 is going to actively bottleneck your bandwidth.
The 5500 is literally just a mobile laptop chip (the 5600G) with the integrated graphics disabled. AMD gutted the cache and the PCIe lanes just to fit it into a laptop power envelope. If you already have a 3600, this is a side-grade at best, and a platform downgrade at worst. Stick with the 3600.I do have the 5500 that I bought new from Micro Center for $70. I sold my 2600 for $30 and the difference I see on the 4060 was really noticeable.
- Half the L3 Cache: The 3600 has 32MB of L3 cache, while the 5500 only has 16MB. Games absolutely crave cache, so cutting it in half completely wipes out any generational architecture architectural gains.
- Locked to PCIe 3.0: The 3600 fully supports PCIe 4.0, but the 5500 is strictly locked to PCIe 3.0. If you plan to pair this with a modern budget GPU that uses limited PCIe lanes (like an RX 6600 or RTX 4060) or want a fast Gen 4 NVMe SSD, the 5500 is going to actively bottleneck your bandwidth.
The 5500 is literally just a mobile laptop chip (the 5600G) with the integrated graphics disabled. AMD gutted the cache and the PCIe lanes just to fit it into a laptop power envelope. If you already have a 3600, this is a side-grade at best, and a platform downgrade at worst. Stick with the 3600.aftger coupon code "BTS2555"
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https://www.newegg.com/amd-ryzen-...6819113737
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