AMD Ryzen 9 3900XT vs AMD Ryzen 5 9600

Compare AMD Ryzen 9 Desktop 12 core CPU vs AMD Ryzen 9000 Series 6 core processor, specs and benchmark score. Which is the better CPU for gaming?

CPU Comparison

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Benchmark Score

Overall Score

A combined score of all workloads

8378 points
8451 points
0.87% slightly better overall score

Gaming Score

The raw gaming performance with a fast GPU

8533 points
12073 points
41% slightly better gaming score

Multitasking Score

Performance in workloads using up to 8 cores

8330 points
14% slightly better multitasking score
7298 points

Heavy Workload Score

Performance in workloads using up to 16 cores

8329 points
18% slightly better heavy workload score
7044 points

Free CPU Benchmark

Want to compare your processor against the Ryzen 9 3900XT and the Ryzen 5 9600? Download our free and quick PC Performance Test.

Other Benchmarks

Blender score

Blender score

Cycles Render (Samples per minute)

275.17 points
23% slightly higher Blender score
221.97 points
Geekbench 6 (multi) score

Geekbench 6 (multi) score

Multi threaded benchmark

9918 points
14339 points
44% significantly higher Geekbench 6 (multi) score
Geekbench 6 (single) score

Geekbench 6 (single) score

Single threaded benchmark

1737 points
3205 points
84% significantly higher Geekbench 6 (single) score

Specifications

Cores

Number of physical processing units

12
100% significantly more cores
6

Threads

Number of logical processing units

24
100% significantly more threads
12

Clock Speed

Base frequency at which the chip operates

3.8 GHz
Identical
3.8 GHz

Turbo Speed

Higher frequency used for heavy workloads

4.7 GHz
5.2 GHz
10% slightly higher turbo speed

TDP

Thermal Design Power: Measure of heat generated by the CPU

105 W
65 W
61% significantly lower TDP

L1 Cache

Smallest embedded memory, but the fastest

768 KiB
60% significantly more L1 cache
480 KiB

L2 Cache

Secondary embedded memory, slower than L1 cache

6 MiB
Identical
6 MiB

L3 Cache

General memory pool for all cores

64 MiB
100% significantly more L3 cache
32 MiB

Other details

Rank

Ranking in the hardwareDB database

131st of 1,089
128th of 1,089

Family

The product line

Ryzen 9 Desktop
Ryzen 9000 Series

Release date

The official date of release of this chip

2020 July
2025 February

Memory Type

The type of memory used by this chip

DDR4
DDR5

Is Unlocked

Can this CPU can be overclocked

Yes
Yes

Ryzen 9 3900XT vs Ryzen 5 9600 specs and performance

Our benchmark analysis concludes that the Ryzen 5 9600 performs better than the Ryzen 9 3900XT. Furthermore, our gaming benchmark shows that it also outperforms the Ryzen 9 3900XT in all gaming tests too.

In terms of the number of cores of each of these CPUs, the Ryzen 9 3900XT has significantly more cores than the Ryzen 5 9600. Indeed, the Ryzen 9 3900XT has 12 cores compared to 6 cores found in the Ryzen 5 9600. It also has more threads than the Ryzen 5 9600. In terms of clock speed, the Ryzen 9 3900XT and Ryzen 5 9600 are identical in this regard. Despite this, the Ryzen 5 9600 has a slightly higher turbo speed. The Ryzen 5 9600 outputs less heat than Ryzen 9 3900XT thanks to a significantly lower TDP. This measures the amount of heat they output and can be used to estimate power consumption. In terms of cache, both these CPUs have the same amount of L2 cache. The Ryzen 9 3900XT also has significantly more L3 cache.

Most CPUs have more threads than cores. This technology, colloquially called hyperthreading, improves performance by splitting a core into multiple virtual ones. This provides more efficient utilisation of a core. Indeed, the Ryzen 9 3900XT has more threads than cores. Each physical core is split into multiple threads.

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