Ryzen 5 4600 vs Ryzen 5 3600X

Gaming speed, cores and clocks

The Ryzen 5 4600 and the Ryzen 5 3600X are within a few percent of each other for gaming. In a game, you will not see the difference.

The Ryzen 5 4600 has 6 cores and 12 threads, and the Ryzen 5 3600X has 6 cores and 12 threads. Core counts are the same, so cache size and clock speed decide the difference. Boost clocks are 4.2 GHz and 4.4 GHz.

Platform, power and price

Both chips use the AM4 socket, so they fit the same motherboards. You can swap one for the other without changing the board.

Rated power is 65 W for the first and 95 W for the second. That is close enough that cooling needs will be similar.

We do not have launch prices for both chips, so we cannot compare value.

Which graphics cards each one can feed, and which to buy

At 1080p the Ryzen 5 4600 can feed a card up to the Radeon RX 9060 XT 16GB before it holds the card back by more than 10 percent. The Ryzen 5 3600X reaches the Radeon RX 9060 XT 8GB. Both chips are in the same range for graphics card pairing.

Choose the Ryzen 5 4600 if you want the faster gaming chip and the same or more cores. Choose the Ryzen 5 3600X if you would rather spend the difference on a graphics card, which does more for frame rates in most games.