AMD
AMD Ryzen 5 5500
The cheapest way onto Zen 3: a six-core built from the Cezanne APU die with the integrated graphics fused off, which is why it is stuck on PCIe 3.0 with just 16 MB of L3 like every other Cezanne part. It is a budget-build CPU for a cheap B450 board, not a gaming chip you buy on merit.
Pros
- Six Zen 3 cores and 12 threads at a $159 launch MSRP
- Wraith Stealth cooler included in the retail box
- 65 W TDP / 88 W PPT runs fine on entry-level B450 and A520 VRMs
- Monolithic Cezanne die gives low idle power and low memory latency
- Multiplier unlocked and PBO-capable like the rest of the Ryzen line
Cons
- PCIe 3.0 only — no Gen 4 for GPU or NVMe, unlike every chiplet-based Zen 3 part
- 16 MB L3, half of the 5600's 32 MB, costs it real frames in CPU-bound games
- iGPU is physically present on the die but disabled, so a graphics card is mandatory
- Costs only marginally less than a Ryzen 5 5600 that is clearly faster
Below average
Computed from specs & benchmarks via our public methodology.
Full specifications
Everything we track for the AMD Ryzen 5 5500
General
- Announced
- 2022
- Socket
- AM4
- Process
- 7 nm
- Base TDP
- 65 W
- Max turbo power
- 88 W
- Unlocked multiplier
- Yes
- Cooler included
- Yes
Cores & Clocks
- Cores
- 6
- Performance cores
- 6
- Efficiency cores
- 0
- Threads
- 12
- Base clock
- 3.6 GHz
- Boost clock
- 4.2 GHz
- L2 cache
- 3 MB
- L3 cache
- 16 MB
Memory
- Memory support
- DDR4-3200
- Max memory
- 128 GB
- Memory channels
- 2
Platform
- PCIe version
- 3
- CPU PCIe lanes
- 24
Benchmarks
- Geekbench 6 (single)
- 1,750
- Geekbench 6 (multi)
- 7,900
- Cinebench R23 (single)
- 1,390
- Cinebench R23 (multi)
- 10,100
- PassMark
- 19,000
Quick answers
Is the AMD Ryzen 5 5500 good in 2026?
The AMD Ryzen 5 5500 earns an Inno Score of 41/100 (“Below average”) based on its specs and benchmark results. The cheapest way onto Zen 3: a six-core built from the Cezanne APU die with the integrated graphics fused off, which is why it is stuck on PCIe 3.0 with just 16 MB of L3 like every other Cezanne part. It is a budget-build CPU for a cheap B450 board, not a gaming chip you buy on merit.
What are the key specs of the AMD Ryzen 5 5500?
Cores: 6 · Threads: 12 · Boost clock: 4.2 GHz · Socket: AM4
What are the closest alternatives to the AMD Ryzen 5 5500?
Its closest rivals on InnoReviews are Intel Core i3-12100, Intel Core i3-12100F, AMD Ryzen 5 3600 — open the comparison pages for a spec-by-spec breakdown.