Ryzen 5 3600 Stock Cooler – Is it enough?

The AMD Ryzen 5 3600 CPU third generation has proven to be widely popular among PC builders. It features 6 cores and 12 threads, making it capable of running even the most intense games. However, a powerful CPU requires a solid cooler to prevent overheating. Is the Ryzen 5 3600 stock cooler good enough?

The Ryzen 5 3600 stock cooler is more than enough for running at stock speeds. Thermal throttling is never an issue thanks to the Ryzen 5 3600 cooling, which keeps the CPU running at a steady 55°C even when under heavy load. But of course, the Ryzen™ 5 3600’s ability to perform and keep the CPU cool during intense sessions also depends on the airflow in the chassis.

This guide will determine if the Ryzen 5 3600 stock cooler is worth its salt and whether it’s enough for the Ryzen 5 3600 CPU. 

Ryzen 5 3600 Stock Cooler

The stock CPU coolers packaged with AMD’s Ryzen CPUs have stepped up a level. The Wraith Stealth, AMD’s premium cooler, is included with every AMD Ryzen 5 3600 CPU. It’s designed for those who care about how their PCs operate and sound. Wraith Coolers have 92mm fans that are exceptionally quiet and powerful. 

Instead of the bigger cooler, the Ryzen 5 3600 comes with a compact stock cooler tasked with keeping your processor cool. If you’re worried about overheating, it’s a good idea to invest in a third-party cooler, but don’t blow your cash on a high-end liquid cooler if you don’t have to. For this specific chip, even a low-cost air cooler will typically offer adequate cooling. 

Engineered for near-silent operation, the new Wraith coolers also can handle overclocking to some extent. Unfortunately, the Wraith Stealth does not have color-configurable lighting. According to AMD, installing the new coolers will be much simpler thanks to a new spring-screw clamping mechanism. 

AMD deserves credit for supplying their Ryzen CPUs with high-quality stock coolers constructed like third-party coolers with copper bases and heat pipes. Most people toss away the standard coolers that come with Intel processors since they are so noisy and perform such a poor job of cooling. AMD is offering high-quality stock coolers with its CPUs. 

However, you may require extra cooling support if you often overclock your CPU or use the system for intensive work. For heavy users, the Ryzen 5 3600’s default Wraith Stealth cooling will fall short.

It’s better if you’re not planning on overclocking with the Wraith Stealth Cooler, but if you do want to overclock, you’ll need to use an AIO or an air cooler instead since the Wraith Stealth won’t be able to manage the heat generated by the CPU when it is overclocked.

Ryzen 5 3600 Specifications

Let’s check out the specifications of the Ryzen 5 3600 that comes bundled with a Wraith Stealth stock cooler for thermal solutions. 

AMD’s Ryzen 5 3600 desktop CPU, which has six cores, was released in July 2019. Powered by the Zen 2 (Matisse) architecture, it is part of the Ryzen 5 family. AMD Simultaneous Multithreading (SMT) has virtually doubled the number of cores, resulting in 12 threads. 

3.6 GHz is the default clock speed for the Ryzen 5 3600, although it could be increased to as high as 4.2 GHz depending on workloads. This processor features 32MB of L3 cache. AMD is leveraging 3,800 million transistors and a 7 nm manufacturing node to produce the Ryzen 5 3600. The chip’s silicon die is not made at AMD but rather at TSMC’s foundry. Ryzen 5 3600’s unlocked multiplier lets you choose whatever overclocking frequency you want, making it much easier to get the most out of the processor. 

The Ryzen 5 3600 uses the standard amount of power for a typical PC, with a TDP of 65 W. Dual-channel DDR4 memory is supported by AMD’s CPU. While 3200 MHz is the maximum speed officially supported by the memory, overclocking (and the appropriate memory modules) can get you much faster yet. The Ryzen 5 3600 employs a PCI-Express Gen 4 connection to communicate with other parts of the computer. You will need a discrete graphics card if you want to use this CPU. 

The Ryzen 5 3600 has hardware virtualization, which dramatically enhances the performance of virtual machines. In addition, this CPU can run AVX-enabled programs, which improves the speed of calculation-heavy applications. AMD also includes the more recent AVX2 standard, but not AVX-512.

Here are the specs at a glance:

• CPU cores: 6
• Number of threads: 12
• No. of GPU cores: 8
• Base clock speed: 3.6GHz
• Max Turbo Core Speed: 4.2GHz
• Total L1 cache: 384KB
• Total L2 cache: 2MB
• Total L3 cache: 32MB
• Unlocked: Yes
• CMOS: 12nm FinFET
• Socket: AM4
• PCI Express Version: PCIe 4.0 x16
• Thermal solution: Wraith Stealth
• Thermal Solution (MPK): Wrath Stealth
• Default TDP / TDP: 65W
• Temp. max .: 95 ° C

Pricing 

We think the Ryzen 5 3600 is still a great chip. Your graphics card will run to its maximum capability, and you won’t have to worry about it interfering with your gameplay. For the most part, it’s not going to cost you an arm or a leg. 

Make sure to keep a watch on Ryzen 5 3600 prices during sales like Black Friday since they do drop the price. Anything below $165 is a good price for this chip, and we’ve seen it drop this low before. The standalone price of the Ryzen Wraith Stealth cooler is around $20 in the US. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Let’s tackle some related questions about the Ryzen 5 3600 stock cooler.

Also Read: Ryzen 5 2600 Stock Cooler: Is it enough?

Conclusion 

Ryzen 5 3600 stock cooler: is it enough? How much of a difference can a marginally better cooler make in terms of performance and cost? The answer is a significant difference for gamers and other demanding users. The Wraith Stealth’s searing temperatures with heavy loads are all the justification you need. Additional benefits include improved performance without having to adjust the clocks manually. 

Overclocking, it appears, necessitates changing the packaged cooler. There’s nothing more complicated than a simple tower cooler like this one to cool things down. 

A compact boxed cooler for AMD’s mid-range processors makes sense, and it may be adequate for most customers. Any mid-range gaming or workstation PC built on the Ryzen 5 3600 will benefit from a more powerful processor. 

According to the current pricing comparison, the Ryzen 5 3600X (see link for our Ryzen 5 3600 vs 3600X comparison) features a somewhat better Wraith Spire, influencing the price/performance calculation. However, you’ll probably want to update this one as well.

We hope our guide helps you understand the performance standard of the Ryzen 5 3600 stock cooler. Let us know in the comments.