Ryzen 5 3600 vs Core i5-6500
Short answer: which is best?
Ryzen 5 3600 is 84.5 % stronger than Core i5-6500. Ryzen 5 3600 ranks #55 of 82 measured processors at WhatFPS (6,917 CPU score over 3 verified runs). Core i5-6500 ranks #79 of 82 measured processors at WhatFPS (3,750 CPU score over 1 verified runs). The numbers are measured in 4 verified WhatFPS runs — not estimated, not self-reported.
Measured comparison
| Metric | Ryzen 5 3600 | Core i5-6500 |
|---|---|---|
| CPU score (the processor's own performance) | 6,917 | 3,750 |
| Best rig (GAMING — whole PC) | 9,540 | 1,884 |
| Integer (MT) | 3.7 Gop/s | 1.4 Gop/s |
| Single-thread (1T) | 0.5 Gop/s | 0.38 Gop/s |
| Draw calls/s (DX11) | 2,722,393 | 5,286,054 |
| Cores / threads | 6 / 12 | 4 / 4 |
| L3 cache | 32 MB | 6 MB |
What the numbers mean
The CPU score is the processor's own performance — that is what we rank on. GAMING is the whole rig's score in the best PC we measured the processor in, and leans heavily on the graphics card. A strong processor in a weak PC gets a low GAMING score without being worse. We show both and never mix them.
All numbers come from our benchmark suite: four hand-built 3D scenes written directly against the graphics APIs in Rust, the same load on every PC. The methodology is open at https://whatfps.com/metodik
All measurements for Ryzen 5 3600 · All measurements for Core i5-6500