01
Introduction
The Ryzen 5 3600 was a highly cost-effective and popular processor for the AM4 platform back in its time. Its performance is still sufficient for everyday needs, and many users continue to use it without plans to switch platforms in the short term, though they are considering upgrading their graphics cards.
This article will test the gaming performance of the Ryzen 5 3600 paired with the GeForce RTX 5060 to assess whether this combination presents any performance bottlenecks and to evaluate the actual gaming performance for reference by those interested.
02
Specifications Overview
The Ryzen 5 3600 was released on July 7, 2019, using TSMC’s 7nm process. It features 6 cores and 12 threads, with 384KB of L1 cache, 3MB of L2 cache, and 32MB of L3 cache. The base clock is 3.6 GHz, with a boost clock up to 4.2 GHz. It has a TDP of 65W and a suggested retail price of $199.
The GeForce RTX 5060 was released on May 19, 2025, featuring the GB206 GPU based on the Blackwell architecture and manufactured with TSMC’s 4nm process. It has 3,840 CUDA cores, 120 texture units, 48 raster units, 30 SMs (Streaming Multiprocessors), 120 tensor cores, and 30 ray tracing cores, with 32MB of L2 cache.
Its base clock is 2,280 MHz and boost clock is 2,497 MHz. It comes with 8GB of GDDR7 VRAM, a memory speed of 28 Gbps, 128-bit memory interface width, 448.0 GB/s memory bandwidth, 19.18 TFLOPS of FP32 performance, a TDP of 145W, and a suggested retail price of $299.
03
Test Platform Configuration
The main configuration is as follows:
The processor is Ryzen 5 3600, motherboard is MSI MPG B550 GAMING PLUS, memory is 32GB DDR4-3600MHz, graphics card is GeForce RTX 5060 8GB, and the operating system is Windows 10.
04
Game Testing (RTX 5060 with Ryzen 5 3600)
Seven games were tested at 1080P resolution.
1st Game: Horizon Forbidden West
- Average FPS: 120
- 1% Low FPS: 65
- Frame Time: 9.1ms
- CPU Usage: 77%
- CPU Power: 64W
- CPU Temp: 67°C
- RAM Usage: 13.9GB
- GPU Usage: 93%
- VRAM Usage: 6.7GB
- GPU Power: 117W
- GPU Temp: 67°C
CPU usage is around 80%, quite high. RAM usage is about 14GB. GPU is not fully maxed out. VRAM usage is around 7GB.
The game runs very smoothly with an average of 120 FPS and 1% lows around 60 FPS. Frame time is ~9ms. Overall performance is excellent aside from high CPU load.
2nd Game: Ghostwire: Tokyo
- Average FPS: 98
- 1% Low FPS: 80
- Frame Time: 10.0ms
- CPU Usage: 40%
- CPU Power: 49W
- CPU Temp: 66°C
- RAM Usage: 13.4GB
- GPU Usage: 97%
- VRAM Usage: 7.3GB
- GPU Power: 127W
- GPU Temp: 69°C
CPU usage is around 40%, relatively low. GPU is near full load, VRAM usage just over 7GB.
Performance is stable with ~100 FPS average and 80 FPS 1% lows. No major issues.
3rd Game: Red Dead Redemption 2
- Average FPS: 54
- 1% Low FPS: 15
- Frame Time: 17.0ms
- CPU Usage: 36%
- CPU Power: 49W
- CPU Temp: 60°C
- RAM Usage: 12.4GB
- GPU Usage: 93%
- VRAM Usage: 5.6GB
- GPU Power: 122W
- GPU Temp: 67°C
CPU usage is around 36%. GPU is not fully maxed out. RAM and VRAM usage are moderate.
Average FPS is over 50, but 1% lows drop to around 15 FPS. Frame times indicate inconsistent performance.
4th Game: Spider-Man 2
- Average FPS: 68
- 1% Low FPS: 26
- Frame Time: 17.5ms
- CPU Usage: 73%
- CPU Power: 60W
- CPU Temp: 69°C
- RAM Usage: 15.9GB
- GPU Usage: 97%
- VRAM Usage: 7.4GB
- GPU Power: 77W
- GPU Temp: 59°C
CPU usage is high (~70%). RAM usage approaches 16GB. GPU is nearly maxed out.
Smooth overall performance at ~70 FPS average, but 1% lows suggest occasional drops.
5th Game: Cyberpunk 2077
- Average FPS: 71
- 1% Low FPS: 47
- Frame Time: 16.8ms
- CPU Usage: 79%
- CPU Power: 64W
- CPU Temp: 67°C
- RAM Usage: 12.2GB
- GPU Usage: 91%
- VRAM Usage: 5.8GB
- GPU Power: 130W
- GPU Temp: 67°C
CPU usage is quite high (~80%). GPU has some headroom. RAM and VRAM usage are moderate.
Average FPS is around 70, with 1% lows in the high 40s. No major issues in performance.
6th Game: GTA V Enhanced
- Average FPS: 78
- 1% Low FPS: 69
- Frame Time: 13.0ms
- CPU Usage: 50%
- CPU Power: 55W
- CPU Temp: 63°C
- RAM Usage: 11.0GB
- GPU Usage: 97%
- VRAM Usage: 5.8GB
- GPU Power: 136W
- GPU Temp: 69°C
CPU usage is moderate (50%). GPU is near full load. RAM and VRAM usage are reasonable.
Performance is very stable with average ~80 FPS and 1% lows around 70 FPS. Smooth gameplay overall.
7th Game: The Last of Us Part II
- Average FPS: 140
- 1% Low FPS: 52
- Frame Time: 6.6ms
- CPU Usage: 97%
- CPU Power: 72W
- CPU Temp: 74°C
- RAM Usage: 13.8GB
- GPU Usage: 96%
- VRAM Usage: 7.6GB
- GPU Power: 119W
- GPU Temp: 68°C
CPU usage is extremely high (~97%), close to max. RAM and VRAM usage are also high.
Despite heavy load, performance is excellent at 140 FPS average and 1% lows above 50 FPS. No bottlenecks observed.
05
Test Conclusion
Overall, the Ryzen 5 3600 + GeForce RTX 5060 configuration does not present any performance bottlenecks. The performance of the GeForce RTX 5060 is generally fully utilized, and while the Ryzen 5 3600 runs at a relatively high load in some games, it has not reached the point of becoming a bottleneck.
Therefore, if you are still using the Ryzen 5 3600, upgrading your graphics card to the GeForce RTX 5060 is completely viable—no need to hesitate.
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