AMD has given its decade-old AM4 socket another processor to play with.
According to VideoCardz the new Ryzen 5 5500F is a six-core, 12-thread Zen 3 processor built from Vermeer silicon. It runs at 3.0GHz base and boosts to 4.4GHz with a 65W TDP.
AMD has limited the chip to 16MB of L3 cache, half the 32MB found on the Ryzen 5 5600. That makes the 5500F a slightly peculiar addition to an already crowded Ryzen 5000 family.
The launch is more remarkable because AM4 first appeared with Bristol Ridge desktop APUs in September 2016. Ryzen arrived several months later, and AMD kept the socket through Zen, Zen+, Zen 2 and Zen 3.
A decade later, motherboard makers are still having to update BIOS support for new AM4 processors. Asus has confirmed its boards will support the Ryzen 5 5500F, although individual models will require the appropriate firmware.
AMD has introduced the Ryzen 5 7500 for AM5 at the same time. This is a six-core, 12-thread Zen 4 Raphael processor with a 3.7GHz base clock and a 5.0GHz boost.
The Ryzen 5 7500 carries 32MB of L3 cache and a 65W TDP. Unlike the Ryzen 5 7500F, it keeps its integrated RDNA 2 graphics enabled.
That integrated GPU contains two Compute Units running at up to 2.2GHz, making the new chip essentially a Ryzen 5 7500F for buyers who prefer not to rely entirely on a discrete graphics card.
The Ryzen 5 5500F is the odd one out. AMD has moved desktop buyers to AM5, DDR5 and newer Zen architectures, yet apparently still sees enough demand among the enormous AM4 installed base to keep producing fresh SKUs.
AMD has not announced official launch pricing for either the Ryzen 5 5500F or Ryzen 5 7500.
