PassMark CPU Mark evaluates processor speed through complex mathematical computations. It provides a reliable metric to compare multi-core performance, where higher scores indicate faster processing for multitasking, gaming, and heavy workloads.

Head-to-Head Verdict, Benchmarks, Value & Long-Term Outlook

This comparison brings together gaming FPS, productivity performance, platform differences, power efficiency, pricing context, and upgrade path so you can see which CPU actually makes more sense.

EPYC 72F3

2021

Why buy it

✅Better for gaming: +11.0% higher average FPS across 31 shared CPU benchmark tests.
✅Better for workstations and heavier parallel workloads: 8 cores / 16 threads.

Trade-offs

❌176.9% higher power demand at 180W vs 65W.
❌Older platform position on SP3 with DDR4, while Ryzen 5 7600 moves to AM5 and DDR5.
❌No integrated graphics, while Ryzen 5 7600 can still boot and troubleshoot without a discrete GPU.
❌No boxed cooler included, unlike Ryzen 5 7600.

Ryzen 5 7600

2023

Why buy it

✅Draws 65W instead of 180W, a 115W reduction.
✅Newer platform on AM5 with DDR5 support instead of SP3 and DDR4.
✅100+% more PCIe lanes (28 vs 0) for storage and expansion-heavy builds.
✅Integrated graphics onboard with Radeon Graphics (2-core), while EPYC 72F3 needs a discrete GPU.
✅Includes a boxed cooler (Yes), unlike EPYC 72F3.

Trade-offs

❌Worse for gaming: lower average FPS than EPYC 72F3 across 31 shared CPU benchmark tests.
❌Lower PassMark (27,013 vs 27,252).
❌Less compelling for workstation-style loads than EPYC 72F3, which brings 8 cores / 16 threads.
❌Launch MSRP is still $229 MSRP, while EPYC 72F3 mostly shows up through inconsistent older-market listings.

EPYC 72F3

2021

Ryzen 5 7600

2023

Why buy it

✅Better for gaming: +11.0% higher average FPS across 31 shared CPU benchmark tests.
✅Better for workstations and heavier parallel workloads: 8 cores / 16 threads.

Why buy it

✅Draws 65W instead of 180W, a 115W reduction.
✅Newer platform on AM5 with DDR5 support instead of SP3 and DDR4.
✅100+% more PCIe lanes (28 vs 0) for storage and expansion-heavy builds.
✅Integrated graphics onboard with Radeon Graphics (2-core), while EPYC 72F3 needs a discrete GPU.
✅Includes a boxed cooler (Yes), unlike EPYC 72F3.

Trade-offs

❌176.9% higher power demand at 180W vs 65W.
❌Older platform position on SP3 with DDR4, while Ryzen 5 7600 moves to AM5 and DDR5.
❌No integrated graphics, while Ryzen 5 7600 can still boot and troubleshoot without a discrete GPU.
❌No boxed cooler included, unlike Ryzen 5 7600.

Trade-offs

❌Worse for gaming: lower average FPS than EPYC 72F3 across 31 shared CPU benchmark tests.
❌Lower PassMark (27,013 vs 27,252).
❌Less compelling for workstation-style loads than EPYC 72F3, which brings 8 cores / 16 threads.
❌Launch MSRP is still $229 MSRP, while EPYC 72F3 mostly shows up through inconsistent older-market listings.

Quick Answers

So, is EPYC 72F3 better than Ryzen 5 7600?

Not in a simple one-size-fits-all way. EPYC 72F3 makes more sense for workstation-style multi-core throughput, while Ryzen 5 7600 is the better mainstream desktop choice for gaming, platform cost, and day-to-day practicality.

Which one is better for gaming?

If gaming is the priority, EPYC 72F3 is the better pick here. According to our tests, it delivers 11.0% more average FPS across 31 shared CPU game tests. It also has a big cache advantage at 256 MB vs 32 MB.

Which one is better for streaming, content creation, and heavy multitasking?

For streaming, content creation, and heavier multitasking, EPYC 72F3 is the better fit. You are getting 0.9% better PassMark, backed by 8 cores and 16 threads. It also carries the larger cache pool with 700% larger total L3 cache (256 MB vs 32 MB).

Which one is the smarter buy today, not just the cheaper CPU?

EPYC 72F3 is still the faster CPU overall, but Ryzen 5 7600 makes more sense if price matters more than absolute performance. EPYC 72F3 is at an unclear MSRP at unclear MSRP versus $229 MSRP, and it gives you a 11.0% average FPS lead across 31 shared CPU game tests in our data. Ryzen 5 7600 is also 100.0% better value on MSRP (118.0 vs 0.0 PassMark/$), which is why it is easier to justify for price-conscious builds on paper.

Which one is more future-proof for 2026 and beyond?

Ryzen 5 7600 is the more future-proof choice for 2026 and beyond. You are getting a newer CPU generation (2023 vs 2021), a healthier platform with AM5 and DDR5 instead of SP3, and AVX-512 support for heavier modern compute workloads. That should give you a better long-term upgrade path for motherboard, RAM, and future CPU swaps.

Games Benchmarks

Paired with RTX 4090

To accurately isolate CPU performance, all benchmarks below use an NVIDIA RTX 4090 as the reference GPU. This eliminates GPU-side bottlenecks and highlights pure processing throughput differences between the CPUs.

Note: Real-world results may vary based on your actual GPU. CPU performance impact is more visible in processing-intensive titles and high-refresh-rate gaming scenarios.

EPYC 72F3 Benchmark Check

Ryzen 5 7600 Benchmark Check

Path of Exile 2

Preset	EPYC 72F3	Ryzen 5 7600
1080p
low	231 FPS	261 FPS
medium	184 FPS	238 FPS
high	149 FPS	203 FPS
ultra	107 FPS	175 FPS
1440p
low	196 FPS	225 FPS
medium	151 FPS	187 FPS
high	117 FPS	152 FPS
ultra	86 FPS	134 FPS
4K
low	77 FPS	157 FPS
medium	63 FPS	131 FPS
high	49 FPS	101 FPS
ultra	40 FPS	88 FPS

Open EPYC 72F3 Open Ryzen 5 7600

Path of Exile 2

Path of Exile 2

Counter-Strike 2

Preset	EPYC 72F3	Ryzen 5 7600
1080p
low	583 FPS	588 FPS
medium	510 FPS	486 FPS
high	412 FPS	408 FPS
ultra	360 FPS	366 FPS
1440p
low	489 FPS	504 FPS
medium	436 FPS	432 FPS
high	362 FPS	368 FPS
ultra	300 FPS	318 FPS
4K
low	304 FPS	318 FPS
medium	274 FPS	277 FPS
high	245 FPS	258 FPS
ultra	220 FPS	225 FPS

Open EPYC 72F3 Open Ryzen 5 7600

Counter-Strike 2

Counter-Strike 2

League of Legends

Preset	EPYC 72F3	Ryzen 5 7600
1080p
low	681 FPS	675 FPS
medium	681 FPS	657 FPS
high	681 FPS	575 FPS
ultra	681 FPS	488 FPS
1440p
low	681 FPS	675 FPS
medium	597 FPS	559 FPS
high	534 FPS	483 FPS
ultra	466 FPS	412 FPS
4K
low	485 FPS	471 FPS
medium	387 FPS	396 FPS
high	343 FPS	345 FPS
ultra	277 FPS	284 FPS

Open EPYC 72F3 Open Ryzen 5 7600

League of Legends

League of Legends

Valorant

Preset	EPYC 72F3	Ryzen 5 7600
1080p
low	681 FPS	675 FPS
medium	681 FPS	675 FPS
high	681 FPS	675 FPS
ultra	681 FPS	675 FPS
1440p
low	681 FPS	675 FPS
medium	681 FPS	675 FPS
high	655 FPS	666 FPS
ultra	565 FPS	573 FPS
4K
low	643 FPS	567 FPS
medium	574 FPS	504 FPS
high	499 FPS	454 FPS
ultra	427 FPS	392 FPS

Open EPYC 72F3 Open Ryzen 5 7600

Valorant

Valorant

Check FPS for your specific build

Technical Specifications

Side-by-side comparison of EPYC 72F3 and Ryzen 5 7600

EPYC 72F3

The EPYC 72F3 is manufactured by AMD. It was released in 15 March 2021 (4 years ago). It is based on the Milan (2021−2023) architecture. It features 8 cores and 16 threads. Base frequency is 3.7 GHz, with boost up to 4.1 GHz. L3 cache: 256 MB (total). L2 cache: 512 kB (per core). Built on 7 nm+ process technology. Socket: SP3. Thermal design power (TDP): 180 Watt. Memory support: DDR4-3200. Passmark benchmark score: 27,252 points. Launch price was $2,468.

Ryzen 5 7600

The Ryzen 5 7600 is manufactured by AMD. It was released in 14 January 2023 (2 years ago). It is based on the Raphael (Zen4) (2022−2023) architecture. It features 6 cores and 12 threads. Base frequency is 3.8 GHz, with boost up to 5.1 GHz. L3 cache: 32 MB (total). L2 cache: 1 MB (per core). Built on 5 nm process technology. Socket: AM5. Thermal design power (TDP): 65 Watt. Memory support: DDR5-5200. Passmark benchmark score: 27,013 points. Launch price was $229.

⚡

Processing Power

The EPYC 72F3 packs 8 cores / 16 threads, while the Ryzen 5 7600 offers 6 cores / 12 threads — the EPYC 72F3 has 2 more cores. Boost clocks reach 4.1 GHz on the EPYC 72F3 versus 5.1 GHz on the Ryzen 5 7600 — a 21.7% clock advantage for the Ryzen 5 7600 (base: 3.7 GHz vs 3.8 GHz). The EPYC 72F3 uses the Milan (2021−2023) architecture (7 nm+), while the Ryzen 5 7600 uses Raphael (Zen4) (2022−2023) (5 nm). In PassMark, the EPYC 72F3 scores 27,252 against the Ryzen 5 7600's 27,013 — a 0.9% lead for the EPYC 72F3. L3 cache: 256 MB (total) on the EPYC 72F3 vs 32 MB (total) on the Ryzen 5 7600.

Feature	EPYC 72F3	Ryzen 5 7600
Cores / Threads	8 / 16+33%	6 / 12
Boost Clock	4.1 GHz	5.1 GHz+24%
Base Clock	3.7 GHz	3.8 GHz+3%
L3 Cache	256 MB (total)+700%	32 MB (total)
L2 Cache	512 kB (per core)	1 MB (per core)+100%
Process	7 nm+	5 nm-29%
Architecture	Milan (2021−2023)	Raphael (Zen4) (2022−2023)
PassMark	27,252	27,013
Cinebench R23 Multi	—	14,500
Geekbench 6 Single	—	2,800
Geekbench 6 Multi	—	12,000

🧠

Memory & Platform

The EPYC 72F3 uses the SP3 socket (PCIe 4.0), while the Ryzen 5 7600 uses AM5 (PCIe 5.0) — making them incompatible on the same motherboard.

Feature	EPYC 72F3	Ryzen 5 7600
Socket	SP3	AM5
PCIe Generation	PCIe 4.0	PCIe 5.0+25%
Max RAM Speed	—	DDR5-5200
Max RAM Capacity	—	128 GB
RAM Channels	—	2
ECC Support	—	Yes
PCIe Lanes	—	28

🔧

Advanced Features

Virtualization: not specified (EPYC 72F3) / AMD-V (Ryzen 5 7600). The Ryzen 5 7600 includes integrated graphics (Radeon Graphics (2-core)), while the EPYC 72F3 requires a dedicated GPU. Primary use case: Ryzen 5 7600 targets Gaming. Direct competitor: Ryzen 5 7600 rivals Core i5-13400.