AMD Ryzen 5 desktop CPU officially began selling last Tuesday. This is the mid-range follow-on to the premium Ryzen 7 desktop CPUs. And for the most part, these mid-range CPUs received mostly positive reviews from credible sources.

As for the Ryzen 5, AMD announced that there will be 4 models including a pair of 6-core CPUS and 2 quad-core models. In fact, AMD has already been shipping these mid-range CPUs for weeks into channel and system builder OEMs, although Tuesday was the official start for the end customer to begin buying these babies.

Now, speaking of positivity when it comes to the arrival of the Ryzen 5, it does not necessarily mean the CPU won every single measurement conducted. But it did, however, win when you factor in its pricing, for the most part.

AMD Ryzen 5 1600X. Configured similarly to Intel's Core i7-6800K, the 1600X stands as the flagship CPU of the Ryzen 5 family. And like Ryzen 7, it, obviously, uses the new "Zen" architecture and boasts 6 cores and 12 threads. It has a base clock of 3.6 GHz, with a boost speed of up to 4GHz.

AMD added that this flagship CPU will be 70 percent faster than the Core i5-7600K when measuring multithreaded performance in Cinebench. Also, pricing-wise, it is at $359. 

AMD Ryzen 5 1600. Now, for $39 less, the 1600 is another 6-core, 12-thread processor with a 3.2GHz base clock, 3.6GHz turbo clock, and 3.7GHz XFR clock.

Now, for an ever better pricing, you can get the AMD Ryzen 5 1600 at Jet.com for $188 by simply using the promo code SPRING15. Now, that's $132 in savings.

AMD Ryzen 5 1500X and 1400. These represent the Sunnyvale chipmaker's new 4-core, 8-thread processors. While the 1500X has a base close of 3.5GHz and a boost of 3.7GHz, the AMD Ryzen 5 1400 runs at 3.2GHz but can boost to 3.4GHz.

Pricing-wise, the 1500X stands at $275, whereas the 1400 is at $245. What these prices indicate is that these new processors compete at the lower-end (locked) Core i5s and higher-end Core i3s.

Wraith coolers. AMD introduced that Wraith Spire, a new and enhanced cooler that offers enhanced air cooling and also programmed with cool lighting effects. This cooler will ship along with the 1600 and 1500X. As for the 1400, the Wraith Stealth will ship with it. It is a lower cost, lower feature cooler.

So, if you haven't gotten the Ryzen 7, now's your chance to grab hold of the AMD Ryzen 5 CPUs. This new family of CPUs looks rather competitive given their specs and pricing. AMD has indeed shaken things up a bit in the industry with the introduction of the "Zen" architecture.

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