AMD Ryzen 5 1500X 4-core AM4

The Ryzen 5 1500X posts a 9061 PassMark multi-thread score and a 4.5/5 rating from 948 buyers. It's a 4-core, 8-thread budget chip with a 65W TDP and included cooler. Find it cheap and it's a steal, pay full refurb price and you're overpaying.

The 9061 multi-thread PassMark score is solid, middle of the pack territory, but the real story is what that means for everyday use. Eight threads keep background tasks from choking your game or render. The 2107 single-thread score is about average too, but it's enough to keep older titles and esports games smooth. The 3.7GHz boost clock is the same as the base clock, so don't expect much headroom without manual overclocking. And yes, it's unlocked, so you can push it if your board and cooling allow.

Feature-wise it lands at the 75th percentile, which is impressive for a chip this old. You get ECC memory support, PCIe 3.0, and the Wraith Spire cooler in the box. The 16MB of L3 cache helps with gaming and productivity workloads. Efficiency is the standout at the 66th percentile, and the 65W TDP means it sips power compared to the FX chips it replaced.

Against the Dell Xeon E5-2637 V2, the 1500X trades blows depending on workload. The Xeon leans server-focused while the Ryzen is more of a generalist with better gaming chops. The Intel Ryzen 5 LE80537GF0534M is a confusingly named competitor that doesn't match the 1500X's thread count or efficiency. The ADVB3 Phenom II X6 HDT90ZFBGRBOX is ancient by comparison, six cores but no SMT and much older architecture. The be quiet! Ryzen 3 Dark Rock Pro 5 and Thermal Grizzly Ryzen 7 CSF-AM5 are cooler and newer parts respectively, but they cost more and target different use cases. For pure budget gaming and light productivity, the 1500X holds its own.

Pricing is all over the place. In the US you'll find listings from USD 34 to USD 81, a USD 47 spread across just two listings. The lower end is an absolute steal for an 8-thread chip with a cooler. In Europe the gap is even wider, EUR 63 to EUR 209 across four listings, so shop carefully. The budget score of 64.2 out of 100 reflects that this chip makes sense when you find it cheap, not when you pay top dollar for a refurb unit.

The Ryzen 5 1500X posts a PassMark multi-thread score of 9061 and a single-thread score of 2107. That puts it right around the 60th percentile for both, which sounds modest until you remember this chip launched in 2017 and still shows up in refurb listings for pocket change. Four cores, eight threads, 16MB of L3 cache, and a 65W TDP. It's a budget workhorse that refuses to die.

Our database ranks it at the 80th percentile for social proof, backed by a 4.5 out of 5 rating across 948 reviews. Buyers upgrading from older FX chips report massive framerate jumps in games like PUBG. The efficiency score of 67.9 out of 100 is the strongest of its use-case ratings, which makes sense given the 65W envelope and included Wraith Spire cooler.

Skip this if you need strong server performance. The server score of 53.5 out of 100 is the weakest area by far. Also skip it if you're building a new system from scratch with a modern motherboard, PCIe 3.0 and the AM4 socket limit your upgrade path. And if you're paying more than USD 81 or EUR 209, you're in used Ryzen 5 3600 territory, which is a much better buy.

The Ryzen 5 1500X is a budget chip that still makes sense in 2025 if you find it at the right price. The 9061 multi-thread score and 8 threads handle modern multitasking better than you'd expect from a 2017 part. The 4.5/5 rating from 948 buyers isn't hype, people genuinely like this chip. Just don't overpay. At USD 34 it's a no-brainer. At USD 81 you're better off saving for something newer.