AMD has officially launched the Ryzen 5 9500F, a new addition to its Ryzen 9000 series based on the cutting-edge Zen 5 architecture. Positioned as a budget-friendly option for gamers, this 6-core, 12-thread processor promises significant performance improvements over its predecessor, the Ryzen 5 7500F. However, for now, the Ryzen 5 9500F is exclusive to the Chinese market, following a strategy AMD previously employed with the Ryzen 5 7500F.
AMD has released slides outlining the specifications and expected performance of its upcoming Ryzen 5 9500F compared to its predecessor. The chip comes with a 6-core, 12-thread design, a 3.8 GHz base clock, and a boost clock of up to 5.0 GHz. While that makes it 400 MHz slower than the Ryzen 5 9600X, most of its specifications remain unchanged, including the L2+L3 cache size and the 65W TDP. Positioned as the successor to the Ryzen 5 7500F, the 9500F benefits from the newer Zen 5 architecture, which AMD claims delivers tangible improvements in gaming.
According to AMD’s data, the Ryzen 5 9500F can be up to 24% faster in titles like Baldur’s Gate 3, though the average uplift across ten AAA games is around 9%. Performance varies depending on the title—while F1 2023 and Black Myth: Wukong show slight regressions, games such as Elden Ring, Watch Dogs: Legion, and Far Cry 6 see double-digit gains. In competitive gaming benchmarks, the processor shows an average 11% improvement across ten titles. All of AMD’s tests were conducted at 1080p with high settings, but real-world results may differ.
Third-party testing paints a more modest picture. Benchmarks posted on Bilibili suggest the Ryzen 5 9500F is only about 3.5% faster than the 7500F when paired with a GeForce RTX 5080, with most tests run using DLSS rather than native resolution. The apparent uplift is largely driven by DOTA 2 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, while performance in most other games remains nearly identical. In practice, gamers are unlikely to notice significant differences between the two CPUs in real-world scenarios.
The Ryzen 5 9500F is launched at 1,299 Yuan (approximately $181 USD before taxes), the 9500F is roughly $20 cheaper than the Ryzen 5 9600X in China.