AMD Ryzen 5 1500X, 6 Cores & 12 Threads Unlocked Processor with Wraith Spire Cooler

The Ryzen 5 1500X Processor is very powerful for its price and TDP. Upgrading from my old PC was night and day difference and the 4 Cores 8 threads will assure my PC a longer life span as programs get more advanced and demanding. The only problem I encountered was with the platform in general. I was unable to even use my PC for the first month and a half due to blue screening and bad drivers/ bios versions. To be honest, it was a nightmare, but after replacing all of my parts (other than working ones) finally replacing the SSD and installing windows 10 via USB did the trick and it has appeared to work great ever since. Anyways, here is my simple list of Pros and Cons.PROS:1. Good Bang for the Buck ($189 here or 169 sometimes on eBay) for 4 solid Cores and 8 threads!2. Very power efficient compared to the Amd FX cpus with a TDP of 65W3. I haven't personally tried it yet, but this CPU has a pretty effective overclock.4. The stock cooler is actually really good. My temps have never reached really hot temps even when gaming. Also, the cooler matches my black/silver themed build quite well surprisingly.CONS (Not really the CPU's fault)1. The platform has a fairly rough beginning as memory support is sketchy and early versions of Windows 10 can prevent it from working.-Solution: Check your motherboard RAM compatibility and install the latest Windows 10 via USB.Because this issue isn't on the CPU exclusively, I will still confidently give this product a 5 stars!

So far so good. Besides your typical custom build stuff like the standoff on the mobo is goofy, came across these issues:- Needed to take two plastic brackets off of the Asus mother board to get the AMD supplied fan on.- It was not easy to get the fan on. Not impossible, just not easy.- The fan can go on two ways, I think I guessed wrong, so the fan cable is flopping around.- I didn't know this, on newer mobo there is an 8 pin header that you are supposed to plug in a power cable from the power supply. It looks like the six pin of a video card. If you don't have this from your power supply, no power to CPU, and no POST. Don't ask how I know.- Have not overclocked. With an older nVidia GTX 650 video card can play RocketLeague at 60 fps on a 1080p monitor with everything turned up. To be honest, might be overkill, but once you buy a mobo/cpu/memory, its $$$ again. Can get a 4K monitor and a GTX 1080 later.- The Asus mobo has this thing were it can control the fan speed. So you don't even need Task Manager, just listen to the fans. The AMD didn't even break a sweat. at the above settings. This is in the basement at about 67°F, your results may vary.- If you do a search on AMD Wraith Spire, you will see a red ring of LEDs on the top. THIS UNIT DOES NOT COME WITH THAT. The higher 1600 gets it. It says so on the AMD website. You did not get cheated. Again, don't ask. Its not a big deal unless you are into that thing. And if you are, you can go buy one.Update ....Found out that Google's Android Development Studio has an emulator, and the emulator uses some Intel-only instructions (HAMX?), so any AMD uP will run slower. This is something that applies to like 0.1% of the population, but just thought I should point it out. All uP basically translate the instructions into native microcode, its just that Intel does something directly, and Google has decided to only support Intel. Something about hyper-threading and virtualization. If you search "Android Development AMD' you will come across various posts describing the details.

what can I say! I like AMD, and even if it's not ideal for every application like Intel, Ryzen 1500X was still a huge jump in performance for me.Just used the Ryzen master overclocker utility and used it with the ab350gaming Mobo, meant I could OC this machine literally first thing from stock 3.5Ghz, to 3.9+ghz, stable with my cooling solution. The Ryzen chips run very cool, especially this 1500x. I did NOT use the stock Spire Cooler (I use liquid cooling), but the cooler you get is one of the best in the box coolers I've ever seen.Be careful do NOT use AMD Overdrive like you might have used on your older FX series AM3+ or other AMDS.I made that mistake and had serious issues to solve before the machine would even boot up.Overal, Intel is better for gaming and many normal user activities, even after the recent problems with Intel chips and the recent emergency patch that slowed down peoples CPU. However, for bang for the buck or you use CPU intensive programs like video encoding, etc - This CPU will do it for you!

Thoroughly pleased with this lightning fast CPU.AMD's new Ryzen series processors are absolutely game changers, in the way of performance, to price. Even on the lower end of the spectrum, the 1500X, with its 4 cores, and 8 threads, it absolutely demolishes everyday tasks, and even full fledged 4K gaming. It's great for rendering, content creation, and just about anything else you can throw at it. The optimizations for this new line of CPU's just keep improving their stability. You just can't go wrong with Ryzen.I will say though, if I had it to do over again, I would have spent the extra $20 to get the Ryzen 1600, as it has 2 more physical cores, and 4 more virtual threads, which increases capabilities literally by 50%, for only a few more dollars. I advise anyone on a budget to feel completely secure in purchasing ANY Ryzen CPU, including the modest 1400. I now own 2 Ryzen-based PC's. I simply can't imagine why I would EVER purchase another one from Intel. Intel is out for a cash-grab & has ZERO interest in providing you with value for quality. Stick with Ryzen, and you'll be glad you did!Cons: None, zero. Buy it while it's cheap!