AMD's high-end Ryzen 5000 CPUs don't come with coolers because they're 'optimised for enthusiasts'

AMD Wraith Cooler
(Image credit: AMD)

AMD's Ryzen 5000 series CPUs have been announced, and they're looking like the gaming chips from the red team that we've always wanted, nay, needed. There's just one thing, only the cheapest of the lot, the Ryzen 5 5600X, includes a CPU cooler, the low-profile Wraith Stealth.

It's not that surprising that these chips don't come with coolers. While we were rather smitten with the bundled chip chillers, they were surprisingly capable for effectively free gear, they were also notably absent with two out of three of the Ryzen refresh earlier this year, which saw the release of three chips: the Ryzen 9 3900XT, Ryzen 7 3800XT, and Ryzen 5 3600XT.

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AMD Ryzen 5000 CPUs
CPURyzen 9 5950XRyzen 9 5900XRyzen 7 5800XRyzen 5 5600X
Cores/threads16/3212/248/166/12
Base clock (GHz)4.33.73.83.7
Boost clock (GHz)4.94.84.74.6
L2 + L3 Cache72MB70MB36MB35MB
PackageAM4AM4AM4AM4
Process nodeTSMC 7nmTSMC 7nmTSMC 7nmTSMC 7nm
TDP105W105W105W65W
CoolerNoneNoneNoneWraith Stealth
Price$799$549$449$299

According to AMD's website, only the Ryzen 5 5600X will come with an included cooler. That will be the Wraith Stealth, which is a slight step down from the Wraith Spire included with the Ryzen 5 3600XT. The other high-end Ryzen 5000 chips announced so far won't because they're "optimised for enthusiasts".

AMD does recommend that high-end CPUs be cooled with liquid cooling (or a high-end air cooler, let's not forget those), so it's no surprise that it's moved to ditch the included cooler near-enough altogether. It's a shame, however, I was a big fan of the Wraith Prism.

Jacob Ridley
Senior Hardware Editor

Jacob earned his first byline writing for his own tech blog. From there, he graduated to professionally breaking things as hardware writer at PCGamesN, and would go on to run the team as hardware editor. Since then he's joined PC Gamer's top staff as senior hardware editor, where he spends his days reporting on the latest developments in the technology and gaming industries and testing the newest PC components.