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Quick Answer
The Ryzen 5 5500 can bottleneck the RTX 4060 by 10-18% at 1080p due to its limited L3 cache (16MB vs 32MB on the 5600). At 1440p, the gap narrows to 6-10%. The 5500 is viable but the 5600 is a significantly better choice for a small price premium.
The Ryzen 5 5500 looks similar to the 5600 on paper - both have 6 cores and 12 threads. However, the 5500 has half the L3 cache (16MB vs 32MB), which significantly impacts gaming performance.
Modern games rely heavily on fast cache access. The 5500's 16MB L3 cache means more frequent trips to slower RAM, resulting in lower frame rates and worse 1% lows. This is especially noticeable in open-world games with lots of data streaming.
The Ryzen 5 5600 costs only $20-30 AUD more than the 5500 but delivers 15-18% better gaming performance. Dollar for dollar, it is one of the best upgrades you can make. The 5600 also supports PCIe Gen 4, while the 5500 is limited to Gen 3.
If the 5500 is truly all you can afford, it still plays every game. You just will not get the full potential of the RTX 4060. Consider it a temporary CPU and upgrade to a 5600 or 5600X when possible.
Our Verdict
Spend the extra $20-30 AUD for the Ryzen 5 5600 instead of the 5500. The doubled L3 cache makes a massive difference in gaming. The 5500 works but leaves too much RTX 4060 performance on the table.