AMD’s 12-core Ryzen 9 7900X carries a $549 price ticket that slots in between Intel’s flagship Core i9 and Core i7 chips, however its efficiency defies the center floor placement. Given its worth level and gaming efficiency that matches or exceeds Intel’s best, paired with robust efficiency in desktop PC purposes, the Ryzen 9 7900X seems to be a contender for our record of Finest CPUs and our CPU Benchmark hierarchy. However there’s much more at play than simply chip pricing.
Like the opposite Ryzen 7000 ‘Raphael’ processors, the 7900X comes armed with the brand new Zen 4 structure, which will increase IPC by ~13%, etched on the TSMC 5nm course of. That combo delivers unbelievable peak clocks of 5.6 GHz — a mere 100 MHz shy of the 5.7 GHz you will get with the 16-core flagship Ryzen 9 7950X. It’s additionally surprisingly the next clock velocity than we see with even Intel’s quickest chips, not less than till the corporate’s 6 GHz Raptor Lake chips come to market.
| Worth | Cores / Threads (P+E) | Base / Increase Clock (GHz) | Cache (L2+L3) | TDP / Max | Reminiscence | |
| Ryzen 9 7950X | $699 | 16 / 32 | 4.5 / 5.7 | 80MB | 170W / 230W | DDR5-5200 |
| Ryzen 9 7900X | $549 | 12 / 24 | 4.7 / 5.6 | 76MB | 170W / 230W | DDR5-5200 |
| Ryzen 7 7700X | $399 | 8 / 16 | 4.5 / 5.4 | 40MB | 105W / 142W | DDR5-5200 |
| Ryzen 5 7600X | $299 | 6 / 12 | 4.7 / 5.3 | 38MB | 105W / 142W | DDR5-5200 |
Different advances make the Ryzen 7000 chips compelling. AMD has even developed its personal EXPO DDR5 reminiscence profiles for overclocking, rivaling Intel’s XMP customary. The Ryzen 7000 chips additionally come loaded with different new tech, like a brand new Radeon RDNA 2 iGPU for primary show output and assist for AVX-512 and AI directions.
Paired with vastly improved energy supply, courtesy of a brand new platform, AMD’s course of and structure advances ship actually explosive efficiency positive aspects — however there are a couple of gotchas.
AMD’s Zen 4 chips drop into the brand new AM5 socket on 600-series motherboards. The platform helps the newest interfaces, like DDR5 and PCIe 5.0, largely matching Intel’s connectivity choices. Nonetheless, in distinction to Intel’s platform, which helps both expensive DDR5 or extra inexpensive DDR4, the AM5 platform solely helps DDR5 reminiscence. That provides price to your construct.
AMD’s preliminary launch contains AM5 motherboards with the X670 and X670E chipsets, however they carry heavy premiums in comparison with related Intel boards — and that is with direct comparisons of DDR5 motherboards. The image turns into much more lopsided once we examine DDR4 choices. And it would not seem like the B-series motherboards can be as inexpensive as we have seen previously, including one other layer of extra price over related Intel-powered methods.
Regardless of its spectacular efficiency in a variety of apps, these pricing elements conspire to make the Ryzen 9 7900X much less interesting than the sticker worth suggests — this chip is definitely ripe for a giant worth discount.
Ryzen 9 7900X Specs and Pricing
| Worth | Cores / Threads (P+E) | P-Core Base / Increase Clock (GHz) | E-Core Base / Increase Clock (GHz) | Cache (L2/L3) | TDP / PBP / MTP | Reminiscence | |
| Core i9-13900K / KF | $589 (Okay) – $564 (KF) | 24 / 32 (8+16) | 3.0 / 5.8 | 2.2 / 4.3 | 68MB (32+36) | 125W / 253W | DDR4-3200 / DDR5-5600 |
| Ryzen 9 7950X | $699 | 16 / 32 | 4.5 / 5.7 | – | 80MB (16+64) | 170W / 230W | DDR5-5200 |
| Core i9-12900K / KF | $589 (Okay) – $564 (KF) | 16 / 24 (8+8) | 3.2 / 5.2 | 2.4 / 3.9 | 44MB (14+30) | 125W / 241W | DDR4-3200 / DDR5-4800 |
| Ryzen 9 7900X | $549 | 12 / 24 | 4.7 / 5.6 | – | 76MB (12+64) | 170W / 230W | DDR5-5200 |
| Ryzen 9 5900X | $398 ($549) | 12 / 24 | 3.7 / 4.8 | – | 70MB (6+64) | 105W | DDR5-5200 |
| Core i7-13700K / KF | $409 (Okay) – $384 (KF) | 16 / 24 (8+8) | 3.4 / 5.4 | 2.5 / 4.2 | 54MB (24+30) | 125W / 253W | DDR4-3200 / DDR5-5600 |
| Core i7-12700K / KF | $409 (Okay) – $384 (KF) | 12 / 20 (8+4) | 3.6 / 5.0 | 2.7 / 3.8 | 37MB (12+25) | 125W / 190W | DDR4-3200 / DDR5-4800 |
| Ryzen 7 7700X | $399 | 8 / 16 | 4.5 / 5.4 | – | 40MB (8+32) | 105W / 142W | DDR5-5200 |
| Ryzen 5 7600X | $299 | 6 / 12 | 4.7 / 5.3 | – | 38MB (6+32) | 105W / 142W | DDR5-5200 |
| Core i5-13600K / KF | $319 (Okay) – $294 (KF) | 14 / 20 (6+8) | 3.5 / 5.1 | 2.6 / 3.9 | 44MB (20+24) | 125W / 181W | DDR4-3200 / DDR5-5600 |
| Core i5-12600K / KF | $289 (Okay) – $264 (KF) | 10 / 16 (6+4) | 3.7 / 4.9 | 2.8 / 3.6 | 29.5MB (9.5+20) | 125W / 150W | DDR4-3200 / DDR5-4800 |
The 12-core 24-thread Ryzen 9 7900X lands at $549, the identical launch worth as its predecessor, positioning it to compete with each the $589 Core i9-12900K and the $409 Core i7-12700K which are already in the marketplace. Intel has surprisingly saved its pricing for its new Raptor Lake Core i9 and i7 much like the prevailing fashions, so the 7900X may even finally compete with the Core i9-13900K and Core i7-13700K once they arrive this month.
The 7900X comes with 4 fewer cores than the 16-core Ryzen 9 7950X flagship, however has a 4.7 GHz base clock and a 5.6 GHz enhance. It additionally has 64MB of L3 cache, just like the flagship mannequin, and an similar 170W/230W TDP/peak energy ranking. That is a 65W improve over the previous-gen Ryzen 9 5900X and a document for AMD’s Ryzen household. This elevated energy consumption is partially resulting from AMD’s drastically improved energy supply with the AM5 socket — it delivers way more energy to maintain the cores absolutely powered throughout heavy load — however it leads to greater chip temperatures.
The Ryzen 9 7900X doesn’t include a bundled cooler; as an alternative, AMD recommends a 240-280mm liquid cooler or equal. Even for those who use a robust cooler, you need to anticipate the highest-end Ryzen processors to run at greater temperatures than we’re accustomed to. Loaded temperatures repeatedly attain 90C to 95C, even with a robust cooler. AMD says that is anticipated habits — the chip is designed to eat all out there thermal headroom to offer quicker efficiency. The 95C thermal threshold is inside protected working limits, so it received’t end in degradation. Should you’re involved about chip temperatures, AMD has an easily-activated ECO mode that reduces the TDP of any given processor to its best level on the voltage/frequency curve. That considerably reduces temperatures, however it does scale back efficiency.
The Raphael processors drop into a brand new AM5 socket that helps the PCIe 5.0 and DDR5 interfaces, matching Alder Lake on the connectivity entrance. The Socket AM5 motherboards can expose as much as 24 lanes of PCIe 5.0 to the consumer. We’ve an intensive roundup of twenty 600-series motherboards right here.
Ryzen 7000 helps DDR5-5200 for those who set up one DIMM per channel (1DPC), however that drops to DDR5-3600 for 2DPC. AMD additionally launched the brand new EXPO reminiscence overclocking spec to compete with Intel’s XMP. EXPO profiles are designed for AMD processors to permit one-click reminiscence overclocking to predefined speeds. Yow will discover EXPO kits with speeds reaching as much as DDR5-6400.
The Ryzen 7000 processors include the N5 TSMC 5nm course of node for the core compute die (CCD) and the TSMC 6nm course of for the I/O Die (IOD). The Ryzen 9 7900X has two lively CCDs, however AMD disables 4 cores to create the 12-core design. You may study extra about this design in our Zen 4 Ryzen 7000 all we all know article.
The RDNA 2 iGPU is designed to offer primary show output capabilities solely. The RDNA 2 iGPU comes with two compute models, 4 ACE, and 1 HWS, so gaming is off the desk. You may see the iGPU gaming leads to our Ryzen 9 7950X evaluation, however the brief model is that they are the slowest built-in graphics on a contemporary processor that we’re conscious of, however they work nice for normal show duties.
The built-in graphics are appealling for troubleshooting and OEM methods, although, and it has different redeeming qualities. For instance, the iGPU helps AV1 and VP9 decode, H.264 and HVEC encode and decode, USB Kind-C with DisplayPort Alt Mode, DisplayPort 2.0, and HDMI 2.1. You additionally get assist for 4K60 and hybrid graphics.
Ryzen 9 7900X Benchmark Take a look at Setup
We examined the Ryzen 7000 processors with an ASRock X670E Taichi motherboard. We examined all Intel configurations with DDR5 reminiscence, however yow will discover efficiency knowledge for DDR4 configurations in our CPU Benchmark hierarchy. We additionally examined with safe boot, virtualization assist, and fTPM/PTT lively to mirror a correctly configured Home windows 11 set up.
Our overclocks have been somewhat simple — we enabled the auto-overclocking Precision Increase Overdrive (PBO) characteristic with ‘superior motherboard’ settings and adjusted the scalar setting to 10X. For our overclocked AMD configurations, we enabled the DDR5-6000 EXPO profile for the reminiscence equipment. This additionally routinely allows the AMD-recommended Auto setting for the material and a 1:1 ratio for the reminiscence frequency and reminiscence controller (Auto:1:1 is the beneficial setting for reminiscence overclocking with Ryzen 7000). Yow will discover additional particulars within the desk on the finish of the article.
Gaming Efficiency on Ryzen 9 7900X — The TLDR
Under you may see the geometric imply of our gaming checks at 1080p and 1440p, with every decision break up into its personal chart. Remember {that a} totally different mixture of sport titles may yield considerably totally different outcomes (notably with the Ryzen 7 5800X3D), however this serves as a strong total indicator of gaming efficiency. As ordinary, we’re testing with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 to cut back GPU-imposed bottlenecks as a lot as attainable, and variations between check topics will shrink with lesser playing cards or greater resolutions. You will discover additional game-by-game breakdowns beneath.
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The $549 Ryzen 9 7900X is loads spectacular in gaming, successfully matching the $699 Ryzen 9 7950X at 1080p with each inventory and overclocked settings. The Ryzen 9 7900X additionally fares nicely in opposition to the dearer $589 Core i9-12900K, main it by 5% at inventory settings, and tying after overclocking.
The Ryzen 9 7900X can be 9% quicker than the inventory $409 Core i7-12700K, and a couple of.7% quicker after tuning. However bear in mind it additionally prices 34% extra, which means the 12700K is the higher bang on your gaming buck. And that is earlier than we issue within the greater DDR5 and motherboard prices related to the AM5 platform.
We usually suggest Ryzen 5 or Core i5 for many devoted gaming rigs, and the $299 Ryzen 5 7600X and $399 Ryzen 7 7700X are the right examples of why. Each of those chips present inside 1 to 2 % of the efficiency of the Ryzen 9 7900X however are a lot inexpensive. Which means the 7900X isn’t a superb worth for those who’re strictly occupied with gaming.
The 7900X does signify a giant generational enchancment, although — the Ryzen 9 7900X is 15% quicker than its prior-gen counterpart, the Zen 3-powered Ryzen 9 5900X, which additionally comes with 12 cores.
Nonetheless, Intel solely wants to realize ~5% with Raptor Lake to match the 7900X in gaming, setting the stage for fairly the competitors subsequent month.
AMD’s personal $430 Ryzen 7 5800X3D stays the quickest gaming chip in the marketplace by a good margin, however this highly-specialized chip comes with caveats — its 3D V-Cache would not enhance efficiency in all video games. Moreover, the 5800X3D is optimized particularly for gaming, however it will probably’t maintain tempo with similarly-priced chips in productiveness purposes. AMD will convey not less than one Zen 4-powered Ryzen 7000 processor with 3D V-cache to market this yr, so that you would possibly wish to take into account ready a couple of extra months for those who’re after a specialised gaming chip.
| Tom’s {Hardware} | 1080p Sport Benchmarks – fps %age |
| $430 — Ryzen 7 5800X3D | 100% |
| $699 — Ryzen 9 7950X | 93.4% |
| $549 — Ryzen 9 7900X | 92.9% |
| $399 — Ryzen 7 7700X | 92.4% |
| $299 — Ryzen 5 7600X | 91.3% |
| $589 — Core i9-12900K | 82.3% |
| $409 — Core i7-12700K | 85.2% |
Naturally, the variations between the chips shrink once we swap over to 1440p and produce a GPU bottleneck into play, however the story stays largely related, with scant variations between the chips on the high of the leaderboard. The competitors between Intel and AMD is even nearer now, so it is best to make an knowledgeable resolution based mostly on the sorts of titles you play incessantly.
3D Mark DX11, DX12, and Chess Engines on AMD Ryzen 9 7900X
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Artificial benchmarks do not translate nicely to real-world gaming, however they present us the uncooked quantity of computing energy uncovered to sport engines. It is too dangerous most video games do not absolutely exploit it.
The VRMark benchmark is exceptionally delicate to single-threaded efficiency and reminiscence latency. Right here the Ryzen 7000 collection shines, with decrease core depend fashions taking the lead whereas the beefier 7950X and 7900X fill out the ranks, sustaining a noticeable lead over the Intel comparables.
The Ryzen 9 7900X is quicker than the Core i9-12900K within the DX11 CPU checks, however Intel’s Core i9 and i7 nonetheless maintain the lead in DX12. The heavily-threaded chess engine benchmarks additionally revenue from Ryzen 7000’s improved multi-threaded efficiency. The 7900X simply beats the 12900K in each benchmarks.
Far Cry 6 on AMD Ryzen 9 7900X
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The Ryzen 9 7900X lives as much as what we anticipate, which is 7950X-rivaling efficiency in some video games, notably after overclocking. Surprisingly, the 7900X outperforms the Ryzen 7 5800X3D on this title, however that is a uncommon incidence on this suite of sport benchmarks. The Ryzen 9 7900X is 8% quicker than the 12900K and 14.6% quicker than the 12700K.
We see roughly the anticipated uptick from overclocking the Ryzen 7000 fashions, however you’ll discover the Alder Lake chips undergo from decrease 99th percentile measurements after tuning. That’s an attention-grabbing and repeatable situation, however it appears to be confined to this title in our suite.
F1 2021 on AMD Ryzen 9 7900X
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The Ryzen 7 5800X3D takes the general lead, which we’ll see rather a lot as we flip by these titles, however keep in mind that this chip could be finicky — some titles see little to no uplift.
The Ryzen 7000 chips take the highest of the chart in total framerates, however like their prior-gen counterparts, they’ve proportionally decrease 99th percentile framerates than the Alder Lake processors. Nonetheless, we didn’t discover any outwardly seen tough play, and we’re taking a look at framerates in extra of 300 fps, so that is extra of an attention-grabbing tendency than one thing that manifests as noticeably poor efficiency.
The Zen 4 chips take a giant lead over the inventory Intel comparables — even the heavily-overclocked Core i9-12900K struggles to maintain tempo with the inventory Ryzen 7000 processors. We’re pushing previous 300 fps with this title, although, so the variations will not be noticeable throughout gameplay.
Hitman 3 on AMD Ryzen 9 7900X
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Intel used to get pleasure from a sizeable lead over Ryzen in Hitman 3 as a result of the sport is particularly tuned to leverage the E-cores by offloading low-priority duties like physics to the small cores. Ryzen 7000 improves AMD’s standing drastically, with the inventory Ryen 9 7900X operating neck-and-neck with the dearer Core i9-12900K at inventory settings. Intel nonetheless holds the benefit after overclocking, although.
Horizon Zero Daybreak on AMD Ryzen 9 7900X
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Horizon Zero Daybreak doesn’t scale exceptionally nicely with extra host processing energy, so like lots of the titles you’ll see in the true world, the delta between the highest-end chips could be slight.
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2021 on AMD Ryzen 9 7900X
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The Ryzen 7 5800X3D is solely excellent on this title, highlighting that the chip can present big speedups in some titles. Nonetheless, that may skew total rankings. That is why the chip is, on common, the quickest gaming chip on the earth, however bear in mind that it will probably change drastically based mostly on the sport you’re enjoying.
The Ryzen processors, together with the previous-gen fashions, beat Intel’s Alder Lake at inventory settings. Regardless of Intel’s huge overclocking positive aspects, the tuned Ryzen chips land inside a couple of % of their price-comparable opponents.
Pink Useless Redemption 2 on AMD Ryzen 9 7900X
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The Zen 4 Ryzen 9 chips do not achieve a lot from overclocking on this title, however they do not want a lot assist as they beat even the heavily-overclocked Core i9-12900K once they’re at inventory settings.
Watch Canine Legion on AMD Ryzen 9 7900X
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Watch Canine Legion brings a much-needed win for the 12900K as we shut out our gaming benchmarks. Nonetheless, the 12900K’s lead over the 7900X is slim.
Desktop PC Software Benchmarks on Ryzen 9 7900X — the TLDR
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The 16-core Ryzen 9 7950X completely dominates our cumulative measurement of multi-threaded efficiency, however the $549 Ryzen 9 7900X can be spectacular, with a 14% lead over the $598 Core i9-12900K. The 7900X can be 35% quicker than the previous-gen Ryzen 9 5900X, a powerful gen-on-gen enchancment provided that each chips have 12 cores.
Intel’s Alder Lake took a pronounced lead in single-threaded efficiency over the prior-gen Ryzen 5000 processors, however the Zen 4 structure takes a giant step ahead, matching or exceeding the price-comparable Alder Lake chips.
You’ll discover that the overclocked configurations supply little to no profit for the Ryzen processors, as anticipated, whereas each Intel processors truly lose some efficiency on this metric. It isn’t stunning to see the 12900K lose a little bit of steam — the all-core 5.1 GHz overclock is decrease than its peak 5.2 GHz boosts on a single core — however the 12600K and 12700K’s decline is a bit surprising as a result of the overclock matches the height clock price. After fairly a bit of research and repeated testing, it seems that thread focusing on isn’t working as successfully with the overclocked Intel configurations, leading to fairly a little bit of thread migration throughout single-threaded duties.
The Ryzen 9 7900X makes a compelling case for creators and prosumers, however excessive reminiscence and motherboard pricing stay a fly within the ointment. Intel’s current chips are way more aggressive on a performance-per-dollar foundation once we consider these prices, and we anticipate Intel’s continued aggressive pricing with Raptor Lake to considerably scale back the attraction of the Ryzen 9 7900X and 7950X at their present pricing. Intel has a pricing benefit with its coming platform, even on a like-for-like foundation with DDR5 motherboards. That’s amplified with Intel’s possibility for DDR4 platforms.
| Tom’s {Hardware} | Multi-Thread | Single-Thread |
| $699 — Ryzen 9 7950X | 100% | 100% |
| $549 — Ryzen 9 7900X | 79.3% | 98.7% |
| $589 — Core i9-12900K | 69.4% | 99.6% |
| $409 — Core i7-12700K | 59.4% | 96% |
| $399 — Ryzen 7 7700X | 57.2% | 97.6% |
| $299 — Ryzen 5 7600X | 45.1% | 95.7% |
| $430 — Ryzen 7 5800X3D | 41.7% | 74.9% |
Rendering Benchmarks on AMD Ryzen 9 7900X
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It was initially stunning to see Alder Lake’s hybrid structure largely beat Ryzen in threaded workloads after AMD had dominated these kind of benchmarks for years. The Ryzen 9 7950X quashed that rebellion on the excessive finish — not less than till Raptor Lake arrives — however the Ryzen 9 7900X vs Core i9-12900K battle is not fairly as clear lower in some benchmarks.
For example, the Ryzen 9 7950X is 5% quicker than the 12900K within the multi-threaded Cinebench benchmarks, however the 12900K is 11% quicker in POV-Ray. The Ryzen 9 7900X leads within the Blender renders, being 16% to 23% quicker than the 12900K. Overclocking the Intel chip isn’t sufficient to alter the image, both.
Encoding Benchmarks on AMD Ryzen 9 7900X
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Most encoders are usually both closely threaded, like HandBrake and SVT-AV1, or virtually solely single-threaded, just like the LAME and FLAC purposes. The Ryzen 7900X leads the Core i9-12900K in each sorts of purposes, sweeping this collection of checks, although typically not by giant margins.
Adobe Premiere Professional, Photoshop and Lightroom on AMD Ryzen 9 7900X
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The UL Benchmarks Procyon suite runs advanced Adobe Premiere Professional, Photoshop, and Lightroom workflows with the precise software program, making for an ideal real-world check suite. The Ryzen 9 7900X beats Alder Lake handily in Premiere Professional and the Lightroom and Photoshop benchmarks.
Internet Shopping, Workplace and Productiveness on AMD Ryzen 9 7900X
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The ever-present net browser is likely one of the most incessantly used purposes. These latency-sensitive checks are usually frivolously threaded, so a quick response time is vital. Intel usually dominated these benchmarks, however Ryzen 7000 flips the tables and takes the lead in each browser check. AMD has additionally improved its standing within the Software Begin-up benchmark, which compares how lengthy it takes to open numerous purposes and is a good measure of system snappiness.
Compilation, Compression, AVX-512 Efficiency on AMD Ryzen 9 7900X
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This collection of checks runs the gamut from the exceedingly branchy code within the LLVM compilation workload to the massively parallel molecular dynamics simulation code in NAMD to encryption and compression/decompression efficiency.
Y-cruncher computes Pi with the AVX instruction set, making for an exceedingly demanding benchmark. We employed the newest model of y-cruncher that has added assist for Zen 4, and right here we will see the advantages of AVX-512 change into obvious within the single-threaded benchmark. Spreading the workload out among the many cores within the threaded portion of the y-cruncher check reduces the magnitude of the lead over Intel (per-core reminiscence throughput and/or material throughput are doubtless obstacles right here), however the Ryzen 9 7900X leads over Alder Lake. The generational efficiency enchancment can be readily obvious in comparison with the Ryzen 9 5900X.
Ryzen has lengthy had an uneven efficiency in compression/decompression workloads, with decompression being a energy whereas compression suffered in comparison with different chips. The Zen 4 structure delivers spectacular efficiency in each workloads, decreasing the disparities.
Energy Consumption and Effectivity Ryzen 9 7900X
AMD labored with TSMC to tune the 5nm course of for its design objectives, leading to a specialised 15-layer N5 course of node. Sadly, we don’t know the specifics of the customized node. Nonetheless, TSMC’s N5 typically gives 15% extra efficiency at a given energy stage, or 20% decrease energy consumption at any given clock price in comparison with the 7nm course of AMD used for its previous-gen Ryzen 5000 chips.
Paired with the Zen 4 architectural advances and SoC enhancements, AMD says Ryzen 7000 delivers as much as 40% extra performance-per-watt at its customary TDP ranges. Nonetheless, the corporate has considerably dialed up its TDP ranges in order that further effectivity is basically misplaced in a bid to fend off the approaching Raptor Lake chips. This is not solely surprising as firms dial as much as the higher finish of the voltage/frequency curve — the previous couple of proportion factors of efficiency typically come on the expense of double-digit proportion will increase in energy consumption.
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As anticipated, our energy measurements discover the Ryzen 7000 chips drawing considerably extra energy than the previous-gen Ryzen 5000 fashions, and that’s by design. Nonetheless, we’ve to maintain issues in perspective — regardless of Ryzen’s gen-on-gen improve in energy consumption, Alder Lake processors nonetheless eat extra energy whereas delivering much less efficiency.
AMD’s highest-end 7950X is equally energy environment friendly to its predecessor, the 5950X, within the renders-per-day-per-watt effectivity metric, exhibiting that AMD has sacrificed potential further effectivity within the identify of elevated efficiency.
These efforts appear largely confined to the flagship, although. As we will see with the previous-gen Ryzen 9 5900X, the lesser Zen 4 fashions, just like the Ryzen 9 7900X, are extra environment friendly than their predecessors although they eat extra energy total. Additionally they chew by the workloads quicker, as you may see beneath.
In the long run, this boils all the way down to AMD making a run on the total efficiency crown on the expense of effectivity with the 7950X, whereas the opposite fashions present generational effectivity positive aspects.
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Right here we take a barely totally different take a look at energy consumption by calculating the cumulative vitality required to carry out x264 and x265 HandBrake workloads, respectively. We plot this ‘job vitality’ worth in Kilojoules on the left aspect of the chart.
These workloads are comprised of a set quantity of labor, so we will plot the duty vitality in opposition to the time required to complete the job (backside axis), thus producing a very helpful energy chart.
Keep in mind that quicker compute instances, and decrease job vitality necessities, are superb. Which means processors that fall the closest to the underside left nook of the chart are the most effective. Right here we will see that the Ryzen 9 7900X is way quicker than the previous-gen 5900X whereas consuming much less energy.
AMD Ryzen 9 7900X Increase Frequencies and Temperatures
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As a part of our regular check routine, we examined efficiency in lightly-threaded work to document the height enhance speeds and thermals. We ran by our customary collection of lightly-threaded checks (LAME, PCMark10, Geekbench, VRMark, and single-threaded Cinebench).
As with the previous-gen chips, some Ryzen 7000 chips can enhance above their rated speeds if they’ve adequate cooling and energy. As all the time, the silicon lottery may apply. The Ryzen 9 7900X repeatedly peaked at 5.7 GHz, above the rated 5.6 GHz.
We additionally ran by a spate of normal closely threaded purposes (Cinebench, HandBrake, POV-Ray, Blender, AVX-heavy y-cruncher) to measure energy and thermals. We used a Corsair H115i 280mm AIO with the followers cranked to 100% to maintain the chip as cool as attainable throughout this check run.
The 7950X hovered round 5.2 GHz by essentially the most intense workloads when all cores have been absolutely loaded. Peak energy consumption reached 215W. The 7950X peaked at 90C through the check run however largely hovered round 87C, which AMD assures us is anticipated habits — the chip is designed to eat all out there thermal headroom to offer quicker efficiency. AMD assigns a 95C thermal threshold because the protected working restrict.
It’s typically forgotten, however the Ryzen 5000 processors additionally function in a similar way — 95C is a traditional working situation with inventory coolers, which we wrote about in our authentic Ryzen 5000 opinions. By design, Intel’s newest chips additionally typically run at 100C for prolonged durations. Each distributors are locked in intense competitors for efficiency management, so we will anticipate this development to proceed.
Conclusion
AMD’s Ryzen 9 7900X delivers spectacular efficiency positive aspects that beat Alder Lake in most sorts of workloads, together with gaming. Nonetheless, the chip, motherboard, and reminiscence pricing conspire to cut back its attraction in opposition to Alder Lake, and we anticipate that disparity to change into much more pronounced when Raptor Lake arrives later this month.
Under, we’ve the geometric imply of our gaming check suite at 1080p and 1440p and a cumulative measure of efficiency in single- and multi-threaded purposes. We carried out our gaming checks with an RTX 3090, so efficiency deltas will shrink with lesser playing cards and better decision and constancy settings — and would possibly develop for those who’re utilizing a future next-gen RX 7900 XT or RTX 4090.
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If the Ryzen 9 7900X have been a chip designed particularly for gaming, it might be an exquisite possibility with its Core i9-12900K-beating efficiency. Nonetheless, as we see with most higher-tier chips, the 7900X’s $549 price ticket removes this chip from the image for those who’re solely occupied with gaming — the $299 Ryzen 5 7600X and $399 Ryzen 7 7700X each supply almost similar gaming efficiency.
The Ryzen 9 7900X is designed for the productivity-minded, and right here its uncooked efficiency metrics shine. The 7900X was 14% quicker than the $589 Core i9-12900K in our multi-threaded checks, however for $50 much less. The Zen 4 structure additionally closes the hole with Alder Lake in single-threaded purposes, addressing a very evident deficiency.
However the uncooked efficiency and the chips’ price ticket aren’t the one elements in your construct. AMD’s 600-series motherboards supply fashionable connectivity choices, like DDR5 and PCIe 5.0, and in addition convey different components, like USB4. Nonetheless, they’re considerably dearer than comparable DDR5 motherboards for Intel methods, which we chalk as much as the dual-chipset design. Nonetheless, the B-series motherboards additionally do not seem as price-competitive with Intel’s comparables, which is an inexplicable bummer.
And that is earlier than we issue within the affect of AMD’s resolution to solely assist DDR5 reminiscence with Ryzen 7000. Intel additionally has DDR4 motherboards out there which are even cheaper, magnifying the value disparities between the 2 platforms.
DDR5 reminiscence can be merely dearer than DDR4. AMD’s resolution to totally decide to DDR5 may very well be a legal responsibility if pricing stays greater than DDR4, however reminiscence pricing is unstable, so this might change (you need to test present pricing). AMD expects DDR5 pricing to enhance as we enter the final a part of the yr, however this market could be unpredictable.
We expect the thermal ‘points’ with AMD’s Ryzen 7000, whereas not superb in an ideal world, are a bit overblown. The Ryzen 7000 chips eat extra energy than their predecessors, however that’s by design. AMD has improved its energy supply and makes use of that to show the thermal headroom into further efficiency that cuts by work faster. Intel’s high-end chips are additionally designed to run at greater ranges of energy consumption, and thus warmth, so this tactic is not extraordinary. In reality, AMD’s prior-gen flagships additionally ran at related temperatures with inventory coolers.
AMD’S ECO Mode characteristic will scale back energy consumption and thermals for these occupied with a cooler and quieter system, however it does scale back efficiency. It additionally boosts effectivity. In that vein, AMD did not make any effectivity strides with its flagship Ryzen 9 7950X as a result of it sacrificed potential further effectivity within the identify of elevated efficiency. This is not solely surprising as firms dial as much as the higher finish of the voltage/frequency curve — the previous couple of proportion factors of efficiency typically come on the expense of double-digit proportion will increase in energy consumption. Nonetheless, the lower-tier fashions, just like the Ryzen 9 7900X, supply higher energy effectivity than their prior-gen counterparts within the checks we have carried out.
AMD’s largest drawback comes within the type of pricing, and that is earlier than we account for the looming Raptor Lake launch on October 20. Intel has made assured efficiency claims of a 15% enchancment in single-threaded, 41% enchancment in threaded, and a 40% ‘total’ efficiency achieve, which implies that Raptor Lake and Ryzen 7000 can be carefully matched.
Given AMD’s pricing challenges surrounding its AM5 motherboard ecosystem and DDR5 reminiscence, to not point out Intel’s aggressive Alder and Raptor Lake pricing, the Ryzen 9 7900X will want a significant worth discount to be aggressive with different fashionable choices.
| AMD Socket AM5 (X670E) | Ryzen 9 7950X, Ryzen 9 7900X, Ryzen 5 7600X |
| ASRock X670E Taichi | |
| G.Ability Trident Z5 Neo DDR5-6000 – Inventory: DDR5-5200 | OC/PBO: DDR5-6000 | |
| Intel Socket 1700 DDR5 (Z690) | Core i9-12900K, i7-12700K, 15-12600K, i5-12400 |
| MSI MEG Z690 Ace | |
| G.Ability Trident Z5 DDR5-6400 – Inventory: DDR5-4400 | OC DDR5-6000 | |
| AMD Socket AM4 (X570) | Ryzen 9 5950X, 5900X, 5700X, 5600X, 5800X3D |
| MSI MEG X570 Godlike | |
| 2x 8GB Trident Z Royal DDR4-3600 – Inventory: DDR4-3200 | OC/PBO: DDR4-3800 | |
| All Programs | Gigabyte GeForce RTX 3090 Eagle – Gaming and ProViz purposes |
| Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti FE – Software checks | |
| 2TB Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus, Silverstone ST1100-TI, Open Benchtable, Arctic MX-4 TIM, Home windows 11 Professional | |
| Cooling | Corsair H115i, Customized loop |
| Overclocking notice | All configurations with overclocked reminiscence even have tuned core frequencies and/or lifted energy limits. |
