The AMD Zen and Ryzen 7 Review: A Deep Dive on 1800X, 1700X and 1700
by Ian Cutress on March 2, 2017 9:00 AM ESTTest Bed Setup and Hardware
As always, defining a regular test bed is key to these tests. At a CPU launch, with a new chipset, new socket, and almost new everything, that can be difficult. It’s also worth noting that our testing suite is currently in a state of flux as well, as we migrate testing to Windows 10. For the most part, our test beds use off-the-shelf components, sometimes supplied by vendors for the purpose of being in our test bed. For the Ryzen review, our AMD Test bed is as follows:
- AMD Ryzen 7 1800X (8C/16T, 3.6-4.0 GHz, 95W, $499)
- AMD Ryzen 7 1700X (8C/16T, , 95W, $399)
- AMD Ryzen 7 1700 (8C/16T, 3.0-3.7 GHz, 65W, $329)
- ASUS Crosshair VI Hero Motherboard
- Corsair Vengeance 2x8GB DDR4-3000 C16 running at DDR4-2400 C15
- Crucial MX200 1TB SSD
- Rosewill SilentNight 500W Platinum PSU
- ASUS GTX 950 Ti (95W)
- MSI GTX 1080 Gaming 8GB
- Windows 10 Pro
Of course, many thanks to all our partners who supplied equipment for our test beds.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
574 Comments
View All Comments
mapesdhs - Sunday, March 5, 2017 - link
Yet another example of manipulation which wouldn't be tolerated in other areas of commercial product. I keep coming across examples in the tech world where products are deliberately crippled, prices get hiked, etc., but because it's tech stuff, nobody cares. Media never mentions it.Last week I asked a seller site about why a particular 32GB 3200MHz DDR4 kit they had listed (awaiting an ETA) was so much cheaper than the official kits for Ryzen (same brand of RAM please note). Overnight, the seller site changed the ETA to next week but also increased the price by a whopping 80%, making it completely irrelevant. I've seen this happen three times with different products in the last 2 weeks.
Ian.
HomeworldFound - Sunday, March 5, 2017 - link
If they were pretty cheap then use your logic, placeholder prices happen. If they had no ETA the chances is that they had no prices. I don't see a shortage of decent DDR4 so it definitely isn't a supply and demand problem. Perhaps you need to talk to the manufacturer to get their guideline prices.HomeworldFound - Sunday, March 5, 2017 - link
Not really. If developers wanted to enhance AMD platforms, or it was actually worth it they'd have done it by now. It's now just an excuse to explain either underperformance or an inability to work with the industry.Notmyusualid - Tuesday, March 7, 2017 - link
@ sedraIt certainly should not be forgotten, that is for sure.
Rene23 - Monday, March 6, 2017 - link
yet people here mentioned multiple times "settled in 2009"; pretending it is not happening anymore, sick :-/GeoffreyA - Monday, March 6, 2017 - link
I kind of vaguely knew that benchmarks were often unfairly optimised for Intel CPUs; but I never knew this detailed information before, and from such a reputable source: Agner Fog. I know that he's an authority on CPU microarchitectures and things like that. Intel is evil. Even now with Ryzen, it seems the whole software ecosystem is somewhat suboptimal on it, because of software being tuned over the last decade for the Core microarchitecture. Yet, despite all that, Ryzen is still smashing Intel in many of the benchmarks.Outlander_04 - Monday, March 6, 2017 - link
Settled in 2009 .Not relevant to optimisation for Ryzen in any way
Rene23 - Monday, March 6, 2017 - link
settled in 2009 does not mean their current compiler and libraries are not doing it anymore, e.g. it could simply not run the best SSE/AVX code path disguised as simply not matching new AMD cpus properly.cocochanel - Saturday, March 4, 2017 - link
One thing that is not being mentioned by many is the increase in savings when you buy a CPU + mobo. Intel knows how to milk the consumer. On their 6-8 core flagships, a mobo with a top chipset will set you back 300-400 $ or even more. That's a lot for a mobo. Add the overpriced CPU. I expect AMD mobos to offer better value. Historically, they always did.On top of that, a VEGA GPU will probably be a better match for Ryzen than an Nvidia card, but I say probably and not certainly.
If I were to replace my aging gaming rig for Christmas, this would be my first choice.
mapesdhs - Sunday, March 5, 2017 - link
Bang goes the saving when one asks about a RAM kit awaiting an ETA and the seller hikes the price by 80% overnight (see my comment above).