The AMD Ryzen 9 3950X Review: 16 Cores on 7nm with PCIe 4.0
by Dr. Ian Cutress on November 14, 2019 9:00 AM ESTTest Bed and Setup
As per our processor testing policy, we take a premium category motherboard suitable for the socket, and equip the system with a suitable amount of memory running at the manufacturer's maximum supported frequency. This is also typically run at JEDEC subtimings where possible. It is noted that some users are not keen on this policy, stating that sometimes the maximum supported frequency is quite low, or faster memory is available at a similar price, or that the JEDEC speeds can be prohibitive for performance. While these comments make sense, ultimately very few users apply memory profiles (either XMP or other) as they require interaction with the BIOS, and most users will fall back on JEDEC supported speeds - this includes home users as well as industry who might want to shave off a cent or two from the cost or stay within the margins set by the manufacturer. Where possible, we will extend out testing to include faster memory modules either at the same time as the review or a later date.
| Test Setup | |
| AMD Ryzen 3000 | AMD Ryzen 9 3950X AMD Ryzen 9 3900X |
| Motherboard | ASRock X570 Taichi 2.50 (AGESA 1004B) |
| CPU Cooler | Kraken X62 |
| DRAM | Corsair Vengeance RGB 4x8 GB DDR4-3200 |
| GPU | Sapphire RX 460 2GB (CPU Tests) MSI GTX 1080 Gaming 8G (Gaming Tests) |
| PSU | Corsair AX860i |
| SSD | Crucial MX500 2TB |
| OS | Windows 10 1909 |
We must thank the following companies for kindly providing hardware for our multiple test beds. Some of this hardware is not in this test bed specifically, but is used in other testing.
| Hardware Providers | |||
| Sapphire RX 460 Nitro | MSI GTX 1080 Gaming X OC | Crucial MX200 + MX500 SSDs |
Corsair AX860i + AX1200i PSUs |
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| G.Skill RipjawsV, SniperX, FlareX |
Crucial Ballistix DDR4 |
Silverstone Coolers |
Silverstone Fans |
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Devo2007 - Thursday, November 14, 2019 - link
First page "As we move into 2019" - should be "As we move into 2020"plp1980 - Thursday, November 14, 2019 - link
Is says as we move "through" not as we move "into"Ryan Smith - Thursday, November 14, 2019 - link
It did originally say "into". We've since fixed it.=)Netmsm - Friday, November 15, 2019 - link
Ryan, why isn't there any Cinebench test?!TheJian - Wednesday, November 20, 2019 - link
Because nobody uses it as Intel said (nobody is 1% or less right?)? Nobody making money is using something that is far slower that PAID products. Pointless to benchmark this in every review, just like it's pointless to test 4k in all vid card reviews when nobody is using that either (ok, nobody here means less than 2%...LOL). Whatever. Surely Ryan is chomping at the bit now to tell me 4k is the new enthusiast standard...LOL. Yeah, wake me when 1440p is, as it still isn't LONG after you said that at 660ti article. Still not even 5% years later, heck, both added up don't hit 7% last I checked (month ago?). 1080p however? 65% of users of 130mil steam gamers (this is pretty accurate for the world elsewhere no doubt). Should test LOADS of 1080p games, and maybe benchmark 1/2 at 1440p, only 1-2 at 4k if at all (should be done once a year or in a separate review of 4k yearly?). Until people use it, quit wasting time.Anandtech (and many others) seem to do a lot of testing that is NOT how a user would do use their PC. Handbrake crap quality etc. Who uses FAST? FASTER? You blind already so blur doesn't matter? Cinebench freeware same story. Intel seems to have a point though they didn't mind before losing massively on all these things they are now whining about.
https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/Steam-Hard...
Yep, still right, not even 5% yet for 1440p, 7% accurate total 4k+1440p still...LOL. Keep dreaming ryan ;)
Netmsm - Sunday, November 24, 2019 - link
impertinent words! These are not the answer.Everybody who works on editing films knows how helpful the Cinebench tests are in specifying which CPU will be faster.
alysdexia - Thursday, November 28, 2019 - link
shall be swifterpeevee - Monday, November 25, 2019 - link
"Anandtech (and many others) seem to do a lot of testing that is NOT how a user would do use their PC."Absolutely. And all their tests get the same amount of space. Including those nobody can use or reproduce. BS all the time, like off-screen rendering, compute on Dolphin emulator, in-house 3DPM... Ancient codecs, irrelevant settings... Somebody needs to bring them back into reality.
Ian Cutress - Tuesday, March 24, 2020 - link
There is. It's in our benchmark database. www.anandtech.com/benchasking - Sunday, July 5, 2020 - link
@Ian Cutress there is significant doubt (in the form of harrasement) being expressed on the forums about your conclusion on page two of this article that the power consumption of Ryzen chips changed (went upward) between Zen+ and Zen 2. Would be interesting to see your further thoughts: https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/will-cpu-supp...