AMD Zen 3 Ryzen Deep Dive Review: 5950X, 5900X, 5800X and 5600X Tested
by Dr. Ian Cutress on November 5, 2020 9:01 AM ESTSection by Andrei Frumusanu
CPU MT Performance: SPEC 2017
Whilst single-threaded performance of Zen3 seems to be an absolute win for the new Ryzen 5000 series CPUs, multi-threaded performance is also the other important aspect of a design. Generally, what comes into play much more for multi-threaded performance is the power efficiency of the design. As none of the current x86 consumer or enterprise parts are able to actually run all their cores at maximum frequency for peak performance due to platform power limitations, any resulting performance boost we might see between generations with a similar power cap will be due to power and energy efficiency gains between the designs.
For AMD, we’re limiting the detailed comparisons here to the 3950X and the 5950X which both have a PPT of 142W, which means that’s the maximum peak power for the platform, and observed 120-125W sustained figures in actual workloads. We’re also throwing in a 10900K for context, but given the very different core count numbers it doesn’t serve an exact apples-to-apples comparison.
Starting off with SPECint2006, the performance uplifts for the new Ryzen 5000 series here doesn’t seem to be all that significant in most tests, with uplifts well below those of the single-thread benchmarks.
Most of the tests are showing a 10% performance uplift, with the more memory heavy test showing no improvement. Some of the minor uplifts such as a 5% boost in 502.gcc seem quite disappointing and showcase that the new platform isn’t all that big of a boost for productivity workloads.
In SPECfp2017, 510.parest and 527.cam4 stand out as the two workloads with the biggest improvements, with the rest of the workloads all either having sub-5% improvements, or even just flat or slower performance than the 3950X.
** Preliminary figures to be re-tested due to 2x16GB SR vs 4x8GB SR memory DIMM configuration, scores will improve.
Overall, the new Ryzen 5000 series are showcasing a quite conservative 8-9% performance improvement over their predecessor generation SKUs. The 12-core variant here is showing a little bigger boost of 10-13%.
In this regard, the new chips seem to have missed the mark in terms of AMD’s claims for 12% better performance per watt for the new 5950X, and 26% better performance per watt for the 5900X – their marketing should have done better in explaining those figures, or just be more conservative with their numbers. This also doesn’t bode too well for the eventual EPYC-based Zen3 Milan chips.
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madymadme - Sunday, November 8, 2020 - link
Going to buyAMD Ryzen 9 5900X,
Gigabyte B550 AORUS PRO AC,
Noctua NH-D15 Dual 140m Fans,
G.skill Trident Z RGB Series 16GB (2x8GB) 4000 MHz DDR4 Memory F4-4000C18D-16GTZRB
is corsair CV550 watt ok with the above spec ? & I have Quadro K2000D graphic card
is this specification ok ? & which ram to get please help a little & thanks for reading & replying
Spunjji - Monday, November 9, 2020 - link
All I can say is your PSU should be more than enough for that setup :)Vik32 - Sunday, November 8, 2020 - link
AMD is now the leader in single threaded performance!When will the iphone 12 review ?
Spunjji - Sunday, November 8, 2020 - link
Loving the substantial review detail, as always! Quite the triumph for AMD 😁Only one minor criticism - the sum-up of the gaming results buries the lede a little, which is to say that the performance is excellent across AMD's new range, meaning that the 5600X frequently outperforms some of Intel's best processors. I will be *very* interested to see if overclocking makes any difference there - with some relaxed power limits and the potential for higher clocks, it could be THE gaming chip to buy.
That's a small gripe, though. Just pleased to see a result this unequivocal. Between this and the US election result, it'll be tears before bedtime for several of the trolls on this site 🤭
Solidstate20 - Sunday, November 8, 2020 - link
Zen question: If a CPU has awesome performance but is out-of-stock in every shop, does it really have awesome performance?Spunjji - Monday, November 9, 2020 - link
lolAgent Smith - Sunday, November 8, 2020 - link
Where are the new x590 motherboards to support the 5000 series CPU's?The B550 boards are good value but are PCIe 4.0 limited and rely on shared ports.
The older x570 boards are good but are several years old now so lacking newer features like 2.5Gb LAN and front facing USB-C ports for mini & micro ITX.
Qasar - Sunday, November 8, 2020 - link
i dont think there will be unless the mobo makers release them on their own."The older x570 boards are good but are several years old now " huh ? try barely 1.5 years old. x570 was released in July 2019, how is that several years ? the strix e gaming board i have has 2.5g lan, as long as the board has the usb 3 header, wouldnt front facing usbc be more of a case feature then the board ?
Spunjji - Monday, November 9, 2020 - link
I think the USB-C front ports have a different connector at the motherboard end. I still don't get why this is a big deal, though.TheinsanegamerN - Tuesday, November 10, 2020 - link
It really isnt. I dont know anyone who actually uses front USB C right now, usually they plug into the back because the back port will be 10gb/20gb/thunderbolt, but the front is only 5gb