AMD Zen 4 Ryzen 9 7950X and Ryzen 5 7600X Review: Retaking The High-End
by Ryan Smith & Gavin Bonshor on September 26, 2022 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.
The Current CPU Test Suite
For our AMD Ryzen 9 7950X and Ryzen 5 7600X testing, we are using the following test system:
AMD Ryzen 7000 Series System (DDR5) | |
CPU | Ryzen 9 7950X ($699) 16 Cores, 32 Threads 170 W TDP Ryzen 5 7600X ($299) 6 Cores, 12 Threads 105 W TDP |
Motherboard | GIGABYTE X670E Aorus Master (BIOS 813b) |
Memory | G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo 2x16 GB DDR5-5200 CL44 |
Cooling | EK-AIO Elite 360 D-RGB 360 mm AIO |
Storage | Crucial MX300 1TB |
Power Supply | Corsair HX850 |
GPUs | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti, Driver 496.49 |
Operating Systems | Windows 11 21H1 |
As we are in a transitional period between our current CPU 2021 suite and data, and optimizing our CPU 2023 suite with different data comparisons required, we have included a varied selection of benchmarks for this review. This ranges from our traditional un-updatable Google Octane 2.0 web test, through a variety of rendering benchmarks such as CineBench R23 and Blender, to encoding, and all the way to our more scientific-related tests.
With our processor reviews, especially on a new generational product such as AMD's Ryzen 9 7950X, we also include SPEC2017 data to account for any increases (or decreases) to generational single-threaded and multi-threaded performance. It should be noted that due to the terms of the SPEC license because our benchmark results are not vetted directly by the SPEC consortium, we have to label them as ‘estimated’. The benchmark is still run and we get results out, but those results have to have the ‘estimated’ label.
Moving Foward to Our CPU 2023 Suite: What to Expect
Looking ahead to our updated CPU 2023 suite, we've updated some of our existing benchmarks to the latest and current versions (as of Sept 22) such as Blender 3.3. In terms of benchmarks from our CPU 2021 suite, we've included benchmarks such as Dwarf Fortress, Factorio, and Dr. Ian Cutress's 3DPMv2 and Crysis CPU benchmarks.
We've also added some completely new benchmarks and workloads to our suite, including an update to Blender (v3.3), C-Ray 1.1 rendering, as well as more scientific-based workloads such as SciMark 2.0 and Primesieve 1.9.0. We have also decided to add UL's latest Procyon suite which measures overall system performance when doing tasks such as office-based tasks, as well as video, and photo editing.
As it stands, we have also updated our pool of games going forward into 2023 and beyond, including the latest F1 2022 racing game, the CPU-intensive Total War Warhammer 3 real-time strategy, and the popular Hitman 3 assassin-based title.
Our aim is to provide varying levels of data points across a variety of different workloads, instruction sets, and tasks. Going forward, we will keep our CPU 2023 suite updated as frequently as possible, and when we have a consistent and suitable number of data points, it will feature on our Bench database as we continue testing new and older CPUs for varying data points.
Some of these new benchmarks will make an appearance in this review, while others won't. Our aim is to assess and subjugate our way through whatever CPUs we have on hand to add vital data points. However, some parts of our CPU 2023 suite are still under testing and it should make a full debut in our next CPU review.
205 Comments
View All Comments
vortmax2 - Sunday, October 16, 2022 - link
Some people don't want to limit TDP themselves. Nothing wrong with that. ReplyTechie2 - Tuesday, September 27, 2022 - link
What a screwed up launch of Ryzen 7000 CPUs and AM5 mobos by e-tailers. DDR5 EXPO DRAM showed up online a few days ago. On 9-27-22 it looks like e-tailers are actually hiding the four Ryzen 7000 CPUs to sell older stock. The AM5 mobos which have been sitting in inventory for weeks were not posted online until early morning instead of at midnight as in the past. You'd think by now they could figure out how to do a proper launch of a new CPU or platform but evidently not when it's AMD.No consumer grade Gen 5 SSDs listed by e-tailers that I could find. Are PC builders suppose to just wait until Nov. to see if they actually show up? AMD's partners may be cooperating with AMD but the purchasing experience is a piss poor sales methodology being employed IMNHO.
YMMV Reply
nandnandnand - Tuesday, September 27, 2022 - link
AMD said weeks ago that PCIe 5.0 SSDs would be coming in November.Nobody should be buying this stuff on day 1 unless they like being findom'd by corporations. Reply
yhselp - Tuesday, September 27, 2022 - link
First-draft-copy issues aside, this article is written exceptionally well. The information is excellent and extensive as usual, but I feel like there's been a step-up in the way its presented/explained. Kudos and thank you. Replyyhselp - Tuesday, September 27, 2022 - link
it's* goddamit Replyvortmax2 - Sunday, October 16, 2022 - link
Great post. So many grammar police on here that can't help but criticize and take away from the actual purpose of the article. ReplyHardwareDufus - Tuesday, September 27, 2022 - link
Clearly both manufacturers are producing vey compelling products this time around. At the $600-$700 mark we have two CPUs trading blows; R9-7950X (Zen4) & just announced i9-13900K (RaptorLake) We will have updates of both lines, with AMD adding 3D Cache and Intel increasing Boost Speeds. Probably can't go wrong with either choice, neither one dominates the other completely.I think I'll bite this time around. Yeah I know Zen5 will be a new architecture and Intel will adopt chiplets and all of the benefits that accompany them... But, I think either one of these chips, probably available in volume in 1st quarter 2023, will serve most folks well.
In the case of Intel, you can continue to use DD4 and 600 series chipsets. However really take advantage of the capabilities of the chip, DDR5 and motherboards featureing 700 series chipsets will be available, on par with Zen 4 requiring a DDR5 and otherboards featuring the new AM5 socket and 600 series chipsets. Apples to Apples when comparing the requirements to go ALL In on performance. Reply
HardwareDufus - Tuesday, September 27, 2022 - link
Dang, that was some awesome typing I just did there... Replynandnandnand - Tuesday, September 27, 2022 - link
3D cache will dominate over a couple hundred extra MHz in frequency (13900KS). ReplyHifihedgehog - Tuesday, September 27, 2022 - link
@nandnandnand: That may well be true, but that's the future and months out yet. Ryzen 7000 non X3D has to sell between then and now or AMD is not going to be posting a pretty quarter. The 13900K is far cheaper in platform and unit price and will meet or exceed the 7950X for now. DDR5 and AM5 motherboards coupled with a higher price will be Ryzen 7000 series undoing, and good too. AMD needs to realize people purchase because of intrinsic quality, not brand loyalty. Reply