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.
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phoenix_rizzen - Monday, September 26, 2022 - link
The Spec graphs are hard to read as you don't have the CPUs listed in the correct order. You should switch dark blue to be 5950X and light blue to be 3950X. Right now you have the CPUs (graphs) listed as:Intel
7950X
3950X
5950X
It really should be:
Intel
7950X
5950X
3950X
That would make it a lot easier to see the generational improvements. Sort things logically, numerically. :) Reply
Otritus - Monday, September 26, 2022 - link
@Ryan Smith please do this. I was also having difficulty reading the Spec graph. ReplyGavin Bonshor - Monday, September 26, 2022 - link
I apologize for doing it this way. I promise I'll sort it in the morning (UK based) Replyyeeeeman - Monday, September 26, 2022 - link
Retaking the high end for 1 month. Replyyeeeeman - Monday, September 26, 2022 - link
TBH, what I am most excited about is the zen 4 laptop parts, like the phoenix apu, with 8 zen 4 cores, rdna 3 igpu, lpddr5, 4nm cpu, 5nm gpu, that should bring some clear improvements over the 4000 series ryzen which are still amazingly good. 5000 and 6000 series haven't brought much improvements over the 4000 series, like my 4800H, so I am curious to see what the 7000 series will bring. Already dreaming about a fully metal body, slim laptop, 14-16 inch, OLED, 90Hz minimum, laminated screen, preferably touch and 360 hinge, 1.5kg top. that will be nice. Replyabufrejoval - Wednesday, September 28, 2022 - link
Since you're hinting that Intel will change things, there is much less of a chance for Intel to catch up in the mobile sector on 10nm.For the laptops I see a different story at almost every five Watts of permissible power for the CPUside of things. But much less change between the 4000-7000 Zen generations at the same energy settings.
Any hopes for a more-than-casual gaming iGPU can't but fail, because AMD can't overcome the DRAM bandwidth limitations, unless they were to start with stuff like extra channels of RAM on the die carrier like Apple (or HBM).
And that basically leaves 13% of IPC improvements, some efficiency gains but much less clock gains, because that's mostly additional Wattage on the desktop parts, not available on battery.
I haven't tried the 6800U yet, but even if it were to be 100% better than my 5800U, that's still too slow a GPU to drive my Lenovo Yoga Slim 7 13ACN notebook's 2560x1600 display full throttle. Even 4x speed won't change that, it just takes a 250 Watt GPU to drive that resolution more like 350 Watts for 4k.
I just bought a nice 3k 90Hz OLED 5825U based 14" notebook (Asus Zenbook 14) for one of my sons, full metal slim but without touch for less than €1000 including taxes and he's completely stunned by the combination of display brightness (he tends to use it outside) and battery life.
As long as you think of it as a 2D machine that will do fine display Google Earth in 3D, you'll be happy. If you try to turn it into a gaming laptop it's outright grief or severe compromises.
And I just don't see how a dGPU on an APU makes much sense, because you just purchase capabilities twice without the ability to combine them in something that actually works. Those hybrid approaches were only ever good in theory. Reply
Makaveli - Monday, September 26, 2022 - link
"I have a 1440p 144Hz monitor and I play at 1080p just because that's what I'm used to."*Insert ryan reynolds meme
Buy why? Reply
Gavin Bonshor - Monday, September 26, 2022 - link
Because I fear that if I drop below 144 Hz in any title, that my life wouldn't be able to cope. Maybe I just need to upgrade from an RX 5700 XT? ReplyMakaveli - Tuesday, September 27, 2022 - link
Ah yes its time.Go RDNA3 Reply
kryn5 - Monday, September 26, 2022 - link
"Despite modern-day graphics cards, especially the flagships, now at the level where 1440p and 4K gaming is viable, 1080p is still a very popular resolution to play games at; I have a 1440p 144Hz monitor and I play at 1080p just because that's what I'm used to."I... what? Reply