The AMD Ryzen 9 7900, Ryzen 7 7700, and Ryzen 5 7600 Review: Zen 4 Efficiency at 65 Watts
by Gavin Bonshor on January 9, 2023 9:00 AM ESTGaming Performance: 720p And Lower
The reason we test games in CPU reviews at lower resolutions such as 720p and below is simple; titles are more likely to be CPU bound than they are GPU bound at lower resolutions. This means there are more frames for the processor to process as opposed to the graphics card doing the majority of the heavy lifting.
There are some variances where some games will still use graphical power, but not as much CPU grunt at these smaller resolutions, and this is where we can show where CPU limitations lie in terms of gaming.
We are using DDR5 memory on the Ryzen 7000 series 65 W SKUs, as well as the other Ryzen 7000 processors tested, at the following settings:
- DDR5-5600B CL46 - Intel 13th Gen
- DDR5-5200 CL44 - Ryzen 7000
- DDR5-4800 (B) CL40 - Intel 12th Gen
All other CPUs such as Ryzen 5000 and 3000 were tested at the relevant JEDEC settings as per the processor's individual memory support with DDR4.
Civilization VI
World of Tanks
Borderlands 3
Grand Theft Auto V
Red Dead Redemption 2
F1 2022
Hitman 3
Total War: Warhammer 3
Cyberpunk 2077
We saw relatively decent performance across the board at very low resolutions of 720p and below, with low to minimal settings selected to bring raw CPU performance into play as opposed to discrete graphics. In most titles, the 65 W Ryzen 7000 CPUs trade blows well compared to other SKUs from both AMD and Intel, despite their power limitations.
The biggest limitation of power came in our Total War Warhammer 3 benchmark, where limited power did seem to handicap performance at 720p more than we've seen in other games so far.
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Maverick009 - Friday, January 13, 2023 - link
Linus Tech Tips actually did a review on these chips with benchmarks. The 7900 and 7900X are basically identical chips with one being 65W and the other being 170W, but the 7900 is also unlocked and if you use PBO, it can match its 7900X sibling with marginal performance differences on some programs and the upside being the 7900 is cheaper. I for one think I may pick the 7900 up for a build but I am also waiting on pricing for the 7900X3D and 7950X3D parts for my big gaming PC build that will replace my current 5900X.blzd - Friday, January 13, 2023 - link
I don't get how 7600 is beating 7600X in your F1 2022 and RDR2 gaming tests. By a large margin.It's identical other than lower clock speed and power limit yet performing faster somehow?
Kangal - Tuesday, January 31, 2023 - link
I noticed that too, and frankly, I cannot accept any of their gaming results here.blzd - Friday, January 13, 2023 - link
OC test results would be nice addition.Though not with the bundled heatsink of course haha. AMD included inadequate cooling for these CPU running at 99C under sustained workloads at factory clocks.
Thank you for the review!
Targon - Monday, January 23, 2023 - link
They can't run at 99C since AMD uses temperature as the basis for how high the clock speed will go. The default for the 7900X and 7950X was at 95 degrees C, and the chip won't go more than a degree above that point. With the temperature as the key, the chip will clock itself as high as cooling works, so better cooling results in higher clock speeds, and worse cooling will result in lower speeds, but you will never see temperatures above the max temperature.dicobalt - Wednesday, January 18, 2023 - link
Now if only it was possible to get a modern GPU will a low space heater factor that isn't based on an architecture that's positively ancient.Roy8oh - Friday, January 20, 2023 - link
Bundling coolers with its more affordable CPUs means users can spend their budget on a premium AIO cooler through better memory, storage, or graphics, which will have a positive impact on performance. What do u mean by that isnt aio cooler just cpu cooler liquid obviously but isnt it a cpu cooler or are you refering to fans ?AnitaPeterson - Sunday, January 22, 2023 - link
I am disappointed that the benchmarks do not include more samples from the Zen 3 family, aside from the 5800X3D. With many of us rocking Ryzen 3xxx and 5xxx, such a direct comparison would be much more useful than all the catalogue of horribly power-inefficient Intel chips that most people are not likely to buy anyway...mikato - Thursday, January 26, 2023 - link
"The Ryzen 7 7700 also performs well, but with just 8C/12T"Looks like that should be 16 threads, page 5.
dennphill - Monday, January 30, 2023 - link
OK, so I see a CPU that's a bit less power draw with a price close to last AMD generation. Would change my 5-5600X IF there was a descent motherboard that fits my mATX case! LOUSY selection so far of mATX motherboards from ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI, ASRock, etc. Upgrade needs AM5 motherboard and DDR5 (probably) in addition to 7000-series CPU. B650M expensive or crippled in capability and X670M boards are basically non-existent. Need to wait out until manufacturers decide offering to us need some degree of reasonableness in price and features. O(old)MHO. Thanks for good articles...I hope MB manufacturers read reviews AND comments.