AMD’s Ryzen 7000 processors are now available, featuring a new 5nm process node and AM5 socket that unlocks higher clock frequencies, more power, and better performance. The four new CPUs released on September 27 also include a new 6nm I/O chip, integrated graphics, and support for DDR5 and PCIe 5.0 — a major feature upgrade that’s comparable to Intel’s 12th-generation CPUs. Sit on an equal footing.
Of course, features are often second only to fps, so performance testing is the bulk of our work. We’ve got two chips on our desk so far – the $549/£579 Ryzen 9 7900X and the $299/£319 Ryzen 5 7600X – and we’ve compared them with our handpicked games and some productivity benchmarks A comparison was made. The question we have to answer is simple: how do these Zen 4 designs stack up against Intel’s 12th Gen Core counterparts and AMD’s older Ryzen 5000 lineup?
The move to DDR5 also brings up the second question – what is the best price/performance ratio for Ryzen 7000’s current RAM? AMD recommends in their documentation that DDR5-6000 is ideal for now, so we tested their CPUs – and Intel’s closest equivalents – 6000MT/s (AMD’s recommendation) and 5200MT/s (our 12th in Intel Tests performed on behalf of) test).
Before we get to the results of the CPU benchmarks, let’s take a brief look at what AMD is doing here.
First, AMD recorded a 13% improvement in IPC, instructions per clock, thanks to a larger L2 cache, improved execution engine, better branch predictor and other internal changes. This should translate to a similar amount of single-core performance gain at the same frequency, so combined with some substantial frequency improvements and the move to higher clocked DDR5, the Ryzen 7000 should offer a better-than-average generational improvement.
The new AM5 platform is also fascinating. AMD has switched the “PGA” design of its processors to an “LGA” design, which means that there are no longer gold pins on the bottom of the CPU, but are now on the motherboard – so it’s much harder to break the CPU now, but easier to break the motherboard. The pin count has also been significantly increased, allowing more power to be delivered to the CPU – up to 230W, with the Ryzen 9 design moving from the previous generation’s default TDP of 105W to this generation’s 170W.
| CPU Design | Promote | according to | L3 cache | TDP | Suggested retail price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ryzen 9 7950X | Zen 4 16C/32T | 5.7GHz | 4.5GHz | 64MB | 170W | $699/£739 |
| Ryzen 9 7900X | Zen 4 12C/24T | 5.6GHz | 4.7GHz | 64MB | 170W | $549/£579 |
| Ryzen 7 7700X | Zen 4 8C/16T | 5.4GHz | 4.5GHz | 32MB | 105W | $399/£419 |
| Ryzen 5 7600X | Zen 4 6C/12T | 5.3GHz | 4.7GHz | 32MB | 105W | $299/£319 |
| Ryzen 9 5950X | Zen 3 16C/32T | 4.9GHz | 3.4GHz | 64MB | 105W | $799/£750 |
| Ryzen 9 5900X | Zen 3 12C/24T | 4.8GHz | 3.7GHz | 64MB | 105W | $549/£509 |
| Ryzen 7 5800X3D | Zen 3 8C/16T | 4.5GHz | 3.4GHz | 96MB | 105W | $449/£429 |
| Ryzen 7 5800X | Zen 3 8C/16T | 4.7GHz | 3.8GHz | 32MB | 105W | $449/£419 |
| Ryzen 5 5600X | Zen 3 6C/12T | 4.6GHz | 3.7GHz | 32MB | 65W | $299/£279 |
This is more focused on CPU cooling, but some existing AM4 CPU coolers should also work with AM5, which is a good thing for anyone investing in high-end options. Basically, any cooler that screws into the default AMD AM4 backplate will also screw into the new AM5 backplate, but the designs that require custom backplates to be installed are not compatible. Thankfully, our test rig used Alphacool’s Eisbaer Aurora 240mm AiO, which does use the default AMD backplane, so we could maintain cross-generation cooler compatibility — nice.
It’s also worth bringing up other test benches we’re using. AMD offers ASRock’s X670E Taichi motherboard, which offers plenty of M.2 slots, robust power delivery and conveniences like onboard power and reset buttons, as well as LED readouts for error codes and current CPU temperature.
This is combined with high-spec G.Skill’s Trident Z5 Neo DDR5-6000 CL30 RAM, Corsair’s Dominator Platinum DDR5-5200 CL40 for supplemental testing, and of course Asus’ RTX 3090 ROG Strix OC for the all-important GPU aspect. For storage, we use three PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSDs to hold all our games – a 4TB Kingston KC3000, a 1TB PNY XLR8 CS3140, and a 1TB Crucial P5 Plus. Our rig was equipped with a 1000W Corsair RM1000x power supply.
Elsewhere, we used the Asus ROG Crosshair 8 Hero for the Ryzen 5000 test, the Asus ROG Maximus Z590 Hero for the 11th Gen Intel test, and the Asus ROG Z690 Maximus Hero for the 12th Gen test; all are high-end boards for their respective platforms . DDR4 motherboard uses G.Skill 3600MT/s CL16 memory, which is the best choice for DDR4.
Before we get into the gaming benchmarks that make up pages two through five, let’s whet our appetites with some quick-and-dirty benchmarks: Cinebench R20 3D rendering and Handbrake video transcoding.
| CB R20 1T | CB R20 metric tons | HB h.264 | HB HEVC | HEVC power usage | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core i9 12900K | 760 | 10416 | 70.82fps | 29.26fps | 373W |
| Core i7 12700K | 729 | 8683 | 57.64fps | 25.67 frames per second | 318W |
| Core i5 12600K | 716 | 6598 | 44.27fps | 19.99 frames per second | 223W |
| Core i5 12400F | 652 | 4736 | 31.77fps | 14.70fps | 190W |
| Core i9 11900K | 588 | 5902 | 41.01fps | 18.46fps | 321W |
| Core i5 11600K | 541 | 4086 | 29.00 frames/sec | 13.12fps | 250W |
| Ryzen 9 7900X | 791 | 11324 | 79.38fps | 33.77fps | 288W |
| Ryzen 9 7600X | 750 | 6063 | 44.35fps | 20.28fps | 236W |
| Ryzen 9 5950X | 637 | 10165 | 70.28fps | 30.14fps | 237W |
| Ryzen 7 5800X3D | 546 | 5746 | 42.71fps | 19.10fps | 221W |
| Ryzen 7 5800X | 596 | 6118 | 44.18fps | 19.50fps | 229W |
| Ryzen 5 5600X | 601 | 4502 | 31.75fps | 14.43fps | 160W |
As with the last two Ryzen generations, we did get a decent performance boost in productivity, which speaks to the biggest gains we can expect to see in gaming. There’s a healthy 25% increase in single-core speed from the 5600X to the 7600X, as measured by Cinebench R20, and we’re seeing a similar gap at the top end. Impressively, despite four fewer cores and eight fewer threads, this boost allowed the 7900X to outperform the 5950X in the multithreaded Cinebench test; the 7950X should be an absolute titan. Moving on to the Handbrake transcoding results, the 7900X was 13% faster than the 5950X when it came to H.264 encoding, and a little behind when it came to H.265. On its own, the 7600X outperformed the 5800X and 5800X 3D, with an average transcoded frame rate of 20fps compared to about 19 on the previous-gen Ryzen 7 part.
The Ryzen 7000 has an increase in power usage measured at the wall compared to its predecessor, but honestly it’s pretty modest. The new 6900X + X670E system maxed out at 288W, compared to 237W for the 5950X + X570 — a 21% increase that’s more or less in line with the speed increase we’re getting here. It will be interesting to see if the bulky cooler and extra power unleash any meaningful performance gains; on Ryzen 5000, the chip appears to offer full utilization out of the box, but moves to new sockets, more High power targets etc. may mean there is some overclocking headroom to discover.
With that said, let’s get to the fun stuff: see how the 7600X and 7900X perform in a range of games. Click the quick links below to move to the title that interests you most, or click the Next Page button to read them all!
