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 ESTDuring AMD’s ‘together we advance_PCs’ event at the end of August, the company unveiled its Ryzen 7000 series of desktop processors, with four SKUs aimed at the mid-range and high-end market segments. After whetting the audience's appetites with that announcement, tomorrow AMD will be officially releasing their long-awaited next-generation CPUs.
The launch of the Ryzen 7000 series brings a lot to digest, for casual fans and hardcore hardware enthusiasts alike. For their newest lineup of chips, AMD has given their desktop CPU platform a top-to-bottom update, not only releasing new CPUs, but releasing an entirely new platform, socket AM5 around it. As a result, for the first time in a few generations these chips are not drop-in compatible with existing AMD motherboards. But at the same time it has allowed AMD to deliver on a collection of platform improvements, ranging from DDR5 and PCIe 5.0 support to improved power management capabilities. AMD has even managed to sneak an entry-level Radeon RDNA2 architecture-based iGPU into the chip.
The Ryzen 9 7950X: 16 Cores, 32 Threads, New 170 W TDP: $699
We'll start, as always, with the CPUs themselves. AMD's flagship for this generation is the Ryzen 9 7950X, a 16 Zen 4 core CPU that AMD is looking to top the charts with for both single-threaded and multi-threaded workloads. The Ryzen 9 7950X has a base frequency of 4.5 GHz and a peak turbo clockspeed of 5.7 GHz, which makes it the highest clocked desktop x86 CPU to hit the market yet.
But don't think AMD's Zen 4 architecture is just about clockspeeds. AMD has also improved the IPC of their CPU architecture by an average of 13% – primarily relying on the addition of AVX-512 instruction support and comfortably larger caches and buffers throughout the CPU – which means that the Ryzen 7000 chips can deliver some significant performance improvements in a variety of single-threaded workloads.
As for multi-threaded workloads, AMD has been able to improve performance there as well, albeit with a reliance on both architecture improvements and higher TDPs to allow for higher sustained clockspeeds. One of the enabling factors here is that the AM5 platform allows for higher chip TDPs – up to 170W in the case of the 7950X – which is some 65W higher than the max TDPs on AMD's fastest 16 core Ryzen 5000 parts. As a result AMD is in a good position to deliver on the "leadership" class performance that the company is after, but not entirely for free.
The Ryzen 9 7900X, Ryzen 7 7700X, and Ryzen 5 7600X
Moving one down the stack is the Ryzen 9 7900X, which is a 12C/24T and 170W TDP part; it has a higher base frequency than the 7950X of 4.7 GHz, but with a slightly lower boost frequency of up to 5.6 GHz.
Below that, AMD has launched one Ryzen 7 part designed for mid-range desktop computing, the Ryzen 7 7700X. This is an 8C/16T SKU, with a boost frequency on a single core of up to 5.4 GHz, and a base frequency of 4.5 GHz. Notably, unlike the Ryzen 9 parts, this part has a more typical-for-AMD TDP of 105W.
Finally, also aimed at the mid-range market and the cheapest member of AMD's new product stack, we have the Ryzen 5 7600X. Offering 6C/12T with a TDP of 105W, the 7600X is Zen 4 at a more reasonable price point. The chip runs at a base frequency of 4.7 GHz, with a modest (compared to Ryzen 9) boost frequency on a single core of 5.3 GHz.
AMD Ryzen 7000 versus Ryzen 5000 | |||||||
AnandTech | Cores Threads |
Base Freq |
Turbo Freq |
Memory Support |
L3 Cache |
TDP | MSRP |
Ryzen 9 7950X | 16C / 32T | 4.5GHz | 5.7GHz | DDR5-5200 | 64 MB | 170 W | $699 |
Ryzen 9 5950X | 16C / 32T | 3.4 GHz | 4.9 GHz | DDR4-3200 | 64 MB | 105 W | $799 |
Ryzen 9 7900X | 12C / 24T | 4.7GHz | 5.6GHz | DDR5-5200 | 64 MB | 170 W | $549 |
Ryzen 9 5900X | 12C / 24T | 3.7 GHz | 4.8 GHz | DDR4-3200 | 64 MB | 105 W | $549 |
Ryzen 7 7700X | 8C / 16T | 4.5GHz | 5.4GHz | DDR5-5200 | 32 MB | 105 W | $399 |
Ryzen 7 5800X | 8C / 16T | 3.8 GHz | 4.7 GHz | DDR4-3200 | 32 MB | 105 W | $449 |
Ryzen 5 7600X | 6C / 12T | 4.7GHz | 5.3GHz | DDR5-5200 | 32 MB | 105 W | $299 |
Ryzen 5 5600X | 6C / 12T | 3.7 GHz | 4.6 GHz | DDR4-3200 | 32 MB | 65 W | $299 |
Comparing apples to apples, so to speak, between the new Ryzen 7000 series parts to the previous-generation Ryzen 5000 series parts, Ryzen 7000 has made some big overall improvements to the chips' capabilities. All of the Ryzen 7000 chips offer significant increases in both base and boost frequencies, which bodes well for overall performance. The worst we can say is that AMD hasn't increased their core counts at any price point/market segment, so all of the performance gains we'll see here today are entirely from architecture and clockspeeds, rather than the more immediate MT gains of throwing more silicon at the matter.
AMD's performance gains have been made possible in part through the Zen 4 architecture's superior power efficiency. While the Zen 4 architecture is modest refinement of Zen 3, delivering a 13% IPC improvement, it also gets the big advantage of being produced on TSMC's 5 nm process node, a full node's shrink from the TSMC 7nm process that was used for Ryzen 5000/3000. This efficiency has allowed AMD to boost clockspeeds without breaking the power bank, with the 105W TDP 7700X seeing a 700MHz improvement for no change in TDP. And multi-threaded performance is not left out in the cold, either; by increasing their top TDP to 170W, AMD is able to keep the CPU cores on their 12C and 16C parts at higher sustained turbo clocks, delivering much better performance there as well.
Of course one of the key arguments here is that more power calls for more cooling, which is very much true for the Ryzen 7000 series. Ryzen 7000’s TjMax for its Precision Boost Overdrive technology stands at 95°C, which means that the CPU will use all of the available thermal headroom right up to that point in order to maximize performance.
Although this can be overridden when manually overclocking, none the less the top-end Ryzen 7000 chips call for better cooling than their Ryzen 5000 counterparts. Users will need to employ more premium and aggressive coolers to squeeze every last drop of performance from Zen 4, as most of us are wont to do. AMD for their part has accounted for all of this with their design choices and product marketing, clearly advising Ryzen 9 79x0 owners to use a liquid cooler with these chips. Still, this does mean that AMD is not bundling their own CPU coolers with their retail SKUs, instead directing buyers to fairly powerful third-party coolers.
New AM5 Socket: AM4 Coolers will Support AM5 Too
AMD has also transitioned to a new platform for Ryzen 7000, named AM5. Along with AM5 also comes a new socket, the titular socket AM5, a LGA-1718 socket that is AMD's first use of the LGA form factor for mainstream desktop CPUs. Now what’s interesting is AMD has specified that most AM4 coolers will support the new AM5 socket, which is great for keeping compatibility with existing coolers.
This also means that AM4 is slowly on its way to becoming a thing of the past. While AMD is still (many) months away from replacing their complete Ryzen 4000/5000 stack with Ryzen 7000 parts, today is the first day and the first step to doing so. None the less, AM4 does offer some incredible deals right now (e.g. 5800X3D), as well as support for cheaper DDR4 memory. This sits in contrast to the AM5 platform, which is entirely DDR5-only. Though when it comes to memory AMD does have a small advantage over Intel; whereas Intel's 12th Gen Core chips only support a maximum (JEDEC) speed of DDR5-4800, the Ryzen 7000 chips are officially rated for DDR5-5200.
To go with the new AM5 platform and provide motherboards for their new CPUs, AMD has unveiled four(ish) new chipsets. These are the B650 and X670, as well as their "Extreme" variations, the B650E and X670E. The top-end X670E series will feature both PCIe 5.0 lanes to the top PEG slot and support for PCIe 5.0 NVMe storage devices. The regular X670 chipset, on the other hand, foregoes the mandatory PCIe 5.0 speeds for the PEG slot in favor of easier-to-implement PCIe 4.0. In either case, both versions of X670 are intended to offer a plethora of I/O options, and in keeping with the general tiered structure of AMD's AM5 chipsets, X670 boards will generally offer better designs, better controllers, and better specifications.
The B650 chipsets, meanwhile, are designed to be more affordable, doing away with some of the I/O lanes and overall I/O flexibility the X670 chipsets enjoy. Like the Extreme X670, the B650E is intended for boards that will offer PCIe 5.0 to the PEG slot and NVMe storage. Otherwise, the lowest-tier B650 chipset dials that back to PCIe 4.0 for the PEG slot as well.
For this week's launch, only the X670/X670E boards will be available. Buyers looking for the cheaper B650/B650E boards will need to hold out until October.
New I/O Die: TSMC 6nm For Ryzen 7000
Last, as has been the case for the last couple of Ryzen desktop generations, for the Ryzen 7000 series AMD is constructing their CPUs out of chiplets. All Ryzen 7000 desktop chips are built from an I/O Die (IOD) as well as either one or two core complex dies (CCDs) depending on the SKU. The IOD hosts all of the PCIe 5.0 lanes, the DDR5 integrated memory controller (IMC), and new for Ryzen 7000, an integrated GPU based on AMD's Radeon RDNA2 GPU architecture. All things considered, the IOD used for the Ryzen 7000 is a pretty significant overhaul compared to AMD's previous IOD, with AMD implementing several new performance and power-saving features, as well as further cutting down on power consumption thanks to TSMC's 6nm process.
It’s time to dive deep into all of AMD’s new improvements and changes for its Zen 4 microarchitecture. Over the following pages we’ll, be going over the following:
- Ryzen 7000 Overview: Comparing Ryzen 7000 to Ryzen 5000 specifications
- Socket AM5: The New Platform For Consumer AMD
- More I/O For AM5: PCIe 5, Additional PCIe Lanes, & More Displays
- AM5 Chipsets: X670 and B650, Built by ASMedia
- DDR5 & AMD EXPO Memory: Memory Overclocking, AMD’s Way
- Ryzen 7000 I/O Die: TSMC & Integrated Graphics at Last
- Zen 4 Architecture: Power Efficiency, Performance, & New Instructions
- Zen 4 Execution Pipeline: Familiar Pipes With More Caching
- Test Bed and Setup
- Core-to-Core Latency
- SPEC2017 Single-Threaded Results
- SPEC2017 Multi-Threaded Results
- CPU Benchmark Performance: Power, Web, & Science
- CPU Benchmark Performance: Simulation and Encoding
- CPU Benchmark Performance: Rendering
- CPU Benchmark Performance: Legacy Tests
- Gaming Performance: 720p and Lower
- Gaming Performance: 1080p
- Gaming Performance: 4K
- Conclusion
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Silver5urfer - Tuesday, September 27, 2022 - link
Intel won't sell new mobos. They already have Z690 saturation. Barely anyone will get Z790. AMD on the other hand will continue to sell new boards, the quarter is not based on the Client only. It will include the HPC. Intel lost money there, and AMD won't be losing because Genoa is on track and SPR XEON is delayed.AMD AM5 is not just hey this thing is fast and just for gaming. It will be a socket that is going to last until Intel Nova Lake launches that is next 2 Intel sockets. That is a huge advantage for a small price for paying customers now.
Also why is everyone chanting same BS that GN Steve did with AMD boards are too expensive, did you see how Z690 was at when it launched same thing it was expensive ? And DDR4 boards are worse quality and features than the premium cut DDR5. Then Intel launched B660 and AMD's B650/E is also coming. So nope that BS argument about Mobo pricing is too much thrown around. Once the B650 launches by that time 13th gen will hit Retail market and new GPUs as well. And it's November season and in America the Black Friday sales will kick in and see price cut for all products we are seeing now.
So ultimately AMD is not going to lose money.
The biggest BS from a smart customer pov is with Intel LGA1700 EOL and the whole socket bending crap, it's like AM4's unreliable IMC and poor IODie with it's issues. AM5 needs to prove itself but given how they removed the IF from memory clocks I can bet it won't have the issues from AM4.
X3D is a niche market it won't be chart topper for sales at-least if it's again 7800X3D single SKU. Same for KS bin. It depends on how AMD will execute, idk why every single AMD fan says X3D is going to do something if AMD can clock it this high and also allow tuning then it will be a true gen refresh to compete vs Meteor Lake else it will be just a Gaming Juggernaut.
nandnandnand - Tuesday, September 27, 2022 - link
@Silver5urfer rumored to be 3 SKUs, including a 7900X3D, and +30% average performance instead of 15%. I guess that would be a result of improved latency, bandwidth, no voltage/clock decreases, etc.Silver5urfer - Wednesday, September 28, 2022 - link
A 7950X3D means it will have extreme high heat because not only single cache stack you are adding 2 stacks atop the CCDs, how will AMD able to remove that ? Unless the way Cowos TSMC Stacking is technically changed OR they have to lap out the IHS internally to reduce the thickness and compensate the high heat transfer. The current IHS is thick due to many reasons one can assume - The LGA1718 stability, Chiplet integrity with high heat and pressure of HS and cooler compat and it causes the heat density increase, which is why 95C.I really think a 7800X3D is the only way for AMD even though rumors mention 3SKUs because a total SKU refresh totally cannibalize the entire 7000 lineup, because a 7600X is to get best gaming out of AM5 with cheaper option almost at more than 1/2 the price reduction vs a top end R9. And R7 7900X is basically an all rounder like 5900X best for gaming and production now you add the Cache block it would have to fight with 7900X.
Voltage reduction was done on Zen 3 because AMD shoved 1.4v through all Ryzen 5000 processors, insanely high and IODie was also on high voltage, causing all that instability add the 1.3v bin silicon, everything gets better including the heat density. Zen 4 TSMC 5N is much better because it's just 1.2v now at high clock rate. The voltage is not an issue anymore, the design of the Zen 4 itself is like this, how AMD intended to breathe fire at 95C even for 7600X is the hint.
nandnandnand - Wednesday, September 28, 2022 - link
Heat was never the problem for the 5800X3D. It was only voltage, due to using an immature 3D (2.5D) chiplet technology that could not be run at the higher voltages. So I don't think the 7950X3D can't happen. If they have to drop voltages and clocks again, then hopefully the cache has improved.I think AMD should do at least a 7950X3D and 7800X3D. They can prevent cannibalization by giving it a healthy price bump. Probably +$100 to the 7950X3D, +$50 to the 7800X3D, and let the 7700X price drift lower. 7900X3D doesn't make sense, and people would love a 7600X3D but AMD would not.
nandnandnand - Tuesday, September 27, 2022 - link
@Hifihedgehog OP compared 7000X3D to the 13900KS, that's what I addressed.Hifihedgehog - Tuesday, September 27, 2022 - link
Wrong: the i9-13900K is less than $600. The 7950X is going to have to have its price lowered, especially with the price of DDR5 and the motherboards simply off the charts. And good too: Lisa Su needs to be running a price war and not pretend that her company has more market share.The Von Matrices - Tuesday, September 27, 2022 - link
A price war doesn't benefit AMD when they are supply constrained by TSMC and selling every chip they can manufacture. There's a reason that AMD doesn't offer any products in the <=$100 CPU market right now and it isn't because they don't want to make money.Hifihedgehog - Tuesday, September 27, 2022 - link
https://download.intel.com/newsroom/2022/2022innov...dwade123 - Tuesday, September 27, 2022 - link
Overheated and overpriced. Don't let those scumbags tell you that "95C is normal" because it's not. Avoid at all cost!Thanny - Tuesday, September 27, 2022 - link
Running the memory at JEDEC speeds is definitely the wrong choice for a review. While it may be true that most people don't set the memory profile in the BIOS, none of those people read CPU reviews. Essentially every person who would read this reviews will be setting memory to the XMP/EXPO settings.So you're essentially invalidating your test results for the only people who see them.