AMD has officially lifted the curtains off its next-generation Ryzen 7000 CPUs and AM5 platform. The red team is starting with a brand new and clean slate, one that offers a brand new processor lineup based on brand new architecture and designed around a brand new socket & supporting platform. There’s a lot to cover and a lot of aspects to talk about but we will start with one of the most important things that users want to learn about and that’s performance.
Zen 4 – Good Single-Threaded, Great Multi-Threading & Even Greater Gaming Performance
The AMD Ryzen 9 7950X & Ryzen 7 7700X are both killer CPUs in their own respective segment. The AMD Ryzen 9 7950X offers the best 16-core performance out of the box while the Ryzen 7 7700X comes with strong 8-core performance. The higher clock speeds & a solid double-digit IPC uplift bring with them a great performance improvement. While single-threaded applications see a nice boost, Zen 4 shows its strengths in multi-threaded and gaming applications.
The AMD Ryzen 9 7950X sits comfortably ahead the of Core i9-12900K, offering anywhere from 40-50% performance improvement in multi-threaded and also outperforming the 12th Gen lineup in gaming performance. The 7950X comes really close to the 5800X3D which is still a solid gamer chip but that just shows that we can expect a monumental uplift in games once the Zen 4 3D V-Cache parts arrive. To be fair, I wasn’t expecting such a big leap over the Ryzen 9 5950X but Zen 4 is truly impressive in all regards.
The AMD Ryzen 7 7700X is also a solid entry in the 8-core segment, outclassing the Core i5-12600K and even the Core i7-12700K in a few benchmarks. The chip falls around 30-35% faster than Ryzen 7 5800X in multi-threaded performance and manages to come close to the Core i9-12900K which is definitely fantastic given its price. However, I do believe that its time to up the core count of the low-end Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 5 parts since this is a crucial and mass consumer segment where Intel has gained lots of ground due to its hybrid core designs offering much higher multi-threaded processor performance.
Ryzen 9 7950X at $699 Is Very Impressive, Ryzen 7 7700X Is A Solid Gamer Chip For $399 US
I have to say that AMD nailed the pricing of its flagship Ryzen 9 7950X CPU. We know the increased cost of the 5nm process node but despite that, AMD managed to offer a big bump in performance at a price lower than its 7nm predecessor. The Ryzen 9 7950X is a very performant chip and since it is much faster than the Core i9-12900K, it is well worth the $699 US price.
The AMD Ryzen 7 7700X on the other hand is a solid gaming option at $399 US. While the Ryzen 7 5800X3D still exists in the consumer space, the Ryzen 7 7700X could be seen as a balanced option if you are planning to move to the AM5 platform. Given the pricing of the Ryzen 7 7700X, it looks like a 3D V-Cache part might end up around $499 US.
Power Efficiency Keeps on RYZENING!
Coming To power consumption, this is another key aspect where AMD shows the strengths of its Zen 4 core architecture and simply blows the competition away. The CPU consumes almost 10-20 percent lower power than the competition at stock and in gaming, both chips are on a whole different level. Even at stock, the CPUs consume 20-30W lower power than the competition in gaming power consumption and that’s taken to the next level with the 65W ECO mode which pushes the power down to sub-100W levels while retaining the same performance in gaming.
But if you plan on using the ECO mode in multi-threaded workloads, then you should expect performance drops compared to stock since the Zen 4 CPU cores require that extra juice to deliver the 40-50% performance boost over their predecessors. Despite that, the CPUs still end up being the most efficient processors on the market.
Now compared to the previous generation CPUs, the maximum power targets have been raised and the CPU package size and IHS have gotten smaller. As such, the higher transistor density and smaller thermal density mean that the chip is bound to get hot and so it does. Both CPUs run really warm around 70-90C depending on the load and require really high-end water-cooling to keep them cool.
It’s Not About Being Stuck With DDR5, It’s About Embracing The Future
Unlike Intel’s Alder Lake platform, AMD’s AM5 platform is only compatible with DDR5 memory kits. But unlike the Alder Lake launch, the same DDR5 memory kits are now priced much better and kits are available in a variety of configurations. It’s great to see that memory manufacturers have been working with AMD to optimize their kits as part of the new EXPO standard. The resultant kits deliver the best optimization and performance for the AM5 platform.
As for what kind of memory you should be getting, AMD has officially stated DDR5-6000 as the sweet spot for Zen 4 CPUs in an Auto:1:1 configuration. We tested two configurations, for now, these included DDR5-6000 CL30 and DDR5-6400. The results are pretty much the same but we noticed that the DDR5-6000 provides the best balance of price and performance. Furthermore, there’s no restriction on using an Intel XMP or non-XMP/EXPO kit on the AM5 platform so if you manage to find a cheaper kit using a different profile, then you should also be fine.
PCIe Gen 5.0 – Lots of Announcements But No Real Hardware Yet
Another key feature of the new AM5 platform is the addition of PCIe Gen 5.0 lanes. AMD offers support for both PCIe Gen 5 discrete GPU and PCIe Gen 5 M.2 SSD support whereas Intel only offers support for PCIe Gen 5 discrete GPU since there are no Gen 5 M.2 lanes coming directly from the CPUs themselves. In order for board makers to offer Gen 5 M.2 support on Intel platforms, they have to split the lanes between the dGPU and M.2 slots.
Yes, we know that new graphics cards are at some point going to come out & will feature support for PCIe Gen 5.0 hardware but existing graphics cards aren’t even saturating the Gen 4 lanes entirely and we get another 2x bandwidth increase with Gen 5. Sure it offers future-proofing but I mean it would’ve been more beneficial as a consumer if those lanes were shared with one of the M.2 slots so next year when the new Gen 5 SSDs arrived, users could upgrade to make somewhat use of the new standard. But Intel decided to share all lanes to the PCIe slots & which to me is unnecessary and we will see if next-gen graphics cards are going to see any real-world benefit from it.
But all is not bad about having Gen 5.0 on the platform as certain motherboard vendors will be providing AICs with Gen 5 M.2 slots so you can slap that in one of the PCIe 5.0 slots and have a next-generation M.2 SSD running on your PC. But those AICs are only specific to the high-end motherboards.
Solid Platform, Solid CPUs: AM5 Kicks Off With A Solid Start!
AMD has definitely started off strong with its AM5 platform and CPUs. This reminds us of the AM4 and Zen 1 launch but on a grander scale. With Zen 1, AMD was able to close in on their competition with a higher core count and strong efficiency. With Zen 4, AMD sits 40-50% faster than its rival while retaining its high core counts (on the high-end chips), higher frequencies, strong efficiency, strong single & multi-threading performance, and all of that on a platform that out beats Intel’s IO capabilities.
AMD has done the impossible and the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X and Ryzen 7 7700X CPUs are a hit. The 16-core 7950X is a brutally fast multi-threaded chip with an efficiency that’s unmatched and pricing that is $100 cheaper than its predecessor. The AMD Ryzen 7 7700X is a fast gaming chip with an 8-core design that’s balanced for mainstream users at $399 and is able to match the Core i9 12900K for several 100 bucks less.
Final Verdict – It’s the dawn of the new CPUs and platforms and based on what we have seen from our tests, AMD has won the initial round with its well-price and very fast Ryzen 9 7950X & Ryzen 7 7700X chips while the AM5 platform puts Intel’s IO capabilities to the same. Now it remains to be seen whether a certain Raptor would be enough to tackle Raphael.
The post AMD Ryzen 9 7950X & Ryzen 7 7700X CPU Review – A New Era of Zen Begins Today! by Hassan Mujtaba appeared first on Wccftech.
