In our final assessment of the Ryzen 7000 series, we delve into the capabilities of the 12-core Ryzen 9 7900X. This CPU may not garner as much attention as others due to its unique core setup, but rest assured, it excels in both gaming and content creation tasks. With a price tag of 549 USD, you have the option to acquire a processor with 24 threads and impressive performance capabilities. Thanks to its core architecture and PPT limitation, the temperatures are more manageable compared to its larger counterpart, the 7950X. The Ryzen 9 7900X could be the ideal choice for individuals heavily involved in video or content creation, as it offers exceptional performance and supports new technologies like PCIe Gen 5 and DDR5. With proper cooling, this CPU can easily reach speeds of 5.6 GHz and even push to 5.7 GHz.
AMD has introduced its initial ZEN4-based Ryzen 7000 processors. Although some updated graphics cards have been unveiled this year, there have not been many other releases in the component hardware sector. Nevertheless, the year will end on a high note with new offerings from AMD, Intel, and NVIDIA. During the summer, almost all specifications of the products that are now being launched somehow leaked. Today’s focus is on processors and motherboards. The new 5nm FinFET fabrication technique, a first for a desktop CPU, along with improved performance and increased power efficiency are key features of this new processor generation. More details on AM5 motherboards for these models are now available, as well as AMD EXPO, a new automatic RAM SPD standard. The AMD Ryzen 7000 series is now on the market, with releases based on the Ryzen 9 7950X and 7900X, the Ryzen 7 7700X, and the Ryzen 5 7600X. The base and boost clock speeds of the four new CPU types have seen significant increases compared to their predecessors. Unlike Intel, Zen4 does not have a hybrid design and only features big/P(erformance) cores. It remains to be seen if AMD will ever introduce hybrid (big/small) cores. One could argue that such a design would require substantial work on the Windows scheduler for Windows 11, as workloads do not easily adapt to a hybrid design, even on mobile platforms where efficiency is a key objective.
The Zen4, a non-hybrid design, is highly preferred by desktop users and PC gamers. The flagship Zen4 desktop CPU Ryzen 9 7950X will come with 16 cores and 32 threads and is priced at USD 699. The Ryzen 9 7900X, featuring 12 cores and 24 threads with a boost speed of up to 5.6 GHz, will be available for USD 549. The 8-core Ryzen 7 7700X, priced at USD 399, is expected to be the most popular processor, while the Ryzen 5 7600X, priced at USD 299, completes the lineup for now. As of September 27th, 2022, all four CPUs are now on the market. The Ryzen 7000 series is set to deliver a 13% increase in IPC over its predecessors and up to a 29% increase in single-thread performance, primarily due to the higher clock speeds, which now reach 5.7 GHz on the flagship model, an impressive 800 MHz increase over the existing series. This is mainly attributed to the upgraded Zen 4 architecture and smaller TSMC 5nm manufacturing process.
A new CPU socket, DDR5 memory, and PCIe 5.0 compatibility all necessitate the acquisition of new motherboards, marking the first time in a while that we are witnessing the introduction of a new socket. These motherboards come equipped with 600-series chipsets (X670E, X670, B650E, and B650), with the ‘E’ suffix denoting Extreme versions. Each CPU chip now boasts an integrated RDNA2 GPU along with support for PCIe 5.0 and DDR5 memory. This setup promises exceptional performance for gaming and content creation tasks; however, due to its high-end nature, it is expected to come with a hefty price tag. The 7900X stands out in both single-threaded and multithreaded operations. To evaluate this processor, it will be paired with an ASUS ROG Crosshair X670E Hero motherboard.