AMD Ryzen 9 7950X & Ryzen 7 7700X ‘Zen 4’ Review

1. Ryzen 7000 - Introducing Zen 4 and AM52. A Closer Look - AMD's Zen 4 Architecture3. A Closer Look - The AM5 Platform4. Testing Methodology5. Operating Clocks6. CPU Tests: Blender & Cinebench7. CPU Tests: Handbrake & 7-Zip8. Memory Tests: Memory Bandwidth and Latency9. Synthetic Gaming: 3DMark10. Gaming 1080p: ACV, BL3, F1 202111. Gaming 1080p: FC6, Hitman 3, SotTR, WDL12. Gaming 1080p - Relative Performance Summary13. Gaming 1440p - ACV, BL3, F1 2021, FC614. Gaming 1440p - Hitman 3, SotTR, WDL15. Gaming 1440p - Relative Performance Summary16. Technical: Power Draw17. Technical: Temperatures18. Overclocking19. Perf. Per Watt and £20. Zen 4 vs Zen 3 - Clock-for-Clock Comparison21. RDNA 2 Integrated GPU22. Closing Thoughts23. View All Pages

We will be pitting the new Ryzen 7000 series chips against their logical Ryzen 5000 and Intel 12^th Gen competitors.

The AM4-based Ryzen 5000 processors will be coupled with 32GB of dual-rank DDR4 3600MHz C16 memory. Both DDR5 platforms use 32GB 6000MHz sets from G.SKILL’s Trident Z5 range. Though the timings differ slightly, with the AMD EXPO kit running at 30-38-38-96 versus the Intel XMP set at 36-36-36-96. This is pretty close between the two sets.

The new AMD processors are tested on Gigabyte’s X670E Aorus Master motherboard featuring the BIOS revision and AGESA profile as supplied and validated by AMD.

Each processor is tested at its default out-of-the-box settings. For the Intel CPUs, unlimited turbo duration as set by the motherboard with XMP enabled is the operating mode. All-core load frequencies for the tested chips are as follows:

• Core i9-12900K = 4.9GHz on the P-cores.
• Core i7-12700K = 4.7GHz on the P-cores.
  
• Ryzen 7 5800X = around 4.56GHz.
• Ryzen 9 5900X = around 4.25GHz.
• Ryzen 9 5950X = around 3.85GHz
• Ryzen 7 5800X3D = around 4.4GHz.

CPU Test System Components:

• AM5 Motherboard: Gigabyte X670E Aorus Master
• AM5 DDR5 Memory: 32GB (2x16GB) G.SKILL Trident Z5 Neo 6000MHz 30-38-38-96 DDR5
• Dedicated Graphics Card: Sapphire Nitro+ Pure Radeon RX 6950 XT
• CPU Cooler: 360mm AIO liquid cooler
• Power Supply: Seasonic Prime TX-1600
• Operating System: Windows 11 Pro

• AM4 Motherboard: Gigabyte X570S Aorus Master
• AM4 DDR4 Memory: 32GB (2x16GB dual-rank) Corsair Vengeance LPX 3600MHz 16-18-18-36 DDR4 @ 1.35V
• Z690 Motherboard: ASUS ROG STRIX Z690-F Gaming WiFi
• Z690 DDR5 Memory: 32GB (2x16GB single-rank) G.SKILL Trident Z5 RGB 6000MHz 36-36-36-96

Tests:

Productivity-related and Synthetic:

• Cinebench R23 – All-core & single-core CPU benchmark (CPU)
• Blender 3.3.0 – All-core rendering of the Classroom benchmark (CPU)
• HandBrake 1.5.1 H264 – Convert 1440p60 H264 video to 1080p60 H264 using the YouTube HQ 1080p60 preset (CPU)
• HandBrake 1.5.1 H265 – Convert 4K30 100Mbps H264 video to 1080p30 40Mbps H265 using the H.265 MKV 1080p30 preset (CPU & Memory)
• 7-Zip v22 – Built-in 7-Zip benchmark test (CPU & Memory)
• SiSoft Sandra – Memory bandwidth and Cache bandwidth/latency tests (Memory)
• AIDA64 – Memory bandwidth & memory latency (Memory)
• 3DMark – Time Spy and CPU Profile Benchmarks (Synthetic Gaming)

Gaming-related:

• Assassin's Creed Valhalla – 1920 x 1080 & 2560 x 1440, Ultra High quality preset, DX12
• Borderlands 3 – 1920 x 1080 & 2560 x 1440, Badass quality preset, DX11
• F1 2021 – 1920 x 1080 & 2560 x 1440, Ultra High quality preset with TAA and 16x AF, DX12
• Far Cry 6 – 1920 x 1080, Ultra quality preset, HD textures OFF, DX12
• Hitman 3 – 1920 x 1080, Ultra quality preset, RT OFF, DX12
• Shadow of the Tomb Raider – 1920 x 1080 & 2560 x 1440, Highest quality preset, no AA, DX12
• Watch Dogs Legion – 1920 x 1080, Ultra quality preset, DX12 version

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