AMD’s Ryzen 7000 processors are here, with a new 5nm process node and AM5 socket that unlocks higher clock speeds, more power consumption and in turn better performance. Launched on September 27, the four new CPUs also include a new 6nm I/O band, integrated graphics and support for DDR5 and PCIe 5.0 – a significant feature upgrade that brings it back on par with Intel’s 12th generation CPUs.

Of course, features often come second to fps, so performance testing is the bulk of our efforts. So far two chips have crossed our tables – this one 549 dollars/£579 Ryzen 9 7900X and 299 dollars/£319 Ryzen 5 7600X – and we put them up against our hand-picked range of games and performance benchmarks. The question we want to answer is simple: how do these Zen 4 designs fare against Intel’s 12th-gen Core counterparts and AMD’s older Ryzen 5000 lineup?

The move to DDR5 also raises a secondary question – what is the current RAM price/performance ratio with the Ryzen 7000? AMD suggests in their documentation that DDR5-6000 is currently ideal, so we tested their CPUs and Intel’s closest equivalents at both 6000MT/s (AMD’s recommendation) and 5200MT/s (here we We did our Intel 12th generation. test).

Before we get to the results of our CPU benchmarks, let’s take a quick look under the hood to understand what AMD is doing here.

First, AMD recorded a 13 percent 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 into a similar amount of single-core performance increase at the same frequency, so combined with some significant frequency improvements and the switch to higher-clocked DDR5, the Ryzen 7000 should offer a better-than-average generational improvement.

The new AM5 platform is also impressive. AMD has switched from a ‘PGA’ to an ‘LGA’ design for their processors, which means that instead of gold pins under the CPU, these are now on the motherboard – so it’s now harder to hack the CPU, but easier to hack the motherboard. The number of pins also increased significantly, which allowed more power to be transferred to the CPU – up to 230W, Ryzen 9 designs went from the default TDP 105W last generation to 170W this gen.

It focuses more on CPU cooling, but some existing AM4 CPU coolers should also work on AM5, which is nice for anyone investing in a high-end option. Basically, any cooler that screws into a standard AMD AM4 backplate can also be screwed into the new AM5, but designs that require a custom backplate to be installed are not compatible. Thankfully, our test rig uses Alphacool Eisbaer Aurora 240mm AiOit uses a standard AMD backplane and so we can maintain cooler compatibility between generations – nice.

The rest of the test rig we used is also worth bringing up. AMD has introduced ASRock’s X670E Taichi motherboard, which features multiple M.2 slots, a powerful power supply, and conveniences like on-board power and reset buttons and an LED readout for error codes and current CPU temperature.

This is paired with high-end G.Skill’s Trident Z5 Neo DDR5-6000 CL30 RAM, Corsair’s. Dominator Platinum DDR5-5200 CL40 for further testing and of course the Asus RTX 3090 ROG Strix OC for the all-important GPU side of things. For storage, we use three PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSDs to store all our games – 4TB Kingston KC30001TB PNY XLR8 CS3140 and 1 TB Crucial P5 Plus. Our rig is complete with 1000W Corsair RM1000x power supply.

Elsewhere we used Asus ROG Crosshair 8 Hero For the Ryzen 5000 test, moment Asus ROG Maximus Z590 Hero For the 11th generation Intel test and moment Asus ROG Z690 Maximus Hero For the 12th generation test; these are all high-end boards for their respective platforms. Used DDR4 motherboards G.Skill 3600MT/s CL16 memorySweet spot for DDR4.

Before we get to the gaming benchmarks that make up pages two and five, let’s whet our appetite with some quick and dirty content creation benchmarks: Cinebench R20 3D rendering and video transcoding with Handbrake.

As with the last two Ryzen generations, we get a nice performance boost in productivity, which represents the maximum gains we’d expect to see in gaming. There’s a healthy 25 percent jump in single-core speeds from the 5600X to the 7600X, as measured by Cinebench R20, and we see a similar margin on top. Surprisingly, this boost allows the 7900X to outperform the 5950X in the multi-threaded Cinebench test, despite having four fewer cores and eight fewer threads; The 7950X must be titanium. Switching to Handbrake transcode pays off, and the 7900X is 13 percent faster than the 5950X when it comes to H.264 encoding and just shy of H.265. The 7600X, in turn, outperforms the 5800X and 5800X3D with an average transcode frame rate of 20fps, compared to ~19 for the last-gen Ryzen 7 parts.

For a quick comparison, power consumption measured at the wall is up for the Ryzen 7000 compared to its predecessor – but to be honest, it’s quite modest. The new 6900X + X670E system drew a maximum of 288W, compared to 237W for the 5950X + X570 – a 21 percent increase, which is more or less in line with the increased speeds we’re getting here. It will be interesting to see if the mammoth coolers and extra power unlock any meaningful performance gains; In the Ryzen 5000, the chip offered full use out of the box, but with a switch to a new socket, higher power targets, etc. may mean there are some overclocking gaps to discover.

With that out of the way, let’s get down to the fun stuff: check out how the 7600X and 7900X perform in a number of games. Click on the quick links below to jump to the titles that interest you most, or click “next page” to take them all!

AMD Ryzen 9 7900X and Ryzen 5 7600X review

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