AMD’s Ryzen 7000 Desktop CPUs come in two flavors, one with a single CCD design and the higher core count variants with dual Zen 4 CCDs. However, it looks like AMD might be shipping some AM5 Ryzen 5 & Ryzen 7 chips with two CCDs.
AMD Ryzen 5 7600X CPU Spotted With Dual Zen 4 CCDs, Defective Ryzen 9 Chips or Actually Usable?
Recently, Der8auer posted a video showcasing his latest Delid Die Mate which can be used to delid the AMD Ryzen 7000 Desktop CPUs if you plan on using direct-die cooling. The overclocker used a Thermal Grizzly Direct Die Frame for this demonstration but upon delidding the Ryzen 5 7600X, an interesting discovery was made.
An AMD Ryzen 5 7600X CPU with dual Zen 4 CCDs is pictured. (Image Credits: Der8auer)
As soon as the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X CPU was delidded, Der8auer noticed that it featured two Zen 4 CCDs instead of one. The 7600X features 6 cores and 12 threads so it doesn’t need the extra CCD. All AMD Ryzen 7000 CPUs below the Ryzen 9 segment make use of a single CCD so it’s definitely a bit interesting to see a dual Zen 4 CCD implementation on the PCB.
Since the chip was already delidded, Der8auer put the chip under a thermal probe and checked to see if the other Zen 4 CCD was active or not. Three tiny copper blocks were used that say on each chiplet (two Zen 4 CCDs and a single IOD). When booted, only the IO die, & a single Zen 4 CCD was shown to be active since they started producing heat. This means that the other die is not running.
So that brings us to the question as to why there are two Zen 4 CCDs on this particular AMD Ryzen 5 7600X CPU. There could be two reasons, first and foremost, AMD may simply be using defective Ryzen 9 chips that only have one working Zen 4 CCD and labeling them as Ryzen 5 & Ryzen 7 parts. This would suggest that the other die is totally defective and not usable. But there is also a small possibility that this die could’ve been artificially locked and there might be a bypass to enable it. It is known that AMD locks several features of its chips artificially such as the Ryzen 7 5800X3D OC that would soon be overcome. But actually enabling a whole CCD won’t be as simple as it looks & even if this was a functional die, it would take someone with a lot of experience to bypass this.
Nevertheless, it is interesting to see AMD shipping dual Zen 4 CCDs on some of its Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 5 chips. There could be a lot more chips out there but unless you are delidding them (an actual risk that voids the warranty), you’ll never know what lies under the hood of your CPU.
AMD’s Ryzen 7000 processors are here, with a new 5nm process node and AM5 socket unlocking higher clock frequencies, greater power usage and in turn better performance. The four new CPUs releasing on September 27th also include a new 6nm I/O die, integrated graphics and support for DDR5 and PCIe 5.0 – it’s a substantial feature upgrade that reclaims parity with Intel’s 12th-gen CPUs.
Of course, features often come second to fps, so performance testing has comprised the bulk of our efforts. So far, two chips have crossed our desks – the $549/£579 Ryzen 9 7900X and $299/£319 Ryzen 5 7600X – and we’ve put them up against our assortment of hand-picked games and a sprinkling of productivity benchmarks too. The question we want to answer is simple: how do these Zen 4 designs perform against Intel’s 12th-gen Core counterparts and AMD’s older Ryzen 5000 lineup?
The move to DDR5 also brings up a secondary question – what’s the current RAM sweet spot for price/performance with Ryzen 7000? AMD suggest in their documentation that DDR5-6000 is the ideal right now, so we’ve tested their CPUs – and Intel’s closest equivalents – at both 6000MT/s (AMD’s recommendation) and 5200MT/s (where we did our Intel 12th-gen testing).
Before we get into the results of our CPU benchmarks, let’s take a brief look under the hood to understand what AMD has wrought here.
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First up, AMD recorded a 13 percent improvement to IPC, instructions per clock, thanks to a larger L2 cache, an improved execution engine, a better branch predictor and other internal changes. That should translate into a similar amount of single-core performance uplift at the same frequency, so combined with some substantial frequency improvements and the shift to higher-clocked DDR5, Ryzen 7000 ought to offer a better-than-average generational improvement.
The new AM5 platform is also fascinating. AMD has shifted from a ‘PGA’ to an ‘LGA’ design for their processors, meaning that instead of having gold pins on the underside of the CPU, these are now on the motherboard – so it’s now much harder to break a CPU, but easier to break a motherboard. The pin count has also risen substantially, allowing more power to be delivered to the CPU – up to 230W, with the Ryzen 9 designs moving from a default TDP of 105W last-gen to 170W this-gen.
CPU design
Boost
Base
L3 cache
TDP
RRP
Ryzen 9 7950X
Zen 4 16C/32T
5.7GHz
4.5GHz
64MB
170W
$699/£739
Ryzen 9 7900X
Zen 4 12C/24T
5.6GHz
4.7GHz
64MB
170W
$549/£579
Ryzen 7 7700X
Zen 4 8C/16T
5.4GHz
4.5GHz
32MB
105W
$399/£419
Ryzen 5 7600X
Zen 4 6C/12T
5.3GHz
4.7GHz
32MB
105W
$299/£319
Ryzen 9 5950X
Zen 3 16C/32T
4.9GHz
3.4GHz
64MB
105W
$799/£750
Ryzen 9 5900X
Zen 3 12C/24T
4.8GHz
3.7GHz
64MB
105W
$549/£509
Ryzen 7 5800X3D
Zen 3 8C/16T
4.5GHz
3.4GHz
96MB
105W
$449/£429
Ryzen 7 5800X
Zen 3 8C/16T
4.7GHz
3.8GHz
32MB
105W
$449/£419
Ryzen 5 5600X
Zen 3 6C/12T
4.6GHz
3.7GHz
32MB
65W
$299/£279
That puts a greater focus on CPU cooling, but some existing AM4 CPU coolers should also work on AM5 which is nice for anyone that’s invested in a high-end option. Basically, any cooler that screwed into the default AMD AM4 backplate can also screw into the new AM5 one, but designs that required a custom backplate to be installed aren’t compatible. Thankfully, our test rig uses Alphacool’s Eisbaer Aurora 240mm AiO, which does use the default AMD backplate and therefore we can maintain cooler compatibility across the generations – nice.
It’s also worth bringing up the rest of the test rig we’re using. AMD provided ASRock’s X670E Taichi motherboard, which provides a plethora of M.2 slots, beefy power delivery and conveniences like on-board power and reset buttons, and an LED readout for error codes and current CPU temperature.
This is combined with high-spec G.Skill’s Trident Z5 Neo DDR5-6000 CL30 RAM, Corsair’s Dominator Platinum DDR5-5200 CL40 for supplementary testing and of course Asus’ RTX 3090 ROG Strix OC for the all-important GPU side of things. For storage, we’re using three PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSDs to hold all of our games – a 4TB Kingston KC3000, a 1TB PNY XLR8 CS3140 and a 1TB Crucial P5 Plus. Our rig was completed with a 1000W Corsair RM1000x power supply.
Elsewhere, we used an Asus ROG Crosshair 8 Hero for Ryzen 5000 testing, an Asus ROG Maximus Z590 Hero for 11th-gen Intel testing and an Asus ROG Z690 Maximus Hero for 12th-gen testing; all of these are high-end boards for their respective platforms. DDR4 motherboards used G.Skill 3600MT/s CL16 memory, the sweetspot for DDR4.
Before we get into the gaming benchmarks that make up pages two to five, let’s whet our appetite with some quick and dirty content creation benchmarks: a Cinebench R20 3D render and a Handbrake video transcode.
CB R20 1T
CB R20 MT
HB h.264
HB HEVC
HEVC Power Use
Core i9 12900K
760
10416
70.82fps
29.26fps
373W
Core i7 12700K
729
8683
57.64fps
25.67fps
318W
Core i5 12600K
716
6598
44.27fps
19.99fps
223W
Core i5 12400F
652
4736
31.77fps
14.70fps
190W
Core i9 11900K
588
5902
41.01fps
18.46fps
321W
Core i5 11600K
541
4086
29.00fps
13.12fps
250W
Ryzen 9 7900X
791
11324
79.38fps
33.77fps
288W
Ryzen 9 7600X
750
6063
44.35fps
20.28fps
236W
Ryzen 9 5950X
637
10165
70.28fps
30.14fps
237W
Ryzen 7 5800X3D
546
5746
42.71fps
19.10fps
221W
Ryzen 7 5800X
596
6118
44.18fps
19.50fps
229W
Ryzen 5 5600X
601
4502
31.75fps
14.43fps
160W
As with the past two Ryzen generations, we do get a nice performance uplift in productivity that also spells out the maximum gains we could 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 at the top-end too. Impressively, that 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 ought to be an absolute titan. Moving over to the Handbrake transcode results, and the 7900X is 13 percent faster than the 5950X when it comes to H.264 encoding and just a tad shy of that for H.265. The 7600X, for its part, outperforms the 5800X and 5800X3D with an average transcode framerate of 20fps, compared to ~19 for the last-gen Ryzen 7 parts.
Power usage, measured at the wall for a quick comparison, is increased for Ryzen 7000 compared to its predecessor – but it’s quite modest, truth be told. The new 6900X + X670E system drew 288W at its maximum, compared to 237W for the 5950X + X570 – a 21 percent increase that is more or less in-line with the increased speeds we’re getting here. It’ll be interesting to see whether mammoth coolers and additional power unlock any meaningful performance gains; on Ryzen 5000 the chip seemed to offer full utilisation out of the box but a shift to a new socket, higher power targets and so on could mean there’s some overclocking headroom to discover.
With those out of the way, let’s move onto the fun stuff: checking out how the 7600X and 7900X perform in a range of games. Click the quick links below to move onto the titles you’re most interested in, or hit the ‘next page’ button to take it all in!
AMD Ryzen 9 7900X and Ryzen 5 7600X analysis
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Back at CES 2022, which was held in Las Vegas earlier at the beginning of the year, AMD announced that its new Zen 4 core would be coming sometime in the second half of 22. During AMD’s ‘together we advance_PCs’ live streamed event at the end of August, AMD unveiled its Ryzen 7000 series of desktop processors, with four SKUs aimed at different product segments. Today AMD has officially launched Ryzen 7000 with the Ryzen 9 7950X sitting as the brand’s representative of performance leadership in an x86 processor for desktops.
On paper, the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X is a 16C/32T behemoth to take overall performance leadership in desktop computing. Their entry point into the market is the Ryzen 5 7600X, which has 6C/12T and harnesses all the benefits of the flagship in a more svelte and affordable chiplet-based package. AMD pins its hopes on bringing that all-important performance crown back to its side with Zen 4 with its new architecture based on TSMC’s 5 nm process; prepare for battle. We’ve detailed what Zen 4 brings to the table regarding the new microarchitecture and tests the new Ryzen 9 7950X and Ryzen 5 7600X through our CPU suite.
New Zen 4 Core on TSMC 5nm, Boost Up to 5.7 GHz!!
The latest Ryzen 7000 series of processors are direct replacements to the Ryzen 5000 series, with a new chipset andell as a newly designed microarchitecture both on the front and back end of the silicon’s design.
As it stands at the time of writing, AMD is launching four processors based on its 5nm Zen 4 core, ranging from a 6C/12T part all the way up to 16C/32T; just like with the previous Ryzen 5000 (Zen 3) and Ryzen 3000 series (Zen 2) launches.
The Ryzen 9 7950X: 16 Cores, 32 Threads, New 170 W TDP: $699
Looking at the specifications of the four AMD Ryzen 7000 processors, the top SKU is the Ryzen 9 7950X, with sixteen Zen 4 cores (two threads per core, 32T) two eight-core core 5nm CCDs. The Ryzen 9 7950X has a base frequency of 4.5 GHz, with a turbo frequency on one core of 5.7 GHz,, which as it stands, is the fastest CPU core in the world for the desktop space today.
AMD has also given the Ryzen 9 7950X a larger 170 W TDP, which when compared to its Ryzen 5000 counterpart, the 5950X, is an increase of 65 W (170W versus 105W) This increase in overall power has allowed AMD to improve on its frequencies, as well as giving its Precision Boost Overdrive overclocking technology more room to breathe; more power typically means more performance.
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. AMD has launched one Ryzen 7 part designed for mid-range desktop computing, through the Ryzen 7 7700X, which is an 8C/16T SKU, with a boost frequency on a single core of up to 5.4 GHz, with a base frequency of 4.5 GHz.
Focusing on the entry-level segment, its Ryzen 5 7600X looks to capitalize on offering 6C/12T with its previous series maximum TDP o 105W, at a reasonable price point. The Ryzen 5 7600X includes 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
12 C / 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, from the new Zen 4 generation to the previous Zen 3 generations with like-for-like products, Ryzen 7000 has made some big overall improvements to the chips’ capabilities. Starting at the top tier, the Ryzen 9 7950X has an enormous improvement in base and boost frequencies, which makes Zen 4’s efficiency better than any previous Ryzen generation.
This has been possible in part through superior power efficiency, as the Zen 4 article is largely a Zen 3 refinement, but produced on TSMC’s 5 nm process node (from TSMC 7 nm). 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. Coupled with a 13% TDP improvement, and the Ryzen 7000 series chips can deliver some significant single-threaded performance gains. 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 equals more which is true on the part of Ryzen 7000 series. Ryzen 7000’s TJ Max for its Precision Boost Overdrive technology stands at 95°C, which means that the CPU will use all of the available thermal headroom to maximize performance.
Although this can be overridden when manually overclocking, this opens up the maximum TJ Max to 115°C. It’s key to note that users will need to use more premium and aggressive cooling types to squeeze every last drop of performance from Zen 4. The fact that Ryzen 7000 runs hot is accounted for by AMD through their design choices and implementations. As such, they have opted not to bundle their own CPU coolers with the retail packages, 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 chipset for Ryzen 7000, named AM5. Along with AM5 also comes a new socket, the LGA1718. Now what’s interesting is AMD has specified that most AM4 socketed coolers will support the new LGA1718 socket on AM5; this is great for keeping with compatibility from the previous generation.
This also means that AM4 is now a thing of the past, although it does offer some incredible right now, as well as support with the cheaper DDR4 too. AMD has of course switched to support for DDR5 memory, with JEDEC settings across all four CPUs set at DDR5-5200; an improvement in Intel’s 12th Gen Core series support for DDR5-4800.
AMD has unveiled four new chipsets, two Extreme variants named X670E and B650E, with two regular chipsets, aptly named X670 and B650, original and simple. The top tier X670E series will feature both PCIe 5.0 lanes to the top PEG slot, with support for PCIe 5.0 storage devices which are expected in November 2022. As for its regular X670 chipset, PCIe 5.0 to the PEG slot is optional, not mandatory, like on X670E.
The B650 chipsets are designed to be more affordable and, as such only feature PCIe 4.0 lanes to the PEG slot. They do, however feature at least one PCIe 5.0 x4 storage slot. The B650E is reserved for those lower-end boards that want to include PCIe 5.0 to the graphics card, although users looking to utilize PCIe 5.0 support should opt for,X670E; better boards, better controllers, and better specifications.
New I/O Die: TSMC 6nm For Ryzen 7000
As we’ve seen previously from the Ryzen 5000 series, AMD uses chiplet packaging, with two core complex dies (CCD) on its top SKU, with an I/O die hosting all of the PCIe 5.0, the integrated memory controller (IMC), and new for Ryzen 7000, two CU’s of AMD’s rDNA 2 integrated graphics. Some key advantages of AMD’s new 6 nm TSMC I/O die means more transistors, better efficiency at the manufacturing stage, and ultimately most importantly of all, from an efficiency point of view, lower overall power draw.
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
More benchmarks of AMD’s Ryzen 5 7600X CPU at stock and overclocked configurations have leaked out over at Bilibili.
AMD Ryzen 5 7600X CPU Overclocked Up To 5.6 GHz, Benchmarked at Both Stock & OC Configurations
The benchmarks mostly show the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X being tested across a range of benchmarks but the leaker has only focused on single-core performance numbers. There’s no mention of what the test system comprised of but we can guess that the leaker was using an X670E motherboard & DDR5 memory with speeds rated at up to DDR5-6000.
AMD Ryzen 5 7600X 6 Core “Zen 4” Desktop CPU
The AMD Ryzen 5 7600X will be the most budget-tier chip of the entire Zen 4 lineup at launch. This will be a 6-core and a 12-thread part that features a high 4.7 GHz base clock and a 5.3 GHz single-core boost frequency. The CPU will also run at a 105W TDP (142W PPT) which is much higher than its 65W predecessor though once again, that’s the sacrifice you’ve to pay to achieve the faster clock speeds. The CPU will carry 38 MB of cache that comes from 32 MB of L3 and 6 MB of L2 on the die. This chip is going to be priced at $299 US and will be offering a 5% performance gain over the Core i9-12900K in gaming.
AMD Ryzen 7000 ‘Raphael’ Desktop CPU Specs (Official):
CPU Name
Architecture
Process Node
Cores / Threads
Base Clock
Boost Clock (SC Max)
Cache
TDP
Prices (TBD)
AMD Ryzen 9 7950X
Zen 4
5nm
16/32
4.5 GHz
5.7 GHz
80 MB (64+16)
170W
$699 US
AMD Ryzen 9 7900X
Zen 4
5nm
12/24
4.7 GHz
5.6 GHz
76 MB (64+12)
170W
$549 US
AMD Ryzen 7 7700X
Zen 4
5nm
8/16
4.5 GHz
5.4 GHz
40 MB (32+8)
105W
$399 US
AMD Ryzen 5 7600X
Zen 4
5nm
6/12
4.7 GHz
5.3 GHz
38 MB (32+6)
105W
$299 US
First up, we have the performance of the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X in CPU-z where AMD itself showcased a 1% IPC uplift so this is the worst-case showcase for the Zen 4 chip. At stock, the CPU scored 652.8 points, and with an overclock of up to 5.6 GHz, the CPU scored 734.1 points. Next up, we have the Cinebench R23 benchmark where the chip scored 1784 points at stock and 1920 points with a 5.4 GHz overclock. Here, the voltage is shown at 1.296V. That’s a boost of 12.5% with the 5.6 GHz and a boost of 7.5% with the 5.4 GHz overclock.
We also get to see some dual-channel performance benchmarks in the AIDA64 cache and memory benchmark in which the CPU offers around 69.9ns of latency with DDR5-6000 memory and decent gains in memory and cache bandwidth compared to its predecessor. The following charts show the performance stacking up against the competition:
Ryzen 5 7600X (5.4 GHz OC)
Core i9-13900K (5.5 GHz All-Core OC)
Ryzen 5 7600X (5.6 GHz OC)
The leaker states that the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X can achieve frequencies of up to 5.4-5.5 GHz with 1.32V overclocking but requires a decent 360mm AIO cooler. Using this setup and OC config, the CPU can sit at around 92C. He also claims that the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X can hit an overclock frequency of up to 5.4 GHz across all cores and each a score of over 42,000 points which would put it far above the 13900K’s Unlimited Power setting. The CPU was put under a 360mm AIO cooler and resulted in 82C temps with the OC but wasn’t able to pass the AIDA64 stability test under such a configuration.
0
9000
18000
27000
36000
45000
54000
Ryzzen 9 7950X (5.4 GHz OC)
Core i9-13900K (Unlimited Power)
Core i9-13900K (Limited Power)
At stock, both the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X and Intel Core i9-13900K CPUs will score similarly but AMD Zen 4 will have a big advantage when it comes to power efficiency over Intel’s Raptor Lake.
The CPU seems to be right on par with Intel’s Core i9-12900K and for $299 US, that’s fantastic news for gamers. AMD’s Ryzen 7000 chips hit retail on the 27th of September so users can enjoy some huge uplifts in the single and multi-core workloads. The AMD Ryzen 9 7950X & the Ryzen 5 7600X also appeared in the leaked Geekbench 5 benchmarks a few days ago.
With just a few hours to go, we have managed to obtain the prices of AMD’s Ryzen 7000 “Zen 4” Desktop CPUs including the Ryzen 9 7950X, Ryzen 9 7900X, Ryzen 7 7700X & Ryzen 5 7600X. Do note that these prices were provided to us by our sources & could change at the very last minute by AMD.
AMD Ryzen 7000 “Zen 4” CPUs Prices Remain Unchanged From Ryzen 5000 “Zen 3” Lineup, Flagship Costs $799 US
AMD will be launching a total of four Ryzen 7000 Desktop CPUs initially, all fused with the brand new 5nm Zen 4 core architecture. We have already given you a rundown on the specifications & now, we are going to talk about the prices.
I personally was expecting the prices to be a bit lower than what we got on the Ryzen 5000 “Zen 3” lineup but it looks like AMD has decided to keep the prices for Ryzen 7000 “Zen 4” CPUs exactly the same as the last generation parts. As such, we are expecting the following prices for the CPUs:
Ryzen 9 7950X – $799 US
Ryzen 9 7900X – $549 US
Ryzen 7 7700X – $449 US
Ryzen 5 7600X – $299 US
My initial thoughts? Well, I mean the prices haven’t changed so that’s a good thing considering we are on a more expensive node (TSMC 5nm) but at the same time, we are talking about 6 cores for $299 US and 8 cores for $449 US in 2022. That’s a lot of price to pay especially when we have Intel rocking more cores/threads on their $250-$500 US SKUs plus the 13th Gen Raptor Lake CPUs are already on the horizon. So it’s a mixed bag but hey, these aren’t final prices till AMD makes them official and while our sources are highly credible for me to trust them, I’d also wait to see AMD’s official announcement to consider these as final MSRPs.
AMD Ryzen 9 7950X 16 Core “Zen 4” Desktop CPU
Starting with the flagship of them all, we have the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X which retains its healthy 16 core and 32 thread count from the previous two generations. The CPU will feature an impressive base frequency of 4.5 GHz and a boost clock of up to 5.7 GHz (5.85 GHz F-Max) which should make it 200 MHz faster than Intel’s Alder Lake Core i9-12900KS which has a boost frequency of 5.5 GHz on a single-core.
It looks like AMD is extracting every ounce of Hertz that it could within that 170W TDP (230W PPT) for the Ryzen 9 chips. As for the cache, the CPU comes with 80 MB of that which includes 64 MB from L3 (32 MB per CCD) and 16 MB from L2 (1 MB per core).
AMD Ryzen 9 7900X 12 Core “Zen 4” Desktop CPU
Next up, we have another AMD Ryzen 9 chip, the 7900X, which as the name suggests, would come equipped with 12 cores and 24 threads. The CPU comes with an even higher base clock of 4.7 GHz and a boost clock adjusted at 5.6 GHz across a single core. The CPU retains its 170W TDP and gets 76 MB of cache (64 MB L3 + 12 MB L2). The CPU will be positioned in the same ballpark as the AMD Ryzen 9 5900X but with performance that would shake the ground from below the Core i7-12700K.
AMD Ryzen 7 7700X 8 Core “Zen 4” Desktop CPU
Moving over to the Ryzen 7 family, here we have the AMD Ryzen 7 7700X, an 8-core and 16-thread part. AMD positions this as the sweet spot for gamers and as such, the CPU will feature a base clock of 4.5 GHz and a boost clock of 5.4 GHz but at a lower 105W TDP (142W PPT). The CPU will get a 40 MB cache pool which consists of 32 MB L3 from the singular CCD &8 MB L2 from the Zen 4 cores.
Now one interesting thing to mention is that there is so far no update by AMD on a Ryzen 7 7800X chip. It is likely that AMD wants to replace that part with a successor to the Ryzen 7 5800X3D with Zen 4 cores (3D V-Cache). If that was the case, we can expect an update later this year to the CPU lineup since the V-Cache parts have been confirmed for a late Q4 2022 launch by AMD themselves.
AMD Ryzen 5 7600X 6 Core “Zen 4” Desktop CPU
Last up, we have the most budget-tier chip (if you can call it that but the pricing won’t be reflective of that), the Ryzen 5 7600X. This will be a 6-core and a 12-thread part that features a high 4.7 GHz base clock and a 5.3 GHz single-core boost frequency. The CPU will also run at a 105W TDP (142W PPT) which is much higher than its 65W predecessor though once again, that’s the sacrifice you’ve to pay to achieve the faster clock speeds. The CPU will carry 38 MB of cache that comes from 32 MB of L3 and 6 MB of L2 on the die.
