A new King?
With the 7000 series, AMD stuck with the same specifications as the older 5000 series. For instance, the Ryzen 9 7950X shares the same number of cores and threads as its 5950X predecessor. There are improvements around clock speeds, with the 7950X now boosting up to 5.7GHz right out of the box. The bigger change is the Zen 4 architecture which uses TSMC’s 5nm node as compared to the 7nm node in the older Ryzen 5000 series. AMD says this allows the Ryzen 7000 to run as much as 30% lower power consumption at the same frequency.
However, performance is a lot more complicated than just the manufacturing process. AMD has increased the TDP of the 7950X to 170W (versus 105W of the 5950X).
Despite a new architecture and leap in specifications, the top-end Ryzen 9 7950X, with an SRP of $1,169, is actually cheaper than its predecessor at launch.
With the new Ryzen 7000 series, AMD has also launched the new socket AM5 and unlike its predecessor, is a zero insertion force flip-chip grid array (LGA) CPU socket. In simple terms, that means the pins are now on the socket instead of the CPU - so be very careful when handling the motherboard.
The Zen 4 architecture also meant AMD has finally made the jump to DDR5 memory as well as supporting PCIe 5.0.
Thanks to ASUS ROG and AMD, we got the ROG Crosshair X670E Hero motherboard to pair with the Ryzen 9 7950X processor for our benchmarks. And for comparison's sake, the Ryzen 7 5800X3D is thrown in for good measure.
The Ryzen 9 7950X performance against Intel's
12th Gen Core i9-12900K showed some mixed results: While it scored better in games like Horizon Zero Dawn and Metro: Exodus, it lost out in Ashes of the Singularity: Escalations and Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy. It could be that the Intel processor is just better optimised in certain games.
The interesting thing to note is that we also know that the 3D V-Cache technology in the 5800X3D processor will eventually make its way to the 7000 series, and gamers are likely to have a Ryzen 7000 series processor, possibly a “7700X3D” that could beat the Ryzen 9 7950X in gaming for less money. AMD still has this ace up its sleeve.
But to spend more than a thousand bucks on a flagship CPU like the 7950X for just gaming is just an awful waste of money. The processor, with its 16 cores, shines best at computing tasks that make use of its high core and thread counts. To this, I've used CineBench R20 alongside SYSmark 25 and PugetBench for Adobe Premiere Pro, which are great benchmarks for synthetic and real-world application workloads.
If there were any doubts about the power of the Ryzen 9 7950X, these benchmarks put it to rest. In every single test, the processor posted the highest results out of any CPU to date – outclassing even the Intel i9-12900K flagship in every single work task and type. Of course, we will revisit this when Intel's upcoming 13th Gen flagship launches later this year.
The Ryzen 9 7950X feels so powerful that I think some aspects of it are quite literally overkill. If you already own the Ryzen 7 5800X3D
STILL ONE OF THE FASTEST CPUS RIGHT NOW FOR GAMING, CONTENT CREATION OR FINDING THE ANSWER TO LIFE.
or the Core i9-12900K, there is really no compelling reason to jump to the Ryzen 9 7950X yet. That's also not forgetting the necessary upgrades that must come with the 7950X for existing Ryzen 5000 series owners: a new X670 motherboard and DDR5 memory.
Thankfully, AMD has wisely designed its AM5 socket to be compatible with existing AM4compatible AIOs and coolers.
If you must upgrade, then the cheaper options in the Ryzen 7000 lineup are the more sensible choices. The Ryzen 7 7700X, with its easier-on-the-wallet SRP of $669, is my recommendation. Or better yet, wait for the 3D V-Cache editions later on that will make a big impact on gamers.
If you are a content creator who streams and/or encodes videos while playing games, then the Ryzen 9 7950X is the processor that you're looking for. The CPU war has gotten really interesting for 2022, and AMD has just drawn first blood.
TESTED & RATED
9.0/ 10