CPU are in a uncanny touch , and it ’s punishing to ignore that fact . AMD pulled an unprecedented move bydelaying the launching of these fresh Zen 5chips , andIntel ’s widely cover instability issuestill does n’t have a solution . AMD ’s new Ryzen 5 9600X and Ryzen 7 9700X are among thebest processorsyou can buy right now , but they ’re also entering the food market at a time when good - faith comparison are tough to make .
It does n’t help that the Ryzen 5 9600X and Ryzen 7 9700X are n’t exactly well-heeled processor to evaluate . They ’re not built for gamers , with AMD ’s 3D V - Cache CPUs dominate the list of thebest gaming CPU , and the performance improvements lay out anywhere from judgement - blowing to middling . AMD ’s latest chips are fast , there ’s no doubt about that , and they well earn a recommendation . open how foreign the CPU landscapebetween AMD and Intelis properly now , however , it might be worth taking stock of where everything land in a few weeks before picking up a new chip .
AMD Ryzen 5 9600X and Ryzen 7 9700X specs
computer architecture is the name of the game for the Ryzen 5 9600X and Ryzen 7 9700X , and that ’s now apparent when look at the specs . Very piddling has alter compared to the last - gen Ryzen 7000 chips , with these parts boasting the same heart count , similar clock focal ratio , and identical cache . The improvements are all under the hood with the novel Zen 5 architecture .
There are a raft of nerdy architectural details here for Zen 5 compared to Zen 4 — there ’s an 8 - wide dispatch unit now , up from 6 - wide in Zen 4 , as well as six Arithmetic Logic Units ( ALUs ) , up from four antecedently . It ’s the gamey - level objectives of the architecture that make a difference of opinion , though . AMD had a clear focusing on single - thread carrying out , and it built a straight 512 - turn data track for AVX-512 teaching . This , according to AMD , is a new base for CPUs going onwards .
As I dig into my operation results , you ’ll see that AMD achieved its design goals . This is a young foundation , however , and not the final form of where AMD will terminate up in a twosome of generations . Performance overall feels lopsided , with some workloads showing middling performance and others showing earth - shatter gains .
outdoors of computer architecture , there ’s one significant spec modification particularly for the Ryzen 7 9700X. The last - gen Ryzen 7 7700X had a magnate draw poker of 105 watt , but AMD shrink that to 65W this time around . That power is a little affirmative , with the crisp commonly registering over 65W , but it ’s still decent to see AMD push toward the efficient end of the spectrum for Zen 5 . We saw how big of a difference that could make with theRyzen 5 7600(non - Adam ) in the previous genesis .
Test configurations
As with all of our C.P.U. reviews , I put together two run configurations that were as airless as possible . I used a high - final stage motherboard for both AMD and Intel tests , as well as a 360 mm all - in - one ( AIO ) liquid ice chest , 32 GB of DDR5 - 6000 memory , a 1200W PSU , and anRTX 4080Founder ’s Edition graphics card . All BIOS configurations were returned to their default configurations , though I ensuredXMP / EXPOand Resizable BAR were enable for both platforms .
There ’s a lot of talk about BIOS options right now , with Intel ’s CPUs sport a major wafture of instability due to improper BIOS adjustments . At the sentence of this review , those issues are still a workplace - in - advancement . Performance may change once Intel ’s mainframe are land into a more stable fleck . The goal with the performance here is to show what you should anticipate to see out of the box with any of the CPUs we feature .
Productivity performance
There ’s no expert place to start a C.P.U. review than Cinebench R23 , which immediately render AMD ’s improvements in action . forgetful of theCore i9 - 13900KandCore i9 - 14900 K , AMD ’s new chips are topping the individual - core group charts , and not by an insignificant margin . It ’s a monolithic jump , and one that ’s all the more impressive considering these are the weakest two of AMD ’s current Zen 5 lineup . Keep in mind that the Core i9 - 14900 K is rated to boost to 6GHz — the Ryzen 7 9700X is sire most of the way of life there at 5.5GHz .
Multi - core performance is , unsurprisingly , not as impressive . Intel ’s mixing of cores admit it to attain much higher core counts , which show up more sharply in a test like Cinebench . Still , we can distinctly see some improvement . The Ryzen 5 9600X , for example , is able to check the Core i5 - 12600 K with four fewer cores . That ’s a foretoken of what the architecture is doing within the cores .
place that multi - core performance into setting , take a look at Handbrake . The Ryzen 5 9600X with six sum can now match the 16 - core Ryzen 9 5950X from two generations back , and the Ryzen 7 9700X is at the heels of the Core i5 - 14600 K despite its massive magnetic core deficit .
Performance in Photoshop is even more impressive . AMD already perform well in Photoshop , but it ’s wangle to outpace itself here . The Ryzen 7 9700X matches theRyzen 9 7950Xfrom last coevals , and the Ryzen 5 9600X is n’t far behind . Photoshop is n’t the most demanding workload , but it ’s still a clear display case that the carrying out betterment are here .
These CPUs are doing exactly what they should , but there are also some lopsided numbers — for better and worse . you may see the worse in action in Blender and 7 - Zip . The Ryzen 5 9600X and Ryzen 7 9700X are scarce travel the needle in these tests , and in the eccentric of 7 - Zip , the Ryzen 5 9600X was actually a bit slow than the last - gen Ryzen 5 7600X ( though not by enough for it to make a conflict ) .
The good half isa lotbetter — so much so that I really did n’t think the number at first . In the web browser app benchmark JetStream 2 , the Ryzen 5 9600X and Ryzen 7 9700X provide the best upshot I ’ve ever recorded . And in Y - Cruncher , calculating 500 million figure of operative , the individual - core carrying out of these two chips absolutely destroy everything else on the marketplace — and that includes the modish flagships . These are both pretty specific test , but they show AMD ’s Zen 5 improvements in the good light .
In task like exposure editing in Photoshop or transcoding in Handbrake , these two CPUs are marvelous . Depending on what you ’re doing , however , you may not see all of the performance gains . It ’s clear that Zen 5 is a new groundwork for AMD , and I distrust it will balance the exfoliation of operation in some of the more specific workloads as time goes on .
Gaming performance
It ’s difficult to talk about gaming carrying into action with the Ryzen 5 9600X and Ryzen 7 9700X. The performance is decorous to disappointing , but it does n’t matter much anyway . AMD has already proven time and again that its3D V - Cachetech is the key to the highest skeleton rates , and these chips do n’t make out with the extra cache . If you ’re implicated with play , you should n’t buy the Ryzen 5 9600X or Ryzen 7 9700X — you should wait until 3D V - Cache versions of these fleck total out .
If you take a 10,000 - pes view of these chips , AMD is providing better performance in games . you may see that in the C.P.U. grudge of 3DMark Time Spy . The Ryzen 7 9700X manages to outpace theRyzen 7 7800X3D , while the Ryzen 5 9600X provide a disappointing but understandable upthrow of 5 % over the premature generation . As usual , real games tell a slightly unlike tale .
TakeHitman 3as an example . AMD was able to outpace theRyzen 7 5800X3Dwith the Ryzen 7 9700X , but both of these french-fried potatoes are a far cry from what the Ryzen 7 7800X3D can offer right now . Frankly , it ’s not even in the same conversation .
Similarly , inFar Cry 6,AMD is not only put up a solid generational uplift , the Ryzen 5 9600X even managed to puzzle last - gen ’s 16 - kernel Ryzen 9 7950X. That ’s telling , at least until you realise how much faster the Ryzen 7 7800X3D is once again .
If you snub the 3D V - Cache parts , AMD ’s new Zen 5 chip are great . The job is that PC gamers really ca n’t afford to brush off 3D V - Cache . I would n’t need to be caught with a Ryzen 7 9700X knowing that a Ryzen 7 9700X3D could launch in a matter of months . AMD has already confirmed they ’re coming , and even the Ryzen 7 7800X3D go forward to dominate play chart .
Some of the lopsided performance I regard with productivity bench mark render up here , too . TakeRed Dead Redemption 2as a prime example . This game is in my C.P.U. trial suite to ground some of the conversation around gaming CPUs . It ’s a graphically - intensive game , take some of the focussing off the processor . peculiarly , AMD was able-bodied to break through this wall of functioning that every other central processor I ’ve tested has run up against , include the Ryzen 7 7800X3D. From my aspect , that allege more about what we could see with 3D V - Cache versions of these mainframe and less about these two picky chips , however .
Finally , there ’s LeelaChessZero , and the chart really speaks for itself here . If there was any doubt that a dedicated 512 - fleck data path for AVX-512 educational activity did n’t affair , this chart set that to rest . It ’s a massive improvement , and I ca n’t wait to see how the more potent Ryzen 9 9900X and Ryzen 9 9950X fair in this benchmark .
Should you buy the Ryzen 5 9600X and Ryzen 7 9700X?
Coming in at $ 280 for the Ryzen 5 9600X and $ 360 for the Ryzen 7 9700X , these are two compelling CPUs . AMD is offering a generational uplift , and it ’s coming in at a lower price . That pricing cut was n’t made out of good will , though . There are still some oddity with these chips and the strange effect they can produce , lead to incredible operation increases in some work load and barely any improvement in others .
If you already have a Zen 4 CPU , there is n’t enough meat on the off-white to justify an upgrade here . That may change once we see the flagship in action , but lower down the stack , the change are n’t as drastic . The only elision are workloads like AVX-512 , where the new Zen 5 computer architecture absolutely mash everything else .
Gamers do n’t need to worry , either — the Ryzen 7 5800X3D is still putting up telling answer years after its handout , and the Ryzen 7 7800X3D continue the undisputed champ of gambling performance . Zen 5 brings play improvement , there ’s no doubtfulness about that . But the 3D V - Cache translation of these chips will lease those improvements sing .
The Ryzen 5 9600X and Ryzen 7 9700X are cracking if you have n’t upgraded to the AM5 weapons platform yet , however . They ’re quicker and meretricious than Ryzen 7000 option , and even moreso now considering the drop in DDR5 retentiveness Leontyne Price . If you ’ve already get hold of the plunge to AM5 , however , you could probably take this coevals off — AMD say we ’ll be getting more genesis on this socket , after all .
