The embargo on the publication of reviews of the junior models of the new AMD Ryzen 9000 line of desktop processors has just expired. Tomorrow, August 8, the Ryzen 5 9600X and Ryzen 7 9700X chips will be available for sale, so everyone can preview the results of independent tests to make their choice consciously. Initially, the new chips were supposed to be available on July 31, but the manufacturer unexpectedly postponed the launch date. For this reason, our direct hands-on experience with the Ryzen 9000 was also postponed, so for an initial quick assessment, we will use the indicators obtained by our colleagues from TechPowerUp during the review of new CPUs.
Performance of Ryzen 5 9600X and Ryzen 7 9700X
As a reminder, the key difference between the new Ryzen 9000 processors and their predecessors, the Ryzen 7000, is the use of the new Zen 5 computing architecture with a certain improvement in performance per clock cycle (IPC). We also expect additional “bonuses” here from the transition to a more advanced manufacturing process for crystals with computing cores (CCD, Core Complex Die) – 4 nm instead of 5 nm in Ryzen 7000. This is more about increasing the frequency potential and improving energy efficiency.
So, the first generalized indicators. According to a set of diverse practical tests, Ryzen 5 9600X is on average 7% more productive than its predecessor Ryzen 5 7600X. However, it is important to take into account the nuance that in certain applications the advantage of the Zen 5 chip is 12-15% and even 20% (V-Ray rendering), while in other tasks the performance of chips of different generations is almost identical. So we have a situation where architectural improvements are manifested in certain conditions.
In the case of the Ryzen 7 9700X, we have a 4% advantage over the previous generation Ryzen 7 7700X 8-core. AMD has previously indicated that Zen 5-based chips have an average 16% higher IPC, but this is obviously a rather selective value, characteristic only of certain conditions/tasks.
Ryzen 9000s have a significant advantage when using AVX-512 instructions, but the list of user applications that use them is very limited.
Performance in games
As for the performance in games, there are no outright revelations here either. The chips of the new Granite Ridge line offer a certain acceleration, but in general, the performance is not radically different.
In Full HD mode, you can expect an increase of 3.5%. After the official announcement of the Zen 5 models, there was some intrigue about the ability of the Ryzen 7 9700X to gain the status of the most gaming processor, but here the position of the Ryzen 7 7800X3D with an additional L3 buffer remains unshakable. Even the new architecture with increased IPC does not allow you to surpass the performance of the previous generation chip with 96 MB of third-level cache. Obviously, the upcoming Ryzen 9000X3D model will be able to do this.
In general, the Ryzen 7000 chips did not have any problems with games in any mode, so the extra fps can be considered a nice addition.
Energy consumption
The use of TSMC’s new 4 nm process for manufacturing the CCD chip obviously had an impact on the power consumption of the CPU. That’s why even the specifications for the Ryzen 5 9600X and Ryzen 7 9700X indicate TDP values of 65 W instead of 105 W for the immediate predecessors of the Ryzen 7000 series.
According to the actual power consumption figures of the processors in different modes, the Ryzen 9000 chips are indeed lower. The Ryzen 5 9600X and Ryzen 7 9700X consumed up to 80 watts under a multi-threaded load, while the Ryzen 5 7600X required 102 watts under such conditions and the Ryzen 7 7700X required 135 watts. The tangible improvement in energy efficiency is a major achievement of the new Ryzen 9000.
Overclocking
As for the frequency potential, Granite Ridge is not particularly impressive so far. Reviewers managed to overclock the Ryzen 5 9600X and Ryzen 7 9700X up to 5300 MHz under load on all computing cores. At 5400 MHz, it was not possible to get stable operation of the chips under high loads.
Obviously, more time and more advanced firmware that takes into account all the features of the Zen 5 chips is needed to explore the ultimate capabilities of the new Ryzen 9000. So it’s too early to draw conclusions here.
Price
AMD has already officially announced the recommended price tags for the new Ryzen 9000. The junior 6-core Ryzen 5 9600X model is priced at $279, while the Ryzen 7 9700X is priced at $359.
The previous leaks turned out to be true for the junior Ryzen 9000 chips, but the price tags of the 12/16-core models ended up being $50 higher. Is this a reaction to the current situation with the top-end 13th/14th generation Intel Core processors?
Overall impressions from the first test results of the newer Ryzen 9000 chips are good, but initial expectations were still somewhat higher. AMD’s previous mentions of a 16% increase in IPC, along with a slight increase in operating frequencies, gave reason to expect a similar practical performance boost. Indeed, in certain tasks, you can count on such an acceleration, but on average, the indicators are still more modest. But the level of power consumption is really pleasing. Only 80 watts under maximum load for an 8-core chip is an excellent indicator.
We expect Ryzen 5 9600X and Ryzen 7 9700X to appear in Ukraine. The actual retail price tags will largely determine the real interest and success of sales of new desktop CPUs from AMD. It won’t be easy, given the current cost of Ryzen 7000 models, which will definitely not lose their relevance with the advent of new chips.
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