AMD claims that the $300 Ryzen 5 7600X is up to 17% faster than Intel's best
The $300 Ryzen 5 7600X is up to 17% faster than Intel's flagship Core i9-12900K, according to AMD's claims regarding its upcoming Ryzen 7000 processors.
It appears Team Red is not wasting any time. Just after concluding the Ryzen 7000 launch, AMD revealed the specifications, projected performance, and platform details for its upcoming Zen 4 CPUs. On September 27, four new processors will be released, ranging from $300 for the Ryzen 5 7600X to $700 for the Ryzen 9 7950X.
Ryzen 9 7950X | Ryzen 9 7900X | Ryzen 7 7700X | Ryzen 5 7600X | |
| Cores/Threads | 16/32 | 12/24 | 8/16 | 6/12 |
| Boost clock speed | 5.7GHz | 5.6GHz | 5.4GHz | 5.3GHz |
| Base clock speed | 4.5GHz | 4.7GHz | 4.5GHz | 4.7GHz |
| Cache (L2 + L3) | 80MB | 76MB | 40MB | 38MB |
| TDP | 170W | 170W | 105W | 105W |
| Price | $700 | $550 | $400 | $300 |
The Ryzen 9 7950X's $700 price tag stands out, as it represents a $100 discount over the previous generation's Ryzen 9 5950X. The Ryzen 7 7700X will now cost $400, $50 less than its predecessor, the Ryzen 7 5800X. The prices for the Ryzen 5 7600X and Ryzen 9 7900X remain the same at $300 and $550, respectively, and all four processors will be available on September 27.
Price reductions are appealing, but performance reigns supreme. And AMD is optimistic regarding the performance of its initial 5nm desktop processors. AMD's most impressive claim was that the Ryzen 5 7600X outperforms Intel's Core i9-12900K in gaming. AMD provided a number of benchmarks, including a demonstration in which the Ryzen 5 was 11% faster.
The company also claims that all four of the newly-announced processors have faster single-core performance than the Core i9-12900K, ranging from a 6.6% improvement for the Ryzen 5 7600X to an 11.5% improvement for the Ryzen 9 7950X. AMD claims that its flagship Ryzen 9 7950X outperforms the Core i9-12900K by up to 57% in content creation tasks, as demonstrated by a V-Ray ray tracing benchmark demonstration.
Generational advancements are also positive. AMD claims that Ryzen 7000 processors offer a 29% improvement in single-threaded performance and a 13% improvement in instructions per clock compared to Ryzen 5000 processors. Ryzen 5000 processors have long been the best gaming CPUs, but Ryzen 7000 processors offer a 29% improvement in single-threaded performance and a 13% improvement in instructions per clock (IPC). This surpasses the 8 to 10 percent improvement that AMD announced at Computex.
In addition to the shift from 7nm to 5nm, increased power and clock speeds also contribute to the improvement in performance. Both Ryzen 9 processors now have a TDP of 170 watts, up from 105 watts in the previous generation, whereas both Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 7 processors have a TDP of 105 watts (compared to 65W with the Ryzen 5 5600X).
The increased power enables AMD to boost Ryzen 9 7950X clock speeds to 5.7GHz, and that's before CPU overclocking. Contrary to rumors, Ryzen 7000 supports full overclocking, with the upcoming AM5 socket rated to deliver up to 230W of power.
Despite increased power consumption, AMD emphasizes Ryzen 7000 processors' efficiency. According to AMD, the 5nm manufacturing process results in 62% less power at the same performance or 49% more performance at the same power when compared to Ryzen 5000.
When both chips are limited to 65W, this efficiency enables the Ryzen 9 7950X to offer a 74% increase in overall performance compared to the Ryzen 9 5950X.
However, we must wait and see if AMD's claims are accurate. Ryzen 7000 is a major advancement, ushering in the new AM5 platform that AMD will support until at least 2025 and possibly beyond. It also marks the introduction of DDR5 and PCIe 5.0 memory for AMD.