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).
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