AMD’s new Ryzen 7 9700X is a powerful chip, there’s little doubt about that. It’s among the many finest processors you should purchase, with a large increase to single-core efficiency and distinctive effectivity. Up towards the undisputed finest CPU for gaming, AMD’s legendary Ryzen 7 7800X3D, the newest eight-core chip from AMD struggles to maintain up, although.
As you possibly can learn in our Ryzen 7 9700X evaluation, AMD’s newest chip is spectacular. Nevertheless, with the Ryzen 7 7800X3D dropping in worth, it’s turn out to be rather more aggressive. And in the case of gaming, AMD is basically competing with itself.
Specs
Jacob Roach / Digital Tendencies
The specs for the Ryzen 7 9700X and Ryzen 7 7800X3D are misleading. It doesn’t appear like there are a ton of variations, and in areas the place there are variations, they don’t make as vital of a distinction as you would possibly consider. These are two eight-core CPUs primarily based on the AM5 platform, however they couldn’t be extra totally different.
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First, the cache state of affairs. The Ryzen 7 7800X3D makes use of AMD’s 3D V-Cache know-how, resulting in a major increase in L3 cache. The Ryzen 7 7800X3D has 3 times as a lot L3 cache because the Ryzen 7 9700X, and that makes an enormous distinction in video games.
Ryzen 7 9700X
Ryzen 7 7800X3D
Cores/Threads
8/16
8/16
L3/L2 Cache
32MB / 8MB
96MB / 8MB
Max turbo frequency
5.5GHz
5GHz
TDP
65W
120W
Beneficial worth
$360
$450
The opposite attention-grabbing level of competition is energy. The Ryzen 7 9700X is extra environment friendly, and it’s capped at 65 watts in its default energy mode. The Ryzen 7 7800X3D, then again, has an influence ranking of 120W. In observe, the Ryzen 7 7800X3D not often will get as much as 120W, and it usually runs nearer to 80W. As well as, the Ryzen 7 9700X has struggled to run at its most increase clock of 5.5GHz with the default energy settings.
Exterior of the uncooked specs, there’s an architectural distinction right here. The Ryzen 7 7800X3D makes use of the Zen 4 structure, whereas the Ryzen 7 9700X makes use of the brand new Zen 5 structure. Along with a smaller manufacturing course of, AMD improved single-core efficiency with Zen 5, in addition to carried out a 512-bit knowledge path for AVX-512 directions. The large hurdle for AMD’s new structure is multi-core efficiency. With the identical core counts because the earlier era, the multi-core increase isn’t as large as you’d anticipate out of a typical era.
A wierd pricing state of affairs
Jacob Roach / Digital Tendencies
The Ryzen 7 9700X is cheaper than the Ryzen 7 7800X3D, at the very least on paper. AMD’s newest is available in at $359, and the primary retail listings are holding regular at that worth. The Ryzen 7 7800X3D launched at $450, however you received’t discover it for that worth immediately. On the time of writing, it’s out there for $366, placing it in direct competitors with the Ryzen 7 9700X.
Given the recognition of the Ryzen 7 7800X3D, its worth isn’t precisely steady. Prior to now few months, we’ve truly seen it promoting for greater than the 12-core Ryzen 9 7900X3D, which ought to be costlier. The worth fluctuates, but it surely at present lands someplace between $350 and $400. We wouldn’t suggest spending greater than $400 for it proper now because it sells for much less so usually.
Though issues might change because the Ryzen 7 9700X settles into the market, the 2 CPUs are across the identical worth proper now. You would possibly spend $10 or $20 extra on the Ryzen 7 7800X3D, however that’s hardly swaying a shopping for resolution whenever you’re speaking about two CPUs north of $300.
Productiveness efficiency
Jacob Roach / Digital Tendencies
There isn’t a lot of a contest between the Ryzen 7 9700X and Ryzen 7 7800X3D in the case of productiveness efficiency, and you may see that in motion straight away in Cinebench R23 above. In single-core efficiency, the Ryzen 7 9700X leads by round 20%, whereas it shoots forward by about 11% in multi-core efficiency. A part of that may be attributed to the brand new structure of the Ryzen 7 9700X, in addition to the upper clock speeds.
Jacob Roach / Digital Tendencies
Breaking into actual purposes, the Ryzen 7 9700X as soon as once more claims a lead in Handbrake. It was in a position to full the x265 transcode 14% sooner than the Ryzen 7 7800X3D. As soon as once more, greater clock speeds and a brand new structure assist the Ryzen 7 9700X right here. In the meantime, the additional cache on the Ryzen 7 7800X3D isn’t doing a lot in some of these purposes.
Jacob Roach / Digital Tendencies
Rounding out these rendering assessments, the Ryzen 7 9700X leads as soon as once more in Blender. For these core-crunching workloads, it’s arduous to debate that the Ryzen 7 9700X exhibits a major edge.
Jacob Roach / Digital Tendencies
Productiveness workloads aren’t all the time pushing cores to their restrict, although, and Photoshop is an effective instance of that. The Ryzen 7 9700X is forward, however not by sufficient for it to make a distinction. With these lighter productiveness workloads — notably people who herald your GPU like Photoshop — the distinction between the Ryzen 7 9700X and Ryzen 7 7800X3D shrinks.
Exterior of uncooked efficiency, there’s one other side of productiveness efficiency to think about right here — overclocking. The Ryzen 7 7800X3D isn’t unlocked for handbook overclocking, and it doesn’t have a lot headroom within the first place. The Ryzen 7 9700X, then again, is unlocked and has fairly a little bit of headroom for overclocking.
Gaming efficiency
Jacob Roach / Digital Tendencies
Gaming utterly flips the script on the dynamic between the Ryzen 7 9700X and Ryzen 7 7800X3D. You may see that instantly in my gaming outcomes above. There are a few instances the place the Ryzen 7 9700X squeezes out a lead, reminiscent of in Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands and Pink Lifeless Redemption 2. However the leads are marginal at finest, they usually fall utterly flat in comparison with the titles the place the Ryzen 7 7800X3D shoots forward.
The Ryzen 7 7800X3D is a gaming monster. There are some smaller benefits, reminiscent of in Remaining Fantasy 14 Dawntrail. However in titles like Hitman 3, Far Cry 6, and F1 2022, the Ryzen 7 7800X3D is in a totally totally different efficiency class. In video games that don’t want the additional cache, the Ryzen 7 9700X and Ryzen 7 7800X3D are on the identical degree. In video games that profit from the additional cache, the Ryzen 7 7800X3D is clearly forward.
Jacob Roach / Digital Tendencies
There’s one small exception, and that’s AVX-512 directions. Leela Chess Zero is an AI chess engine that may leverage AVX-512 directions, and the Ryzen 7 9700X completely dominates with its devoted 512-bit knowledge path. AVX-512 doesn’t come up quite a bit, however it might make a world of distinction in some purposes, reminiscent of emulating PlayStation 3 video games.
For the players
Jacob Roach / Digital Tendencies
The Ryzen 7 9700X and Ryzen 7 7800X3D serve very totally different functions, however for most individuals, the Ryzen 7 7800X3D is the CPU to purchase. It trades some productiveness efficiency for a large increase in gaming efficiency, and it presents a significantly better worth contemplating that lead. You’re additionally more likely to search out the Ryzen 7 7800X3D on sale contemplating its been available on the market for a couple of years.
That doesn’t imply the Ryzen 7 9700X is unhealthy. It’s a stable performer, and an excellent possibility should you’re not involved with gaming. We’d solely suggest the Ryzen 7 9700X should you aren’t taking part in video games in any respect, although. Even in case you have a mixture of productiveness and gaming workloads, the Ryzen 7 7800X3D is the higher alternative.
