Ryzen 9 7900 and Ryzen 5 7600 review: Zen 4 without the X factor

On January 10, the Ryzen 7000 family will welcome new members, the 65W TDP non-X Ryzen 7000s. We looked at the performance of two representatives, the Ryzen 9 and Ryzen 5, in gaming and in applications. As convincing as the X versions despite the more restricted TDP?

It is tomorrow that the Ryzen 7000 non-X official at CES 2023 : the Ryzen 9 7900, Ryzen 7 7700 and Ryzen 5 7600. Like the Ryzen 7000X launched last year, these new chips benefit from 5 nm engraving by TSMC and the Zen 4 CPU architecture. TDP is however lowered to 65 W, against 105 / 120 W for Ryzen 7000X. With what impact on performance? Answer in this test, which concerns the Ryzen 9 7900 and Ryzen 5 7600, and which was carried out in partnership with Igor Wallossek.

Ryzen 9 7950X and Ryzen 7 7700X review: Zen 4 calmly begins the AM5 era

Test platforms

Regarding the test conditions, the AM5 platform for Ryzen 9 7950X, Ryzen 9 7900X, Ryzen 7 7700X and Ryzen 5 7800X consists of an MSI MEG X670E ACE motherboard with 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) of Corsair Dominator RGB memory DDR5-6000. The AM4 chips (Ryzen 9 5950X, Ryzen 9 5900X, Ryzen 7 5800X and Ryzen 7 5800X3D) take place on an MSI MEG X570 Godlike motherboard with still 32 GB of Corsair Dominator RAM, but DDR4-3200 type. Finally, the Intel LGA1700 platform for Intel Cores (Core i9-13900K, i9-12900K, Core i7-12700K, Core i5-13600K) mobilizes an MSI MEG Z690 Ace motherboard and 32 GB of Corsair Dominator RGB DDR5-6000 memory.

At 720p, the Ryzen 9 7900 is positioned behind the Ryzen 5 7600X; the Ryzen 5 7600 slips between the Core i5-13600K and Core i7-12700K. The differences remain fairly small, around 7 images per second between the two extremes. On the other hand, even the Ryzen 5 7600 is quite significantly ahead of the previous generation Ryzen 5000X, with an almost 29fps lead over the Ryzen 9 5950X. the Ryzen 7 7800X3D, king time for 1440p gaminghowever remains beyond the reach of non-X Zen 4 chips in this definition.

In Full HD, the greater number of CPU cores of the Ryzen 9 7900 works in its favor: the Ryzen still sticks to the Core i5-13600K, with 245.4 frames per second on average, but widens a nice gap on the Ryzen 5 7600 and its average of 231.6 IPS. The latter remains ahead of the Ryzen 5000X, with a lead of just under 15 IPS over the Ryzen 9 5950X.

Let’s not finish the QHD, a definition in which Intel’s Raptor Lake shines. Unsurprisingly, with an average of 185.9 IPS, the Ryzen 5 7600 is the worst performer of the next-gen processors. As for the Ryzen 9 7900, left behind by the Core i5-13600Kit offers a frame rate average almost equivalent to that of the Ryzen 9 7900X.

Performance benchmarks and professional applications

We now come to synthetic benchmarks and professional applications. Below you will find the performance of the processors in Cinebench R23, Blender, AutoDesk CAD or Inventor 2021 Pro. We will not comment on each performance, all these results being quite specific. Overall, the Ryzen 9 7950X and Core i9-13900K stand out, with different hierarchies depending on the scenarios. The Ryzen 9 7900 does not disappoint given its TDP, while the Ryzen 5 7600 logically struggles more in heavily multi-threaded tasks.

Cinebench R23

Inventor 2021

AutoCAD 2021

Various

Energy consumption and efficiency

As you can see, in terms of pure performance, the generational gains are there. But what about the consumption and energy efficiency of these Ryzen?

In games, the Ryzen 9s rarely offer the best watts to frames per second ratio. The Ryzen 9 7900 is no exception to this rule. It does better than the Ryzen 9 7900X in this area and is among the good students, without being the head of the class. And for good reason: this title now goes to the Ryzen 5 7600, the new champion of energy efficiency in games, in all three definitions (720p, 1080p and 1440p). It beats the Ryzen 5 7600X and Ryzen 7 5800X3D, often by very little.

In professional applications, the Ryzen 5 7600 and especially the Ryzen 7 7900 show excellent yields, especially in view of its performance for the latter.

Conclusion

Not much to complain about these non-X Ryzen 7000s. Overall, performance is in line with what we’d expect from Zen 4 chips throttled down to 65W TDP. For the majority of users, in view of the higher power efficiency, the performance loss compared to the Ryzen 7000X is quite acceptable.

Naturally, these 65 W TDP processors are more attractive than their 105 / 120 W TDP counterparts, with official prices a few tens of dollars lower than those of the Ryzen 7000X. On this release eve, AMD has still not communicated the prices in euros. One thing to remember though: since Black Friday, the prices of the Ryzen 7000X are much lower than those recommended at launch ; so much so that in dollars, they are close to those recommended for the Ryzen 7000 (see table at the beginning of the article).

So we’re curious what amounts the non-X Ryzen 7000s will trade at. Cooler economy aside (those supplied, including the Wraith Prism, should satisfy most uses), the price difference between the two ranges could be slim.

Finally, we are also waiting to see what the competition, Intel, will offer with its Non-K Raptor Lake at 65W from PBP. Several of these chips will be able to claim a higher quantity of CPU cores compared to Ryzen of the same series, a characteristic which could make them more attractive and enticing for buyers. Also, the Raptor Lake platform is cheaper overall thanks to 600 series motherboards and DDR4 memory support, compared to DDR5 only for the Ryzen 7000s.