AMD EPYC 7351P 16-Core 32-Thread Processor (SP3) Review

The Setup and Test Methodology

It is not an easy job to come up with fair tests for a processor. After all, you can’t run a CPU without a lot of other hardware, and all that hardware will affect the results. Still, I’ve tried to dig out as many tests as possible which show what the processor is capable of. Hopefully, it will show us where the strengths and weaknesses are located.

Since the last review, we had to make a few changes to the methodology due to changes in technology. Our old graphics card is no longer supported by many motherboards, so that had to be replaced. At the same time, SATA has turned into a true legacy device when it comes to booting. As a result, we’ve switched to an NVMe PCIe drive as OS drive. We’ve also switched the OS to Windows 10 for compatibility reasons. Windows Server was creating more and more issues with driver availability and benchmark software, which is the reason.

Additional Hardware

• Motherboard: Gigabyte MZ31-AR0
• Cooler: Noctua NH-U14
• RAM: Crucial DDR4 2133 MHz (16x 16GB)
• OS Drive: Intel Optane 900p
• GPU: ASUS ROG Strix RX570 (basic-drivers only)
• PSU: be quiet! Dark Power Pro 11 1200W

Benchmark Suites

Suites are popular too as they offer up a whole lot of results with very little effort. We’ll be using AIDA64, GeekBench4, and PerformanceTest 8 here.

• AIDA64 Engineering Edition
• GeekBench 4
• PerformanceTest 8

Calculation Tests

Having the CPU calculate is an easy way to show how well it does. The quicker the test is performed, the better the performance. For these tests, I’ve picked Super Pi and wPrime. Both are applications familiar to most, and the results are easily comparable.

• SuperPi Mod 1.9 WP
• wPrime 2.10

Rendering Tests

Rendering tests are mostly handled by your graphics card, but not solely. While these aren’t exactly intended areas of operation, they do offer us comparable figures for our reviews. We’ll be using HandBrake for H.265 conversion of 4K video as well as Cinebench 11.5 and 15 here.

• Cinebench R11.5
• Cinebench R15.0
• HandBrake 4

SiSoft Sandra and SpecWPC

SiSoftware’s Sandra is technically a benchmark suite too, but it offers a lot more details. It tests more and different things, so it deserves its own category. SpecWPC is also a whole set of tests and an industry standard. The results are directly comparable with other reviews which makes it great. Most professionals won’t look at anything else.

• SiSoftware Sandra Platinum SP4
• SpecWPC 1.2

Memory Performance

Memory is another thing which is affected by a processors capabilities and performance. For that reason, I’ve chosen to include those test results too.

• AIDA64 Engineering Edition
• GeekBench 4
• PerformanceTest 8
• SiSoftware Sandra Platinum SP2/SP4

Review Notes

The generational changes between processors have a downside. Some hardware components have to be switched out with modern parts. That is something that will affect a few of the benchmarks, but it can’t be avoided. Pure calculation benchmarks should not be affected as they rely on the CPUs hardware capabilities alone.