Final Thoughts
How Much Does it Cost?
The AMD Ryzen 7 2700 8-core 16-thread CPU with Wraith Spire RGB Cooler is available now from most major retailers. It’s priced at just £248.50 on Amazon, which is quite a bit cheaper than the 2700X. The inclusion of a slick cooler certainly adds value and it’s pretty capable too for those leaving the CPU at stock or using SenseMI. Those pushing manual clocks may want a larger cooler, but that’s a given anyway.
Overview
AMD is on one heck of a roll this last year. The first generation Ryzen CPUs made a lasting impression on the market, enough of one for me to invest in the 1700X for my own personal work and gaming system. For content creators and rampant multi-taskers, they’re great CPUs. The second generation is certainly incremental, but big improvements in thermal performance and power usage are not to be sniffed at.
Down to 12nm
The improvements in manufacturing are certainly showing in the reduced power and heat. However, this also means AMD was able to push those cores to performance a little bit harder than the first generation. Of course, this still feels like a fine-tuning of the first gen, which is absolutely fine. We’ll have to wait a little while longer for true Zen 2 cores that’ll drop to as low as 7nm, half the 14nm used for the first generation Ryzens.
Should I Buy One?
For the desktop PC gamer, the higher TDP X models are still the go-to for gaming and general performance though. They’re a little faster, and a little more expensive, but you get what you pay for. However, if heat and power are a big concern to you, and they are for a lot of people, these perform pretty darn close for less money, with a lot lower heat and power usage that shouldn’t be overlooked.
