AMD Ryzen 7 3700X & Ryzen 9 3900X Processor Review

AMD Ryzen 7 3700X & Ryzen 9 3900X There's a whole host of new hardware launching today. From the massive number of X570 motherboards we're reviewing today, to the brand new 7nm Radeon graphics cards. All those are linked below, and on the last page of this review for your reading pleasure. However, the key ingredient for today has to be the new Ryzen 3rd Gen 7nm CPUs. We're fortunate enough to have both the Ryzen 7 3700X & Ryzen 9 3900X in the eTeknix office today. There are more CPUs too, which we're not reviewing for launch, and you can find out about those here. Features and Specifications The Ryzen 7 3700X is the sweet spot that AMD are pushing for enthusiast gamers. It features an 8 Core and 16 Thread design much like the last two generations; the 2700X and the 1700X. It features an impressive 4.4 GHz PB2 Clock, and a lower TDP than the old models. Plus, AMD have been claiming their single core performance has seen a huge boost across the entire 3rd Gen CPU range. What's super exciting though is the new Ryzen 9 series. From this, we have the 12 Core and 24 Thread Ryzen 9 3900X. Built for extreme gaming workloads, as well as heavy lifting tasks such as rendering and editing. This is basically faster Threadripper in a tiny package; now who doesn't love that idea! The two CPUs we have aren't even the flagships in their respective classes either. That honour goes to the 3800X and the 3950X. Ryzen 9 3900X Cores/Threads – 12/24Base Clock/PB2 Clock – 3.8/4.6TDP – 105WPrice – $499 Ryzen 7 3700X Cores/Threads – 8/16Base Clock/PB2 Clock – 3.6/4.4TDP – 36WPrice – $329 Motherboard Support Keep in mind, the new CPUs are not compatible with all motherboards, such as the A320, or some X370 and B350 motherboards without a BIOS update. Nor will you get PCIe 4.0 support outside of the new X570 motherboards. There may be other B-series and A-series boards with PCIe 4.0, although they’ve yet to be announced so I'm literally just guessing. Check out our motherboard buying guide here for more information. PCIe 4.0 The new motherboards (X570), as well as the new CPUs launching today, unleash PCIe 4.0 to the world. This means support for the upcoming Gen4 NVMe M.2 SSDs which can operate at up to 5000 MB/s read and write. Now, that's not the only thing, albeit it is so far. There will no doubt be other innovations in the coming months, and even years, that take advantage of the massively increased bandwidth. No doubt GPUs will adapt to this soon enough too. Stock Coolers For reference, we just wanted to show you what's included. Of course, we'll be using our Noctua NH-D15S to keep things fare with previous CPU reviews. The CPUs Show me More We've got a LOT of new reviews to show you today, check out the entire list of motherboards, CPUs and graphics cards below; Gigabyte X570 AORUS Master Motherboard ReviewGigabyte X570 AORUS Pro Motherboard ReviewASUS RoG Crosshair VIII Hero (WiFi) Motherboard Review ReviewMSI MEG X570 GODLIKE Motherboard ReviewASUS TUF Gaming X570-Plus (WiFi) Motherboard ReviewASUS ROG STRIX X570-E Gaming Motherboard ReviewMSI MEG X570 ACE Motherboard ReviewGigabyte X570 I AORUS Pro WiFi Motherboard ReviewGigabyte X570 AORUS XTREME Motherboard ReviewASRock X570 Motherboard ReviewASUS PRIME X570-Pro Motherboard ReviewAMD Radeon RX5700 & 5700 XT Graphics Cards ReviewAMD Ryzen 7 3700X & Ryzen 8 3800X Processor Review How We Test Here at eTeknix, we endeavour to disclose vital information regarding the benchmarking process so that readers can quantify the results and attempt to replicate them using their hardware. When it comes to our benchmarks in our reviews, the benchmarks are pretty self-explanatory although there are a few exceptions. Remember that your choice of motherboard, the silicon lottery, and other factors can yield different numbers, and there’s always a margin for error when using any software. Therefore, your experience may vary. Testing Your Own System Links are provided below, as well as the settings we use. We encourage you to not just look at how one product compares to any other, but how it compares to your own. If you’re looking to build a new system, you should benchmark your current PC using our benchmarks and settings where possible. You should then look at the percentage improvement from your current hardware to the hardware we tested to give you a ballpark figure of how much an upgrade this will provide you with. Intel Testbenches Z390 Motherboard – Gigabyte AORUS MasterRAM – Crucial DDR4 3000MHz Quad-Channel 32GB + OptaneCPU Cooler – Noctua D15S with dual fansGraphics Card – Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 TiPower Supply – BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 WattMain Storage Drive – Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GBChassis – Lian Li T80 Test BenchOperating System – Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit Z370 Motherboard – Gigabyte AORUS Ultra GamingRAM – Crucial DDR4 3000MHz Quad-Channel 32GB + OptaneCPU Cooler – Noctua D15S with dual fansGraphics Card – Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 TiPower Supply – BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 WattMain Storage Drive – Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GBChassis – Lian Li T80 Test BenchOperating System – Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit X299 Motherboard – Gigabyte AORUS Gaming 9RAM – Crucial DDR4 3000MHz Quad-Channel 32GBCPU Cooler – Noctua D15S with dual fansGraphics Card – Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 TiPower Supply – BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 WattMain Storage Drive – Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GBChassis – Lian Li T80 Test BenchOperating System – Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit AMD Testbenches X399 (2nd Generation Threadripper) Motherboard – MSI X399 Creation MEGRAM – Crucial 64GB (8x8GB ) 3000 MHzCPU Cooler – Deep Cool FryzenGraphics Card – Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 TiPower Supply – BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 WattMain Storage Drive – Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GBChassis – Lian Li T80 Test BenchOperating System – Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit X399 (Threadripper) Motherboard – MSI X399 Gaming Pro Carbon ACRAM – Crucial Ballistix 32GB (4x8GB) 2400MHzCPU Cooler – CM Master Liquid 120mm (will be retested with Noctua D15S with dual fans in coming weeks)Graphics Card – Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 TiPower Supply – BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 WattMain Storage Drive – Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GBChassis – Lian Li T80 Test BenchOperating System – Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit AMD X570 (Matisse) Motherboard – Gigabyte X570 AORUS MasterRAM – GeIL DDR4 3600MHz Dual Channel 16GBCPU Cooler – Noctua D15S with dual fansGraphics Card – Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 TiPower Supply – BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 WattMain Storage Drive – Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GBChassis – Lian Li T80 Test BenchOperating System – Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit AM4 X470 (Pinnacle Ridge) Motherboard – Gigabyte X470 Gaming 7RAM – GeIL DDR4 3200MHz Dual Channel 16GBCPU Cooler – Noctua D15S with dual fansGraphics Card – Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 TiPower Supply – BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 WattMain Storage Drive – Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GBChassis – Lian Li T80 Test BenchOperating System – Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit AM4 X370 (Raven Ridge) Motherboard – MSI XPower Titanium X370RAM – GeIL DDR4 3200MHz Dual Channel 16GBCPU Cooler – Noctua D15S with dual fansGraphics Card – Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 TiPower Supply – BeQuiet Dark Power Pro 850 WattMain Storage Drive – Toshiba OCZ VX500 500GBChassis – Lian Li T80 Test BenchOperating System – Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit Games and Settings Used All games are tested on a 60 Hz display with V-Sync off for all tests. Rise of the Tomb Raider (Steam)DX12 Medium PresetPure Hair OffDeus Ex (Steam)DX12 Medium PresetGhost Recon: Wildlands (Uplay)Medium PresetTurf Effects OffFar Cry Primal (Uplay)Normal Preset Software Used 3DMark Fire Strike (download)FireStrike (1080p) BenchmarkUnigine Superposition (download)1080p Extreme BenchmarkPCMark 10 Professional (download)Express BenchmarkWPrime (download)32M and 1024MPower usage recorded at 1024M 50% complete, thermals recorded at 75% completeCineBench R15 (download)CPU MultiCPU Single CineBench R20 (download)CPU MultiCPU Single Handbrake (download)Custom MP4 to MKV 4K conversion (details below)AIDA64 Engineer (download)CPU-Z (download)HWMonitor (download) Handbrake To stress processors to their absolute limit and accurately judge their performance in video editing workloads, we transcode a 7.7GB compilation of gaming footage; this particular file is freely available from here. The captured footage is 22 minutes and 12 seconds long, it has a bit rate of 50.1 Mbps, and it uses the Advanced Video Codec. Additionally, the video runs at a constant 30 frames-per-second and opts for a 3820 x 2140 (4K) resolution. Once loaded into Handbrake, we then transcode the 4K MP4 to an MKV file using the “normal” profile. Other Notes A rest period of 2-5 minutes is observed between each piece of software allowing the system to return to its idle power usage and temperatures. Background services like Windows Update are checked to not be running during the testing period by setting WiFi to Metered Connection. Updates All games, graphics card drivers, BIOS, Windows and everything else is always kept up to date with the latest available. Older benchmarks may not be retested until stated otherwise. However, all hardware will be tested with the best and latest firmware and software available to that hardware at the time of review. As of 1st of May 2018, all hardware was retested on their latest drivers. Anything after this date will again be using their most recent versions available to them. Thanks Thank you to Noctua, Crucial, ASUS, Gigabyte, Lian-Li, be quiet!, OCZ, for providing the hardware that helps makes these tests possible! Synthetic Benchmarks It doesn't take long to look at these charts and realise that the AMD 3rd Gen CPUs are coming out swinging for Intel's top dog the i9-9900K. In some, it's a close call, either sitting behind or ahead and in others, they trample all over Intel. The 3DMark score was a big shift for AMD, scoring the 4th and 5th highest scores to date and within spitting distance of Intel's top scores. It's also a hell of a lot ahead of the Ryzen 2700X, showing a 13% improvement since the last generation. In Unigine and PC Mark 10, the two new CPUs picked up a hell of a pace, smashing out our 1st and 2nd highest scores to date. In both tests, the difference between these and the i9-9900K as well as the last gen Ryzen CPUs is significant. AMD said they got their single core figures in order too, and they sure as hell didn't lie. The 3900X did 32M WPrime in a blazing fast 2.429 seconds, and the 3700X was speedy to at 3.128. Plus, with 82 seconds the 3700X just beats the i9. However, the Ryzen 9 was beating some Threadripper parts, and closing in on the £1000-2000 Intel XE processors; simple staggering performance here. In Cinebench, the single core performance finally broke the 200 mark for AMD for the first time. The Ryzen 7 3700X scored 205 and the Ryzen 9 3900X 209, closing in on the 214 from Intel, but not quite beating it. At least, until we turned on all cores. The 3700X beat the i9 by just 27 points, while the 3900X was over 1000 points in the lead; that's enough to compete with Threadripper, and again closer to the XE processors. Scores (3900X in bold) 3DMark – 23628 & 23452Unigine – 5862 [NEW RECORD] & 5633 [NEW RECORD]PCMark 10 – 7081 [NEW RECORD] & 6577 [NEW RECORD]WPrime – 3.128/82.707 & 2.529/56.742 [NEW 32M RECORD]Cinebench R15 – 205/2098 & 209/3114Cinebench R20 – 509/4830 & 515/7077Handbrake – 67 & 71.3 3DMark Firestrike Unigine Superposition PCMark 10 Express WPrime Cinebench R15 CineBench R20 Handbrake MP4 to MKV Conversion 4K Gaming Performance The gaming results were pretty decent too, although they are still dominated by the Intel range of CPUs of the last few years. However, what's changed is how much the gap has closed. Last gen, a Ryzen 2700X scored 108.1 FPS in Deus Ex and an 8700K scored 132 FPS. Now for the 3700X and and i9, the scores are 129 FPS and 139.6. Deus Ex was the same story, with the 3700X hitting 19% FPS, very close to the 200.35 of the i9 and the highest AMD score to date. Actually, both the CPUs scored some of the highest AMD FPS to date. Overall though, there's a handful of FPS in it, and not the gulf it was before. Scores Rise of the Tomb Raider – 204.03Deus Ex – 97.6/129.1Ghost Recon – 90.4/119.16Far Cry – 103/132 Rise of the Tomb Raider Deus Ex: Mankind Divided Ghost Recon Far Cry Settings I would like to say that overclocking was hugely beneficial, but while it did improve performance, I'm not sure it's worth the trouble. We did manual overclocking to 4.3 GHz @ 1.4v on the 3700X and 4.4 using 1.5v on the 3900X. That was enough to have the 3900X just pull ahead of the 9900K too. Wprime scores fell a little, and Cinebench improved too. However, this meant the temperatures went from a 63c and 69c up to 66c and 77c overall. Still pretty cool "for an AMD chip" if you will. However, it also wasted their impressive efficiency ratings. The CPUs went from 172.8w and 225.4w up to 203.8w and 261.6w. You can net very similar results using PB2 in Ryzen Master, which only boosts the clocks when you need them, then drops them again after. It's more efficient and easy going on the hardware than locking the clock speeds at max. There's an elephant in the room though, can you spot it? Power consumption was lower in both stock and overclocked scenarios. Plus, temperatures were also much lower in both tests. When was the last time AMD pulled off that double whammy? 7nm FTW. 3DMark Firestrike WPrime Cinebench R15 Rise of the Tomb Raider Power Consumption Stock Overclocked Temperatures Stock Overclocked How Much Does it Cost? We don't have retail links at the time of writing, but will update them shortly after the review goes live. However, in the UK we are told to expect an MSRP of just £319.99 for the Ryzen 7 3700X and £479.99 for the Ryzen 9 3900X. For reference, the MSRP on the i9-9900K is still £499.99, albeit there are some nicely timed sales putting that at £478.60 right now. Overview Ryzen 1st Gen was an impressive step up for AMD. I myself rock the 1700X in my work/gaming PC to this day, and I'm very happy with it. Ryzen 2nd Gen was a nice step up, boosting the clock speeds and closed the gap with many similarly priced Intel parts. However, with 3rd Gen, AMD hasn't just closed the gap for gaming performance, they've also managed to pull ahead of Intel in many key areas. Performance Both of these CPUs have their own strengths, but it's important to mention that they share many of them too. The efficiency is incredible, not just in the sense "it's good for AMD" but it's good in the face of their rivals too. The temperatures are significantly improved as a result also, and now the rather hot running i9-9900K doesn't seem so appealing in that regard. However, when it comes to gaming, both delivered very favourable results. Furthermore, when it comes to streaming, rendering video, editing, and daily PC usage, the Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 9 were smashing out numbers typically seen on the XE class Intel CPUs and Threadrippers. AMD really has created a gamer CPU and workhorse in one (or two) neat packages here. Should I Buy One I'm torn on which CPU is the best deal here. The Ryzen 7 3700X is the best all round for gaming I would think. It doesn't run as hot, and it uses less power. However, 8 cores is more than enough for 99% of the PC gamers out there, and the performance and price are spot on. If you're looking for an alternative to the i9-9900K or even a Threadripper class CPU, the Ryzen 9 has an impressive core count that gives you what you need for enthusiast level gaming with Intel beating performance when it comes to content creation, with lower power consumption, heat, and a very similar price. AMD Ryzen 7 3700X & Ryzen 9 3900X Processor Gigabyte X570 AORUS Master Motherboard ReviewGigabyte X570 AORUS Pro Motherboard ReviewASUS RoG Crosshair VIII Hero (WiFi) Motherboard Review ReviewMSI MEG X570 GODLIKE Motherboard ReviewASUS TUF Gaming X570-Plus (WiFi) Motherboard ReviewASUS ROG STRIX X570-E Gaming Motherboard ReviewMSI MEG X570 ACE Motherboard ReviewGigabyte X570 I AORUS Pro WiFi Motherboard ReviewGigabyte X570 AORUS XTREME Motherboard ReviewASRock X570 Motherboard ReviewASUS PRIME X570-Pro Motherboard ReviewAMD Radeon RX5700 & 5700 XT Graphics Cards ReviewAMD Ryzen 7 3700X & Ryzen 8 3800X Processor Review