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AMD Ryzen 9 7900 and Ryzen 7 7700 review: High on performance, low on power

By The Count - 7 May 2023

Benchmarks and verdict

Testing platforms

For this performance review, we're focussing on the AMD Ryzen 9 7900 and Ryzen 7 7700 processors. To benchmark them, I am using the following test system, which was also used for all of our previous Zen 4-based models, such as the Ryzen 9 7950X.

Key specs of Test System
  AMD Ryzen 7000 Series
Motherboard ROG Crosshair X670E Hero
Memory Kingston Fury 32GB (DDR5)
SSD Samsung 980 Pro
GPU NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 FE
PSU ROG Thor 1200W Platinum II
Cooler ROG Ryujin II 360 ARGB
OS Windows 11

My game list includes a mixture of old and recent games to test processor performance. The focus will be on CPU performance, where possible, like Ashes of Singularity: Escalation and Horizon Zero Dawn. The list isn’t exhaustive by any measure, but there are enough different game engines and API variety to give us an idea of broader performance trends.

  • Horizon Zero Dawn
  • Shadow of the Tomb Raider
  • Total War: Three Kingdoms
  • Ashes of the Singularity
  • Metro Exodus
  • Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy
  • Cyberpunk 2022
  • F1 22

 

Gaming

1080p benchmarking is a great measure of a CPU’s prowess, no thanks in part to high-performance gaming cards such as the GeForce RTX 4090 used in the benchmarks here. You see, at lower resolutions, the GPU can process and transfer data much more quickly than at higher resolutions. A CPU bottleneck happens here because the processor cannot keep up with the processing speed of the graphics card. The CPU, after all, is responsible for processing real-time game actions, physics, UI, audio and other complex CPU-bound processes.

(Click to view a larger image.)

When I tested the performance of the Ryzen 9 7900 and Ryzen 7 7700 at 1080p resolution, I was generally impressed by their results. In most of the games tested, these processors demonstrated strong performance despite being limited by a 65W TDP (90W while under load), indicating that they have sufficient processing power for the majority of titles available. It even displayed solid average frame rates with Cyberpunk 2022, a notoriously resource-hogging game.

I avoided 1440p and 4K benchmarks this time around, as both resolutions are more GPU-dependent and will not reveal any impactful numbers unlike 1080p. Overall, these chips performed well, considering their TDP limitations.

 

Office, Content Creating and Rendering

The non-X processors are great value for gamers. But what about the non-gaming works, such as content creation and office productivity? To size up the processors’ core performance, I’ve used CineBench R23 alongside a mix of synthetic and real-time benchmarks. PugetBench for Adobe Premiere Pro and Photoshop, for example, is a great benchmark as it mimics real-world workloads.

For office productivity, either of the non-X Ryzen will really do the job just fine. The Ryzen 7900X and Ryzen 9 7950X processors, in this instance, are probably a tad overkill if that's the primary use of your computer. On the other hand, serious content creators and artists will do well to go with the 7950X, where its superior core, cache and unmatched power will offer the most noticeable uplift in performance.

 

Power and Temperature

AMD's X-series Ryzen 7000 models have been criticized for their high power limits, which caused the Zen 4 processors to run hotter and use more power than previous-generation Ryzen chips. However, the new non-X models have lower power limits, making them more efficient and run cooler in my benchmarks. While they are designed to handle temperatures up to 95-degree Celsius like the X-series chips, I did not see temperatures reach that level in all of my tests, including with PC Mark's Extended Test

The 12-core Ryzen 9 7900, in particular, has excellent efficiency, almost double that of the similar 7900X, thanks to its lower power envelope, lower operating temperature and offering very similar performance capability.

Overall, what I really like about the new AMD's processors are their better power consumption, efficiency, and thermal output. So choosing a non-X Ryzen 7000 CPU will result in a cooler and quieter system, which allows you to consider small form factor system options.

 

Conclusion

AMD's new 65W processors, including the Ryzen 9 7900 and Ryzen 7 7700, are energy-efficient options that are worth considering in today's market where energy costs are rising. These processors offer similar performance to their X-series counterparts, but with lower power consumption.

The Ryzen 9 7900, in particular, only loses 10% of the full performance compared to the 7900X, but it has a lower price and includes a Wraith Prism cooler in the box. Although real-time pricing may not reflect the full financial savings, the overall value of the Ryzen 9 7900 is hard to argue with. It offers impressive performance and is versatile enough to be used in small-form-factor systems and overclocked in powerhouse PCs.

Ryzen 7000 X-series vs. Ryzen 7000 non-X series
  Ryzen 9 7950X Ryzen 9 7900X Ryzen 9 7900 Ryzen 7 7700X Ryzen 7 7700
Cores/Threads 16/32 12/24 12/24 8/16 8/16
Base Clock 4.5GHz 4.7GHz 3.6GHz 4.5GHz 3.6GHz
Boost Clock 5.7GHz 5.6GHz 5.4GHz 5.4GHz 5.3GHz
Cache (L2 and L3 combined) 80MB 76MB 76MB 40MB 40MB
Default TDP 170W 170W 65W 105W 65W
Launch Price US$699 $549 US$429 US$399 US$329
Includes CPU air cooler? No No Yes No Yes

Competition from Intel, which also debuted its own line of less power-hungry, non-K line of 13th Gen Core processors at last week's CES, keeps AMD on its toes and provides more choices for enthusiasts. You cannot go wrong with the Ryzen 9 7900 or the Ryzen 7 7700, but if your budget allows it, my recommendation is to go with the former as it is the best performance-to-value option for content creators, who are also gamers at heart.

Of course, if you're only focused on gaming, the cheaper Ryzen 7 7700 has more than proven its worth, matching the Ryzen 9 7900 in gaming performance very closely.

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9.5
  • Performance 9
  • Features 9
  • Value 9.5
The Good
Great performance at 65W
Good overclocking potential
Comes with bundled cooler
Solid value
The Bad
DDR5-only
Almost makes the 7700X and 7900X unappealing now (not quite a bad thing though)
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