Stop, Intel’s Already Dead! - AMD Ryzen 9600X & 9700X Review

Summary

AMD's Ryzen 9000 series offers significant generational improvements, including a boost in performance, efficiency, and cache size, thanks to the Zen 5 architecture and TSMC's new process. Despite these advancements, AMD's new chips don't drastically outperform their predecessors in all areas. While the Ryzen 9700X excels in gaming and efficiency, it falls short in some productivity tasks. The video also critiques Intel's current challenges and hints at future competition, particularly with AMD's anticipated X3D variant. Ultimately, these chips are solid but not groundbreaking, especially for gamers.

Takeaways

• 🚀 AMD's Ryzen 9000 series is a significant generational improvement, boasting larger cache sizes, TSMC's 4nm FinFET process, and a double-digit IPC increase with Zen 5 architecture.
• 🏆 The Ryzen 9000 series claims to outperform AMD's previous 5800X3D on average, while consuming less power, suggesting a new standard for performance efficiency.
• 🔥 In comparison to Intel, AMD appears to be in a stronger position, with Intel facing challenges that make AMD's offering seem more attractive.
• 💻 MSI is promoting a summer sale event for laptops, including the Cyborg 14, with deals available through a link in the video description.
• 📈 The Ryzen 5 9600X and Ryzen 79700X have slightly higher boost frequencies and increased L1 cache compared to the previous generation, but other cache sizes remain the same.
• 🎮 For gaming, the new 9000 series chips perform well, with the 9700X showing a lead in certain titles, though the difference is marginal in some cases.
• 📊 AMD's 9000 series shows a generational performance gain of over 20% in some tests, which is impressive given the minimal spec differences and lower power usage.
• 🔧 The 9000 series chips' efficiency is highlighted by a significant reduction in power consumption, with the 9700X consuming nearly 40% less power than the 7700X.
• 🔄 The new chips feature AMD's two AHEAD branch prediction, which improves performance by predicting and fetching instructions more quickly.
• 💡 The lack of XDNA 2 AI component and the higher cost of upcoming Ryzen 9000 chips may be a concern for some users looking for more budget-friendly options.
• 🛒 The lowest-tier AM5 B840 motherboards do not officially support PCIe Gen 4, which could limit graphics and storage bandwidth for budget-conscious customers.

Q & A

What is the main improvement in AMD's Ryzen 9000 series processors?

The Ryzen 9000 series processors feature a significant generational leap with the new Zen 5 architecture, improved 4nm TSMC FinFET process, and a double-digit IPC uplift.

How does AMD's Ryzen 9000 series compare to their previous generation in terms of power consumption?

AMD's Ryzen 9000 series processors claim to use less power than their predecessors, which is a notable improvement in efficiency.

What is the Ryzen 5 9600 X and Ryzen 79700 X's performance like in gaming compared to the previous generation?

The Ryzen 5 9600 X and Ryzen 79700 X have slightly higher boost frequencies and increased L1 cache, but the performance gains in gaming are more nuanced and not as straightforward as AMD's claims suggest.

What kind of performance uplift can be expected from the new Ryzen 9000 series in CPU-bound games?

In CPU-bound games like Returnal, the Ryzen 9000 series shows gains of over 20% compared to the non-X3D predecessors, which is quite impressive.

How does the Ryzen 9000 series perform in productivity tasks compared to Intel's offerings?

AMD's Ryzen 9000 series has increased its lead over Intel in productivity tasks like Handbrake and Photoshop, with a 10% plus gain over the previous generation.

What is the significance of AMD's new two-ahead branch prediction and dual porting instruction fetching?

The new two-ahead branch prediction and dual porting instruction fetching in AMD's processors allow for faster and more efficient path prediction in program execution, which can significantly speed up the entire process.

Why might the Ryzen 9000 series not be reaching the advertised 5.5 GHz boost clock in some scenarios?

The Ryzen 9000 series might not be reaching the advertised boost clock due to power and thermal constraints, as well as potential conservative power management settings by default.

What is the potential downside of the lower power consumption in the Ryzen 9000 series for some users?

While lower power consumption is generally beneficial, some users might be disappointed if they were expecting higher out-of-the-box performance and are unable to reach the advertised boost clocks without manual adjustments.

How does the Ryzen 9000 series compare to Intel's 14900 K in terms of gaming performance?

The Ryzen 9000 series generally outperforms everything else in the field except for Intel's 14900 K, where the difference in gaming performance is minimal and may not justify the extra heat, power consumption, or cost.

What is AMD's strategy regarding the future of the AM5 platform and support for it?

AMD has confirmed that the AM5 platform will be supported until at least 2027, indicating a long-term commitment to this platform.

Outlines

00:00

🚀 AMD Ryzen 9000 Series: A Generational Leap with Zen 5 and TSMC's 4nm Process

The AMD Ryzen 9000 series is hailed as a significant step forward in processor technology, featuring larger cache sizes, TSMC's advanced 4nm FinFET process, and a substantial IPC increase due to the Zen 5 architecture. AMD claims that these chips can outperform their previous top-performing 5800X3D on average while consuming less power. The video discusses the staggered launch focusing on the Ryzen 5 9600X and Ryzen 7 9700X, which have slightly higher boost frequencies and increased L1 cache but otherwise maintain the core counts of the previous generation. The new chips also pack nearly 2 billion additional transistors, amounting to a 26.2% increase. Performance tests reveal that the new 9000 series chips outperform all others except for Intel's 14900K, with minimal differences in frame rates that are unlikely to be noticeable to gamers. The video also notes that the 9000 series shows impressive gains in gaming performance, especially when compared to non-X3D predecessors, with over 20% improvements and efficient power usage.

05:02

🔥 Ryzen 9000 Series vs. Intel and Productivity Performance

The video script delves into the performance comparison between AMD's Ryzen 9000 series and Intel's offerings, highlighting AMD's lead in productivity tasks such as Handbrake and Blender, with over a 10% gain in H.264 results for the new generation. However, the script points out that the 9700X does not significantly outperform the previous generation in AV1 encoding and other tasks like Go do compile and 7zip. Cinebench results show minimal improvement, with the 9700X consuming notably less power than its predecessor, the 7700X, while delivering comparable performance. The script also touches on the efficiency gains due to lower power consumption, which could be significant for users in regions with higher electricity costs. Furthermore, the script speculates that AMD may be leaving some performance on the table, as evidenced by the Ryzen 7 not reaching its advertised boost clock in Cinebench but doing so in gaming and other stress tests.

10:05

🛠 The Future of AMD's Ryzen 9000 Series and Market Considerations

The script discusses the potential for the Ryzen 9000 series chips, particularly when PBO (Precision Boost Overdrive) is enabled, which allows the 9700X to draw over 140 Watts and achieve performance similar to its predecessor. It also addresses concerns about AMD's pricing strategy, which seems to be ignoring their budget-conscious Ryzen 3 customers, and the lack of official support for PCI-E Gen 4 on the lower-tier AM5 B840 motherboards. The script compares AMD's new offerings with the Intel 1400F, which provides respectable performance at a significantly lower price, although it falls short in productivity and CPU-bound games. The conclusion emphasizes the solid performance of the Ryzen 9000 series, especially for those willing to experiment with PBO, but notes that these chips may not be the best choice for gamers. The script also expresses anticipation for upcoming matchups between AMD and Intel, particularly with the release of Intel's Alder Lake, which is rumored to drop hyperthreading.

Keywords

💡Ryzen 9000

The Ryzen 9000 refers to AMD's latest generation of high-performance processors. It is central to the video's theme as it represents a significant advancement in CPU technology. The script mentions improvements in cache, manufacturing process, and IPC (Instructions Per Clock) uplift, showcasing AMD's competitive edge in the market.

💡TSMC 4nm FinFET

TSMC 4nm FinFET is the manufacturing process used for the Ryzen 9000 chips. It is a key concept because it represents a shift to a smaller, more efficient process node, which typically results in better performance and power efficiency. The script highlights this as a factor contributing to the generational leap in performance.

💡IPC uplift

IPC, or Instructions Per Clock, uplift refers to the increase in the number of instructions a CPU can execute per clock cycle. It is a measure of the efficiency of a processor's architecture. The script notes a 'double-digit IPC uplift' due to the Zen 5 architecture, indicating a substantial improvement in performance.

💡Zen 5 architecture

Zen 5 architecture is the underlying design of AMD's Ryzen 9000 series CPUs. It is a critical concept as it represents the latest iteration of AMD's CPU design philosophy, which has led to performance improvements. The script emphasizes its role in delivering better IPC and efficiency.

💡Giga Chad 5800 X3D

The term 'Giga Chad 5800 X3D' humorously refers to AMD's Ryzen 7 5800X3D processor, known for its high performance. It is used in the script to benchmark the performance of the new Ryzen 9000 series, indicating AMD's claim that the new chips can outperform the previous generation on average while using less power.

💡Intel 14000 series

The Intel 14000 series represents Intel's competing line of processors. The script uses this as a point of comparison, highlighting AMD's performance and efficiency gains in contrast to Intel's offerings, particularly in the context of gaming and productivity workloads.

💡Rocket League

Rocket League is an Esports title mentioned in the script to illustrate the performance of the new CPUs in a CPU-bound scenario. It serves as an example of how the Ryzen 9000 series can deliver high frame rates, showcasing their gaming capabilities.

💡Total War: Warhammer 3

Total War: Warhammer 3 is a CPU-dependent game used in the script to test and demonstrate the performance of the new AMD processors at maxed-out settings. It highlights the CPUs' ability to handle detailed, resource-intensive games without bottlenecking performance.

💡PCIe Gen 4

PCIe Gen 4, or PCI Express Generation 4, is a standard for computer buses used in the script to discuss motherboard capabilities. The script points out that lower-tier AM5 B840 motherboards do not officially support PCIe Gen 4, which could limit graphics and storage bandwidth, affecting the overall platform's value proposition.

💡PBO (Precision Boost Overdrive)

PBO is a feature in AMD's Ryzen processors that allows for automatic overclocking within safe limits. The script discusses enabling PBO to achieve performance gains, suggesting that AMD's chips could perform better if given more power, but this comes with the risk of instability.

💡Efficiency

Efficiency in the context of the script refers to the balance between performance and power consumption. It is a key theme as the Ryzen 9000 series is praised for its lower power usage compared to previous generations while maintaining or improving performance, which is particularly beneficial for users in regions with higher electricity costs.

Highlights

AMD's Ryzen 9000 series represents a significant generational leap with improved cache and a double-digit IPC uplift due to the Zen 5 architecture.

The Ryzen 9000 series is fabricated on TSMC's 4nm FinFET process, which contributes to its performance and efficiency gains.

AMD claims the non-X3D chips in the Ryzen 9000 series can outperform the 5800X3D on average, while consuming less power.

Intel is facing a challenging period, prompting speculation about whether AMD's new chips could outperform or if it's worth waiting for an X3D variant.

MSI is promoting a summer sale event featuring deals on laptops, such as the Cyborg 14, with a link provided in the video description.

The Ryzen 5 9600X and Ryzen 7 9700X have slightly higher boost frequencies and increased L1 cache but maintain core counts from the previous generation.

AMD has managed to add nearly 2 billion additional transistors to the Ryzen 9000 chips, a 26.2% increase.

The Ryzen 9700X is positioned as a strong gaming CPU, with AMD claiming it should outperform the 5000 series 3D V-Cache chips on average in gaming.

In CPU-bound Esports titles like Rocket League, the Ryzen 9700X delivers exceptional frame rates, outperforming other CPUs.

The Ryzen 9000 series shows impressive gains over non-X3D predecessors, with performance improvements of over 20% in certain titles.

When tested at max settings in Total War Warhammer 3, the AMD CPUs perform closely at the top, indicating their strength in CPU-dependent games.

The Ryzen 9000 series demonstrates lower power consumption compared to the previous generation, with a 40% decrease for the 9700X in Cinebench.

The Intel 14900K consumes nearly 250 Watts to achieve higher Cinebench scores, which is almost triple the power usage for just under twice the performance.

AMD's new two-ahead branch prediction and dual porting instruction fetching contribute to the efficiency and performance of the Ryzen 9000 series.

The lack of XDNA 2 AI component in the Ryzen 9000 series and the focus on the CPU as an AI accelerator is a strategic move by AMD.

The upcoming Ryzen 9000 chips are expected to be more expensive, continuing AMD's trend of potentially neglecting their Ryzen 3 customer base.

The lowest-tier AM5 B840 motherboards do not officially support PCIe Gen 4, which could limit graphics and storage bandwidth for budget-conscious customers.

Comparing AMD's new offerings with the Intel 1400F shows that the latter provides respectable performance at less than half the price, despite lacking a future upgrade path.

AMD has confirmed support for the AM5 platform until at least 2027, and the XT lineup refresh offers more options for users.

The Ryzen 9000 series is solid for adventurous users who enable PBO for performance gains, but may not be as appealing for gamers.

The upcoming matchup between the 9800X 3D and Intel's Alder Lake, which is rumored to drop hyperthreading, is an exciting prospect for the CPU market.

Squarespace is highlighted as a sponsor, offering an easy-to-use platform for building websites with drag-and-drop designs and integrated SEO tools.

Transcripts

amd's ryzen 9000 is a true generational

step forward I'm talking bigger level

one cache tsmc's new and improved 49m

finfet process and a double digigit IPC

uplift thanks to its Zen 5 architecture

and the best part they're claiming they

finally got a non x3d chip that can on

average beat their Giga Chad 5800 x3d

all while using less power as for

Intel well they're in the middle of an

absolute dump fire to the point where I

actually think the more interesting

question is whether team red can slay

themselves or whether you should just

skip this launch until they inevitably

come out with an x3d variant of these

ships that is so strong it makes me

forget

to to segue to our sponsor MSI need a

laptop msi's got you covered with their

summer sale event check out their sweet

deals on laptops like this cyborg 14

using the link in the video description

because of amd's staggered launch we're

only looking at the ryzen 5 9600 x and

ryzen 79700 x today compared to last gen

they boost slightly higher and level one

caches increased but the other caches

are otherwise untouched as our core

counts compared to last generation

however thanks to tsmc's manufacturing

process improvements AMD has managed to

pack an extra nearly 2 billion

transistors into these little guys about

26.2% too bad that wasn't enough

transistors starting with f123 we see

our previous generation x3d chips

leading the pack now AMD never claimed

that the 9700 X would be the new gaming

champ but what they did say is that it's

supposed to beat 5,000 series 3dv cash

chips in gaming on average we found that

the story was a bit more complicated

than that but we'll get to that later

for now I'm happy to tell you that our

new 9000 Series chips beat everything

else on the field except for Intel's

14900 K and let's be real I can't

personally tell the difference between

381 frames per second and 378 and I

certainly wouldn't want to deal with the

extra heat power consumption or cost

moving to a very CPU bound Esports title

in rocket League wow do these things

ever rip do I need over 800 frames per

second no but is it cool that our 9700x

is heads and tails about everything else

absolutely and the 9600 X isn't very far

behind now it's clear that any of the

CPUs we tested will do this job just

fine even our inexpensive 14100 F but if

you were looking for a generational gain

it's clear that they can be found like

in returnal where our 9700x wins again

not by much over amd's goed X 3D chips

but if we narrow in on the Apples to

Apples comparisons against the non x3d

predecessors we're looking looking at

gains of over

20% now considering these processors are

barely different when we compare the

spec tables and that they're using way

less power that is pretty dang

impressive and makes me very excited for

the inevitable x3d refresh of course

those aren't here yet and we haven't

finished painting a full picture of

these you might have noticed that most

of what we've tested so far has been at

low settings instead of ultra so let's

change it up a bit and look at maxed out

Total War Warhammer 3 this is still a

fairly CPU dependent game which is why

we chose it cuz we're testing CPUs but

you can see that once you start to turn

the details up things get pretty close

at the top of the charts to show you why

this matters we also ran this title at

low where you can see that the AMD CPUs

do pull further ahead but realistically

if you're spending this kind of money on

your CPU you're probably not going to be

running everything at low so it's worth

taking all of these results as what they

are an illustration of how much faster

these CPUs are in a completely non GPU

bottleneck scenario probably the most

interesting thing here though is our

little 14100 F that could just chugging

along down there but we'll come back to

that later first I want to talk about

our results from our x3d chips the 7800

x3d does typically beat the prior

generation 5800 x3d but not by as much

as you might think both in averages and

in all important 1% lows so if you're a

gamer realistically our recommendation

from 2 and 1/2 years ago hasn't really

changed other than that you might be

able to save yourself a buck with the

newer cheaper 5700 x3d we didn't

actually run the numbers on this chip

but it's only marginally slower than its

big brother and when paired with a

budget board and some ddr4 memory it is

an outstanding value x3d is weakness

however is in productivity and this is

where the fun begins intel was already

behind in huget bench Photoshop but now

AMD has increased their lead with a 10

plus% gain over their last gen 7000

series in handbreak our h264 results

were disappointing with the last

Generation ryzen 7 beating the new

hotness but av1 encoding is a whole

other story thanks to am5 switch to a

true 512-bit data path instead of double

pumping 256 we see a similar Improvement

on the 9600 X in blender but curiously

the 97 100x isn't going to give you a

reason to upgrade over last gen perhaps

it's not as

powerful as we thought it would be more

on that later and unfortunately that

trend of barely changing continues with

go do compile where we have some

marginal generational uplift on the

ryzen 7 and then slightly better results

on the ryzen 5 7zip is a tad better for

both in compression but then worse in

decompression and while cinebench does

see an improvement it's minimal so

what's going on here as it turns out a

lot of it has to do with the lower power

consumption that we mentioned earlier in

cinebench our 7700x consumes an average

of 144 Watts while the 9700x is steady

at 88 Watts that is almost a 40%

decrease in power consumption while

netting slightly more performance and

here in this part of Canada where power

is cheap it's hard to get too excited

about this kind of efficiency but for

other parts of the world you could save

so much on power you could treat

yourself to a PTM 7950 thermal pad from

LTT store.com and check this out sure

our 14700 K is streets ahead in terms of

raw numbers but it's using almost 250

Watts out of the box to get there that

is almost triple the power for just

under twice the score and if you toss

out those ecor we can see that in single

core testing on both the 97 and 9600 X

Intel is losing by a wide margin now

part of this could be because AMD seems

to be leaving some performance on the

table check this out in cinebench our

ryzen 7 refuses to reach the advertised

5.5 GHz boost clock capping out instead

at around 5.2 and I know what you're

thinking well that 5.5 is just a single

core boost it's just for gaming except

that on our ryzen 5 it does manage to

hit its maximum advertised boost across

all cores in multi shaded workloads not

all the time mind you but sometimes our

ryzen 7 doesn't seem to be defective it

hits 5.5 in games and even in other

stress tests like occt linpack and

outside of games it's using the same or

a similar power envelope to do so so

what gives here and I know what you're

thinking it's got to be cooling right

well here's the thing this might be

clear to some of you already but less

Watts means less heat so where AMD was

already crushing Intel now we're seeing

even better performance these chips run

so cool I'm talking a 22° drop on

average on the ryzen 7 and 16° on the

ryzen 5 so for anyone who hates seeing

High CPU temps AMD just dummied Intel

and did it efficiently so it's not

thermals what is it we'll get to it

first I want to talk about where this

efficiency uplift comes from it's

partially thanks to amd's new two aead

branch prediction this is going to be

really simplified down but here we go

let's say you're running a program and

that program is trying to get from point

A to point B without Branch prediction

at every fork in the road it has to stop

and figure out which way to go then go

down the right path with Branch

prediction your CPU can predict the path

ahead of time removing the need to stop

and think at each fork with two ahead

prediction the CPU is guessing the next

two steps and by dual porting the

instruction fetching AMD is is able to

basically check the guess work about

twice as quickly which speeds up the

entire process now there is still a

penalty if they get a prediction wrong

but it's not any worse than how they

were doing things before so it's all

gains baby so what's not to love here

well there are a few things we are not

getting the xdna 2 AI component that is

present in the strix point mobile

counterpart to these chips instead AMD

is claiming that the CPU can act as an

aii accelerator which

is a pretty honest takedown of the whole

AI frenzy that AMD themselves is

participating in but it could make a

slight difference down the line

especially for power consumption a

bigger issue for me though is that more

ryzen 9000 chips are coming but

everything AMD has announced is going to

be more expensive than what we're

looking at today which continues amd's

troubling trend of ignoring their ryzen

3 customers we also think that while

efficiency is exciting to the data

center folks who are eagerly awaiting

epic Turin with its Unthinkable 192 core

counts most desktop users might have

preferred to see AMD give these chips a

little more juice by default and it's

finally time to talk about the weirdness

that we observed we tested the 9700x

with PBO enabled and with its power set

to unlimited and what we found was that

it easily Drew over 140 Watts putting it

in the same neighborhood as its

predecessor in terms of power

consumption and resulting in some

measurable performance gains of course

though this is technically overclocking

and with the recent reliability issues

that have plagued Intel users I can

understand why some of you might shy

away from this so I guess what I'm

saying is I wish AMD had just officially

under warranty given these things more

juice so that we could reach those

advertised boost clocks across all

course like we did once we enabled PBO

also last thing the lowest tier am5 b840

motherboards that are supposedly

supposed to help make this platform more

affordable don't officially support PCI

E Gen 4 so if you do try to save a buck

on your motherboard you could end up

seriously limiting your graphics and

your storage bandwidth which just just

it's one more knife in the side of amd's

budget conscious

customers with that in mind we thought

it would be interesting to see how amd's

new offerings stack up against what you

can't buy from AMD right now a CPU that

costs less L than half as much money

fits in a cheaper board that does

support PCI Gen 4 and comes with a stock

cooler the results aren't amazing but

when you don't even have a competitor in

the weight class you kind of forfeit the

fight and Intel's 1400f puts up pretty

respectable results at less than half

the price now it struggles in

productivity and struggles even more in

CPU bound games but if you're on a

budget it's a pretty compelling value of

course though it's based on a platform

that has no future upgrade path and you

aren't saving that much compared to am4

which by the way AMD just released

another refresh 4 with the XT lineup and

they also confirmed that am5 is going to

be supported until at least 2027 in

conclusion then solid chips even better

if you're adventurous and turn on PBO

but not really for gamers so I'm kind of

more excited to see the matchup that's

coming then between the 9800x 3D and

Intel's AOL link which supposed is

dropping hyperthreading all together

huge move and I don't think anybody

knows what that's going to mean for

gaming performance as they go to a

purely big little architecture just like

nobody knows what on Earth would happen

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LTT if you guys enjoyed this video maybe

go check out our review of the 7800 x3d

somehow that chip and even its

predecessor are just killing it like

years later outstanding gaming CPUs