AMD Ryzen 9 7900X CPU Review

1. AMD Ryzen 9 7900X2. A Closer Look - AMD's Zen 4 Architecture3. A Closer Look - The AM5 Platform4. Testing Methodology5. Technical: Power Consumption and Temperatures6. CPU Tests: Blender & Cinebench7. CPU Tests: Handbrake & 7-Zip8. Memory Tests: Memory Bandwidth and Latency9. Synthetic Gaming: 3DMark10. Gaming: 1080p Gaming Performance11. Overclocking12. Performance Per Watt13. Closing Thoughts14. View All Pages

AMD’s Ryzen 9 7900X is an interesting processor to analyse because its £560 price point means that it doesn’t have a direct Intel competitor.

The Core i7-13700K is £90 cheaper and the Core i9-13900K is £90 more expensive. Despite this, it is Intel’s roughly £470 Core i7-13700K that represents a headache for the twelve-core AM5 chip. That’s because the twenty-four-thread Intel processor is often just as fast in heavily-multi-threaded tasks, performs well in games, and has just as good a platform when it comes to features and connectivity.

There is the domain of power draw – and that’s an area where AMD wins convincingly with its Ryzen 9 7900X versus the thirsty Core i7-13700K. Thermals are seemingly high on all modern processors, but AMD does have some options to control the levels for the Precision Boost 2 algorithm via BIOS tweaks.

I think – as is typically the case – a lot of the decision for purchasing this chip will lie on the AM5 platform. Unlike AM4 – where cheap B-series motherboards were well-equipped to handle high-end Ryzen chips – B650 is expensive. AMD has, however, promised AM5 support beyond 2025. That could be an influencing factor in the decision. Plus, AM5 motherboards are undeniably feature-rich – often even more so than their Intel counterparts.

I don’t think AMD’s lack of support for DDR4 is major deciding factor at this market segment either; those spending over £500 on a CPU and then another £250+ on a motherboard should probably use this as a good opportunity to upgrade to DDR5.

Overall, I think the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X is a solid processor. It delivers stellar performance, has a little bit of tuning headroom available, and works very well in Eco Mode.

Intel’s cheaper Core i7-13700K is a tough competitor though. And if you make the decision that the Ryzen 9 7900X is worth spending £90 extra versus that Core i7, you might also decide that the outstanding Core i9-13900K is worth another £90 extra again. That is perhaps a tough position for the Ryzen 9 7900X to sit in.

A good processor, no doubt, but Intel’s competition above and below is very tough, too. So, AMD probably needs a price cut here to improve the competitiveness of Ryzen 9 7900X.

In the UK, AMD's Ryzen 9 7900X is around £550-560 from e-tailers such as Overclockers UK. There are, however, some impressive Black Friday deals that have the processor priced around £480. We will have to wait and see if this new price remains after the Black Friday deals period ends.

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Pros:

• Good gaming performance
• Strong productivity performance in isolation
• Excellent operation in Eco mode and Curve Optimiser
• Really good power efficiency, particularly once tuned
• Excellent single-thread performance from Zen 4

Cons:

• Core i7-13700K is cheaper but nearly as fast
• Out-of-the-box clocks and power could be better
• A tough market position at £560 – 13900K £90 more and 13700K £90 less

KitGuru says: AMD’s Ryzen 9 7900X is a high-performance processor that will appeal to those with mixed productivity workloads in mind. At its current price point, though, the highly-competitive Intel 13900K and 13700K are very tough competitors to deal with.

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