The AMD Ryzen 7 9700X and Ryzen 5 9600X Review: Zen 5 is Alive
by Gavin Bonshor on August 7, 2024 9:00 AM ESTPower Consumption
Our previous sets of ‘office’ benchmarks have often been a mix of science and synthetics, so this time, we wanted to keep our office and productivity section purely based on real-world performance. We've also incorporated our power testing into this section.
The biggest update to our Office-focused tests for 2024 and beyond includes UL's Procyon software, the successor to PCMark. Procyon benchmarks office performance using Microsoft Office applications, with other web-based benchmarks such as Jetstream and timed runs of compilers, including Linux, PHP, and Node.js.
Below are the settings we have used for each platform:
- DDR5-5600B CL46 - Ryzen 9000
- DDR5-5600B CL46 - Intel 14th & 13th Gen
- DDR5-5200 CL44 - Ryzen 7000
Power
The nature of reporting processor power consumption has become, in part, a bit of a nightmare. Historically the peak power consumption of a processor, as purchased, is given by its Thermal Design Power (TDP, or PL1). For many markets, such as embedded processors, that value of TDP still signifies the peak power consumption. For the processors we test at AnandTech, either desktop, notebook, or enterprise, this is not always the case.
Modern high-performance processors implement a feature called Turbo. This allows, usually for a limited time, a processor to go beyond its rated frequency. Exactly how far the processor goes depends on a few factors, such as the Turbo Power Limit (PL2), whether the peak frequency is hard coded, the thermals, and the power delivery. Turbo can sometimes be very aggressive for TDP that are, broadly speaking, applied the same. The difference comes from turbo modes, turbo limits, turbo budgets, and how the processors manage that power balance. These topics are 10000-12000 word articles in their own right, and we’ve got a few articles worth reading on the topic.
- Why Intel Processors Draw More Power Than Expected: TDP and Turbo Explained
- Talking TDP, Turbo and Overclocking: An Interview with Intel Fellow Guy Therien
- Reaching for Turbo: Aligning Perception with AMD’s Frequency Metrics
- Intel’s TDP Shenanigans Hurts Everyone
Regarding peak power consumption, all of AMD's 65 W TDP designated chips fall between 87 and 88 W due to AMD's Package Power Tracking from the CPU socket itself (PPT), which boosts power for more performance. It is misleading regarding what the CPU is pulling power-wise compared to what the TDP states, but there are very few examples of any processor in the modern age following TDP.
Looking at how the AMD Ryzen 7 9700X compares to the previous Ryzen 7 7700, we can see both perform similarly regarding power consumption. Both chips, when loaded up with the Cinebench 2024 multi-threaded test, consistently tread between 88 W (9700X) and 90 W (7700). Power variation within the workload itself is very consistent, with very little differential as the workload progresses through the loop. Between the tests loading, we can see a consistent drop in power to just under 70 W briefly for the Ryzen 7 9700X and around 67 W for the Ryzen 7 7700. Given that both processors are nearly identical (8C/16T at 65 W TDP/88-90 W PPT), aside from the underlying core architecture, we can see striking similarities in power consumption and behavior under an intensive workload, too.
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Khanan - Wednesday, August 7, 2024 - link
If you are right (big if, you’re probably not), this just makes it a great overclocker via PBO.shabby - Wednesday, August 7, 2024 - link
It does, der8auer hit like 170w on his 9700x.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPJ0Khw3kIc
Silver5urfer - Thursday, August 8, 2024 - link
Yep, Skatterbencher pushed to its peak with a large gains across the board.AMD capping this processor is a sin and a shame. Why ruin a nice 8C16T part like this... Esp when your 7700X is like in spitting distance. They sabotaged it themselves.
I hope they do not do that for Zen 6 on AM5, this socket needs a good power bump from 230WPPT to at-least 270-300W give 10950X a massive lead with higher power and not cap it for BS efficiency reasons, this is a Desktop socket not a portable BGA apple machine use and throw consumable.
Khanan - Thursday, August 8, 2024 - link
if that's true they can fix it with a 7700XT (like in 2nd gen).Khanan - Thursday, August 8, 2024 - link
*9700XTschujj07 - Friday, August 9, 2024 - link
The more power you use the harder it is to cool. Efficiency is also very important.Oxford Guy - Friday, August 16, 2024 - link
AMD could also simply by delivering the minimal added value it thinks it can. Coasting to profit.Kevin G - Wednesday, August 7, 2024 - link
This is fairly good improvement watt per watt but the big thing in the testing here is that AMD is placing these chips as "X" and not the vanilla 9600 or 9700. Yes they are rated at the same wattage as non "X" counter parts from the 7000 series but the 7600X and 7700X are a hair faster and because of their higher wattage can hit those turbo values for longer. The result is more of a wash between testing of the 9600X vs. 7600X and 9700X vs. 7700X judging from other review sites today. It is an improvement but for these chip its seems AMD didn't balance power and efficiency quiet right. Case in point is the massive amount of performance left on the table if PBO is enabled with the power limits set to the same 105W values as their 7700X and 7600X counter parts. Loosening the power a bit to 85W would have been a good midstep to demonstrate an efficiency improvement alongside a more tangible performance increase.I am still looking forward to seeing how the 9950X and 9900X fair in comparison to their 7950X and 7900X counter parts. There is additional power room at the top with the 7950X looking to get real world performance increases closer to the 16% average IPC increases AMD claims without the big asterisks of changing clock speeds or power limits impacting performance.
I'm very eager to see what the 9800X3D can do given that both the 5800X3D and 7800X3D before it reduced the clock speeds in conjunction between adding V-cache into the packaging. If the 9800X3D is able to keep the same base clocks as the 9700X but with V-cache added, it'd be a very, very nice performance increase over the 7800X3D. Similarly a 9950X3D would be a very impressive part, though I'd hope that AMD would simply put V-cache on top of both chiplets for this generation even if ithey had to reduce clocks a notch or two compared to the 9950X.
HideOut - Wednesday, August 7, 2024 - link
"AMD has also taken a bit of a different approach with AVX-512 instructions for Zen 4,"You mean zen 5
mukiex - Thursday, August 8, 2024 - link
"Zen 5 is alive"No disassemble Zen 5!