AMD Ryzen 9 5950X Review

Here'southward our first look at the new Ryzen 5000 CPU serial, starting with a full review of the Ryzen 9 5950X flagship. As a straight replacement to the R9 3950X, the new chip packs xvi cores with SMT back up for 32 threads. The suggested retail cost has been increased from $750 to $800, and then it's an expensive CPU for the mainstream AM4 platform.

Of course, we also have the Ryzen nine 5900X, Ryzen 7 5800X and Ryzen v 5600X on hand, and you'll see reviews on those parts over the next few days. Nosotros feel that these new AMD processors offer a significant spring forward that they each deserved their own dedicated review.

AMD is justifying the price bump across the series with what they're claiming to be dramatically improved operation, particularly when it comes to gaming. Highlights include boost clocks of up to 4.9 GHz and a 19% IPC improvement thank you to a new design that sees core complexes expanded to 8 cores with a new 32MB L3 cache topology. This has been achieved using the aforementioned TSMC 7nm procedure.

There's a number of architectural improvements, some of which we've gone over when they were announced and we could just discuss the new CPU features on paper. Only rather than going over all of that, we'll going to leap correct into what we suspect you're really here for: the benchmarks.

With that, let's go over our test setup and jump into all the glorious blue bar graphs. For testing the AMD CPUs we used the MSI X570 Godlike motherboard, partly because it was one of four X570 motherboards to receive BIOS support from AMD. Although prior to release other AM4 boards did have Zen 3 support, AMD was limiting reviewers to four models to help speed up whatsoever troubleshooting problems, should a problem arise.

It's quite a feat that y'all're able to run Zen, Zen+, Zen 2 and Zen 3 CPUs all on the one motherboard, although official first-gen support isn't listed. Nearly X570 boards do support Ryzen thousand series parts nevertheless. In the case of the X570 Godlike, we could slot in either the Ryzen five 1600 or the new Ryzen 9 5950X, and both worked perfectly, so that's four generations of CPUs on a single motherboard.

On the other hand, for testing Intel processors of the same period you'd require three split examination systems. Anyhow, we equipped all AMD and Intel systems with four 8GB M.Skill TridentZ DDR4-3200 CL14 memory modules for a 32GB chapters. We cooled them using Corsair's iCUE H150i Elite Capellix AIO, as most of these CPUs don't come with a box cooler.

As a side note, nosotros recently received the new Asus ROG Crosshair 8 Dark Hero motherboard which is a modified version of the original. It's suggested to be coming in at $400 for the Wi-Fi 6 version. Why is this relevant? This seems to be a very capable board that's been further refined from the original, removed the X570 chipset fan and upgraded the VRM to xvi 90A TI power stages. This looks to be a loftier-end X570 motherboard that should easily match the extreme $700 models such as MSI'due south X570 Godlike in terms of VRM operation, only for less.

Finally, delight note for all the productivity testing we're using the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti, only for the gaming benchmarks we've gone back and updated all our numbers with the RTX 3090 and added some new games in the process. So let's get into the graphs...

Benchmarks

First up nosotros have Cinebench R20 with the Ryzen 9 5950X becoming the first desktop CPU on a mainstream platform that breaks the 10,000 point barrier out of the box. When compared to the 3950X we're looking at a 10% performance uplift.

Compared to Intel's all-time mainstream offer, the 10900K, we're talking of almost a threescore% increase in performance, though AMD's also offering 60% more than cores here.

The real showstopper though is the single-cadre performance where the new R9 5950X is 20% faster than the 3950X and 17% faster than the 10900K. This kind of single thread performance is going to bode well for gaming performance.

Nosotros also took a wait at how the 5950X clocks in each of the Cinebench R20 tests. For the multi-cadre test, where all cores are heavily loaded, the 5950X clocks at around iii.95 GHz, though we saw 4.2 GHz in Blender as this figure is workload dependent. AMD advertises a base clock frequency of three.4 GHz.

AMD also advertises a max boost clock frequency of 4.ix GHz and this should be achieved in single core or lightly threaded workloads. In the Cinebench single cadre examination the 5950X typically operated at 5 GHz or 5050 MHz to be verbal. That's 150 MHz over the advertised spec.

The 5950X is just 8% faster than the 3950X in the 7-null compression exam, though that remains a dainty generational performance improvement, though keep in listen the new flake also costs 7% more, significant nosotros're not seeing an comeback in the price-to-performance ratio.

The decompression margins are a little more than impressive. This fourth dimension the 5950X is 14% faster than the 3950X and almost 80% faster than the 10900K. Based on electric current retail pricing, the 5950X should simply cost ~35% more.

Ryzen processors largely boss AES encryption performance and the SiSoft Sandra benchmark is one of the more balanced tests. That said, the Zen 3 compages offers very fiddling improvement over Zen two, but even so the 5950X was 71% faster than the 10900K.

With Blender we're only seeing a small-scale improvement for the 5950X over the 3950X, at 6% faster. The AMD flagship is near fifty% faster than the 10900K, making it the better value part.

Interestingly we see a huge operation uplift in the Five-Ray benchmark. Here the 5950X is 20% faster than the 3950X and a massive 62% faster than the Core i9-10900K. This is exciting news for those using 5-Ray who don't desire to dish out big dollars on a Threadripper system.

The 5950X besides offers big performance gains in Corona, beating the 3950X by a 20% margin and around 60% faster than the 10900K.

Here'south a await at code compilation performance where we see a balmy comeback for the 5950X at 7% faster than the 3950X. It was likewise 50% faster than the 10900K.

The DaVinci Resolve Studio 16 benchmark is more reliant on GPU functioning, though as you can encounter here the CPU tin can notwithstanding make a difference. We're seeing a small-scale 4% boost with the 5950X over the 3950X.

The performance uplift in Premiere Pro is likewise mild relative to the 3950X. Nosotros're looking at just a v% performance improvement and a somewhat small 15% increase over the 10900K.

Dissimilar the video editing software, Adobe Photoshop relies predominantly on unmarried thread performance and equally a upshot the 5950X is able to offering strong functioning gains over the 3950X with an 18% performance heave. The latest Ryzen 9 was as well 10% faster than the 10900K, so pretty impressive stuff.

Later Effects is another application that heavily relies on single cadre performance and we're seeing a potent operation advantage with the 5950X at twenty% faster than the 3950X and 15% faster than the 10900K.

Power Consumption

We took a quick expect at power consumption and we were impressed with what nosotros found. The 5950X is manufactured using the same 7nm procedure every bit the 3950X, and yet AMD's engineers were able to improve functioning, but also reduce power consumption for greatly improved efficiency.

Despite boosting operation by 6%, we're also looking at a v% reduction in ability usage for the total system. Compared to Intel'south x-core Core i9-10900K, we're looking at a 25% reduction in ability usage.

A cursory look at temperatures and operating beliefs comparison the Ryzen 9 3950X and 5950X. Both tested in a 21C room on an open examination bench using the Corsair iCUE H150i AIO and MSI X570 Godlike, installed inside the Corsair Obsidian 500D.

The Ryzen 9 5950X ran 6 to seven degrees cooler than the 3950X nether the same test conditions, despite running at a slightly college clock speed using the aforementioned 7nm process. Part of this will exist down to 7nm maturity, only AMD is claiming architectural optimization also. These enhancements allow for a slightly lower vcore which again would take helped to reduce ability consumption and therefore thermals.

Gaming Benchmarks

Fourth dimension for the gaming tests where we used the fastest GPU currently available, the GeForce RTX 3090. Starting with Far Cry New Dawn at 1080p, we observe a 10% performance uplift for the 5950X over the 3950X. Not a bad result, though that puts the 5950X behind the 10900K by effectually 6%. They're identical with the 2080 Ti, but this next-gen GPU pushes performance back in Intel's favor in this title.

Moving on to Tom Clancy'south Rainbow Vi Siege, nosotros notice a 7% performance improvement for the 5950X over the 3950X, again slap-up, but non that amazing either. That means the new xvi-core CPU was still 6% behind the 10900K which will no doubt disappoint AMD fans.

Lookout Dogs: Legion is the latest game to be added to our battery of benchmarks and this i shows a 14% performance increase for the R9 5950X over its predecessor. That fabricated it just 2% slower than the 10900K, so it was very close this time around although the Intel CPU is less expensive than AMD's flagship.

Frame charge per unit functioning in F1 2022 is also shut between the 10900K and 5950X. AMD trails past 2%, assuasive the RTX 3090 to pump out 272 fps. Information technology's worth noting that we're looking at an impressive 21% performance uplift over the 3950X.

In Horizon Zero Dawn the 5950X edged out the 10900K, albeit by a small 2% margin, then it was more than of a match. To get here, the new processor received a fourteen% performance boost over the 3950X.

We're only seeing a 5% functioning boost in Borderlands 3 for the 5950X over the 3950X, but that's enough to put the new sixteen-core CPU within a stone'due south throw of the 10900K. In the cease, it was 4% slower than the 10900K which is as shut equally it gets before calling it a depict.

Intel enjoyed a reasonable operation advantage in Death Stranding as the 10900K was almost twenty% faster than the 3950X.

The Ryzen 9 5950X is a whopping 34% faster than the 3950X and that meant it was besides 12% faster than the 10900K. That'southward a win for AMD.

The 5950X also nudged ahead in Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Here the R9 5950X is 4% faster than the 10900K, so basically the same performance, simply that'southward a 24% improvement over the 3950X.

Another game where AMD is seeing a huge generational leap is Hitman ii. Here nosotros're looking at a 34% boost, pushing the 5950X + RTX 3090 philharmonic to 167 fps on boilerplate. That's ten% faster than the 10900K.

Another game where the 5950X performs very well is Star Wars Squadrons, pushing the RTX 3090 up to 312 boilerplate fps, and placing it on par with the 10900K, though the 1% depression performance was 9% stronger. When compared to the 3950X we're looking at a 26% performance increase.

We had to re-test Serious Sam 4 three times just to brand certain this was all accurate. Here the Ryzen nine 5950X was 13% faster than the 10900K and an insane 48% faster than the 3950X, that'south one hell of a performance leap from one generation to the next.

Gaming Performance Average

Here'southward a wait at performance averaged out across the 11-game sample. Equally you tin run across the Ryzen nine 5950X and 10900K are a match in terms of performance. This as well ways on average the 5950X was xix% faster than the 3950X, which is an impressive generational leap for gaming workloads.

You could also argue Intel remains pretty competitive for gaming. Even if that means it consumes more power and compares poorly in productivity applications, the Core i9-10900K does hold its own in gaming against AMD's best.

Overclocking

Now allow'due south take a await at overclocking performance. We were able to hit an all-core four.7 GHz overclock with the 5950X using 1.375v. This overclock additional performance in Cinebench R20 by 20%, a very substantial performance increment for core-heavy workloads.

However, that aforementioned overclock is far from ideal for unmarried-cadre workloads as the 5950X stock clocks as high every bit v GHz, and so we've reduced the acme operating frequency by 6% and single core performance has dropped by v%.

Dorsum to a core heavy workload, the increased all-cadre frequency is of great benefit. Blender shows an eighteen% functioning increment which is quite remarkable.

Of form, the downside to overclocking is increased power usage and therefore thermal output.

The 4.vii GHz overclock increased full system usage by xl% as the R9 5950X was now sucking down around 140 watts more. When compared to the stock 10900K, it doesn't await all that bad and it was 74% faster.

Overclocking this CPU isn't specially useful in games as we're losing a bit of functioning.

Oddly though, performance in Far Cry New Dawn was slightly improved. We're merely talking about a few extra frames, just subsequently what we saw in Rainbow Six Siege, we weren't expecting this kind of issue.

Price to Performance

Here's our await at the price to performance data, showtime looking at productivity. The 5950X should country at $800 and that means upon release information technology will toll $70 more than the 3950X. In terms of price vs. operation that puts these CPUs on par, both are meliorate value than the 10900K, only slightly worse than other lower cadre count Intel parts such equally the 10600K and 10700K.

Merely of course, when talking about core-heavy productivity, they're in a completely dissimilar league.

Despite the strong single core functioning, the 5950X works out being a little more than expensive than the 3950X and 10900K. Though that's probably not an issue for a loftier performance CPU as the "time is coin" mentality can exist generally practical here.

For gaming, the 5950X is a pretty weak value prospect every bit typically speaking games don't come anywhere shut to utilizing fifty-fifty one-half of the 5950X. That said, for an extra $70 over its predecessor, information technology's a meliorate value for gaming than the 3950X.

Even if we boilerplate the performance seen across the eleven games tested and utilise that data for a price to performance comparing, we run into that while the 5950X beats the 3950X, it'due south worse value than everything else. That'south no surprise given games can't have total advantage of a sixteen-core/32-thread processor.

What We Learned

AMD put Intel in a tough spot a year ago with the Ryzen 9 3950X. It hands beat the Core i9-9900K in core-heavy workloads by packing twice every bit many cores, and when it came to low-res maximum FPS gaming performance, in that location often wasn't that much in it. There were times where the Intel CPU was up to 20% faster however, which is a significant margin and therefore we recommended the 9900K for those seeking maximum gaming functioning with picayune interest in productivity performance.

Nevertheless, the xvi-core 3950X took the mainstream desktop functioning crown and besides eliminated Intel's Pour Lake-10 HEDT platform, with the assistance of 2nd and tertiary-gen Threadripper parts. A yr later and nosotros have an fifty-fifty amend CPU that firmly takes the performance crown away from Intel.

Of form, if you're mostly interested in gaming performance, the Ryzen ix 5950X is overkill. You'll be getting a like level of performance from the more affordable 5900X and fifty-fifty the 5800X. In nigh games, even the 5600X won't be far behind. We'll follow upwards with detailed reviews on all those chips in the next few days.

Put differently, spending $800 on the Ryzen 9 5950X only for gaming is pointless, but going with a core-heavy processor no longer hampers performance, so it is a feasible option for gamers with deep pockets. Where this new 16-cadre processor really shines is for those who want to work and play, and right at present at that place's no amend option for tackling both those tasks.

We believe we're at the end of the road for the AM4 platform, so the 5950X investment loses a bit of its value as the upgrade path is effectively dead, but if y'all want the all-time processor for under $i,000, this is it.

For those of you lot already rocking a Ryzen 9 3950X, the R9 5950X isn't worth the upgrade. Chances are, if you're gaming with a high-end GPU, you're doing so at a loftier resolution where you'll be GPU bound almost of the time. For example, at 1440p there will be very little deviation between the 3950X and 5950X with an RTX 3090, and we wait to come across no difference at 4K. Then when it comes to productivity performance, the gains don't justify the investment.

If yous're coming from a 2nd-gen Ryzen processor, the upgrade for both gaming and productivity will be huge though. For seriously strong productivity performance, the 5950X volition be a great option, as long as you lot're prepare to part with $800. On that notation, it'll be interesting to see what happens with pricing for the 3950X over the side by side few months, as it might become the ultimate value option for high-end CPU performance.

Of course, this will all depend on the truthful availability of the Ryzen 9 5950X, only nosotros're hearing we should expect strong supply for new Ryzen 5000 series processors. It'due south e'er swell to see AMD have yet another big step frontwards, and we're looking forward to checking out the rest of the production stack.