AMD Ryzen 9 7900, 12C/24T, 3.70-5.40GHz, boxed

The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X is a great processor for folks wanting to build a jack-of-all-trades PC. It's good at gaming, content creation and daily productivity workloads. With the introduction of the new chipsets, the overall platform cost has come down by quite a bit but we still haven't seen an A6XX chipset in the budget segment so things are still a little pricey compared to the competition. That said, the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X is a good performer. All we need to see is whether the Indian pricing helps it retain the same value-for-money proposition as international markets.

In der vergangenen Woche stellte AMD nicht nur die X3D-Modelle der Ryzen-7000-Serie vor, sondern außerdem die Non-X-Varianten mit einer TDP von 65 W. Mit den ersten AM5-Prozessoren, bzw. den X-Modellen hob AMD die TDP auf bis zu 170 W an. Die sparsamere 65-W-Serie wurde bislang mit der Vorgänger-Generation abgedeckt, da AMD zunächst einmal den Desktop-Markt bedienen wollte und beachtliche Stückzahlen der Chips auf die Server-Sparte fallen sollten. In Form des Ryzen 9 7900 haben wir uns eines der neuen Modelle angeschaut.

Bevor AMD die Spieler mit den interessanten 3D-Modellen beglückt, schicken sie am 10. Januar 2023 die ersten Non-X-Prozessoren ins Rennen. Ryzen 9 7900, 7 7700 und 5 7600 sollen insbesondere mit einer hohen Effizienz punkten und ermöglichen einen preisbewussten Einstieg in die neue AM5-Generation.

AMD Ryzen 7000 für Sockel AM5 gibt es ab sofort auch in den drei 65-Watt-TDP-Varianten Ryzen 9 7900, Ryzen 7 7700 und Ryzen 5 7600. Abseits der ab Werk reduzierten Verlustleistung und infolgedessen niedrigeren Taktraten entsprechen die drei CPUs den X-Varianten. Wie schnell sie in Anwendungen und Spielen sind, klärt der Test.

AMD's Ryzen 9 7900 "Zen 4" desktop processor is a very interesting product from the company, for people who know what they want and want to save a little on the side. This 12-core/24-thread processor is part of an early-2023 refresh of the Ryzen 7000 series with a trio of 65 W "non-X" SKUs spanning the 7900, 7700 (our review), and 7600 (our review). The idea here is to offer certain power-efficient SKUs that square off against Intel's 65 W non-K 13th Gen Core processors that launched around the same time. With its Ryzen 7000-series, AMD made integrated graphics standard-issue, which means businesses that need desktops with CPU power and who don't want discrete graphics, can opt for any 7000-series processor SKU, just like they would with Intel.

Despite the strong competition from the 13th-gen Intel non-K SKUs, the impressive performance and power efficiency the Ryzen 9 7900 has displayed is just better in many ways if we take high-frequency memory out of the equation. As of now, high memory frequency is still an Intel thing and DDR5-7000 is easily achievable on the 13th-gen Core processors while Zen 4 still struggles to stay stable at DDR5-6400. Though it’s not really a major concern at the moment as DDR5-6000 will do just fine as it is easily achievable with both Intel 13th-gen and AMD Zen 4 using the existing DDR5 memory kit that uses Hynix M-die memory chips.

AMD also released a Ryzen 9 7900; this 65W non-X model offers magnificent performance and temperatures. Next to the 7700, this might actually become a best seller in the current Ryzen 7000 product stack. AMD has released the non-X version of their Ryzen 7000 series processor. The new update isn't intended for extreme performance but is tagged with a far friendlier 65W TDP. Three separate models, the Ryzen 9 7900, Ryzen 7 7700, and the Ryzen 5 7600 SKU are released by AMD. The default power of those components will be reduced from 170W to ... 65W, which is the most significant difference between them and current models aside from a lower clock frequency. Yeah, three processors with a little unexpected even the Ryzen 9 7900. That processor has 12 cores and a boost clock of 5.4 GHz, making it 200 MHz less powerful than the X model. This processor will cost $429, saving you $120 compared to the current market standard. In addition, the boost speed of the 8-core Ryzen 7 7700 is 5.3 GHz, only 100 MHz below the X model. The suggested retail price (MSRP) of $329 also seems like a fantastic offer, saving you $70 USD. The rumoured price of the 6-core Ryzen 5 7600 is $229, which is $70 less than the X model. The maximum frequency of 5.1 GHz on this model would be achieved at the expense of 200 MHz of boost frequency. New in the non-X series, these processors are all unlocked on the multiplier.

Adding 65W Ryzen CPU SKUs, AMD has furthered the availability and reach of it new AM5 platform.

What's clear is that AMD Zen 4's position has been strengthened since our launch reviews. The more affordable 65w parts are also more sensible out of the box, and with much more affordable B650 motherboards it means the platform is now viable and in our opinion the obvious choice over AM4 for new system builders, outside of budget builds. This was already true before the arrival of these non-X 65w parts as AMD had cut pricing aggressively over the past few months, but the new CPUs make it all official. There's a chance the original X-parts head back towards their respective MSRPs (and become more expensive), but at that point we'd simply ignore them and just go for the non-X 65w models instead.