Zen 3 architecture gives us better performance at a lower energy cost
Today the 7-nanometer Ryzen 9 5900X processor is released on the market, which was presented on October 8 by Lisa Su, president and CEO of AMD as part of the Ryzen 5000 series linear that among other things premieres the Zen 3 architecture, which seeks to give better performance per watt and above all to put in predicament the tenth generation of Intel processors. Here are our impressions after evaluating this CPU for several weeks.
specs
- Number of cores: 12
- Number of threads: 24
- Base Clock: 3.7 Ghz with maximum boost of 4.8 Ghz
- Total L2 cache: 6 MB
- Total L3 cache: 64MB
- Socket: AM4
- PCIe: 4.0
- Power consumption: 105w
- 3200Mhz DDR4 maximum speed
For this test we use the following system:
- Motherboard: MSI MPG X570 Gaming Edge Wi-Fi
- Ram: 32 GB DDR4 HyperX RGB at 3200 Mhz
- GPU: GeForce RTX 3080
- SSD: M.2 with NVMe PCIe 4.0 FireCuda 510 1TB with speed of 5000/4000 MB / s
- Masterliquid ML360R RGB Cooler Master Cooling System
This configuration what he sought is to get closer to the system we used to analyze the RTX 3080 with the Intel Core i9 10900k processor and to be able to have a similar benchmark, since we practically use the same memories and frequencies. To close the results even more we use some of the same 4k games that have their own benchmarks, yielding the following results.
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey: 59 vs 63 FPS that hit the Intel Core i9 10900k
Borderlands 3: 58.84 vs 59 FPS that hit the Intel Core i9 10900k
Horizon Zero Dawn: 72 vs 69 that hit the Intel Core i9 10900k
Shadow of the Tomb Raider: 48 vs 35 hit the Intel Core i9 10900k
As we can see in 3 of the 4 games there is a difference of only 3 FPS, only in the case of Shadow of the Tomb Raider these results shot up by 13 FPS, which lets us see that finally AMD enters the fight against one of Intel’s 10th generation flagship processors in the box-only configuration. Taking into account that the power consumption of the AMD is lower, 125w vs 105w of the red ones, thus fulfilling the promise of the Zen 3 architecture to give better performance with lower power consumption.
Content generation
We tested the processor on live streams using OBS and playing titles like The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope running in ultra at 2560 x 1080 resolution with monitoring tabs in Chrome with Twitch, Youtube and Facebook at the same time. Same case when doing the same with the Little Nightmares 2 demo, as well as at the highest values without suffering any setbacks. In fact, the last 3 Cantinas were streamed using this processor.
As for rendering with After Effects, Photoshop and Premiere, the work of this processor is monumental, since for example 2-minute videos in Full HD with at least 2 layers were rendered in less than 10 seconds and with the other two programs everything it was very agile.
Something that must be taken into account is that this processor with 500 series motherboards will integrate Smart Access Memory, a function that will give better performance in games with the RX 6000 graphics cards presented on October 28.
It is important to note that all owners of a 500 series motherboard will be able to use these processors just by updating the BIOS to AGESA version 1.1.0.0 and updates will be available soon with 400 series motherboards (estimated in January 2021).
CONCLUSION
Ryzen 9 5900X differs from the Intel Core i9 10900k for only $ 50 dollars so it is an investment to consider, but taking into account the benefits that come at the door such as Smart Access Memory and that the tests we did only were with the configuration of box, without overclocking and increased memory frequency, we can say that AMD has finally entered a frontal battle vs Intel in the race to be the best processor for gaming.
THE BEST
- Best performance per watt
- Smart Access Memory
- Compatible with 500 series motherboards and 400 series coming soon
WORST
- Does not come with heatsink
