ability to customise voltages and frequencies to a specific processor.
Precision Boost Overdrive 2 : Curve Optimizer
The new adaptive undervolting capability in Precision Boost Overdrive 2 (PBO2) is achieved through the Curve Optimizer.
The new Curve Optimizer tells the firmware what window of undervolting is desired, and adapts to both light and heavy workloads.
Undervolting, however, will not be done with raw millivolts. Instead, it will be applied with “counts“.
1 Count is approximately 3 mV ~ 5 mV. This range means less undervolting during high loads, and more undervolting when the load is lower.
You can adjust the voltage by +/- 30 Counts. 30 Counts would be a range of 90~150 mV.
The adjustments can be applied per core, or on all cores.
The Curve Optimizer algorithm is adaptive – so it will automatically underplot when the circumstances are suitable, and restore voltage when it needs to.
Precision Boost Overdrive 2 : Performance Boost
According to AMD, PBO2 offers better single-threaded performance than the original PBO.
Enabling it will let the Ryzen 7 5800X deliver 2.6% better 1T performance in CINEBENCH R20, while the Ryzen 9 5900X delivers 2% better 1T performance.
Hardly earth-shattering performance, but hey, it’s free!
Multi-threaded performance also gets a small but nice boost from PBO2.
AMD says the Ryzen 7 5800X should get a 2.2% boost, while the Ryzen 9 5900X gets a very nice 10% boost in multi-threaded performance!
Precision Boost Overdrive 2 : System Requirements
Here are the system requirements for Precision Boost Overdrive 2 to work :
If you like our work, you can help support us by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donating to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!
Built on the new Zen 3 architecture, the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X promises to offer unparalleled 16-core, 32-thread performance!
Take a look at its performance in our in-depth review, and find out why we gave it our Reviewer’s Choice Award!
AMD Ryzen 5000 Series : Built On Zen 3
The AMD Ryzen 5000 series is designed using the new AMD Zen 3 architecture, which promises to deliver 19% more instructions per cycle (IPC) over the last generation, thanks to these new features :
improved load / store performance and flexibility
double the size of directly-accessible L3 cache per core
a unified 8-core complex (CCX) with direct access to the 32 MB L3 cache
wider issue in floating point and integer engines
Zero Bubble branch prediction
The new architecture also reduces memory latency through improved core and cache communication, and offer a higher maximum boost clock.
This allows the Ryzen 5000 series desktop processors to deliver up to 2.8X more performance-per-watt versus the competition.
AMD Ryzen 9 5950X : Price + Availability
The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X processor is available for sale starting 5 November 2020, at these RRP inclusive of tax, in Malaysia :
If you like our work, you can help support us by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donating to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!
AMD Zen 3 Architecture
Codename Vermeer, Zen 3 is the next evolution of the Zen architecture, delivering a 19% improvement in instructions per clock (IPC) through these improvements :
Front-End Enhancements
Faster fetching, especially for branchy and large-footprint code
L1 branch target buffer doubled in size to 1024 entries for better prediction latency
Improved branch predictor bandwidth
Faster recovery from misprediction
“No bubble” prediction capabilities to make back-to-back predictions more quickly and better handle branchy code
Faster sequencing of op-cache fetches
Finer granularity in switching of op-cache pipes
Execution Engines
Reduce latency and enlarge structures to extract higher instruction-level parallelism (ILP)
New dedicated branch and st-data pickers for integer, now at 10 issues per cycle (+3 vs. Zen 2)
Larger integer window at +32 vs. Zen 2
Reduced latency for select float and int operations
Floating point has increased bandwidth by +2 for a total of 6-wide dispatch and issue
Floating point FMAC is now 1 cycle faster
Load Store
Larger structures and better prefetching to support the enhanced execution engine bandwidth
Overall higher bandwidth to feed the appetite of the larger/faster execution resources
Higher load bandwidth vs. Zen 2 by +1
Higher store bandwidth vs. Zen 2 by +1
More flexibility in load/store operations
Improved memory dependence detection
+4 table walkers in the TLB
SOC Architecture
Reduce dependency on main memory accesses, reduce core-to-core latency, reduce core-to-cache latency.
Unify all cores in a CCD into a single unified complex consisting of 4, 6, or 8 contiguous cores
Unify all L3 cache in a CCD into a single contiguous element of up to 32MB
Rearchitect core/cache communication into a ring system
AMD Zen 3 SoC Design
In addition to micro architectural improvements, Zen 3 (Vermeer) also features SoC design changes.
In Zen 2, each CCD (Compute Die) is made up of two CCX (core complexes), each with a 16 MB L3 cache.
Zen 3 uses a unified complex, in which each CCD now contains a single CCX with a unified 32 MB L3 cache.
On the other hand, AMD reused the chiplet design, with one or two CCDs (fabricated on 7 nm) paired with a 12 nm IOD (I/O Die).
Reads from CCD to IO are still 2X write, to conserve die area and transistor budget. And it uses the same IOD from Matisse (Zen 2).
The new Zen 3 CCD has 4.15 billion transistors, with a die size of 80.7 mm². The Matisse-era IOD remains the same – 2.09 billion transistors, with a die size of 125 mm².
AMD Ryzen 9 5950X Benchmarking Notes
In this review, we will take a look at the content creation and gaming performance of the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X, comparing it to 6 other processors :
If you like our work, you can help support us by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donating to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!
AMD Ryzen 9 5950X : 3D Rendering Speed
CINEBENCH R20 is a real-world 3D rendering benchmark based on the MAXON Cinema 4D animation software.
It is a great way to accurately determine the actual performance of a processor in 3D content creation.
CINEBENCH R20 Single Core Performance
This Single Core test is not reflective of real world performance, but it is useful to find out the performance of the individual core.
Like the Ryzen 7 5800X, the Ryzen 9 5950X broke past the 600 mark, and was 22.5% faster than the Ryzen 7 3700X.
Because it has a 11.4% higher boost clock, that works out to a 10% better performance per clock, over the last-generation Ryzen.
CINEBENCH R20 Multi Core Performance
The Multi Core test shows the processor’s real-world 3D rendering performance.
A score of almost 9900! That makes it 66% faster than the Ryzen 7 5800X, and 2X faster than the Ryzen 7 3700X, both 8-core, 16-thread processors.
Multi-Threading Boost
This is not a CINEBENCH benchmark result. The Multi-Threading Boost is our calculation of the performance boost that the processor’s Multi-Threading capability provides.
For some reason, the Ryzen 9 5950X doesn’t benefit at all from its SMT capability.
That’s why it only has a 66% performance advantage over the Ryzen 7 5800X, despite having twice as many cores.
AMD Ryzen 9 5950X : Transcoding Speed
HandBrake is a free, open-source video transcoding utility, which converts a video file from one resolution / format to another.
As you can imagine, it’s very compute-intensive, which makes it a great benchmark for multi-core processors. In our test, we converted a 4K video of 1.3 GB in size into a 1080p video (HQ1080p30).
The radial blur filter adds the perception of motion to a picture. This is a compute-intensive operation that benefits from multiple processing cores.
This radial blur test was performed on Photoshop 2020 using a single 13.5 megapixel photo, with a filesize of 4,910,867 bytes.
This is a huge boost in performance! The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X was 87% faster than the Ryzen 7 5800X, 2.33X faster than the Ryzen 7 3700X and 2.67X faster than the Ryzen 7 2700X.
If you like our work, you can help support us by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donating to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!
Synthetic Game Test : 3DMark
We used 3DMark’s Time Spy and Time Spy Extreme synthetic benchmarks, which supports DirectX 12, and the latest features like asynchronous compute, and multi-threading support.
If you like our work, you can help support us by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donating to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!
World War Z
Based on the 2013 movie, World War Z is a relatively recent third-person shooter game, released in April 2019.
We tested it on three resolutions using the Vulkan API at the High settings :
1080p : 1920 x 1080 pixels
1440p : 2560 x 1440 pixels
2160p : 3840 x 2160 pixels
1080p Gaming Resolution
Look at that! The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X topped this comparison, tying with the Ryzen 7 5800X.
It delivered 16% higher frame rates than the Ryzen 7 3700X, and 20% higher frame rates than the Core i7-8700K.
1440p Gaming Resolution
When we bumped the resolution up to 1440p, it really didn’t matter that much which processor we used. They all performed about the same.
2160p Gaming Resolution
At 4K resolution, processor performance had absolutely no effect. The game was completely graphics-limited.
Strange Brigade
Strange Brigade is a third-person shooter game, released in August 2018. We tested it in three resolutions using the Vulkan API at the Ultra High settings :
1080p : 1920 x 1080 pixels
1440p : 2560 x 1440 pixels
2160p : 3840 x 2160 pixels
1080p Gaming Resolution
CPU performance had only a small effect on frame rates in Strange Brigade, even at 1080p.
1440p Gaming Resolution
At 1440p, they were virtually all equal in performance. The game was already graphics-limited.
2160p Gaming Resolution
It was the same at 4K, of course – the game was completely graphics-limited.
If you like our work, you can help support us by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donating to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!
Metro Exodus
Metro Exodus is a first-person shooter game, released in February 2019. We tested it in three resolutions using the Ultra settings :
1080p : 1920 x 1080 pixels
1440p : 2560 x 1440 pixels
2160p : 3840 x 2160 pixels
1080p Gaming Resolution
Metro Exodus is graphics-intensive, so CPU performance has limited effect on its frame rate.
1440p Gaming Resolution
All of the processors performed the same at 1440p, with a slight edge to the Core i7-8700K.
2160p Gaming Resolution
At 4K, the game was completely graphics-limited, so it didn’t matter which processor we tested.
Ashes of the Singularity
Ashes of the Singularity is a 2016 game that supports multi-core processing and asynchronous compute.
In this game, the single core CPU performance has a significant effect on the actual frame rate.
We tested it on three resolutions using the DirectX 12 API at the High settings :
1080p : 1920 x 1080
1440p : 2560 x 1440
2160p : 3840 x 2160
1080p Gaming Resolution
Look at that! The Ryzen 9 5950X delivered 9% higher frame rates than the Ryzen 7 5800X, 21% higher frame rates than the Core i7-8700K, and 23% higher frame rates than the Ryzen 7 3700X.
1440p Gaming Resolution
At 1440p, the Ryzen 9 5950X delivered 7% higher frame rates than the Ryzen 7 5800X, and 23% higher frame rates than both the Core i7-8700K and the Ryzen 7 3700X.
2160p Gaming Resolution
Even at 4K, CPU performance mattered in Ashes of the Singularity. The Ryzen 9 5950X delivered just 2% higher frame rates than the Ryzen 7 5800X, and 14% higher frame rates than both the Core i7-8700K and the Ryzen 7 3700X.
If you like our work, you can help support us by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donating to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!
AMD Ryzen 9 5950X : Our Verdict + Award!
Thanks to the new Zen 3 core optimisations and SoC design, the AMD Ryzen 9 5950X offers a nice leap forward in performance.
It offers significantly better single-core and multi-core performance over the last generation, offering a nice boost to both content creation and gaming performance.
With 16 cores that support up to 32 threads, it barrels through everything thrown at it without a sweat.
But while AMD has highlighted the Ryzen 9 5950X as a great processor for gaming, it’s really best for serious content creation work.
It’s not that it won’t work well in games, it’s just overkill for games.
We cannot emphasise this great point about the Ryzen 9 5950X – even though it uses a new Zen 3 microarchitecture, it continues to use the AM4 socket.
If you have an existing AMD 500 Series motherboard, you can just pop in the Ryzen 9 5950X after a BIOS upgrade.
Those on AMD 400 Series motherboards will have to wait until Q1 2020, before they receive BIOS upgrades to support Zen 3.
In our Ryzen 5 5600X and Ryzen 7 5800X reviews, we pointed out that they were priced significantly higher than their predecessors.
The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X is priced at $799 (RM3,699) – a $50 (RM550) premium over the last-generation Ryzen 9 3950X, which had a launch price of $749 (RM3,149).
But this time, it comes with a free copy of the upcoming game – Far Cry 6 Standard Edition, which is priced at $56.99.
Paradoxically, this makes the Ryzen 9 5950X the best deal of the Ryzen 5000 series, if you can afford it, of course!
That’s why we believe it deserves our Reviewer’s Choice Award. Congratulations, AMD!
So who should, or should NOT, buy the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X?
Buy : If you want the best possible 16-core processor for a new content creation system.
Buy : If you are upgrading from a first-generation Ryzen processor.
Buy : If you need more computing cores than your current system.
Consider : If you are upgrading from a second-generation Ryzen processor.
Skip : If you are already using a 3rd Gen Ryzen processor.
AMD Ryzen 9 5950X : Price + Availability
The AMD Ryzen 9 5950X processor is available for sale starting 5 November 2020, at these RRP inclusive of tax, in Malaysia :
If you like our work, you can help support us by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donating to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!
Built on the new Zen 3 architecture, the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X promises to offer a leap forward in performance.
Take a look at its performance in our in-depth review, and find out if this is the Ryzen for you!
AMD Ryzen 5000 Series : Built On Zen 3
The AMD Ryzen 5000 series is designed using the new AMD Zen 3 architecture, which promises to deliver 19% more instructions per cycle (IPC) over the last generation, thanks to these new features :
improved load / store performance and flexibility
double the size of directly-accessible L3 cache per core
a unified 8-core complex (CCX) with direct access to the 32 MB L3 cache
wider issue in floating point and integer engines
Zero Bubble branch prediction
The new architecture also reduces memory latency through improved core and cache communication, and offer a higher maximum boost clock.
This allows the Ryzen 5000 series desktop processors to deliver up to 2.8X more performance-per-watt versus the competition.
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X : Price + Availability
The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X processor will be available for sale starting 5 November 2020, at these RRP inclusive of tax :
If you like our work, you can help support us by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donating to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!
AMD Zen 3 Architecture
Codename Vermeer, Zen 3 is the next evolution of the Zen architecture, delivering a 19% improvement in instructions per clock (IPC) through these improvements :
Front-End Enhancements
Faster fetching, especially for branchy and large-footprint code
L1 branch target buffer doubled in size to 1024 entries for better prediction latency
Improved branch predictor bandwidth
Faster recovery from misprediction
“No bubble” prediction capabilities to make back-to-back predictions more quickly and better handle branchy code
Faster sequencing of op-cache fetches
Finer granularity in switching of op-cache pipes
Execution Engines
Reduce latency and enlarge structures to extract higher instruction-level parallelism (ILP)
New dedicated branch and st-data pickers for integer, now at 10 issues per cycle (+3 vs. Zen 2)
Larger integer window at +32 vs. Zen 2
Reduced latency for select float and int operations
Floating point has increased bandwidth by +2 for a total of 6-wide dispatch and issue
Floating point FMAC is now 1 cycle faster
Load Store
Larger structures and better prefetching to support the enhanced execution engine bandwidth
Overall higher bandwidth to feed the appetite of the larger/faster execution resources
Higher load bandwidth vs. Zen 2 by +1
Higher store bandwidth vs. Zen 2 by +1
More flexibility in load/store operations
Improved memory dependence detection
+4 table walkers in the TLB
SOC Architecture
Reduce dependency on main memory accesses, reduce core-to-core latency, reduce core-to-cache latency.
Unify all cores in a CCD into a single unified complex consisting of 4, 6, or 8 contiguous cores
Unify all L3 cache in a CCD into a single contiguous element of up to 32MB
Rearchitect core/cache communication into a ring system
AMD Zen 3 SoC Design
In addition to micro architectural improvements, Zen 3 (Vermeer) also features SoC design changes.
In Zen 2, each CCD (Compute Die) is made up of two CCX (core complexes), each with a 16 MB L3 cache.
Zen 3 uses a unified complex, in which each CCD now contains a single CCX with a unified 32 MB L3 cache.
On the other hand, AMD reused the chiplet design, with one or two CCDs (fabricated on 7 nm) paired with a 12 nm IOD (I/O Die).
Reads from CCD to IO are still 2X write, to conserve die area and transistor budget. And it uses the same IOD from Matisse (Zen 2).
The new Zen 3 CCD has 4.15 billion transistors, with a die size of 80.7 mm². The Matisse-era IOD remains the same – 2.09 billion transistors, with a die size of 125 mm².
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X Benchmarking Notes
In this review, we will take a look at the content creation and gaming performance of the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X, comparing it to 6 other processors :
If you like our work, you can help support us by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donating to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X : 3D Rendering Speed
CINEBENCH R20 is a real-world 3D rendering benchmark based on the MAXON Cinema 4D animation software.
It is a great way to accurately determine the actual performance of a processor in 3D content creation.
CINEBENCH R20 Single Core Performance
This Single Core test is not reflective of real world performance, but it is useful to find out the performance of the individual core.
Look at that! What a phenomenal boost in single-core performance!
The Ryzen 7 5800X broke past the 600 mark, and was 22.5% faster than the Ryzen 7 3700X, even though it only has a 6.8% higher boost clock!
That works out to a 14.7% better performance per clock, over the last-generation Ryzen.
CINEBENCH R20 Multi Core Performance
The Multi Core test shows the processor’s real-world 3D rendering performance.
A score of almost 6000! That’s 23.6% faster than the Ryzen 7 3700X, which is also an 8-core, 16-thread processor.
It was actually 58.8% faster than the Ryzen 7 2700X, which makes it a great upgrade for the older 8-core, 16-thread processor.
Multi-Threading Boost
This is not a CINEBENCH benchmark result. The Multi-Threading Boost is our calculation of the performance boost that the processor’s Multi-Threading capability provides.
Interestingly, the Ryzen 7 5800X has better SMT performance than the Ryzen 5 5600X, even though they both use a single CCD.
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X : Transcoding Speed
HandBrake is a free, open-source video transcoding utility, which converts a video file from one resolution / format to another.
As you can imagine, it’s very compute-intensive, which makes it a great benchmark for multi-core processors. In our test, we converted a 4K video of 1.3 GB in size into a 1080p video (HQ1080p30).
That’s a nice speed bump! The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X was 10.4% faster than the Ryzen 7 3700X and 33.8% faster than Ryzen 7 2700X.
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X : Radial Blur Speed
The radial blur filter adds the perception of motion to a picture. This is a compute-intensive operation that benefits from multiple processing cores.
This radial blur test was performed on Photoshop 2020 using a single 13.5 megapixel photo, with a filesize of 4,910,867 bytes.
This is a big boost in performance! The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X was 24.5% faster than the Ryzen 7 3700X and 42.3% faster than both Ryzen 7 2700X and Ryzen 5 5600X.
If you like our work, you can help support us by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donating to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!
Synthetic Game Test : 3DMark
We used 3DMark’s Time Spy and Time Spy Extreme synthetic benchmarks, which supports DirectX 12, and the latest features like asynchronous compute, and multi-threading support.
If you like our work, you can help support us by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donating to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!
World War Z
Based on the 2013 movie, World War Z is a relatively recent third-person shooter game, released in April 2019.
We tested it on three resolutions using the Vulkan API at the High settings :
1080p : 1920 x 1080 pixels
1440p : 2560 x 1440 pixels
2160p : 3840 x 2160 pixels
1080p Gaming Resolution
Look at that! The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X topped this comparison, tying with the Ryzen 5 5600X.
It delivered 17% higher frame rates than the Ryzen 7 3700X, and 21% higher frame rates than the Core i7-8700K.
1440p Gaming Resolution
When we bumped the resolution up to 1440p, it really didn’t matter that much which processor we used. They all performed about the same.
2160p Gaming Resolution
At 4K resolution, processor performance had absolutely no effect. The game was completely graphics-limited.
Strange Brigade
Strange Brigade is a third-person shooter game, released in August 2018. We tested it in three resolutions using the Vulkan API at the Ultra High settings :
1080p : 1920 x 1080 pixels
1440p : 2560 x 1440 pixels
2160p : 3840 x 2160 pixels
1080p Gaming Resolution
CPU performance had only a small effect on frame rates in Strange Brigade, even at 1080p.
1440p Gaming Resolution
At 1440p, they were virtually all equal in performance. The game was already graphics-limited.
2160p Gaming Resolution
It was the same at 4K, of course – the game was completely graphics-limited.
If you like our work, you can help support us by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donating to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!
Metro Exodus
Metro Exodus is a first-person shooter game, released in February 2019. We tested it in three resolutions using the Ultra settings :
1080p : 1920 x 1080 pixels
1440p : 2560 x 1440 pixels
2160p : 3840 x 2160 pixels
1080p Gaming Resolution
Metro Exodus is graphics-intensive, so CPU performance has limited effect on its frame rate.
1440p Gaming Resolution
All of the processors performed the same at 1440p, with a slight edge to the Core i7-8700K.
2160p Gaming Resolution
At 4K, the game was completely graphics-limited, so it didn’t matter which processor we tested.
Ashes of the Singularity
Ashes of the Singularity is a 2016 game that supports multi-core processing and asynchronous compute.
In this game, the single core CPU performance has a significant effect on the actual frame rate.
We tested it on three resolutions using the DirectX 12 API at the High settings :
1080p : 1920 x 1080
1440p : 2560 x 1440
2160p : 3840 x 2160
1080p Gaming Resolution
Nice! The Ryzen 7 5800X delivered 11% higher frame rates than the Core i7-8700K, and 13% higher frame rates than the Ryzen 7 3700X.
1440p Gaming Resolution
At 1440p, the Ryzen 7 5800X delivered 15.5% higher frame rates than both the Core i7-8700K and the Ryzen 7 3700X.
2160p Gaming Resolution
Even at 4K, CPU performance mattered in Ashes of the Singularity. The Ryzen 7 5800X delivered 12% higher frame rates than both the Core i7-8700K and the Ryzen 7 3700X.
If you like our work, you can help support us by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donating to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X : Our Verdict!
Thanks to the new Zen 3 core optimisations and SoC design, the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X offers a nice leap forward in performance.
Its single-core performance has been improved significantly over its predecessors, and so has its multi-core performance, offering a nice boost to both content creation and gaming performance.
Gamers will favour the cheaper Ryzen 5 5600X, but this is a great option for those who also need serious multi-core performance for content creation work.
It offers a large performance boost over the Ryzen 7 3700X and Ryzen 7 2700X in both content creation and gaming performance.
Another great point about the Ryzen 7 5800X – even though it uses a new microarchitecture, it continues to use the AM4 socket
If you have an existing AMD 500 Series motherboard, you can pop it in after a BIOS upgrade.
Those on AMD 400 Series motherboards will have to wait until Q1 2020, before they receive BIOS upgrades to support Zen 3.
But while the Ryzen 7 5800X’s performance may be a leap forward, so is its price tag…
You may recall that the last-generation Ryzen 7 3800X had a launch price of $399 (RM1,799), with a nice Wraith Prism cooler.
The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X costs substantially more at $449 (RM2,049), and no longer comes with a very nice bundled cooler!
On the other hand, it comes with a free copy of the upcoming game – Far Cry 6 Standard Edition...
So who should, or should NOT, buy the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X?
Buy : If you want the best possible 8-core processor for a new gaming or content creation system.
Buy : If you are upgrading from a first-generation Ryzen processor.
Buy : If you need more computing cores than your current system.
Consider : If you are upgrading from a second-generation Ryzen processor.
Skip : If you are already using a 3rd Gen Ryzen processor.
Those on a budget can consider purchasing a Ryzen 7 3700X. It may be slower for sure, but the money you save can be used towards the upcoming Radeon RX 6000 series graphics card!
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X : Price + Availability
The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X processor will be available for sale starting 5 November 2020, at these RRP inclusive of tax, in Malaysia :
If you like our work, you can help support us by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donating to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!
Built on the new Zen 3 architecture, the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X promises to offer a leap forward in performance.
Find out in our in-depth review why we agree, and gave it our Reviewer’s Choice Award!
AMD Ryzen 5000 Series : Built On Zen 3
The AMD Ryzen 5000 series is designed using the new AMD Zen 3 architecture, which promises to deliver 19% more instructions per cycle (IPC) over the last generation, thanks to these new features :
improved load / store performance and flexibility
double the size of directly-accessible L3 cache per core
a unified 8-core complex (CCX) with direct access to the 32 MB L3 cache
wider issue in floating point and integer engines
Zero Bubble branch prediction
The new architecture also reduces memory latency through improved core and cache communication, and offer a higher maximum boost clock.
This allows the Ryzen 5000 series desktop processors to deliver up to 2.8X more performance-per-watt versus the competition.
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X : Price + Availability
The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X processor is available for sale starting 5 November 2020, at these RRP inclusive of tax :
Malaysia : RM 1,349 (~US$324) inclusive of 6% tax
United States : RM 299
Note : Unlike the Ryzen 9 5950X, Ryzen 9 5900X and Ryzen 7 5800X, the Ryzen 5 5600X will NOT come with a free copy of Far Cry 6.
If you like our work, you can help support us by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donating to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!
AMD Zen 3 Architecture
Codename Vermeer, Zen 3 is the next evolution of the Zen architecture, delivering a 19% improvement in instructions per clock (IPC) through these improvements :
Front-End Enhancements
Faster fetching, especially for branchy and large-footprint code
L1 branch target buffer doubled in size to 1024 entries for better prediction latency
Improved branch predictor bandwidth
Faster recovery from misprediction
“No bubble” prediction capabilities to make back-to-back predictions more quickly and better handle branchy code
Faster sequencing of op-cache fetches
Finer granularity in switching of op-cache pipes
Execution Engines
Reduce latency and enlarge structures to extract higher instruction-level parallelism (ILP)
New dedicated branch and st-data pickers for integer, now at 10 issues per cycle (+3 vs. Zen 2)
Larger integer window at +32 vs. Zen 2
Reduced latency for select float and int operations
Floating point has increased bandwidth by +2 for a total of 6-wide dispatch and issue
Floating point FMAC is now 1 cycle faster
Load Store
Larger structures and better prefetching to support the enhanced execution engine bandwidth
Overall higher bandwidth to feed the appetite of the larger/faster execution resources
Higher load bandwidth vs. Zen 2 by +1
Higher store bandwidth vs. Zen 2 by +1
More flexibility in load/store operations
Improved memory dependence detection
+4 table walkers in the TLB
SOC Architecture
Reduce dependency on main memory accesses, reduce core-to-core latency, reduce core-to-cache latency.
Unify all cores in a CCD into a single unified complex consisting of 4, 6, or 8 contiguous cores
Unify all L3 cache in a CCD into a single contiguous element of up to 32MB
Rearchitect core/cache communication into a ring system
AMD Zen 3 SoC Design
In addition to micro architectural improvements, Zen 3 (Vermeer) also features SoC design changes.
In Zen 2, each CCD (Compute Die) is made up of two CCX (core complexes), each with a 16 MB L3 cache.
Zen 3 uses a unified complex, in which each CCD now contains a single CCX with a unified 32 MB L3 cache.
On the other hand, AMD reused the chiplet design, with one or two CCDs (fabricated on 7 nm) paired with a 12 nm IOD (I/O Die).
Reads from CCD to IO are still 2X write, to conserve die area and transistor budget. And it uses the same IOD from Matisse (Zen 2).
The new Zen 3 CCD has 4.15 billion transistors, with a die size of 80.7 mm². The Matisse-era IOD remains the same – 2.09 billion transistors, with a die size of 125 mm².
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Benchmarking Notes
In this review, we will take a look at the content creation and gaming performance of the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X, comparing it to 6 other processors :
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AMD Ryzen 5 5600X : 3D Rendering Speed
CINEBENCH R20 is a real-world 3D rendering benchmark based on the MAXON Cinema 4D animation software.
It is a great way to accurately determine the actual performance of a processor in 3D content creation.
CINEBENCH R20 Single Core Performance
This Single Core test is not reflective of real world performance, but it is useful to find out the performance of the individual core.
Look at that! What a phenomenal boost in single-core performance!
The Ryzen 5 5600X was 19.5% faster than the Ryzen 7 3700X, even though it only has a 4.5% higher boost clock!
That works out to a 14.3% better performance per clock, over the last-generation Ryzen.
CINEBENCH R20 Multi Core Performance
The Multi Core test shows the processor’s real-world 3D rendering performance.
This is very good performance for a 6-core processor, performing just 12.6% slower than the Ryzen 7 3700X, which is an 8-core, 16-thread processor.
More so when you realise that it was actually 12.3% faster than the Ryzen 7 2700X, which is an older 8-core, 16-thread processor.
Multi-Threading Boost
This is not a CINEBENCH benchmark result. The Multi-Threading Boost is our calculation of the performance boost that the processor’s Multi-Threading capability provides.
While the Zen 3 microarchitecture gave it a big boost in single core performance, its SMT performance appears to have taken a slight hit.
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X : Transcoding Speed
HandBrake is a free, open-source video transcoding utility, which converts a video file from one resolution / format to another.
As you can imagine, it’s very compute-intensive, which makes it a great benchmark for multi-core processors. In our test, we converted a 4K video of 1.3 GB in size into a 1080p video (HQ1080p30).
Look at that! Despite having just six cores, the Ryzen 5 5600X was slightly faster than the Ryzen 7 2700X, which has 8 cores.
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X : Radial Blur Speed
The radial blur filter adds the perception of motion to a picture. This is a compute-intensive operation that benefits from multiple processing cores.
This radial blur test was performed on Photoshop 2020 using a single 13.5 megapixel photo, with a filesize of 4,910,867 bytes.
Even though it was a 6-core processor, the Ryzen 5 5600X was just slightly slower than the Ryzen 7 2700X, which has 8 cores. Impressive!
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Synthetic Game Test : 3DMark
We used 3DMark’s Time Spy and Time Spy Extreme synthetic benchmarks, which supports DirectX 12, and the latest features like asynchronous compute, and multi-threading support.
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World War Z
Based on the 2013 movie, World War Z is a relatively recent third-person shooter game, released in April 2019.
We tested it on three resolutions using the Vulkan API at the High settings :
1080p : 1920 x 1080 pixels
1440p : 2560 x 1440 pixels
2160p : 3840 x 2160 pixels
1080p Gaming Resolution
Look at that! The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X delivered the best performance in this comparison, matching the Ryzen 7 5800X.
It delivered 17% higher frame rates than the Ryzen 7 3700X, and 21% higher frame rates than the Core i7-8700K.
1440p Gaming Resolution
When we bumped the resolution up to 1440p, it really didn’t matter that much which processor we used. They all performed about the same.
2160p Gaming Resolution
At 4K resolution, processor performance had absolutely no effect. The game was completely graphics-limited.
Strange Brigade
Strange Brigade is a third-person shooter game, released in August 2018. We tested it in three resolutions using the Vulkan API at the Ultra High settings :
1080p : 1920 x 1080 pixels
1440p : 2560 x 1440 pixels
2160p : 3840 x 2160 pixels
1080p Gaming Resolution
CPU performance had only a small effect on frame rates in Strange Brigade, even at 1080p.
1440p Gaming Resolution
At 1440p, they were virtually all equal in performance. The game was already graphics-limited.
2160p Gaming Resolution
It was the same at 4K, of course – the game was completely graphics-limited.
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Metro Exodus
Metro Exodus is a first-person shooter game, released in February 2019. We tested it in three resolutions using the Ultra settings :
1080p : 1920 x 1080 pixels
1440p : 2560 x 1440 pixels
2160p : 3840 x 2160 pixels
1080p Gaming Resolution
Metro Exodus is graphics-intensive, so CPU performance has limited effect on its frame rate.
1440p Gaming Resolution
All of the processors performed the same at 1440p, with a slight edge to the Core i7-8700K.
2160p Gaming Resolution
At 4K, the game was completely graphics-limited, so it didn’t matter which processor we tested.
Ashes of the Singularity
Ashes of the Singularity is a 2016 game that supports multi-core processing and asynchronous compute.
In this game, the single core CPU performance has a significant effect on the actual frame rate.
We tested it on three resolutions using the DirectX 12 API at the High settings :
1080p : 1920 x 1080
1440p : 2560 x 1440
2160p : 3840 x 2160
1080p Gaming Resolution
Nice! The Ryzen 5 5600X was almost as fast as the Ryzen 7 5800X, and delivered 9.4% higher frame rates than the Core i7-8700K, and 11.3% higher frame rates than the Ryzen 7 3700X.
1440p Gaming Resolution
At 1440p, the Ryzen 5 5600X delivered 12.8% higher frame rates than both the Core i7-8700K and the Ryzen 7 3700X.
2160p Gaming Resolution
Even at 4K, CPU performance mattered in Ashes of the Singularity. The Ryzen 5 5600X delivered 9.2% higher frame rates than both the Core i7-8700K and the Ryzen 7 3700X.
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AMD Ryzen 5 5600X : Our Verdict + Award!
There is no doubt that the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X is a leap forward for AMD, thanks to the new Zen 3 core and SoC design.
Its single-core performance has been improved significantly over its predecessors, offering a nice boost to content creation and gaming performance.
Gamers, in particular, will favour this model over the Ryzen 7 5800X because it delivers the same gaming performance at 2/3rds the cost.
It also handily beats the Ryzen 7 3700X in gaming performance, making it a better option for gaming systems.
Even though the Ryzen 5 5600X uses a new microarchitecture, it continues to use the AM4 socket and will support AMD 500 Series chipsets on launch day (with a BIOS upgrade).
That’s really great news for those planning to upgrade from their existing Ryzen processors.
Those on AMD 400 Series motherboards will have to wait until Q1 2020, before they receive BIOS upgrades to support Zen 3.
But while the Ryzen 5 5600X’s performance may be a leap forward, so is its price tag…
You may recall that the last-generation Ryzen 5 3600X had a launch price of $249 (RM859), with a Wraith Spire cooler.
The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X costs substantially more at $299 (RM1,349), and ships with the smaller and cheaper Wraith Stealth cooler.
That said, the Ryzen 5 5600X truly provides a significant boost in performance, and it deserves our Reviewer’s Choice Award.
So who should, or should NOT, buy the AMD Ryzen 5 5600X?
Buy : If you want the best possible 6-core processor for a new gaming system.
Buy : If you are upgrading from a first-generation Ryzen processor.
Consider : If you are upgrading from a second-generation Ryzen processor.
Skip : If you are already using a 3rd Gen Ryzen processor.
Those on a budget can consider purchasing a Ryzen 5 3600X. It may not be as fast, but the money you save can be used towards the upcoming Radeon RX 6000 series graphics card!
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X : Price + Availability
The AMD Ryzen 5 5600X processor is available for sale starting 5 November 2020, at these RRP inclusive of tax :
Malaysia : RM 1,349 (~US$324) inclusive of 6% tax
United States : RM 299
Note : Unlike the Ryzen 9 5950X, Ryzen 9 5900X and Ryzen 7 5800X, the Ryzen 5 5600X will NOT come with a free copy of Far Cry 6.
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Hidden in the GIGABYTE and AORUS showcases was the yet-to-be-released B450 AORUS PRO WIFI motherboard. We were given a chance to take a close look at it, and take a video and some photos of it. If you are waiting for an AMD B450 motherboard to pair with a 2nd Gen Ryzen CPU, here’s a teaser for you!
AMD B450 Chipset
The GIGABYTE B450 AORUS PRO WIFI motherboard is based on the upcoming AMD B450 chipset slated to launch in July 2018.
The AMD B450 motherboard is an improved version of the B350 chipset, featuring better memory routing and optimised VRM and power layouts, delivering lower idle power. It will also come with AMD StoreMI – a free OEM licensed copy of Enmotus FuzeDrive Basic.
GIGABYTE B450 AORUS PRO WIFI
The GIGABYTE B450 AORUS PRO WIFI is an ATX motherboard with what appears to be 10+2 power phases. It has three PCI Express x16 slots (the top-most is reinforced with metal), and two M.2 SSD sockets – both with heatsinks.
In addition to built-in WiFi connectivity, it also comes with a Gigabit LAN port, and video output in the form of HDMI and DVI display ports. It comes with four USB 3.0 ports at the back, as well as two USB 3.1 ports – one Type A and one Type B.
The GIGABYTE B450 AORUS PRO WIFI will support the new 2nd Gen Ryzen processors, and come with a removable BIOS chip. We will update this article with more details when we get them. In the meantime, enjoy these photos we took of this upcoming motherboard!
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The AMD Ryzen 7 may have upended the CPU industry and wowed the socks of reviewers and fans alike, but not everyone can afford them. Not everyone needs eight processor cores either. Ordinary users and gamers only need quad-core processors, after all. That’s where the AMD Ryzen 3 1300X processor comes in.
The AMD Ryzen 3 1300X (Price Check) is a quad-core processor that supports up to four simultaneous threads, and boasts a 2 MB L2 cache as well as an 8 MB L3 cache. Priced at just US$ 129, it also comes with a bundled AMD cooler. Let’s take a closer look at Ryzen 3 1300X processor and check out how well it performs!
Updated @ 2017-10-09 : Replaced all of the original charts with newer, better charts. Added a video on the Ryzen 3 1300X running CINEBENCH. Numerous other small updates.
Originally posted @ 2017-08-07
Introducing The AMD Ryzen 3 1300X
The AMD Ryzen 3 family has some common features – 4 processor cores, a 2 MB L2 cache and a large 8 MB L3 cache. The Ryzen 3 1300X (Price Check) is the top-of-the-line model, with a base clock of 3.5 GHz, a boost clock of 3.7 GHz and an XFR clock of 3.9 GHz. Here is a comparison of the first two Ryzen 3 processors to hit the market :
Specifications
AMD Ryzen 3 1300X
AMD Ryzen 3 1200
TDP
65 W
65 W
Socket
AM4
AM4
Process Technology
14 nm FinFET
14 nm FinFET
Processor Cores
4
4
Number of Simultaneous Threads
4
4
L2 Cache Size
2 MB
2 MB
L3 Cache Size
8 MB
8 MB
Base Clock Speed
3.5 GHz
3.1 GHz
Boost Clock Speed
3.7 GHz
3.4 GHz
XFR Speed
3.9 GHz
3.45 GHz
Bundled CPU Cooler
AMD Wraith Stealth
AMD Wraith Stealth
Launch Price (2017-07-27)
US$ 129
US$ 109
The AMD Ryzen 3 processors lack SMT (Simultaneous Multi-Threading) capability, which allows each core to handle two simultaneous threads, as if they are two virtual processor cores. It is only available in the higher-end Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 7 processors.
Unboxing The AMD Ryzen 3 1300X
The AMD Ryzen 3 1300X (Price Check) processor comes bundled with a low-profile AMD Wraith Stealth cooler, which adds to its value proposition. Let’s unbox it!
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A Closer Look At The AMD Ryzen 3 1300X
Let’s take a closer look at the AMD Ryzen 3 1300X (Price Check) processor, which looks exactly the same as the AMD Ryzen 7 1800X (Price Check) processor. It uses the same 1331-pin AM4 socket as its more powerful brothers. In fact, processors from all three Ryzen families can be used interchangeably on any AM4 motherboard.
Benchmarking The AMD Ryzen 3 1300X
In this article, we will take a look at the work and gaming performance of the AMD Ryzen 3 1300X processor. We will it to the Ryzen 7 1800X (Price Check), the Ryzen 5 1500X (Price Check), and the Intel Core i7-6700K processor. Here is a table comparing their key specifications.
Now, we would be the first to admit that this is a completely unfair comparison, but let’s see how this “underdog” performs against such a formidable field!
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3D Rendering Speed – CINEBENCH R15
CINEBENCH R15 is a real-world 3D rendering benchmark based on the MAXON Cinema 4D animation software. This is a great way to accurately determine the actual performance of a processor in 3D content creation.
CINEBENCH R15 Single Core
This Single Core test is not reflective of real world performance, but it is useful to find out the performance of the individual core.
The Single Core test shows that the individual processor core of the Ryzen 7 1800X (Price Check) is about 13.4% slower than the processor core of the Core i7-6700K. Of course, the Core i7-6700K has a 5% higher boost clock speed. If we adjust the results to account for that, the Intel Skylake core is about 10% faster than the AMD Ryzen core, clock for clock.
After correcting for the lower clock speed of the Ryzen 5 1500X (Price Check) and Ryzen 3 1300X (Price Check), we can determine that the smaller L3 cache size of the Ryzen 3 1300 reduced the core performance by 4%.
CINEBENCH R15 Multi Core
This shows the real-world 3D rendering performance of four processors. Even though the AMD Ryzen 5 1500X (Price Check) appears to be slower than the Intel Core i7-6700K, it is actually equivalent in performanceat the same clock speed.
Even though they both have the same clock speeds, the AMD Ryzen 3 1300X (Price Check) is 31% slower than the Ryzen 5 1500X, because it has half the L3 cache and does not support SMT (Simultaneous Multi-Threading).
CINEBENCH R15 MP Ratio
The analysis of the Multi-Processing Ratio is useful in checking the efficiency of the SMT implementation. The MP Ratio is independent of the processor’s clock speed.
As we pointed out in the AMD Ryzen 7 1800X (Price Check) review, AMD’s SMT implementation is 5.8% more efficient than Intel Skylake’s Hyper-Threading in CINEBENCH.
HandBrake is a free, open-source video transcoding utility. Video transcoding basically converts a video file from one resolution / format to another. As you can imagine, it’s very compute-intensive. In our test, we converted a 4K video of 1.3 GB in size into a 1080p video (HQ1080p30).
The AMD Ryzen 3 1300X (Price Check) transcoded the 1.3 GB video in just over 11 minutes – 2.5X slower than the Ryzen 7 1800X (Price Check). That’s surprisingly good performance, considering it has half the cores and caches and does not support SMT. In fact, the Ryzen 3 1300X was just 21% slower than the Ryzen 5 1500X (Price Check).
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Radial Blur Speed – Photoshop CC 14
The radial blur filter adds the perception of motion to a picture. This is a compute-intensive operation that benefits from multiple processing cores. This radial blur test was performed on a single 13.5 megapixel photo, with a filesize of 4,910,867 bytes.
The AMD Ryzen 3 1300X (Price Check) applied the radial blur filter in 17.5 seconds – just under 3 seconds slower than the Ryzen 5 1500X (Price Check). In other words, its lack of SMT support and smaller L3 cache size only sapped its performance by 18%.
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3DMark – Time Spy (DirectX 12)
In the Time Spy DirectX 12 benchmark, the AMD Ryzen 3 1300X (Price Check) was 18% slower than the Ryzen 5 1500X (Price Check) in the CPU test. However, that only translates into a small 3.4% drop in overall gaming performance.
Ashes of the Singularity (1080p)
In the RTS game, Ashes of the Singularity, we can see that the frame rates were significantly impacted by CPU performance. The AMD Ryzen 3 1300X (Price Check) delivered 14.7% lower frame rates than the Ryzen 5 1500X (Price Check) at the common gaming resolution of 1920 x 1080.
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But when we increased the resolution to 4K, all four processors delivered practically the same average frame rates. Naturally, at this high resolution, the graphics card was the most important factor in delivering high frame rates.
When we bumped up the resolution to 4K though, all four processors were virtually equivalent in performance. That’s not to say that they are equally fast, just that the graphics card mattered far, far more at such a high resolution.
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Unlike its higher-performance Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 7 brethren, the Ryzen 3 1300X only has four physical cores and half the cache and no SMT support. Even so, it delivered astonishingly good performance – it was just 31% slower than the Ryzen 5 1500X in 3D rendering and 21% slower in video transcoding. Even in the Photoshop radial blur test, it was just 18% slower.
Based on its performance in work applications alone, it offers roughly a 12% better price-performance ratio than the Ryzen 5 1500X, which itself offers incredible value for money. But what about games, you say?
Depending on the game, the Ryzen 3 1300X (Price Check) delivered between 1.3% and 14.7% lower average frame rates than theRyzen 5 1500X (Price Check).
Increasing the resolution to 4K may wipe out the difference, but that’s because the games were now GPU-limited on the AMD Radeon RX 480 we used.
If you are using a suitably-powerful graphics card like the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti, you should see similar drops in frame rates. Obviously, if you intend to game at 4K, you will need a suitably fast processor like the Ryzen 7 1800X (Price Check) to complement such a fast graphics card.
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Here is our takeaway from the gaming test results…
If you want to maximise the gaming performance of the Radeon RX 480 /Radeon RX 580-class graphics card, you should pair it with a faster processor like theAMD Ryzen 5 1500X.
If you don’t mind a small 8% (average) drop in gaming frame rates, the AMD Ryzen 3 1300X (Price Check) offers unbeatable value – 35% better price-performance ratio than the Ryzen 5 1500X!
If that’s not enough value for your money, AMD even bundles the AMD Ryzen 3 1300X (Price Check) with a low-profile AMD Wraith Stealth CPU cooler!
Because it offers such great value for money, we think the AMD Ryzen 3 1300X (Price Check) deserves nothing less than our Editor’s Choice Award! Congratulations, AMD!
Where To Buy
Here are direct links to the AMD Ryzen CPU and bundles on sale on Amazon :
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The AMD Ryzen is, no doubt, the most anticipated CPU to be introduced in 2017. It is the processor that AMD fans have always wanted, but AMD did not quite deliver… until now. The AMD Ryzen 7 1800X literally blew away the competition, with its 8 cores, large 16 MB cache and highly competitive price.
Even so, not everyone can afford it. That’s where the AMD Ryzen 5 family comes in. It offers a more affordable selection of AMD Ryzen processors with 4 to 6 cores. In this review, we will take an in-depth look at the AMD Ryzen 5 1500X – their top-of-the-line quad-core processor, and show you why we awarded it our Editor’s Choice Award!
The AMD Ryzen 5 1500X
The AMD Ryzen 5 family is divided into two main lines – the lower-end quad-core processors and the higher-end hexa-core processors. The AMD Ryzen 5 1500X (Price Check) is the top-of-the-line quad-core Ryzen 5 model. It has 4 cores and 8 threads, with a 3.5 GHz base clock and a 3.7 GHz boost clock.
How does it compare against the other Ryzen 5 processors? Find out in this specification comparison of the current AMD Ryzen 5 processors.
Specifications
AMD Ryzen 5 1600X
AMD Ryzen 5 1600
AMD Ryzen 5 1500X
AMD Ryzen 5 1400
TDP
95 W
65 W
65 W
65 W
Socket
AM4
AM4
AM4
AM4
Process Technology
14 nm FinFET
14 nm FinFET
14 nm FinFET
14 nm FinFET
Processor Cores
6
6
4
4
Number of Simultaneous Threads
12
12
8
8
L2 Cache Size
3 MB
3 MB
2 MB
2 MB
L3 Cache Size
16 MB
16 MB
16 MB
8 MB
Base Clock Speed
3.6 GHz
3.2 GHz
3.5 GHz
3.2 GHz
Boost Clock Speed
4.0 GHz
3.6 GHz
3.7 GHz
3.4 GHz
Bundled CPU Cooler
None
AMD Wraith Spire
AMD Wraith Spire
AMD Wraith Stealth
Launch Price (2017-03-02)
US$ 249
US$ 219
US$ 189
US$ 169
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Unboxing The AMD Ryzen 5 1500X
The AMD Ryzen 5 1500X (Price Check) comes with a bundled CPU cooler – the AMD Wraith Spire. Hence it comes in a much larger box. Let’s take a look inside!
A Closer Look At The Ryzen 5 1500X & Wraith Spire Cooler
Let’s take a closer look at the AMD Ryzen 5 1500X (Price Check) CPU and the bundled Wraith Spire cooler.
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Benchmarking The AMD Ryzen 5 1500X
In this review, we will take a look at the work and gaming performance of the AMD Ryzen 5 1500X processor. We will compare it to the Ryzen 7 1800X (Price Check), the Intel Core i7-6700K, and the Ryzen 3 1300X (Price Check) processors. Here is a table comparing their key specifications.
On paper, the AMD Ryzen 5 1500X (Price Check) is a quad-core processor that handles up to 8 simultaneous threads like the Intel Core i7-6700K. The Ryzen 5 1500X has a 12% lower clock speed, but boasts L2 and L3 caches that are twice as large. Let’s see how it performs in real life!
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3D Rendering Speed – CINEBENCH R15
CINEBENCH R15 is a real-world 3D rendering benchmark based on the MAXON Cinema 4D animation software. This is a great way to accurately determine the actual performance of a processor in 3D content creation.
CINEBENCH R15 Single Core
This Single Core test is not reflective of real world performance, but it is useful to find out the performance of the individual core.
The Single Core test shows that the individual processor core of the Ryzen 5 1500X (Price Check) is about 6.2% slower than that of the Ryzen 7 1800X (Price Check), and 18.8% slower than the Core i7-6700K.
The Intel Core i7-6700K has a 14% higher clock speed than the Ryzen 5 1500X. If we adjust the results to account for that, the Intel Skylake core is about 8% faster than the AMD Ryzen core, clock for clock.
Since both the Ryzen 5 1500X and Ryzen 3 1300X (Price Check) have the same clock speeds, we can determine that the Ryzen 5 1500X’s larger L3 cache size improved its core performance by 4%.
CINEBENCH R15 Multi Core
This shows the real-world 3D rendering performance of the four processors. Even though the AMD Ryzen 5 1500X (Price Check) appears to be 12% slower than the Intel Core i7-6700K, it is actually equal in performance at the same clock speed.
Even though they both have the same clock speeds, the Ryzen 3 1300X (Price Check) is 31% slower than the Ryzen 5 1500X (Price Check), because it has half the L3 cache and does not support SMT (Simultaneous Multi-Threading).
CINEBENCH R15 MP Ratio
The analysis of the Multi-Processing Ratio is useful in checking the efficiency of the SMT implementation. The MP Ratio is independent of the processor’s clock speed.
After adjusting for their clock speed difference, we calculated that the SMT implementation in the Ryzen 5 1500X (Price Check) was 7% more efficient than Hyper-Threading in the Intel Core i7-6700K.
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Video Transcoding Speed – HandBrake
HandBrake is a free, open-source video transcoding utility. Video transcoding basically converts a video file from one resolution / format to another. As you can imagine, it’s very compute-intensive. In our test, we converted a 4K video of 1.3 GB in size into a 1080p video (HQ1080p30).
The AMD Ryzen 5 1500X (Price Check) transcoded the 1.3 GB video in under 8 minutes and 48 seconds – just 14.7% slower than the Intel Core i7-6700K. After adjusting for the difference in clock speed, the Core i7-6700K is just 3% faster than Ryzen 5 1500X (Price Check), clock for clock.
The Ryzen 5 1500X was 26.4% faster at transcoding the video than the Ryzen 3 1300X (Price Check). Since they have the same clock speeds, that performance advantage is entirely due to its ability to process twice as many threads simultaneously – SMT (Simultaneous Multi-Threading).
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Radial Blur Speed – Photoshop CC 14
The radial blur filter adds the perception of motion to a picture. This is a compute-intensive operation that benefits from multiple processing cores. This radial blur test was performed on a single 13.5 megapixel photo, with a filesize of 4,910,867 bytes.
The AMD Ryzen 5 1500X (Price Check) applied the radial blur filter in 14.7 seconds – just 2 seconds slower than the Intel Core i7-6700K. On a clock-for-clock basis, the Core i7-6700K is 2.4% faster than the Ryzen 5 1500X (Price Check).
The Ryzen 5 1500X was 21.6% faster at performing radial blur than the Ryzen 3 1300X (Price Check). Since they have the same clock speeds, that performance advantage is entirely due to its ability to process twice as many threads simultaneously – SMT (Simultaneous Multi-Threading).
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3DMark – Time Spy (DirectX 12)
In the Time Spy DirectX 12 benchmark, the AMD Ryzen 5 1500X (Price Check) was 22% slower than the Intel Core i7-6700K in the CPU test. That’s 7.5% slower on a clock-to-clock basis, and only translates into a small 2.4% drop in overall gaming performance.
Ashes of the Singularity (1080p)
In the RTS game, Ashes of the Singularity, the single core CPU performance has a significant effect on the actual frame rate.
The AMD Ryzen 5 1500X was 17% faster than the Ryzen 3 1300X (Price Check). As they both have the same clock speeds, the performance difference was due to the Ryzen 5’s SMT capability and larger L3 cache.
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Ashes of the Singularity (4K)
When we bumped up the resolution to 4K, the performance difference was greatly reduced. The Ryzen 7 1800X (Price Check), Core i7-6700K and Ryzen 5 1500X (Price Check) were essentially equal in performance. Even the Ryzen 3 1300X (Price Check) was now just 2% slower than the other 3 processors.
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Total War: Warhammer (1080p)
Like Ashes of the Singularity, the single core performance appeared to be crucial in Total War: Warhammer.
The AMD Ryzen 5 1500X (Price Check) was 10% faster than the Ryzen 3 1300X (Price Check). As they both have the same clock speeds, the performance difference was due to the Ryzen 5’s SMT capability and larger L3 cache.
Total War: Warhammer (4K)
But when we increased the resolution to 4K, all four processors delivered practically the same average frame rates. Naturally, at this high resolution, the graphics card was the most important factor in delivering high frame rates.
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The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (1080p)
The CPU performance has a smaller effect with FPS games like The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. On the other hand, it appears support multi-core processors. Hence, the Ryzen 7 1800X (Price Check) came out on top, albeit by a very small margin over the Intel Core i7-6700K.
When we bumped up the resolution to 4K though, all four processors were virtually equivalent in performance. That’s not to say that they are equally fast, just that the graphics card mattered far, far more at such a high resolution.
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Like the Ryzen 3 1300X (Price Check), it has four physical cores, a large 2 MB L2 cache, and clock speeds of 3.5 GHz to 3.7 GHz. However, its support for SMT (Simultaneous Multi-Threading) allows you to handle twice as many threads, and it has twice as much L3 cache – a whopping 8 MB!
All that allowed the AMD Ryzen 5 1500X (Price Check) to come close (~14%) to the performance of the Intel Core i7-6700K. In fact, on a clock-to-clock basis, they’re basically equal in performance! In other words, if you overclock the Ryzen 5 1500X to 4.0 GHz (base clock), it performs like the Core i7-6700K.
The AMD Ryzen 5 1500X performs like the Intel Core i7-6700K on a clock-to-clock basis
Now, its big brother, the Ryzen 7 1800X (Price Check) is king when it comes to video transcoding and 3D rendering. However, if you are only interested in gaming performance, the Ryzen 5 1500X is a much better choice. It performs almost as well in games, but is much, much cheaper!
In RTS games, the AMD Ryzen 5 1500X is just 2-10% slower than the Ryzen 7 1800X at 1080p.
In FPS games, the AMD Ryzen 5 1500X is just 2-3% slower than the Ryzen 7 1800X at 1080p.
Increasing the resolution to 4K totally wipe out the difference, but that’s because the games were GPU-limited on the AMD Radeon RX 480 we used. If you are using a suitably-powerful graphics card like the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti, you should see similar minor drops in frame rates.
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The AMD Ryzen 5 1500X‘s gaming performance makes it great value for money. Let’s not forget – AMD bundles it with a Wraith Spire cooler! That’s why the AMD Ryzen 5 1500X (Price Check) deserves nothing less than our Editor’s Choice Award! Congratulations, AMD!
Where To Buy
Here are direct links to the AMD Ryzen CPU and bundles on sale on Amazon :
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AMD has finally announced the AMD Ryzen 3 specifications and availability! The Ryzen 3 CPUs are the highly-anticipated low-cost versions of the AMD Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 5 desktop processors. Check out the details, and the official video announcement below!
The AMD Ryzen 3 Specifications & Availability
The new AMD Ryzen 3 processors have 4 cores, and handle up to 4 simultaneous threads – one per core. This is because the Ryzen 3 processors do not support SMT (simultaneous multi-processing). Those who want SMT capability should look at their Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 5 brethren instead. AMD is launching the Ryzen 3 series with two processor models – the AMD Ryzen 3 1300X and the AMD Ryzen 3 1200.
The AMD Ryzen 3 1300X has a base clock of 3.5 GHz and a boost clock of 3.7 GHz. The AMD Ryzen 3 1200, on the other hand, has a base clock of 3.1 GHz and a boost clock of 3.4 GHz. They both support XFR (eXtended Frequency Range). Here is a comparison of their specifications :
Specifications
AMD Ryzen 3
1300X
AMD Ryzen 3
1200
Cores / Threads
4 / 4
4 / 4
Core Clock Speed
3.5 GHz
3.1 GHz
Boost Clock Speed
3.7 GHz
3.4 GHz
XFR Speed
3.9 GHz
3.45 GHz
L2 Cache Size
2 MB
2 MB
L3 Cache Size
8 MB
8 MB
Max. TDP
65 W
65 W
Like the Ryzen 7 and Ryzen 5 processors, the AMD Ryzen 3 processors use Socket AM4, and are therefore compatible with all AM4 motherboards, using the X370, B350 or A320 chipsets. They will both be on shelves on 27 July 2017.
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May 8th, 2017 Taipei, Taiwan – BIOSTAR is thrilled to welcome the latest addition to its expanding lineup of specialized cryptocurrency mining motherboard with the introduction of the BIOSTAR TB350-BTC.
The BIOSTAR TB350-BTC Crypto Mining Motherboard
This motherboard supports AMD’s latest AM4 socket designed to work with the latest AMD AM4 APUs. With this latest motherboard, BIOSTAR is the first and only brand to offer a complete crypto mining motherboard lineup for any application making it the strongest family of specializing mining motherboards out right now.
Not to mention, BIOSTAR TB350-BTC is the first professional crypto mining motherboard for AMD AM4 platform. This is specially designed for AMD Ryzen lovers. They offer a performance and cost effective solution to make crypto mining easier for all.
BIOSTAR TB350-BTC with six PCI-e slots for enthusiasts who wish to create an ultimate mining rig to be loaded up with six graphics cards to boost up the mining speed for higher hash rate and make the mining performance most efficient. The uniquely designed two extra AUX power connectors support the sufficient power to enhance the performance of graphics cards for more stable operation.
TB350-BTC is designed to withstand extreme operating conditions that can cause stability issues on traditional components. The enhanced nature of the BIOSTAR PRO Series guarantees its motherboard can endure and avoid issues that can cause downtime and profit loss.
The new BIOSTAR TB350-BTC features support for AMD AM4 processors including AMD A-series APUs. The motherboard will support up to 32GB of DDR4-2667 memory in dual-channel configuration. The board features full Gigabit LAN from Realtek for faster and better network performance. The BIOSTAR TB350-BTC also features support for up to six PCI-e devices allowing maximum utilization of the motherboard for excellent ROI per system.
In terms of rear I/O connectivity, the BIOSTAR TB350-BTC has legacy PS/2 connector support, a single DVI for video output. There’s plenty of USB ports in there with USB3.1 ports and USB2.0 ports. There’s also the Realtek GB LAN port and audio output ports.
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The BIOSTAR TB350-BTC Specifications
MODEL
TB350-BTC
CHIPSET
AMD B350
CPU SUPPORT
Socket AM4 supports AMD A-Series APU/CPU
Maximum CPU TDP (Thermal Design Power) : 95Watt
MEMORY
Supports Dual Channel DDR4 1866/2133/2400/2667
2 x DDR4 DIMM Memory Slot, Max. Supports up to 32 GB Memory
Each DIMM supports non-ECC & ECC 4/8/16 GB DDR4 module
* DDR4 – 2667 only for Ryzen CPU.
Maximum
DIMMA1
DIMMB1
DDR4-2667
SR
–
DDR4-2667
DR
–
DDR4-2667
SR
SR
DDR4-2400
DR
DR
SR:Single-rank DIMM, 1R x4 or 1R x8
DR:Dual-rank DIMMs, 2R x4 or 2R x8
EXPANSION SLOT
3x PCIe 2.0 x1 Slot
2x PCIe 3.0 x1 Slot (for Bitcoin mining, please change the speed to PCI-E 1.0 in BIOS setting)
1x PCIe 3.0 x16 Slot : When using APU or NPU, the bandwidth is x8 speed
STORAGE
4x SATA III Connector (6Gb/s)
Supports AHCI & RAID 0, 1, 10
USB
6x USB 3.1 Gen1 (5Gb/s) port (4 on rear I/Os and 2 via internal headers)
6x USB 2.0 port (2 on rear I/Os and 4 via internal headers)
LAN
Realtek RTL 8111H
10/ 100/ 1000 Mb/s auto negotiation, Half / Full duplex capability
CODEC
ALC887
7.1 Channels, High Definition Audio
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The AMD Ryzen 7 is, no doubt, the most anticipated processor to be introduced in 2017. This is the 8-core processor that AMD fans always wanted, but AMD did not quite deliver… until now. That changes with the AMD Ryzen 7 1800X processor.
Based on current benchmarks, the AMD Ryzen 7 processors give even the latest 7th Generation Intel Core i7 processors a run for their money. And with AMD pricing them so competitively, they will make you wonder – why opt for a quad-core processor when you can have an 8-core processor?
Introducing The AMD Ryzen 7 1800X
The AMD Ryzen 7 family has some common features – 8 cores that can handle 16 threads simultaneously, a 4 MB L2 cache and a large 16 MB L3 cache. The 1800X is the top-of-the-line model, with a base clock speed of 3.6 GHz, with a boost clock of 4.0 GHz. Here is a specification comparison of the three AMD Ryzen 7 processors :
Specifications
AMD Ryzen 7 1800X
AMD Ryzen 7 1700X
AMD Ryzen 7 1700
TDP
95 W
95 W
65 W
Socket
AM4
AM4
AM4
Process Technology
14 nm FinFET
14 nm FinFET
14 nm FinFET
Processor Cores
8
8
8
Number of Simultaneous Threads
16
16
16
L2 Cache Size
4 MB
4 MB
4 MB
L3 Cache Size
16 MB
16 MB
16 MB
Base Clock Speed
3.6 GHz
3.4 GHz
3.0 GHz
Boost Clock Speed
4.0 GHz
3.8 GHz
3.7 GHz
Bundled CPU Cooler
None
None
AMD Wraith Spire
Launch Price (2017-03-02)
US$ 499
US$ 399
US$ 349
The AMD Ryzen 7 processors do not just boast 8 cores, they are also the first AMD processors to support SMT (Simultaneous Multi-Threading). SMT allows each core to handle two simultaneous threads, as if they are two virtual processor cores.
Unboxing The AMD Ryzen 7 1800X
The AMD Ryzen 7 1800X processor does not come with a bundled CPU cooler, so you will need a Ryzen 7-compatible cooler. It comes in a rather large but light cardboard box. Let’s unbox it!
A Closer Look At The Ryzen 7 1800X
Let’s take a closer look at the AMD Ryzen 7 1800X processor. After all, AMD took the effort to laser-etch the RYZEN logo into the heatspreader! 😀
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Benchmarking The AMD Ryzen 7 1800X
In this article, we will take a look at the work and gaming performance of the AMD Ryzen 7 1800X processor. We will compare the AMD Ryzen 7 1800X to the Intel Core i7-6700K processor. Here is a table comparing their key specifications.
Now, we will be the first to admit that this is a rather “unfair” comparison because the Core i7-6700K is a quad-core processor that costs only as much as the Ryzen 7 1700. However, this is the fastest Intel processor we have on hand, so let’s just roll with it, and see what we find…
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3D Rendering Speed – CINEBENCH R15
CINEBENCH R15 is a real-world 3D rendering benchmark based on the MAXON Cinema 4D animation software. This is a great way to accurately determine the actual performance of a processor in 3D content creation.
CINEBENCH R15 Single Core
This Single Core test is not reflective of real world performance, but it is useful to find out the performance of the individual core.
The Single Core test shows that the individual processor core of the Ryzen 7 1800X is about 13.4% slower than the processor core of the Core i7-6700K. Of course, the Core i7-6700K has a 5% higher boost clock speed. If we adjust the results to account for that, the Intel Skylake core is about 10% faster than the AMD Ryzen core, clock for clock.
CINEBENCH R15 Multi Core
This shows the real-world performance of both processors. Having twice the number of cores allowed the Ryzen 7 1800X to beat the Core i7-6700K by 81%. Adjusting for the average 7.5% difference in base and boost clock speeds, the Ryzen 7 1800X would deliver 94% better performance than the Core i7-6700K at the same clock speeds.
CINEBENCH R15 MP Ratio
The analysis of the Multi-Processing Ratio is useful in checking the efficiency of the SMT implementation. The MP Ratio is independent of the processor’s clock speed.
The multi-threading capability of the Intel Core i7-6700K delivered a 22% boost to its Multi-Core processing speed. The AMD Ryzen 7 1800X, on the other hand, recorded a 27.4% boost to its Multi-Core processing speed. This means the AMD Ryzen’s SMT implementation is 5.8% more efficient than the Intel Skylake’s Hyper-Threading.
Video Transcoding Speed – HandBrake
HandBrake is a free, open-source video transcoding utility. Video transcoding basically converts a video file from one resolution / format to another. As you can imagine, it’s very compute-intensive. In our test, we converted a 4K video of 1.3 GB in size into a 1080p video (HQ1080p30).
If we adjust for the average 7.5% difference in base and boost clock speeds, the Ryzen 7 1800X would deliver 81% better performance than the Core i7-6700K at the same clock speeds.
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Radial Blur Speed – Photoshop CC 14
The radial blur filter adds the perception of motion to a picture. This is a compute-intensive operation that benefits from multiple processing cores. This radial blur test was performed on a single 13.5 megapixel photo, with a filesize of 4,910,867 bytes.
If we adjust for the average 7.5% difference in base and boost clock speeds, the Ryzen 7 1800X would deliver 85.5% better performance than the Core i7-6700K at the same clock speeds.
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3DMark – Time Spy (DirectX 12)
In the Time Spy DirectX 12 benchmark, the Ryzen 7 1800X was 60% faster than the Core i7-6700K in the CPU test. Obviously, not all of its 8 cores were being used.
But when it came to the two graphics tests, all that extra boost in CPU performance only gave it a small 0.6% to 1.25% boost in frame rates. The overall DirectX 12 performance improved by 5.7%.
3DMark – Fire Strike (1080p)
We ran the Fire Strike benchmark in the 1080p resolution, because this is the most common resolution gamers use today. The CPU is used exclusively to process Physics, and the Ryzen 7 1800X was 48% faster than the Core i7-6700K.
Surprisingly, the Graphics Score was 1.5% lower with the Ryzen 7 1800X, than it was for the Core i7-6700K. The Overall Score though was 3% better with the Ryzen 7 1800X.
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Ashes of the Singularity (1080p)
In the RTS game, Ashes of the Singularity, we can see that the frame rates were consistently lower with the Ryzen 7 1800X, albeit only by by 2-7% (4% on average).
Ashes of the Singularity (4K)
When we bumped up the resolution to 4K, the results were flipped. The Ryzen 7 1800X was slightly faster in the Normal and Medium batches. Overall, the AMD Ryzen 7 1800X was identical in performance to the Intel Core i7-6700K.
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Total War: Warhammer (1080p)
When we tested Warhammer at 1080p, it ran about 5% slower with the AMD Ryzen 7 1800X.
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Our Verdict
The AMD Ryzen 7 1800X is definitely a far more powerful processor than the Intel Core i7-6700K. It has twice as many cores, and far more memory bandwidth. It was fantastic in 3D rendering and video transcoding, delivering 70-85% better performance. Sadly, most games are unable to make use of all those cores.
Games that run in the lower, mainstream resolution of 1920 x 1080 will be slightly slower with the Ryzen 7 1800X. It’s not much slower though – just 5% on average.
But that performance deficit is completely erased at the higher resolution of 3840 x 2160. The AMD Ryzen 7 1800X is virtually identical in performance to the Intel Core i7-6700K.
Obviously, at the 4K resolution, the graphics card is far, far more important than the CPU. But as the Warhammer and The Witcher 3 results show, the Ryzen 7 1800X actually helped to push up the minimum frame rate.
If you are going to buy the Ryzen 7 1800X for gaming, you are not going to worry about the small 5% deficit in 1080p frame rates, because you will most likely be playing in 1440p or 2160p resolutions.
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What is our takeaway from the test results? Simple.
If you plan on building a gaming machine, you might want to go for the cheaper Ryzen 7 1700 CPU (US$ 329 with a Wraith Spire LED cooler), or the Core i7-6700K.
But if you are building a workstation for 3D rendering or video transcoding, you can’t do wrong with the Ryzen 7 1800X. Especially if you want the best computing performance for under US$ 500. For that reason, we think the AMD Ryzen 7 1800X deserves no less than our Reviewer’s Choice Award! Congratulations, AMD!
Where To Buy
Here are direct links to the AMD Ryzen CPU and bundles on sale on Amazon :
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Kuala Lumpur, 3rd March 2017 — ASUS and ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) today announced a brand-new lineup of ASUS AM4 motherboards designed to maximize the potential of the latest AMD Ryzen processors.
The exciting new motherboards include ROG Crosshair VI Hero and ASUS Prime X370-Pro, Prime B350-Plus and Prime B350M-A, all loaded with exclusive technologies to enable users to achieve the perfect balance between overclocking and cooling to extract every ounce of gaming performance from AMD’s powerful new CPUs.
The all-new ASUS AM4 motherboards also offer multiple customization and personalization options, heralding a new era for PC DIY. These include ASUS Aura Sync, the world’s first motherboard-synced RGB illumination technology for synchronization with Aura Sync-enabled devices, and 3D-printing-friendly designs that make it easy for users to print and fit their own custom parts to improve both aesthetics and performance.
Commenting on the new ASUS AM4 motherboards Joe Hsieh, ASUS Corporate Vice President and General Manager of Motherboard Business Unit said: “For years ASUS has had a consistent and evolving relationship with AMD. This partnership is based on leveraging each other’s leading technological capabilities to enable an outstanding user experience on the AMD platform. For this generation we’ve innovated in the field of customization, adding personalization options like 3D printing and Aura Sync RGB lighting, so users will never again have to stare into a drab, unexciting computer case. It’s time for users to fully unleash their imaginations and the power of AMD Ryzen processors — and the blazing overclocking performance of a new ASUS ROG Crosshair Series or Prime Series motherboard is the perfect way to do just that!”
ROG Crosshair VI Hero: Return of the Hero
The Crosshair VI Hero is the latest high-performance gaming motherboard from the ROG stable, engineered with ASUS-exclusive T-Topology technology to minimize coupling noise and signal reflection. T-Topology’s innovative equidistant memory channels delivers the most balanced control for powerful overclocking potential — enabling Crosshair VI Hero to drive overclocked DDR4 performance up to or even beyond 3200MHz in a four-DIMM configuration. ROG also works with almost every DDR4 memory vendor to ensure the best compatibility.
By pushing the limits with extreme cooling, Crosshair VI Hero fitted with a Ryzen 7 1800X processor reached new heights on Cinebench R15, scoring 2454 cb. For CPU frequency validation, it reaches 5802.93MHz by enabling the eight cores and 16 threads of the processor.
Crosshair VI Hero is also loaded with the latest ROG SupremeFX exclusive S1220 codec, delivering an exceptional 113dB signal-to-noise ratio on the line-in connection and 120dB on line-out. Plus Sonic Studio III’s all-new routing feature ports streams to different outputs, while gamers are able to dominate the battlefield with the newly upgraded Sonic Radar III overlay. Also, ROG GameFirst IV optimizes network traffic for faster and lag-free online gaming, while enabling the bandwidth of up to four networks to be teamed.
ROG’s innovative Water Cooling Zone allows users to monitor system cooling like never before, with dual water-temperature headers and a flow-rate header feeding information directly into ROG’s intuitive Fan Xpert 4 utility
Crosshair VI Hero offers backward compatibility with existing AM3 coolers, enabling users to upgrade easily. The new motherboard also has an onboard USB 3.1 front-panel connector and PCI Express 3.0 32Gbps M.2 for ultra-fast connectivity and data transfers.
ASUS-exclusive 5-Way Optimization dynamically optimizes essential aspects of Crosshair VI Hero systems based on real-time use, including the all-new Stress Test Distribution feature that allows users to adjust the proportion of CPU and DRAM stress for the best overclocking performance. As well, the latest-generation Fan Xpert 4 allows users to monitor the GPU temperature to ensure cooler usage scenarios when the graphics card is under heavy loads, such as during 3D content creation or when gaming.
Crosshair VI Hero also embraces the growing trend for customization, with its 3D-printing-friendly design. ASUS has always strived to make it easier for users to customize the cosmetic appearance of their PC components, and now ROG has become the world’s first motherboard brand to support 3D-printed components — making it easy for users to print their own parts to customize the Crosshair VI Hero’s appearance, improve system performance or manage cables. Dedicated onboard 3D mounts that use the same screws as M.2 and standard motherboard mounting holes make fitting 3D-printed parts easy, so users can quickly add cable covers, or even an M.2 fan holder to lower M.2 temperature by up to 30°C — preventing throttling.
ROG has also designed a series of 3D-printable accessories, including a 2-way SLI bridge cover, fan grille, ROG-font letters and all sizes of cable combs, adding style to any build.
ASUS Prime X370-Pro, B350-Plus and B350M-A: Primed to outclass
ASUS Prime X370-Pro, Prime B350-Plus and Prime B350M-A represent the next evolution of the ASUS motherboard, born of a pedigree that stretches all the way back to 1989. Our team of world-class engineers are passionate about empowering everyone to enjoy the benefits of customization and tuning, and the driving force behind the development of Prime is to make advanced enthusiast controls easily accessible — maximizing performance, stability and compatibility for the very best DIY PC experiences.
Prime X370-Pro features ASUS-exclusive 5-Way Optimization for one-click full-system tuning, with upgraded auto-tuning easily overclock up to 4.07GHz and beyond, plus the newly upgraded Fan Xpert 4 with the ability to monitor GPU temperatures for cooler gaming. Third-gen T-Topology pushes DDR4 up to 3200MHz and beyond, with ultra-consistent quality and minimal crosstalk.
Prime X370-Pro also delivers refined audio experiences with the exclusive S1220A codec. Designed in close collaboration with Realtek, the codec improves performance to provide 120dB signal-to-noise ratio for the stereo line-out and 113dB SNR for the line-in, to capture pristine audio; and has an impedance-sensing circuit that automatically adjusts the gain to ensure the optimal volume range for headphones.
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Ultra-fast connectivity is also a key theme of the all-new Prime X370-Pr, with an M.2 slot to tap into 32Gbps of PCI Express bandwidth, and USB 3.1 Type-A and reversible Type-C front-panel connector. Prime X370-Pro also includes ASUS SLI HB Bridge (2-Way-M), a quick-to-fit expansion card that doubles the available transfer bandwidth to provide silky-smooth surround gaming, and which is compatible with NVIDIA Titan X, GeForce GTX 1080 and GeForce GTX 1070 graphics cards.
Prime X370-Pro, Prime B350-Plus and Prime B350M-A benefit from 5X Protection III’s multiple hardware safeguards, now enhanced with SafeSlot Core — the ASUS-exclusive PCI Express slot. With a fortified design that is anchored to the motherboard by a special hook, SafeSlot Core provides 1.6X-stronger retention and 1.3X-greater shearing resistance than standard expansion slots. 5X Protection III also includes LANGuard for safer Ethernet connections, Overvoltage Protection to prevent damage from voltage spikes, the Digi+ voltage-regulator module (VRM) for smooth power delivery, DRAM Overcurrent Protection with resettable fuses, a stainless-steel rear I/O panel to prevent corrosion, and ESD Guards to fend off electrical spikes and surges.
Outshine the Competition: Aura Sync RGB illumination
ASUS Aura Sync is the world’s first motherboard-RGB-synchronization technology, and is a feature of both ROG Crosshair VI Hero and Prime X370-Pro. It delivers distinctive light shows across Aura Sync-capable motherboards, graphics cards and peripherals for up to nine effects — all controlled via the simple and intuitive Aura app.
The all-new Music mode is also able to pulse synchronized LEDs in time to the user’s favorite tunes. Users are able enhance their illumination still further, either via the integrated 4-pin/12V Aura RGB header or the included extension cable. Aura offers a brilliant spectrum of colors, and can even change shades to reflect the CPU temperature, providing valuable information at a glance.
ASUS AM4 Motherboard Availability and Pricing
Availability and pricing to be announced at a later date.
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Barcelonia, Spain, 3 October 2016 — Today at the Canalys Channels Forum, AMD announced the first PCs featuring 7th Generation AMD PRO APUs (formerly codenamed “Bristol Ridge PRO”). Built for business, AMD PRO APUs deliver increased computing and graphics performance, improved energy efficiency, while providing a secure and stable platform to protect customers’ IT investments.
“In the past two years we made incredible progress in the commercial client segment. Since its inception in mid-2014, AMD PRO processor unit shipments increased more than 45 percent, enabling businesses all over the world to simplify IT with secure, high performance, reliable solutions” said Jim Anderson, senior vice president and general manager, Computing and Graphics Business, AMD. “We are thrilled to have PC market leaders like HP and Lenovo expanding their use of AMD technology in their business client portfolios.”
“We’re delighted to offer 7th generation AMD PRO processors in our new HP EliteDesk 705 G3 desktop series,” said Guayente Sanmartin, Vice President of Product Management, Commercial Desktops, HP Inc. “We are delivering more performance, security and flexibility to give our enterprise customers peace of mind that allows them to focus on their business, not on IT complexity.”
New systems from HP and Lenovo combine commercial-grade quality, performance, and stability, with exceptional video and audio capabilities enabling businesses to achieve more across key areas including productivity, manageability, and collaboration. In addition, Microsoft Windows 10 Pro features including Device Guard, Windows Hello, Biometric Security and BitLocker Encryption are fully supported, out of the box.
7th Generation AMD PRO Processors
7th Generation AMD PRO processors tackle business needs in three key areas:
Help ensure sensitive data and trusted applications remain secure with the dedicated and integrated AMD Secure Processor technology; a system-wide secure environment that offloads and isolates security functions, providing an independent hardware-based root of trust for secure boot, content protection, application security, and fTPM 2.0 (firmware trusted platform module).
To meet users’ growing compute and graphic demands, new AMD PRO desktop processors provide up to 14% more compute and 22% more graphic performance while being up to 32% more energy efficient than 6th generation AMD PRO processors.
Open standards and CPU-agnostic DASH manageability allows IT departments to easily integrate and manage systems. The new AMD AM4 desktop infrastructure provides a stable and upgradable platform for the future.
AMD 7th Generation Systems
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The HP EliteDesk 705 G3 Series desktops, available in microtower, small-form factor (SFF), or mini-form factor, deliver impressive value with uncompromising performance, security, and manageability for an enterprise-class experience.
The EliteDesk desktop PCs are more secure with HP Sure Start with Protection of BIOS Configuration and Policy. This helps to protect your PC and ensure uninterrupted productivity by automatically detecting and recovering from BIOS corruption or attacks. The desktops also include TPM 2.0 to secure data and HP’s full portfolio of physical-security accessories for a robust, three-layer security solution.
7th generation AMD PRO processors aim to deliver the best performance, reliability, and opportunity to handle critical workloads with planned availability in additional new PCs in the near future.
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Together with the official release of the new 7th Generation AMD A-Series desktop APUs, AMD also revealed the new AMD chipsets for their new Socket AM4 platform. Let’s check out the details of the new AMD Socket AM4 chipsets!
The Socket AM4 platform is designed for both longevity and scalability. AMD will use Socket AM4 for all of their future processors, from entry-level processors all the way to the top-of-the-line AMD Zen processors.
AMD has also committed to use the Socket AM4 for many years to come. This will give users peace of mind, because they know they can upgrade on the same platform, preserving their investment for many years.
The New Socket AM4 Chipsets Revealed
In this video, Don Woligroski, Global Marketing Manager for Desktop Processors at AMD, reveal the new Socket AM4 chipsets to complement the new 7th Generation AMD A-Series desktop APUs.
Here is a simplified table of the capabilities of the three Socket AM4 chipsets announced today :
Chipset
PCI Express Support
SATA Ports
SATA Express Ports
SATA RAID Capability
USB Support
B350
PCI Express Gen. 2 (6 lanes)
2
1
0, 1, 10
USB 3.1 G2 x 2
USB 3.1 G1 x 2
USB 2.0 x 6
A320
PCI Express Gen. 2 (4 lanes)
2
1
0, 1, 10
USB 3.1 G2 x 1
USB 3.1 G1 x 2
USB 2.0 x 6
X/B/A300
None
None
None
0, 1
None
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The New Socket AM4 Chipsets Slides
For those who prefer to go through the presentation slides in detail, here they are for your perusal :
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