Zen 5 Reviews TL;DR & Opinion Poll

[esserpain]

The review embargo for the Ryzen 5 & Ryzen 7 SKUs of the Zen 5 CPUs has been lifted (as you guys are probably aware of already, since there's reviews posted on TPU). The TL;DR for the current publicly-available reviews is as follows:

• Some stability issues with Zen 5 CPUs on AM5 boards, including not booting, bluescreens and similar problems, which'll likely be solved in the near future via an AGESA patch/BIOS updates.
  • GamersNexus's 9600X couldn't be booted under any circumstances.
• Best parts of the new generation are the improved power efficiency and IPC uplift.
  • Cooling requirements have noticeably decreased as compared to Zen 4.
• Negligible multicore and gaming improvement as compared to Zen 4.
  • The 9700X doesn't come anywhere near the 7800X3D in gaming.
  • The 9700X sometimes regresses slightly as compared to the 7700X, though that's with the improved efficiency, and the 5950X exhibited similar behavior as compared to the 3950X.

There's a good argument to be made that AMD's resting on its laurels since Intel can't compete with them RN, but at least the efficiency's improved a lot, right? Really wish the performance had improved more drastically, though. Strix Point is looking to be a lot more interesting RN.

Some YouTube reviews from popular reviewers are listed below:

GamersNexus
Hardware Unboxed

Since I'm personally curious, which CPUs are you guys interested in this gen, if any? Thanks for answering!

 

[DemonicRyzen666]

I'll be honest the fact the 9600x can out do the 5800x 3D sometimes is amazing. Since it has less 4 threads, but it seems to have been skipped over. Since the 7800x 3D exsits.

 

[Zach_01]

The CPUs are not all out yet, let alone the X3D parts, how can anyone tell?
Maybe the 9800X3D or some of the 9900X-9950X or any of the higher X3D parts...

And what is that "On AM5/Not on AM5"?

 

[Beginner Macro Device]

And what is that "On AM5/Not on AM5"?

This is exactly that. Click "on AM5" if you already own an AM5 system. Don't click otherwise.

Regarding the OP: I'm already packed with an i5-12400F + i5-10600KF (as a backup) and none of my use cases implies anything over an i3-10105 being a necessity so I'll upgrade when my stuff becomes ancient. So it's apparently AM7 (AM8?) age we're talking about. If I were to build a system for myself I'd avoid Zen 5 because Ryzen 7600 is already overqualified for what I'm doing. Way overqualified (basic computing + 60 FPS ultra casual gaming).

 

[wolf]

None of the above, the 7800X3D wasn't tempting enough to move from a 5800X3D on AM4, so none of the first wave of CPU's offer a compelling upgrade being that they're slower for gaming. Somehow I doubt the 9800X3D will be much better than the 7800X3D too.

Definitely an underwhelming launch imo, and primary blame for that is with AMD and their own misleading marketing of them before launch. Zen5 isn't bad, but the hype doesn't match the products, and the pricing is the nail in the coffin, at least from a gaming perspective. Why do they keep botching launches

 

[SalemTheKit]

I feel like this needs to be updated with hardware unboxed's re-review because it addresses a lot of the issues that came with the first batch of reviews

 

[sn2x]

Would have been interested in 9950X, but the gaming performance of Zen 5 pretty much killed my interest.

Currently on an overclocked Raptor Lake machine (yes, I monitored my voltages when tuning my settings and haven't had any issues in nearly 2 years).

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

None of the above, the 7800X3D wasn't tempting enough to move from a 5800X3D on AM4, so none of the first wave of CPU's offer a compelling upgrade being that they're slower for gaming. Somehow I doubt the 9800X3D will be much better than the 7800X3D too.

Same. My 5800x3d still plays everything just fine. Maybe only 132 FPS instead of 144 or something, but I havent noticed any issues. I plan on skipping socket AM5 entirely.

Definitely an underwhelming launch imo, and primary blame for that is with AMD and their own misleading marketing of them before launch. Zen5 isn't bad, but the hype doesn't match the products, and the pricing is the nail in the coffin, at least from a gaming perspective. Why do they keep botching launches

Because the same clowns at AMD that royally botched vega, thought bulldozer was a good idea, and left GPU fans out to dry for years, among other things, still work there. The one thing Lisa su didnt do, which I argue she should have done,w as clean house of ALL the management staff to get rid of these lead weights around AMD's shoes.

 

[Zach_01]

This is exactly that. Click "on AM5" if you already own an AM5 system. Don't click otherwise.

Regarding the OP: I'm already packed with an i5-12400F + i5-10600KF (as a backup) and none of my use cases implies anything over an i3-10105 being a necessity so I'll upgrade when my stuff becomes ancient. So it's apparently AM7 (AM8?) age we're talking about. If I were to build a system for myself I'd avoid Zen 5 because Ryzen 7600 is already overqualified for what I'm doing. Way overqualified (basic computing + 60 FPS ultra casual gaming).

Ok now I get it.
If we are on AM5 or not...

I'm on AM4
To be honest I'm going back and forth about jumping on AM5 with a 7000/9000 series CPU (maybe in mid 2025) and having 1 more gen (Zen6) available in future, or skip AM5 completely and go for AM6.
Right now my 5900X/7900XTX are handling everything very nicely at 3440x1440 and other than gaming and having occasionally a bunch of stuff open (hence the 12core), I dont run any heavy load.

And if I do get AM5 then by 99% it will be on some 7000X3D/9000X3D part.
So I voted none of the above

And I dont need to have the latest right after their release. Getting it 1-2y or more later its a nice practice to avoid paying the premium of new.
The only time I did this is when AM4 released (within a month) because I was on a very old and much inferior platform/system.

 

[neatfeatguy]

I'm fully content with my 5900x. Zero reason for me to upgrade. I game just fine and run all programs I need to run without any issues.

 

[SL2]

The announcement of the 9000X3D launch date can't come soon enough.

Same goes for future AM5 plans. Saying support to 2027 isn't enough, as the support AM4 have had the last two years haven't been really that exciting, while being called "still supported in 2024".

 

[A Computer Guy]

What does 9950x not on AM5 mean? Are you thinking like the old overdrive CPU's but AM5 chips in AM4?

 

[Zach_01]

What does 9950x not on AM5 mean? Are you thinking like the old overdrive CPU's but AM5 chips in AM4?

This is exactly that. Click "on AM5" if you already own an AM5 system. Don't click otherwise.

I asked it...

I can see a pattern forming already on votes...

For the low/mid parts the interest is from older platform(s) only and makes 100% sense

 

[64K]

I will be building a new gaming rig soon and it will be only for gaming so I am interested in how the 9800X3D performs but I don't expect it to be a lot faster than the 7800X3D. Need to see reviews before deciding.

 

[A Computer Guy]

I asked it...

Oops my mistake and I was a bit confused by the TL;DR in the title so I didn't read carefully. 9950x is appealing but I'm waiting for the next gen motherboards and October surprises to get fixed before I am even ready to jump in. AM5 Epyc is interesting but there doesn't seem to be an interest in bringing them to consumer boards - at least I haven't seen Asrock list them in QVL yet nor with ECC ram but Level1Techs noted ECC was working at some point - sorta. I'm a bit weary that AMD will pull the plug on ECC for non-pro CPU's because of AM5 Eypc on the same platform in UEFI updates considering they didn't have that ready a launch and they might get greedy now that they are killing it in server space. If I have to wait 2ys for a good deal then so be it.

 

[oxrufiioxo]

Interested in how the 9950X does and later the 9950X3D but not expecting miracles.

9700X doesn't Interest me to not suck vs the 7700X it needs more power than my 7950X3D in MT.

Neither of the released cpu's make sense till their prices drop in my book unless you're someone who is hungover on that red koolaid.... That being said there are plenty of perfomance reviews out there for someone to make an informed decision for anyone buying the 9700X/9600X thank God it ain't my money lol.

For people on AM4 the 5700X3D makes more sense and anyone who needs MT can get a faster 5950X for cheaper than a 9700X or a 7900X3D for slightly more money if both are important and you want to take the jump to AM5 not like windows does very well with either and you're likely better off using process lasso with both of them. Cracks me up that a cpu I dislike looks more appealing smh amd ftw.

 

[AusWolf]

With a 7700X and 7800X3D, I'm not interested in any. I don't care about AVX-512, and other improvements are insignificant. Zen 5 reminds me a lot of 11th gen Core: increased L1 data cache and other architectural improvements that don't translate into anything measurable. Pretty meh, imo.

 

[R0H1T]

The FX 9590 XTx3D

 

[SL2]

Why is it so hard to read the question again if you don't understand the options? You probably hate instruction manuals, need to have mama next to you holding your hand.

 

[kapone32]

I voted none because my next CPU will be the 9900X3D.

 

[Beginner Macro Device]

Why is it so hard to read the question again if you don't understand the options?

People don't even try. It is what it is. "Reading comprehension is for nerds!"

 

[phanbuey]

Reading comprehension or not this is a pretty brutal polling result.

 

[JWNoctis]

9950X only in the sense of seeing what kind of compute this would offer. Zen 6 would appear to really need a new IOD or even closer integration, AM5 or not.

 

[Zach_01]

Why do people need to be condescending the second someone makes a mistake?

I guess we all have our difficulties...

 

[JohH]

I think there should have been a 9800X3D option as I suspect that's what many people are waiting to see.