AMD Ryzen 9 3900X evaluation: Zen 2 takes the struggle to Intel’s fanatic lineup

It’s July 7, a Sunday of all days, and AMD is in the present day launching its Ryzen 3000 processors. The crimson crew’s newest lineup, led quickly by the 12-core Ryzen 9 3900X and armed with the Zen 2 structure, is about to lastly shut the hole on Intel after years of enjoying catch-up. Let’s see if the actual deal lives as much as all of the hype.

AMD is lastly gaining the method node benefit from Intel with its newest CPU structure: Zen 2. But AMD’s inaugural shopper 7nm efforts are usually not restricted to processors alone, as July 7 additionally marks the launch of the RDNA GPU structure with the RX 5700-series (formally referred to as AMD Navi). The launch will see two fresh-faced graphics playing cards, the Radeon RX 5700 XT and RX 5700, head to market to compete with Nvidia’s Super lineup.

We’ll be placing the Ryzen 9 3900X, first of its title, below the microscope in the present day. This 12-core, 24-thread processor is probably the most succesful, highest clocked chip from the crimson crew’s Zen structure to this point – coming in at $499 – RGB cooler included, in fact.

While a elementary change in chip design, 400-series and most 300-series AM4 motherboards will assist the newest third Gen Ryzen chips, so there’s no want for the newest X570 chipset in case your rig is already crimson. However, that model new chipset additionally unlocks full PCIe 4.Zero bandwidth, able to driving double the bandwidth between your chip, storage, GPU, and I/O units as in the present day’s commonplace, PCIe 3.0.

AMD Ryzen 9 3900X specs

The Zen 2 structure is constructed on the 7nm course of and incorporates a brand new mixed-node chiplet design. This fingers the crimson crew a brand new steadiness between energy and efficiency that’s extremely scalable – and none extra apparent in the present day than with the Ryzen 9 3900X.

The Ryzen 9 3900X is the very best clocked third gen Ryzen chip accessible proper now, booting from 3.8GHz as much as 4.6GHz. It will quickly be outdated by the Ryzen 9 3950X come September, at which level the adroit 16-core Ryzen 9 3950X will take the crown. But, for now, it guidelines the roost, bringing a complete lot of efficiency for gaming and heavy-duty multitasking to the fore.

That’s largely due to the Zen 2 structure making up the spine the efficiency enhancements with Ryzen 3000 processors. AMD has a knack for considering outdoors the field to compete with its robust rivals, this time producing a design that places its Infinity Fabric to good use between a single 14nm I/O die (cIOD) and both one or two 7nm chiplets (CCD). The Ryzen 9 3900X is the one chip up to now to utilise two 8-core CCDs, every CCX inside barely hamstrung to hit that 12-core/24-thread total rely.

Diving into the structure, AMD has elevated Instruction per clock (IPC) by a whopping 15% with Zen 2. This has been achieved by varied upgrades and streamlining efforts utilized throughout department prediction, cache, integer execution, and floating level. The up to date core advanced has been designed in a similar way to its predecessor, with massive banks of L3 cache sandwiched between L2 cache and a discrete core on both finish.

Each of the 4 CCXs inside the Ryzen 9 3900X, whereas restricted to three/Four cores a chunk, retains entry to all 16MB complete L3 cache accessible per CCX. Hence the 12-core Ryzen 9 3900X options similar L3 cache entry to the mammoth 16-core Ryzen 9 3950X at 64MB.

When we transfer away from the CCX advanced and out to the reminiscence controller positioned on the cIOD, there’s been some critical upgrades right here, too. Memory compatibility was one thing of a bugbear with earlier Ryzen generations, particularly the inaugural equipment, however there have been efforts to rectify that with the third gen items.

The interconnecting Infinity Fabric (Fclk) has been decoupled from the reminiscence controller (Uclk) between the cIOD and CCD, permitting for a lot better reminiscence capabilities with third Gen Ryzen. DDR4 over 4,200MHz is rated “with ease”, whereas even 5,133MHz kits are on the desk. However, the candy spot lies round 3,600/3,733MHz. Beyond that velocity Uclk switches from a 1:1 Uclk/Flck ratio to 2:1, a byproduct of which is a rise in total latency.

For the Ryzen 9 3900X testing under we’ve opted for a straight 3,200MHz throughout the board. As such there’s somewhat efficiency left on the desk for third Gen Ryzen – and Intel’s chips too for that matter – however total we will gleam a robust comparability of the Zen+, Coffee Lake, and Zen 2 architectures on even footing.

This chip’s thirst for energy has been quenched considerably by the 7nm course of node, too. The Ryzen 9 3900X sits inside a 105W TD, and with 12-cores in hand it requires some 210 watts complete platform energy below x264 v5.Zero benchmarking. But with a thirst lower than the 8-core Ryzen 7 2700X  the 7nm course of is evidently paying dividends the place it counts.

The advantages of this topology are apparent. Yields are much less troublesome to high-core-count processors, clock speeds are usually not tethered to good, or near-perfect, dies, and the Ryzen 9 3900X needn’t sacrifice velocity for multicore efficiency. Therefore this chip isn’t solely the ‘megatasker’ champ proper now, however the single-threaded prizefighter taking it to Intel on the gaming entrance.

AMD Ryzen 9 3900X benchmarks

AMD Ryzen 9 3900X efficiency

You can see why Intel has been pushing the “real-world gaming” narrative as of late – the Ryzen 3900X royally trounces the Intel 9900Ok in artificial outcomes. The famed Cinebench R20 benchmark sees the Ryzen 9 3900X take the lead by 41% – somewhat over 10% for each additional core the Ryzen 9 3900X has over the i9 9900Ok.

The Ryzen 9 3900X additionally marginally outperforms the Intel i9 9900Ok in Cinebench R15 – regardless of the latter’s clock velocity benefit.

Professional video workloads needs to be no fear for the 12-core chip, both. In x264 v5.0, a benchmark that measures simply how briskly your CPU can encode a 1080p video clip, the Ryzen 9 3900X flew previous the competitors. This benchmark is very receptive to better threads, as are many non-gaming workloads, so no actual shock that the 24-threads of the Ryzen 9 3900X comes out on high right here.

The Ryzen 9 3900X has the silicon benefit, 4 complete cores of it. That makes for a lot of an equitable showdown with Intel’s 8-core i9 9900Ok in artificial benchmarks, however when you get into the actual crux of gaming benchmarks it turns into a far nearer battle with Intel’s Coffee Lake champion.

In Civilisation VI there’s solely a fraction of a second between the Ryzen 9 3900X and the Intel Core i9 9900Ok with the latter taking the crown by a hair. We’re speaking lower than one tenth of a second right here, of us – 6.88 seconds to Intel’s 6.79 seconds.

If we transfer onto Total War: Three Kingdoms, that is the place we see Intel retain the furthest lead over AMD’s newest chips. And with good purpose. Benchmarking suggests this game is keen on frequency muscle, not core rely, and that sees the 5GHz turbo of the i9 9900Ok transfer significantly forward in 1080p, CPU-intensive gaming. The Ryzen 9 3900X is shut, nevertheless, and making nice strides past the aptitude of the Zen+ Ryzen 7 2700X. With near-identical scores between the 12-core and 8-core Ryzen 9 and Ryzen 7, these chips’ two scores are a 14% enhance on these of the Ryzen 7 2700X. That’s bang on the touted instruction per clock (IPC) good points with Zen 2. It’s not all about course of, folks.

For probably the most half AMD’s chip lands simply beneath Intel’s processors, if solely by a small margin. That’s particularly the case as you progress up into 1440p and, particularly, 4K gaming. With the burden of gaming efficiency squarely on the graphics card at excessive resolutions, which CPU you’ve chosen is of lesser significance amongst the top-tier chips from both facet.

Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey at 1440p sees simply two frames between the Ryzen 9 3900X and the Intel i9 9900Ok, with Intel gaining additional in minimal body occasions. The Ryzen 9 3900X does simply scrape the win in common fps over the i7 9700Ok, nevertheless. A mighty win for AMD’s IPC catch-up. In Far Cry New Dawn at 4K, every CPU sits solely a few frames of each other – and properly inside margin of error.

AMD Ryzen 9 3900X verdict

With gaming efficiency swiftly on the rise, AMD is but once more exhibiting its transcendent will to develop at tempo and in the correct areas. The 3900X isn’t a straight gaming chip, and few would’ve dreamed of an reasonably priced 12-core gaming chip solely half a decade in the past. Yet the sensible mix of CCD topology and swift course of node adoption (courtesy of TSMC) permits AMD to supply each multi-core numbers and single-threaded, excessive clock velocity efficiency in 2019 with out breaking the financial institution.

And that age-old gaming efficiency delta between the 2 rivals’ chips doesn’t look fairly so insurmountable anymore. While AMD nonetheless can’t declare record-breaking gaming efficiency, it’s reached a degree of parity at which level it’s now not a lot of a detriment, both.

At $499, it’s the reasonably priced price ticket and accompanying X570 platform that separates this chip from Intel’s providing extra so than uncooked efficiency benefit in games. It’s by all means an fanatic chip – a gamer will virtually actually discover higher worth in a Ryzen 5 or Ryzen 7. Yet lovers, content material creators, and professionals hoping to place PCIe 4.Zero to good use will discover a unbelievable mix of single-threaded chops and multicore efficiency within the Ryzen 9 3900X of a calibre traditionally restricted to HEDT platforms.

For some perspective on that assertion, the Intel X-series i9 9920X is the primary in its HEDT Skylake-X lineup full with 12 cores and 24 threads on 14nm rated at 3.5GHz base and 4.4GHz turbo. That will set you again $1,189.

AMD is constant to ramp up the tempo of change with Zen 2. It wasn’t all that way back that the CPU market was stale, stagnant, and resolutely four-core. Yet the corporate has been catching up with Intel throughout the previous two years at exceptional velocity and altering the face of the market.

The Ryzen 9 3900X acts as unbelievable proof of that transition: an uncompromising high-end processor dragging the market kicking and screaming into the reasonably priced, and putting huge pricing strain on its opponent’s lineup past even the mainstream desktop phase.

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