AMD Ryzen 7 5800X review: A powerful octa-core desktop CPU without an identity as powerful as its siblings

Announced in early October and released to PC enthusiasts about a month later, AMD’s new CPUs are based on the Zen 3 architecture, the latest Ryzen 3000 desktop chips using the Zen 2 architecture. Ryzen CPUs 5000 of these, including the Ryzen 5 5600X, Ryzen 7 5800X, Ryzen 9 5900X, and Ryzen 9 5950X, if nothing else, Fast.

The new chips are based on a 7nm process like the 3000 series, but have undergone a fundamental architecture redesign that boosts performance and efficiency compared to Zen 2. AMD’s Ryzen 3000 desktop chips, including the Ryzen 5 3600X, were pretty impressive in their own right, so it’s no surprise That this jump in performance in the last generation ran out of stock for these CPUs Everywhere.

We were fortunate enough to get hold of the Ryzen 7 5800X soon after its release and have put it in its stride ever since. If you’re wondering, while you’re waiting for stock stability, whether the Ryzen 7 5800X is the right CPU for building or upgrading your PC, read on.

Zen 3’s gains are massive no matter how you look at the Ryzen 7 5800X.

The Ryzen 7 5800X is one of four Zen 3 CPUs released by AMD, and it falls in a slightly odd place in terms of value. The Ryzen 5 5600X is a really capable gaming chip despite its few cores, and it costs about $150 less than the Ryzen 7 5800X. This makes it a great choice for any gamers who would rather invest that extra money in one of the best graphics card options on the market.

On the other side of the 5800X is the Ryzen 9 5900X, which costs just $100 more than the Ryzen 7. For creators, designers, and developers who don’t want to go for the enthusiast-focused 5950X at $799, the 5900X will undoubtedly be the right choice. That $100 premium isn’t much compared to the 5800X, and 12 positions at the same TDP should attract many professionals. Here’s how the initial Zen 3 family of CPUs plots in terms of core specs.

Focusing more on the Ryzen 7 5800X that we’re reviewing here, this CPU still uses the AM4 socket which will make it compatible with older 400-series motherboards with a BIOS update expected in January 2021. However, the best Ryzen 7 5800X motherboards are It is a 500 series, including the B550 and X570. This is a fairly big gain for AMD over 10th generation Intel CPUs which require an entirely new motherboard and socket.

PCIe 4.0 support is included, as expected, providing better overall performance with compatible hardware. It also comes ready for Precision Boost 2 and Precision Boost Overdrive, two technologies that make overclocking easier and more stable. Support for up to DDR4-3200MHz RAM guaranteed.

Zen 3 CPUs are advertised as having an average instruction-per-hour (IPC) boost of 19%, delivering a huge single-core performance jolt. The response time is also reduced thanks to the unified complex design, allowing cores and caches to communicate more efficiently. Compared to the latest generation Ryzen 7 3800X, this is all done at the same 105W TDP. That’s 20 watts less than Intel’s Core i7-10700K and Core i9-10900K.

AMD Ryzen 7 5800X performance

So how does AMD’s Ryzen 7 5800X perform? We subjected it to a number of standardized tests to get an idea of ​​its capabilities. This test system is built on an MSI MAG B550 Tomahawk motherboard, 16GB DDR4-2666MHz RAM, Cooler Master Hyper 212 cooler, and an NVIDIA RTX 2070 Super GPU. Let’s start with synthetic benchmarks before we get into gaming performance. These tests were performed using stock CPU settings.

AMD has broken the stock cooler it usually includes with desktop CPUs, so you’ll have to rely on your own solution. So temperatures will vary, but with the Cooler Master Hyper 212 cooler, the 5800X sits right around 69°C under a full load. Also, under full load, it drew about 93W at a clock speed of 4.6GHz. At idling, temperatures stabilize around 34°C, and draw about 21 watts of power.

The Ryzen 7 5800X is an absolute beast when it comes to PC gaming.

Now let’s take a look at gaming performance. This section is more dependent on the GPU, although this does not mean that the CPU does not play a huge role. Your miles will vary based on the rest of your scheme. Overall, upgrading to the Ryzen 9 5900X isn’t expected to make much of a difference in terms of gaming. These additional cores are much better for specialized software. The 5800X wouldn’t be a huge leap over the 5600X either. At least not a $150 jump.

I started things off with the Ashes of the Singularity benchmark built in with DirectX12. At 1080p with high in-game settings, the CPU averaged 100.6 fps. I then moved to Civilization VI’s in-game AI benchmark, which measures the average time per turn in a crowded game. I recovered 7.85 seconds using DirectX12.

Moving on to Red Dead Redemption 2, I got an average of 88.1 fps with a mixture of medium and high settings in-game at 1440p. Then, I tried Call of Duty: Warzone to see its price. Playing a round to completion, my system averaged 99 fps at 1440p with high in-game settings.

There is no denying that the Ryzen 7 5800X offers solid gaming performance compared to the previous generation. But how does it compare to the newer competition?

AMD Ryzen 7 5800X Compared to the competition

The main competition that the Ryzen 7 5800X will see – outside of its Zen 3 siblings – is Intel’s 10th generation desktop lineup. Take, for example, the Intel Core i7-10700K. It’s more affordable than the 5800X at around $380 (which is readily available), but it’s not nearly as powerful despite its eight similar cores and higher 125W TDP. Another big thing it’s lacking is PCIe 4.0 support, although it’s not a huge deal as most people haven’t yet moved to hardware compatible with the faster standard. Intel’s Core i7 also requires a new motherboard to go along with the LGA1200 socket, an inconvenience you can avoid with the 5800X.

For a pure gaming PC, the Ryzen 5 5600X offers plenty of value.

Moving on to other Zen 3 CPUs, we can take the Ryzen 9 5950X out of the direct competition due to price and performance. It’s the right chip for enthusiasts, and if you’re looking at the 5800X, you probably aren’t in the market either for something with 16 cores and 32 threads. With it far away, the focus is on the Ryzen 5 5600X and Ryzen 9 5900X.

If you’re only building a gaming PC, you can save $150 on the 5600X and still get a CPU that’ll crush modern titles and keep up with even the best graphics card options currently on the market. This saved money can go to your computer elsewhere. Just keep in mind that the eight cores in Ryzen 7 will look a lot better in five years, which is important if you plan on sitting on the same CPU for the foreseeable future.

Moving on to the Ryzen 9 5900X, it’s pretty tasty for only $100 more than the Ryzen 7. The extra cores won’t make much of a difference in your gaming results, but designers and developers will be able to benefit. For those who build a PC for content creation, the 5900X will draw a lot more people than the 5800X. So where does that leave the Ryzen 7 5800X?

You must buy AMD Ryzen 7 5800X?

for whom

• Those who want exceptional gaming performance
• Those who don’t need the power or price of Ryzen 9
• Those who want killer single and multi-core performance
• Those who want an unlocked CPU

who is not for him

• Those who don’t want to spend more than $400
• Those who need more cores for production work
• Those who are happy with hexa-core gaming performance

The Ryzen 7 5800X stands alone as a powerful and efficient CPU that can handle a heavy load, be it gaming or design. It beats the Core i7-10700K, plus it offers PCIe 4.0 support and backward compatibility with older motherboards. And despite the relatively small price difference between the $100 and the Ryzen 9 5900X, it’s possible that most people are still choosing between Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 7 CPUs to get into a new build.

This puts it in a slightly odd place at the current price point. If you don’t mind removing a few frames per second on most modern games, you can save $150 and use the Ryzen 5 5600X. AMD will likely drop the price of the 5800X eventually, just as it did with the Ryzen 7 3800X. While any stock is going as fast as it does, AMD isn’t likely to see much reason to touch any of the prices at the moment.

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Make no mistake: The Ryzen 7 5800X is one hell of a processor. The Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 9 chips that surround it are so well positioned that they might pull you away from their allure. The Ryzen 7 5800X is a huge improvement over its Zen 2 counterparts, and it’s clear that AMD isn’t slowing down. If you want a high-end CPU for competitive gaming, some niche work, and don’t want to shell out more than $450, the Ryzen 7 5800X should make a great chip for years to come.

Keep an eye on the site because we plan to review and compare as many Ryzen 5000 CPUs as we can get hands-on. And be sure to check out our guide to the best CPU for your custom PC if you don’t find what you’re looking for with the 5800X.