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AMD Ryzen 7 5700X Review: Budget Zen 3 Comes Out at Last (and too Late)

AMD finally rolled out the Ryzen 7 5700X, the successor to the 3700X (one of the most popular SKUs of the previous generation) a while back. Like the 5800X, it’s an octa-core chip with SMT and 32MB of L3 cache. The core differences arise when looking at the operating clocks. While the 5700X has a base clock of 3.4GHz, the 5800X runs at 3.8GHz under minimal load. When it comes to the boost, the deltas are minimal with the former maxing out at 4.6GHz and the latter edging past by just 100MHz. There’s also the matter of the TDP. Unlike the 5800X, the 5700X is a 65W SKU limiting overclocking and lower all-core boosts and residency.

Unlike our usual CPU reviews, this is going to be a barebones write-up. Apologies for that. I’m dealing with a particularly persistent nuisance and my health has been in the dumps as of late. Rest assured, I’ll try my best to keep things running till I arrive at a permanent solution.

Scores of the 5800X and 5700X have been swapped

We’ll start with our usual set of benchmarks vis-à-vis Cinebench R20 and R23. The Ryzen 7 5700X behaves exactly as it should: a downclocked 5800X on a limited power budget. It’s a good deal faster than the Core i5-12400 but so is its price. Interestingly, the 5700X is the bestselling CPU on Newegg with a price of $268.99.

Moving to gaming workloads, the Ryzen 7 5700X performs pretty much identical to its elder sibling with the deltas being within the margin of error. Both chips trade blows with the Core i5-12400 with marginally higher lows. Meanwhile, the Core i5-12600K pulls ahead on account of its higher in-game clocks and IPC.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is an exception, though. Here, the Ryzen 7 5800X comes out on top, albeit by a smidge. The general averages are all within the margin of error so it’s kind of hard to chalk it as a win.

In most titles, the unlocked Alder Lake parts reign supreme while the Ryzen 7 offerings battle it out with the Core i5-12400. This would have been all good, except the latter costs nearly $100 less than its rivals. Not to mention it also comes with a heatsink and an integrated GPU.

Overall, the Ryzen 7 5700X is a decent CPU for the masses but its late release and relatively lackluster pricing make it a hard pass from me. You can buy a Core i5-12400F for much less or the 5800X for another $30, making it quite redundant. It would have been an absolute killer under $200, even more, if it was launched last year.

Areej Syed

Processors, PC gaming, and the past. I have been writing about computer hardware for over seven years with more than 5000 published articles. Started off during engineering college and haven't stopped since. Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Divinity, Torment, Baldur's Gate and so much more... Contact: areejs12@hardwaretimes.com.
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