The Ryzen 9 5900X is second in AMD’s line-up of new Zen 3 CPUs. The 12-core hyper-threaded processor has base/boost clock speeds of 3.7/4.8 GHz, a 70 MB cache and a TDP of 105W. The 5900X took center stage in the 5000 series launch presentation where AMD gunned for Intel’s “best gaming CPU” crown. They showed the 5900X as being 26% better for gaming than the previous generation’s Ryzen 9 3900XT, attributing this to the new architecture’s faster single core speeds and lower latency. AMD also stated that the 5900X achieves, on average, 6.8% faster gaming performance than Intel’s 10-core i9-10900K. The details around AMD’s testing were not disclosed but it is safe to assume that 6.8% is the highest average lead that AMD are willing to stand by. Our benchmarks show that the 5900X’s slightly faster cores and the 10900K’s slightly lower memory latency balance out to yield similar performance. Whilst presenting their figures, AMD admitted that their 3000 series CPUs were far from “best for gaming” and conceded that the 10900K is approximately 19% faster than the 3900XT (our effective speed marks the gap at just 14%). Despite this clear performance deficiency, AMD supported 3000 series sales with an aggressive and successful marketing campaign to easily outsell Intel over the last 12 months. Given the real performance uplift observed in the 5000 series, and the absence of any meaningful marketing from Intel, we expect CPU sales to shift even further in AMD’s favour. Gamers that do not wish to pay “marketing fees” should investigate Intel’s $175 USD 11400F, the $660 USD savings would be far better spent on a higher tier GPU. [Nov '20CPUPro]
The 5800X3D has the same core architecture as the 5800X but it runs at 11% lower base and 4% lower boost clocks. The lower clocks are in exchange for an extra 64MB of cache (96MB up from 32MB) and around 40% more money. For most real-world tasks performance is comparable to the 5800X. Cache sensitive scenarios such as low res. canned game benchmarks with a 3090-Ti ($2,000 USD) benefit at the cost of everything else. Be wary of sponsored reviews with cherry picked games that showcase the wins, conveniently ignore frame drops and gloss over the losses. Also watch out for AMD’s army of Neanderthal social media accounts on reddit, forums and youtube, they will be singing their own praises as usual. Instead of focusing on real-world performance, AMD’s marketers aim to dupe consumers with bankrolled headlines. The same tactics were used with the Radeon 5000 series GPUs. Zen 4 needs to bring substantial IPC improvements for all workloads, rather than overpriced "3D" marketing gimmicks. New PC builders have little reason to look further than the $260 12600K which, at a fraction of the price, offers better all round performance in gaming, desktop and workstation applications. Users with an existing AM4 build should wait just a few more months for better performance at lower prices with Raptor Lake or even Zen 4. The marketers selling expensive “3D” upgrades today will quickly move onto Zen 4 (3D) leaving unfortunate buyers stuck on an overpriced, 6 year old, dead-end, platform. [Mar '22CPUPro]
We calculate effective speed which measures real world performance for typical users. Effective speed is adjusted by current prices to yield a value for money rating. Our calculated values are checked against thousands of individual user ratings. The customizable table below combines these factors to bring you the definitive list of top CPUs. [CPUPro]
Welcome to our PC speed test tool. UserBenchmark will test your PC and compare the results to other users with the same components. You can quickly size up your PC, identify hardware problems and explore the best value for money upgrades.