Is AMD Ryzen 9 7900X worth buying?

The Ryzen 9 7900X, a 12-core 24-threaded offering in the Ryzen 7000 lineup, is the second-best processor in the first wave of Zen 4 and is set to launch tomorrow. Reviews and official media coverage have already started rolling in and users have begun getting a glimpse of what the upcoming chip is capable of.

The 12-core Ryzen 9 has a base clock of 4.7 GHz and can boost up to 5.6 GHz. It has a whopping 170 W TDP and a combined (L2 + L3) cache of 75 MB.

Like other Ryzen 7000 chips, the 7900X is based on the all-new AM5 platform. New motherboards supporting the LGA socket with 1718 pins will also be available starting tomorrow. To begin with, the company will only be launching the high-end X670 and the X670 Extreme motherboards.

The Ryzen 9 7900X will be launched at $549, making it cheaper than the Core i9 12900KS which it is poised to beat. Thus, users may be drawn to AMD's latest 12-core offering. However, a few points should be considered before buying this chip.

---

Should gamers buy a Ryzen 9 7900X?

Zen 4 pricing at launch (Image via AMD)

The Ryzen 9 7900X is a high-end processor that has a lot to offer in terms of gaming performance. In most modern AAA titles, the 12-core beast beats the much more expensive Core i9 12900K by a 1-3% margin while costing nearly $100 less, making it a great choice for most gamers.

However, users will have to consider Ryzen 7000 as a more expensive platform as opposed to AM4 or Intel Alder Lake.

A viable alternative to the 12-core Ryzen 9 can be the mid-cycle refresh processor from last-gen, the Ryzen 7 5800X3D. The processor is almost as powerful as the 12-core Ryzen 9 but costs less. Users can also pair any decent AM4 motherboard with this chip, and even a quality B450 board will handle the 5800X3D pretty well. Adding to this, the processor supports the much cheaper DDR4 RAM.

Thus, gamers can easily save a lot of money but still enjoy similar performance levels if they opt for the 5800X3D.

---

Should professionals and content creators buy the 12-core Ryzen 9?

A Ryzen 7000 chip installed on an X670 motherboard (Image via AMD)

Like the flagship Ryzen 9 7950X, the Ryzen 9 7900X has been built for creative professionals to handle CPU intensive workloads that require a lot of horsepower. The processor is packed with unmatched single-core and multi-core performance levels.

In the Cinebench R23 benchmark, the 12-core Ryzen 9 scores 2,033 points in the single-core test. In the multi-core test, the processor registers a score of 29,122 points. This makes it significantly faster than the Core i9 12900KS despite being priced lower.

It is suitable for users planning to use their rigs specifically for rendering and other CPU-intensive workloads. Although it is much slower than the flagship Ryzen 9 7950X, this chip will pull through any heavy workload easily.

---

Conclusion

The $549 12-core Ryzen 9 has not been built for gamers. This chip is designed for workstation PCs that have an intensive workload to process, and is not recommended for gaming usage.

Those who solely intend to play video games on their system can opt for the Ryzen 7 5800X3D and save some cash while enjoying a similar performance. The major performance uplift promised by the 3D V-caching technology showcases the potential of this innovation.

AMD is expected to introduce a 3D V-cached mid-cycle refresh to the Ryzen 7000 lineup as well. Meanwhile, the community is waiting to find out how much performance delta these upcoming chips can bring in.