AMD Ryzen 7 9700X review

Our VerdictThis mid-tier Ryzen 7 9700X processor is genuinely fast and power efficient. For an all-round CPU, the price is very tempting but if you’re a gaming enthusiast, you’ll probably be better off waiting for the X3D models.

Our Verdict

This mid-tier Ryzen 7 9700X processor is genuinely fast and power efficient. For an all-round CPU, the price is very tempting but if you’re a gaming enthusiast, you’ll probably be better off waiting for the X3D models.

ForZen 5 can be really fast at timesGood all-round performanceSips away at powerAgainstPower niggles need sorting to reach peak performanceYou’ll probably want the X3D model for gamingZen 4 is better value for money

ForZen 5 can be really fast at timesGood all-round performanceSips away at power

AgainstPower niggles need sorting to reach peak performanceYou’ll probably want the X3D model for gamingZen 4 is better value for money

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Zen 5 is finally here for desktop PCs and having already tasted what it is like with six cores, in theAMD Ryzen 5 9600X review, it’s time to see what difference two more cores, four more threads, and a tiny bit more clock speed all makes—that’s right, it’s our review of the Ryzen 7 9700X.

AMD has stuck to the same fundamental floorplan for the 9700X as it has with the last generation 7700X and the Zen 3-powered 5700X. Underneath the heatspreader, you’ve got two chiplets: one CCD (Core Complex Die), which houses all the processing cores and cache, and one IOD (Input/Output Die) that’s home to a tiny integrated GPU, PCIe and USB hubs, and the RAM controllers.

Where the CCD in the 9600X has two cores disabled, the 9700X comes with a fully enabled eight-core chiplet and a marginally higher boost clock (5.5 vs 5.4 GHz).

That 8.3 billion transistor CCD sports the latestAMD Zen 5 architecture, of course, with more L1 cache, more internal bandwidth, superior floating point support, a fancier branch prediction unit, and so on. The changes are pretty comprehensive and AMD claims that Zen 5 has an average IPC (instruction per clock) uplift of 16% over Zen 4, though not every application is going to see such an increase.

Ryzen 7 9700X specsCores:8Threads:16Base clock:3.8 GHzBoost clock:5.5 GHzL3 Cache:32 MBL2 Cache:8 MBUnlocked:YesMax PCIe lanes:24Graphics:Radeon GraphicsMemory support (up to):DDR5-5800Processor Base Power (W):65Maximum Package Power (W):88Recommended customer price:$359 | £340

Ryzen 7 9700X specs

Cores:8Threads:16Base clock:3.8 GHzBoost clock:5.5 GHzL3 Cache:32 MBL2 Cache:8 MBUnlocked:YesMax PCIe lanes:24Graphics:Radeon GraphicsMemory support (up to):DDR5-5800Processor Base Power (W):65Maximum Package Power (W):88Recommended customer price:$359 | £340

I won’t reiterate all the motherboard swapping and BIOS shenanigans I experienced testing the 9600X in this review, but it’s worth noting they impacted the Ryzen 7 9700X just as much. Basically, the AM5 motherboard I used (aROG Crosshair X670E Hero) was supplying the chip with a little bit too much power when idle, resulting in slightly elevated temperature—this isn’t something exclusive to Asus boards but not every configuration will experience the issue.

That said, the 9700X did idle a little cooler than the 9600X I tested, resting around the 45 °C mark, although it does have a marginally lower base clock (3.7 vs 3.8 GHz).

The power niggles also meant that the chip wasn’t able to quite hit its full stride when running heavily multithreaded applications, such as Cinebench and Blender. I have no doubt that these will be fixed in time, and quite possibly very soon, but if you were looking to be a Zen 5 chip for demanding content creation work, you might want to hold off until the issues are all resolved.

Something else that the Ryzen 7 9700X has in common with the six-core sibling is a 65 W TDP (88 W maximum power limit). That’s much better than the 105 W TDP of the Zen 4 7700X—it’s also half that of Intel’sCore i5 14600KandCore i7 14700K—and just as with the 9600X, I couldn’t get it to go over 75 °C no matter what task I threw at the processor. With an Asus ROG Strix LC III 360 AIO liquid cooler, it happily ran at 65 °C in game testing in a hot office.

Image1of3(Image credit: Future)(Image credit: Future)(Image credit: Future)

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(Image credit: Future)(Image credit: Future)(Image credit: Future)

(Image credit: Future)

A close-up photo of an AMD Ryzen 7 9700X processor

(Image credit: Future)

A photo of an AMD Ryzen 7 9700X processor next to its retail packaging box

(Image credit: Future)

A photo of an AMD Ryzen 7 9700X processor next to its retail packaging box

Not that you need such a huge cooler. I tried a cheap twin 120 mm air system and the 9700X ran at around 72 °C, with little in the way of heat being pushed out of the test bench. For anyone used to a modern Intel gaming PC, it’s a very pleasant surprise, I can assure you.

But this is a review and you’re here to see benchmarks, so let’s get on with them.

We’ve updated our CPU test suite to modernise various aspects of it, and you’ve got a great range of tests to look at and muse over the results. We’ve also switched from using aGeForce RTX 3080to anRTX 4070graphics card, to make the results have more meaning in the real world.

Since most games don’t make full use of eight or more cores, when it comes to the CPU workload in an engine, it’s not surprising to see the Ryzen 7 9700X only being a little faster than the 9600X in some of our gaming tests. It runs very close to the Core i5 14600K inCyberpunk 2077andBaldur’s Gate 3—close enough to not really matter—and it’s on par or ahead in the others.

The fractionally higher boost clock means it’s only slightly faster at processing updates inFactoriothan its six-core sibling but the 3D V-cache in theRyzen 7 5700X3Dmeans it will always come second place to that kind of chip.

If one considers all of the results together, I’d say it’s fair to declare the Ryzen 7 9700X the overall winner in our gaming tests.

PCG test rigMotherboard:Asus ROG Crosshair X670 HeroCooler:Asus ROG Strix LC III 360RAM:32 GB Lexar Thor OC DDR5-6000Storage:2 TB Adata XPG Gammix S70PSU:MSI MAG AB50GL 850 WOS:Windows 11 23H2Chassis:Open platform w/ 3x 140 mm fansMonitor:Acer XB280HK

PCG test rig

Motherboard:Asus ROG Crosshair X670 HeroCooler:Asus ROG Strix LC III 360RAM:32 GB Lexar Thor OC DDR5-6000Storage:2 TB Adata XPG Gammix S70PSU:MSI MAG AB50GL 850 WOS:Windows 11 23H2Chassis:Open platform w/ 3x 140 mm fansMonitor:Acer XB280HK

The biggest eye-opener was the photo editing benchmark. If this is the kind of task you’re going to be throwing regularly at your CPU, it’s self-evident which one you’d choose and it’s the Ryzen 7 9700X. And just like the 9600X, it does all this with a maximum power budget of 88 W.

That means it’s not only easier to keep cool, but it’s also cheaper to run and won’t deluge your office space with copious amounts of heat. Compared to the Intel chips, it’s an absolute win.

(Image credit: Future)

A photo of an AMD Ryzen 7 9700X processor resting on top of an Asus AIO liquid cooler

Zen 5 also has lots of potential and it’s perhaps too early to tell just how good it can be, but what’s there already is certainly worth paying attention to.

Buy if…✅You want a fast all-rounder:Eight cores, 16 threads, and bags of performance make the Ryzen 7 9700X an excellent jack-of-all-trades chips.✅ You have a hatred of heat:Compared to its predecessor and Intel’s offerings, the 9700X is as power efficient as they come.

Buy if…

✅You want a fast all-rounder:Eight cores, 16 threads, and bags of performance make the Ryzen 7 9700X an excellent jack-of-all-trades chips.✅ You have a hatred of heat:Compared to its predecessor and Intel’s offerings, the 9700X is as power efficient as they come.

Don’t buy if…❌ You want the best gaming CPU:As good as it is, you just know the inevitable X3D version will just be a lot better for gaming.

Don’t buy if…

❌ You want the best gaming CPU:As good as it is, you just know the inevitable X3D version will just be a lot better for gaming.

If you’ve been holding off upgrading your PC, waiting to see what Zen 5 is like, then I’d say it’s worth considering the Ryzen 7 9700X and a solid B650 motherboard (I also tested it in an Asus ROG Strix B650-A Gaming and it performed just as well as in the X670E). Pair them with a decentDDR5-6000 dual-channel RAM kitand you’ll have an excellent, multi-purpose PC.

What you won’t have, though, is outstanding value for money. The $359 MSRP of the 9700X is spot-on for this kind of overall performance and it’s pleasingly lower than the last-gen 7700X’s launch price of $399. However, it doesn’t sell for that price anymore and you can pick one up for$287 on Amazon. In fact, you can get aRyzen 7 7800X3D, the best gaming CPU at the moment, for$374although it won’t be as good in productivity and content creation applications, it absolutely flies in terms of frame rates.

And this is the problem for AMD when it comes to PC gaming. All such enthusiasts now only care about the X3D models and for good reason, so if you want a new Zen 5 chipjustfor gaming, then you’re better off skipping the 9700X and waiting for the inevitable 9800X3D. But if you want a really solid, all-round processor, then the Ryzen 7 9700X will fit the bill—once all the power stuff has been sorted out.

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AMD Ryzen™ 7 9700X 8-Core,…

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$359$329.99View

AMD Ryzen 7 9700X - Ryzen 7…

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The Verdict86Read our review policyAMD Ryzen 7 9700XThis mid-tier Ryzen 7 9700X processor is genuinely fast and power efficient. For an all-round CPU, the price is very tempting but if you’re a gaming enthusiast, you’ll probably be better off waiting for the X3D models.

The Verdict

86Read our review policyAMD Ryzen 7 9700XThis mid-tier Ryzen 7 9700X processor is genuinely fast and power efficient. For an all-round CPU, the price is very tempting but if you’re a gaming enthusiast, you’ll probably be better off waiting for the X3D models.

86Read our review policy

AMD Ryzen 7 9700XThis mid-tier Ryzen 7 9700X processor is genuinely fast and power efficient. For an all-round CPU, the price is very tempting but if you’re a gaming enthusiast, you’ll probably be better off waiting for the X3D models.

AMD Ryzen 7 9700X

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