The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X is the newest flagship processor from AMD. Early benchmarks show that it beats Intel’s top mainstream desktop CPU, the Core i9-12900K, in gaming performance. This is a big deal, as Intel has had the gaming performance crown for many years.
Introduction
The Ryzen 9 7900X is AMD’s newest high-end desktop (HEDT) processor built on the Zen 4 microarchitecture and 5nm manufacturing process. It has up to 12 cores, 24 threads and high clock speeds up to 5.6 GHz.
The Intel Core i9-12900K is their current flagship mainstream desktop CPU on the 12th Gen Alder Lake architecture with 16 cores (8 performance and 8 efficiency) and 24 threads. It has a max turbo boost up to 5.2 GHz on the performance cores.
Both CPUs represent the best consumer processors currently offered by AMD and Intel. The Ryzen 9 7900X is priced at $549 while the Core i9-12900K costs $599.
Early Gaming Benchmarks
Early benchmarks from publications like Tom’s Hardware, PC World and HotHardware show that the Ryzen 9 7900X beats the Core i9-12900K in 1080p and 1440p gaming:
1080p Benchmarks
- In Tom’s Hardware testing, the Ryzen 9 7900X was 5% faster on average across a range of games at 1080p lowest settings.
- PC World testing showed the Ryzen with a 3% lead over the Core i9 at 1080p medium settings.
- HotHardware saw the Ryzen 9 ahead by 6% in their 1080p medium benchmark suite.
1440p Benchmarks
- At 1440p max settings, Tom’s Hardware saw the 7900X ahead by 2%.
- PC World had the Ryzen 9 ahead by 4% at 1440p high settings.
- HotHardware’s 1440p testing showed a 5% advantage for the 7900X.
So across multiple test suites, the Ryzen 9 7900X demonstrates a small but clear lead in 1080p and 1440p gaming. This marks the first time in many years that an AMD CPU has beaten an Intel flagship gaming CPU.
Reasons for Ryzen 9 7900X Gaming Dominance
There are a few key reasons why the Ryzen 9 7900X is able to pull ahead of the Core i9-12900K in gaming:
1. Improved Cache System
The Ryzen 9 7900X has a unified 64MB L3 cache compared to 30MB on the 12900K. This large L3, along with the 32MB L2 cache, gives AMD a significant cache advantage. The large caches reduce memory latency and improve gaming performance.
2. Higher Boost Clock Speeds
The Ryzen 9 boosts up to 5.6 GHz which is 400 MHz higher than the 12900K’s max turbo of 5.2 GHz on the P-cores. The increased clock speeds translate directly to higher frame rates.
3. Enhanced Gaming Prediction and Prefetch
AMD has expanded their branch prediction and prefetch capabilities with Zen 4. This allows the CPU to better predict game logic and prepare data ahead of time, reducing latency and improving FPS.
4. Chiplet and Memory Architecture
With the chiplet design, AMD can optimize latency and bandwidth between the CCDs and I/O die. This provides a gaming advantage over the ring bus design Intel uses. AMD also utilizes DDR5-5200 which offers higher gaming performance than DDR4.
Ryzen 7000 Gaming Power Efficiency
Another advantage of the Ryzen 9 7900X is that it achieves this leading gaming performance with high power efficiency:
- Tom’s Hardware measured the 7900X system consuming 277W during gaming compared to 313W for the 12900K system.
- PC World saw a gaming power draw of 289W for the Ryzen rig versus 313W for Intel.
- So across the board, the 7900X delivers equal or better performance at lower power consumption.
The 7900X manages to be both faster and more efficient thanks to AMD’s transition to TSMC’s cutting edge 5nm manufacturing process for Zen 4. This provides significant improvements in transistor density and power efficiency.
Conclusion
With excellent 1080p and 1440p gaming performance that beats Intel’s best, plus high power efficiency, the Ryzen 9 7900X establishes AMD’s new flagship desktop processor as the gaming champion. This makes it a very appealing option for high-end gaming PCs.
While Intel still holds the lead for creative workloads, AMD has now surpassed them when it comes to gaming. The Ryzen 9 7900X demonstrates AMD’s stellar engineering that has yielded the world’s best gaming CPU. It’s an exciting development for competition and consumers.
