AMD Ryzen 7 9700X: What Real Users Actually Think

This is one of the better reviews, lots of data, no click bait and gets the efficiency gains and lower temps.

You guys are nuts. I want more power efficient chips. We can't keep climbing forever. It's unsustainable on power supplies and home circuits. I want smaller power supplies, quieter/cooler machines, and smaller electricity bills.

Gains in games are minimal after overclocking. For work tasks you'd value stability more and likely won't overclock.

I think that most mid-high end components have lost the plot with power, so this is refreshing to see. If you want to blow the efficiency curve out the window, we're back to the days of overclocking so I kinda like this direction with stock chips facing more constraints.

While for sheer performance it's not all that impressive compared to a 7700 or a 7700x, I'm very interested in how it boosts and overclocks when you take away the wattage limit. With how efficient these chips are, I feel like this generation is an overclocker's wet dream.

Performance per watt is important to me.

Zen 5 is a decent productivity and especially AVX512 upgrade over Zen 4. It just doesn't translate to gaming all that well.

The cinebench numbers are great and disappointing at the same time. Within 1-2% of the 7700X but 50 watts less.

It's efficient against a stock 7700X, sure. It's not so exciting compared to the non-X 7700 though. Roughly 10% more efficient. The 7700 is also the more appropriate comparison as it has the same 65W TDP. Steve from Hardware Unboxed is rightfully stressing the comparison to the 7700 as well.

I believe that Zen 5 will sell like hot cakes, not for gamers but for people needing fast AVX 512 processor for AI. Higher tier CPUs, threadripper — this was designed for that market. Most reviewers tested under 88W limit and complained that performance is worse than 7700x running at 120w+. That's unfair.

If you're only gaming, the 7800X3D is still the better chip. If you're doing productivity as well, it's a solid option.

The CPU is good. Like really good. But its price can be equal to 7800x3d, making it pretty bad in comparison. 7800x3d is just a miraculous CPU in everything for gamers.

21% performance uplift by unlocking power limits. AMD did an inverse Intel and just killed any excitement to be had about the CPU by restricting power too much.

9700X is more or less DOA at this price because: 7700 non-X beats it in value; 7800X3D beats it in gaming including efficiency; 7900 beats it in multi-core workloads. It needs to cost no more than $299.

For those of us not already on the platform, it's become a strong contender. Why would I get a 7700X when the 9700X is faster at far lower wattage and can be overclocked to be about 20-30% faster at a comparable wattage? A future 9800X3D could be even better if this is anything to go by.

9700X is a 65W part. You need to use PBO to get it to perform substantially more than the 105W Zen4 parts. It compares to the R7 7700 non X in terms of power draw. When you do so, it is better than a 5800X3D in gaming on average. It's faster than a 7700X either way.

I watched hardware unboxed's reviews of the 9700X and the gains were very negligible compared to the 7600 and 7700. In some cases the 9000 processors performed worse than their 7600X and 7700X counterparts. Basically, this is a generation I plan on ignoring. Maybe a few years from now, the price may be interesting.

If someone says the 9700X competes with the 7800X3D, they are lying. In 1-2 specific games? Sure. But on average? Not even close.

If gaming is a priority or one of the main purposes of the build, AMD is still definitely the way to go. Also having their AM5 platform being supported until 2027 means you can have much cheaper upgrades down the line.

It will be a good value part later. It's not a day one purchase no. In a year or two though it will be on the short list of budget AM5 chips to start with. Zen5 in general looks like it's eating 30-40% less power to equal performance of the last gen. That is a massive massive win.

Zen 5 is not as disappointing as many are probably thinking from the reviews. I feel AMD messed up big time by setting the power limits too low, clearly leaving more than 20% performance on the table. Achieving almost 24K in Cinebench R23 with 8 cores only is insanely impressive!

Everyone is saying AMD is getting complacent and not competing with Intel, and these power efficient chips mean that's 100% true — they are not trying to compete with Intel for the crown of most roided up CPU. They are trying to compete with Apple and Qualcomm.

It depends on what you're using it for. 7800x3d is probably significantly better at gaming (20%+) and the 9700x is probably 15-25% better at every other possible workload your computer might do. But if you already have x3d you should keep it.

I just ordered 9700x. It's crazy fast with memcached. 2x faster than what I was running before.

It's not bad. It does improve on power efficiency, but it still loses by like 10% or so to 7800x3d. Is it awful? No. Could it have been better? Yes. The core clock is kinda meh for the ones I've seen, doesn't seem to trounce 100% of the 7700x, so the 9700x is just a better/lower watt component. Not awful, but not the best in multi-workload.

I am more impressed by the temps — compared to my 13600k these things are ice cubes.

For me in Canada it's 200$ cheaper than the 7800x3D, and for a 1440p that is not looking for crazy high frames in FPS/Rocket league etc, the 9700x makes MUCH more sense.

I paired my 9700x with an RX 9070 XT with absolutely no issues. I didn't even turn PBO on just running it on the stock 60-watt TDP. It runs at 44c idle but never goes above like 55c on full load using cinebench multi-core test for 30 minutes. The idles are high but the max temp is actually pretty good.

I love that the new generation offers the same performance while consuming much less electricity and, as a result, producing significantly less heat. It's crazy how some people can't see beyond the 'BiGgER nUmBErS BeTtEr!'

People in the community are generally over-reacting. You will be able to play most video games just fine with this processor. People are nit picking over percentage points. It's more the price point that has some people debating its worth. If you're on a Ryzen 7 5800X for example, this would be a big upgrade for you.

It's not bad. It's just not really any better than the r7-7700x with the exception of power draw. No it's not any closer than a 7700x to the 7800x3d in overall gaming.

Looks like a good combo to me. 9700x is kind of in a weird spot sometimes where it costs nearly the same as the 7800x3d while being worse, and it is more expensive than the 9600x, 7500f, and 7700 which aren't much slower for gaming.

Get the AM5 9700X and you can upgrade when Zen refreshes and updates. The Intel socket is a dead end, no upgrade path. If you're fine with that then go for it. Personally, I like the option to upgrade.

It's a good option for the price, only thing I would consider is if you can get a cheaper 7600 + B650 + RAM option. You can also opt to stay on AM4 and keep your B450, just replace the 3600 with a 5700X3D, that should be more than enough for a 1080 ti.

I think saying it is 'bad' is a bit of a stretch. At current price it is not the best value but the chip itself is fine and very power efficient. If your a gamer and doing a new build the 7800X3D is still king and if you have been holding onto AM4 the 9XXX series is not gonna make you jump to AM5 yet.

9700x is a great cpu. I have used 5 so far and there is NOTHING wrong with them. Runs cool. Less power and solid in games.

9700x only uses like 65w power so is very easy to keep quiet and cool. Very efficient generation of chips.

I have this chip. Not the best, but a good chip for what I do: gaming and coding.

9700X is a great choice for cool CPU if PBO is disabled in BIOS. Runs no more than 60c/140f under heavy load. If PBO is On - by default it is - automatic overclocking is applied, which greatly increases temperatures under load, from 60c/140f to 90c/194f and above.

Purchased 9700x on Aliexpress on sale for $205. Initially was a bit disappointed with 20000-21000 in Cinebench R23. But after a proper PBO configuration it surprised me with 24993 points in R23. A decent choice for its price. Applied 105W limit with 90 degree max temp. It still gives me 24600-24800 in R23.

It honestly feels like a refresh rather than a brand new CPU on a new platform. There is no reason to buy this over 7700(x) since it's much cheaper, or 7800X3D which is much faster for gaming.

I had a 5600X non-3D with a 3080 Ti and had no complaints about gaming with it. I bought a 9700X and it's a beast of a chip. You have to understand that if you're someone who has to eke out all the frames your eyes can't even keep up with, you are the target demographic for the X3D. Most people would be absolutely thrilled with either chip.

Been rocking the 9700x with a 5070 for a couple of months. I mainly play esports titles and can play them comfortably at 240fps. I was getting 200-240 fps during the Black Ops 7 beta as well.