With the launch of new Zen 4 CPUs, AMD is trying to reclaim its spot as the bang for the buck processor for both gaming and productivity. This might be a problem with the new AM5 Socket and DDR5 Memory requirement. Nonetheless, many of us are excited as to what the AMD Ryzen 7000 Series CPUs bring to the table. In this guide, we will make a thorough AMD Ryzen 9 7900X vs AMD Ryzen 5 7600X comparison. This might not seem like a fair comparison but will portray the differences in performance between an entry-level gaming CPU and an enthusiast grade CPU from AMD.
We will take a look at their basic specifications, compare their application and gaming performance. In the process, we will also take a look at their clock speeds, power consumption, and CPU temperatures.
If you are looking to purchase a new CPU, then we hope that this guide could help you make a better buying decision.
A Brief Note on AMD Ryzen 9 7900X
While the AMD Ryzen 9 7950 is a $699 top-of-the-line CPU in the AMD Ryzen 7000 Series, the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X is $150 less and looks like the most value-oriented processor.
Even though Intel and Apple started designing processors using a hybrid architecture, AMD struck with their tried-and-tested “all powerful cores” for their Zen 4 based Ryzen 7000 Series CPUs. Specifically, the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X has 12 cores and 24 threads.
Speaking of Zen 4, AMD completely revamped the architecture with Zen 4 that has 13% better IPC performance than previous generation architecture. With this new architecture, AMD had to let go of their popular AM4 socket and bring in a new AM5 Socket.
Another thing AMD is popular is for their “Chiplet” designs. In the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X, the CPU consists of 3 chiplets, two of them are the Core Complex Dies (CCD) with 6 cores each and one Input – Output Die (IOD).
Under the hood, each CCD consists of 8 CPU Cores. But in case of the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X, AMD disables two cores in each CCD. The AMD Ryzen 9 7950X has the same CCDs but utilizes all the 8 CPU Cores per CCD.
In order to keep the cost down, AMD designed the CCD using TSMC 5 nm node and the IOD using TSMC 6 nm node.
There are some big changes in terms of memory a well. Unlike Intel’s 13th Gen CPUs that support both DDR4 and DDR5 memory, AMD made their Zen 4 CPUs compatible with only DDR5 memory.
Coming to the L2 Cache of the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X, it has L2 Cache of 1 MB per core. So, this makes the total L2 Cache of AMD Ryzen 9 7900X at 12 MB (12 * 1 MB).
Coming to the L3 Cache, AMD divided this into two sections based on the Core Complex Dies i.e., each CCD Module gets 32 MB of L3 Cache. So, the total L3 Cache of the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X is 64 MB (1 * 32 MB).
Important Specifications of AMD Ryzen 9 7900X
- 12 Cores 24 Threads
- AM5 Socket
- Supports only DDR5 Memory
- Cache: L2 is 1 MB per core (Total 12 MB) and L3 is 32 MB per CCD (Total 64 MB)
- Total 28 PCIe 5.0 lanes (4 of them are reserved for chipset)
- RDNA2 based Integrated Graphics (base clock of 0.4 GHz and boost clock of 2.2 GHz)
- TDP is 170 Watts
- Manufacturing Node is TSMC 5 nm for CCD and TSMC 6 nm for IOD
A Brief Note on AMD Ryzen 5 7600X
As AMD announced the high-end CPUs in the form of the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X and the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X, we feel that not everyone is interested in spending that chunk of money.
Hence, along with these powerful processors, AMD also launched the reasonably priced AMD Ryzen 5 7600X. This is where AMD will see a good sales number.
Just like the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X, the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X is also based on a new architecture, the Zen 4. Apart from this, it also gets a brand-new socket, the AM5. Another similarity between the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X and its expensive and powerful comrades, is the support for only DDR5 memory and has only PCIe 5.0 support.
With a launch price of $299 and the traditional 6 core 12 thread design, the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X is the contender for the best bang for the buck gaming CPU. Similar to the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X, the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X also supports only DDR5 up to 5200 MT/s.
Coming to the frequencies of the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X, it has a base clock of 4.7 GHz and a boost clock of 5.3 GHz.
Important Features of Ryzen 5 7600X
- 6 Cores 12 Threads
- AM5 Socket
- Supports only DDR5 Memory
- Cache: L2 is 1 MB per core and L3 is 32 MB
- Total 28 PCIe 5.0 lanes (4 of them are reserved for chipset)
- RDNA2 based Integrated Graphics (base clock of 0.4 GHz and boost clock of 2.2 GHz)
- TDP is 105 Watts
- Manufacturing Node is TSMC 5 nm for CCD and TSMC 6 nm for IOD
Specifications: AMD Ryzen 9 7900X vs AMD Ryzen 5 7600X
In the following table, we made a side-by-side list of all the essential specifications of the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X and the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X.
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | AMD Ryzen 5 7600X | ||
| Cores (Threads) | 12 (24) | 6 (12) | |
| Base Clock Rate | 4.7 GHz | 4.7 GHz | |
| Turbo Clock Rate | 5.6 GHz | 5.3 GHz | |
| Cache | L2 | 12 MB (1 MB per Core) | 6 MB (1 MB per Core) |
| L3 | 64 MB (32 MB per CCD) | 32 MB (32 MB per CCD) | |
| Power | TDP 170 Watts | TDP 105 Watts | |
| Process Technology | Core Complex Die | TSMC 5 nm | TSMC 5 nm |
| Input Output Die | TSMC 6 nm | TSMC 6 nm | |
| Socket | AM5 (LGA) | AM5 (LGA) | |
| Code Name (Architecture) | Zen 4 | Zen 4 | |
| PCIe Lanes | Total 28 PCIe 5.0 Lanes
of which 24 are available for Motherboard Manufacturers and 4 are reserved for Chipset |
Total 28 PCIe 5.0 Lanes
of which 24 are available for Motherboard Manufacturers and 4 are reserved for Chipset |
|
| Memory Support | DDR4 | — | — |
| DDR5 | Up to DDR5 5200 MT/s | Up to DDR5 5200 MT/s | |
| Integrated Graphics | AMD RDNA2 GPU
(Base Clock 0.4 GHz and Boost Clock 2.2 GHz) |
AMD RDNA2 GPU
(Base Clock 0.4 GHz and Boost Clock 2.2 GHz) |
|
| Price | MSRP $549 | MSRP $299 | |
Comparison of AMD Ryzen 9 7900X and the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X
Let us now compare the performance of the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X CPU against the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X.
Test System
Before we begin, here is a quick look at our Intel and AMD test systems.
| AMD Test System | ||
| CPUs | AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | |
| AMD Ryzen 7 7700X | ||
| AMD Ryzen 5 7600X | ||
| Motherboard | GIGABYTE X670E AORUS Master | |
| Memory | G.Skill Trident Z5 (AMD EXPO) 32GB (2 × 16GB) DDR5 6000 CL30 | |
| Intel Test System | ||
| CPUs | Intel Core i9 13900K | |
| Intel Core i7 13700K | ||
| Intel Core i5 13600K | ||
| Motherboard | MSI PRO Z790-A Wi-Fi | |
| Memory | G.Skill Trident Z5 (Intel XMP) 32GB (2 × 16GB) DDR5 6000 CL30 | |
| Common to Both Systems | ||
| SSD | SAMSUNG 980 PRO SSD 1TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe | |
| CPU Cooler | Corsair iCUE H150i RGB Elite Liquid CPU Cooler | |
| Power Supply | Seasonic PRIME 1300 Platinum | |
| Graphic Card | MSI Gaming GeForce RTX 3090 Ti 24GB | |
| Software | Windows 11 21H2 | |
| Nvidia 526.47 | ||
Application Benchmarks
Cinebench R23 Multi-Core (Higher is Better)
Let us start with the most popular benchmark tool, the Cinebench R23. After the 10-minute multicore loop test, the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X got a score of just under 30000 points. If we compare this with the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X, then the performance is almost double as it could only score just under 15000 points.
| Intel Core i9 13900K | 39275 |
| Intel Core i7 13700K | 29973 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | 29040 |
| Intel Core i5 13600K | 24001 |
| AMD Ryzen 7 7700X | 20072 |
| AMD Ryzen 5 7600X | 14983 |
Cinebench R23 Single-Core (Higher is Better)
Coming to the single core performance in the Cinebench R23, there is a twist in the story. The single-core performance of the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X is very similar to that of the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X albeit slightly better.
| Intel Core i9 13900K | 2224 |
| Intel Core i7 13700K | 2045 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | 2010 |
| Intel Core i5 13600K | 1993 |
| AMD Ryzen 7 7700X | 1980 |
| AMD Ryzen 5 7600X | 1920 |
PassMark’s CPUMARK 10.2 Multi-Threaded/Overall (Higher is Better)
Next, we have another popular benchmark tool from PassMark, the CPU Mark. The following results show the overall or multi-threaded CPU Mark Score of all the processors in this test.
Once again, the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X shows its dominance by scoring just under 53000 points. The AMD Ryzen 5 7600X could only manage just 30000 points.
| Intel Core i9 13900K | 62457 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | 52989 |
| Intel Core i7 13700K | 49443 |
| Intel Core i5 13600K | 40175 |
| AMD Ryzen 7 7700X | 37548 |
| AMD Ryzen 5 7600X | 30005 |
PassMark’s CPUMARK 10.2 Single-Threaded (Higher is Better)
Coming to the single threaded performance in CPU Mark, the trend continues as both the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X and the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X show very similar performance.
| Intel Core i9 13900K | 4699 |
| Intel Core i7 13700K | 4443 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | 4323 |
| AMD Ryzen 7 7700X | 4301 |
| AMD Ryzen 5 7600X | 4249 |
| Intel Core i5 13600K | 4237 |
Blender Open Data Render Time (Lower is Better)
Another popular open-source tool is Blender. For the next couple of tests, we will see the render times and number of samples per minute in Blender version 3.4. The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X took 30 seconds over 7 minutes while the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X took more than 14 minutes. Once again, almost double the performance difference.
| Intel Core i9 13900K | 6 min 20 sec |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | 7 min 30 sec |
| Intel Core i7 13700K | 8 min 10 sec |
| Intel Core i5 13600K | 9 min 40 sec |
| AMD Ryzen 7 7700X | 11 min 5 sec |
| AMD Ryzen 5 7600X | 14 min 10 sec |
Blender Samples Per Minute (Higher is Better)
The results for number of samples in a minute for Blender Render is also very similar to the render time results. Here you can see the samples per minute score across the three test scenes: monster, junkshop, and classroom.
| Intel Core i9 13900K | 590.2 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | 461.3 |
| Intel Core i7 13700K | 450.2 |
| Intel Core i5 13600K | 347.8 |
| AMD Ryzen 7 7700X | 310.5 |
| AMD Ryzen 5 7600X | 232.8 |
Adobe Photoshop 2022 Puget System Benchmark (Higher is Better)
The Adobe suite has a couple of important tools that many creators and artists use. We will start with the Adobe Photoshop 2022. It has a built-in Puget System Standard Benchmark.
If you look at the overall scores, the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X scores just over 1540 points while the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X could only score 1460 points.
| Intel Core i9 13900K | 1601 |
| Intel Core i7 13700K | 1546 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | 1543 |
| AMD Ryzen 7 7700X | 1460 |
| AMD Ryzen 5 7600X | 1430 |
| Intel Core i5 13600K | 1356 |
Adobe Premier Pro 2022 Puget System Benchmark (Higher is Better)
Next application in the Adobe suite is the Premier Pro 2022. The results even in this test are very similar to the Adobe Photoshop 2022.
| Intel Core i9 13900K | 1253 |
| Intel Core i7 13700K | 1189 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | 1181 |
| Intel Core i5 13600K | 1089 |
| AMD Ryzen 7 7700X | 999 |
| AMD Ryzen 5 7600X | 948 |
7-Zip File Manager Compression (Higher is Better)
One of the popular and widely used open-source applications is the 7-Zip File Manager. It helps in archiving files. For this test, we are performing the built-in benchmark feature. Here is the result in million instructions per second (MIPS) for compressing using a standards 32 MB dictionary size and 10 passes.
| Intel Core i9 13900K | 176439 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | 133215 |
| Intel Core i7 13700K | 144443 |
| AMD Ryzen 7 7700X | 115469 |
| Intel Core i5 13600K | 123983 |
| AMD Ryzen 5 7600X | 88658 |
7-Zip File Manager Decompression (Higher is Better)
In decompression, the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X shows a dominating performance while the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X has 50% less performance.
| Intel Core i9 13900K | 215543 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | 201247 |
| Intel Core i7 13700K | 159468 |
| AMD Ryzen 7 7700X | 135879 |
| Intel Core i5 13600K | 127863 |
| AMD Ryzen 5 7600X | 103958 |
Chromium Code Compilation Time (Lower is Better)
Developers working on large projects need a stable multi-threaded system with a powerful CPU. So, we tested the code compilation performance by taking the open-source Chromium project code.
The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X completed the compilation under 53 minutes while the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X took more than 82 minutes.
| Intel Core i9 13900K | 48 min 10 sec |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | 52 min 38 sec |
| Intel Core i7 13700K | 54 min 29 sec |
| AMD Ryzen 7 7700X | 62 min 32 sec |
| Intel Core i5 13600K | 69 min 19 sec |
| AMD Ryzen 5 7600X | 82 min 43 sec |
Corona 1.3 Render Time (Lower is Better)
The last “application” benchmark is the Corona 1.3, which is a high-quality shading engine for production rendering. Let us now see the rendering time of different Intel and AMD CPUs.
| Intel Core i9 13900K | 38 sec |
| Intel Core i7 13700K | 50 sec |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | 50 sec |
| Intel Core i5 13600K | 65 sec |
| AMD Ryzen 7 7700X | 75 sec |
| AMD Ryzen 5 7600X | 96 sec |
Gaming Benchmarks
Let us move to some gaming performance. We tested some popular titles at a resolution of 1920 × 1080 (1080p) as anything beyond, the GPU will dominate the performance. We are running all the games in DirectX 12 with Ray Tracing and DLSS off.
Far Cry 6
- Resolution: 1920 × 1080
- DirectX 12
- Game Setting: Ultra
- DirectX Raytracing: Off
The first game is Far Cry 6. Both the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X and the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X have a very similar performance. Here are the rounded off average frames and also 1% low fps.
| CPU | Average FPS | 1% Low FPS (Min FPS) |
| Intel Core i9 13900K | 172 | 123 |
| Intel Core i7 13700K | 163 | 118 |
| Intel Core i5 13600K | 148 | 105 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | 147 | 102 |
| AMD Ryzen 7 7700X | 147 | 101 |
| AMD Ryzen 5 7600X | 146 | 100 |
Cyberpunk 2077
- Resolution: 1920 × 1080
- DirectX 12
- Game Setting: Ultra
- Texture: High
- Ray Tracing: Off
- DLSS: Off
Next, we have another popular title, Cyberpunk 2077. The story is the same, where current gen Intel CPUs can pump over 140 fps on average while the Ryzen 7000 Series CPUs struggle to push past 130 fps.
| CPU | Average FPS | 1% Low FPS (Min FPS) |
| Intel Core i9 13900K | 150 | 125 |
| Intel Core i7 13700K | 148 | 123 |
| Intel Core i5 13600K | 143 | 121 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | 126 | 111 |
| AMD Ryzen 7 7700X | 126 | 110 |
| AMD Ryzen 5 7600X | 125 | 109 |
Shadow of the Tomb Raider
- Resolution: 1920 × 1080
- DirectX 12
- Game Setting: High
- DLSS: Off
Last but not least, we tested the Shadow of the Tomb Raider. The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X and the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X go neck-in-neck and display very similar performance.
| CPU | Average FPS | 1% Low FPS (Min FPS) |
| AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D | 280 | 178 |
| Intel Core i9 13900K | 265 | 173 |
| Intel Core i7 13700K | 254 | 161 |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | 235 | 145 |
| AMD Ryzen 7 7700X | 233 | 145 |
| Intel Core i5 13600K | 233 | 152 |
| AMD Ryzen 5 7600X | 230 | 139 |
Clock Speed
We ran the AIDA64 Stress Test for 10 minutes and here are the maximum frequency and average frequency of all cores.
| CPU | Maximum Frequency | All-Core Average Frequency |
| Intel | ||
| Intel Core i9 13900K | 5.8 GHz | 5.4 GHz |
| Intel Core i7 13700K | 5.4 GHz | 5.3 GHz |
| Intel Core i5 13600K | 5.1 GHz | 5 GHz |
| AMD | ||
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | 5.6 GHz | 5.2 GHz |
| AMD Ryzen 7 7700X | 5.5 GHz | 5.3 GHz |
| AMD Ryzen 5 7600X | 5.4 GHz | 5.3 GHz |
CPU Temperature
During the same AIDA64 Stress Test, we monitored the CPU Temperatures with Corsair iCUE H150i RGB Elite Liquid CPU Cooler. Here are the CPU temps for your reference.
| CPU | Max Temp | Average Temp |
| Intel | ||
| Intel Core i9 13900K | 100°C | 83°C |
| Intel Core i7 13700K | 92°C | 69°C |
| Intel Core i5 13600K | 98°C | 73°C |
| AMD | ||
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | 87°C | 84°C |
| AMD Ryzen 7 7700X | 87°C | 84°C |
| AMD Ryzen 5 7600X | 83°C | 80°C |
Power Consumption
During the Blender render, we measured the CPU Package Power Draw using the HWiNFO tool. The following table consists of the peak CPU Package Power Draw as reported by HWiNFO.
| Intel | |
| Intel Core i9 13900K | 335 Watts |
| Intel Core i7 13700K | 245 Watts |
| Intel Core i5 13600K | 220 Watts |
| AMD | |
| AMD Ryzen 9 7900X | 202 Watts |
| AMD Ryzen 7 7700X | 143 Watts |
| AMD Ryzen 5 7600X | 120 Watts |
Which CPU is the Best, AMD Ryzen 9 7900X or AMD Ryzen 5 7600X?
The retail price of the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X is $549 while it is just $299 for the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X. This price difference is for double the number of cores and also the cache.
If you compare the performance of AMD Ryzen 9 7900X and AMD Ryzen 5 7600X, then you can clearly see the difference where the higher core AMD Ryzen 9 7900X easily outperforms the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X in all multi-threaded applications.
The story however changes in single-threaded workloads and gaming. Here, both the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X and the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X have near identical performance.
So, if gaming is your priority, then the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X is a much better choice. It is one of the best gaming CPUs in the market right now. The maximum power draw of the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X was around 120 Watts and it ran significantly cooler than the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X.
But if productivity, especially multi-threaded applications is your main workload, then you need to spend more as the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X is a better fit.
