Very Efficient Ryzen 7 9700X Held Back by Power Limits!

I just want to say I really appreciate the fact that you included the power draw in every test scenario, thank you. :)

Not enough power.... Asus, hold my beer. 😂

There we go. I was waiting for your review. I knew der8auer would have a play with the power limits :)

feels like they accidentially gave the X chips the non X power profile

9:58 I think it would be interesting to see how different power limits effects the multicore performance in Cinebench. Run it for 90W, 100W, 120W .. 170W and plot the cinebench score and see how the CPU behaves. Maybe calculate the efficiency and plot that on a curve too.

Your graphs showing performance and power draw together are excellent, the best I've seen from any reviewer.

Seems to me that this performance / efficiency profile is purposefully designed to allow for another tier of CPU models- might be X3D, might be XT, but clearly they left performance on the table and will have a enthusiast tier with better performance (albeit at higher power) at some point.

i remember a time when power efficiency was high regarded in tech, somehow in the last 10 years people stopped giving a fuck, it's nice to see good performing parts that will give extra performance with OC for those less efficiency inclined as it should be.

Kudos for making a point about making *your test at 6000MT/s while they warranty 5200MT/s (and now5600MT/s) Techmedia needs to push back and Test at warrantied speeds.

If it’s held back from burning I love it. I don’t need the highest numbers ever. I want a system that works correctly and will last some years lol

So basically ryzen 9 is just a efficiency boost over 7. BUT has absolutely crazy overclocking and custom cooling potential. Interesting!

be interesting to see how the CPU reacts after some proper PBO tuning

Including Intel 12 gen CPUs is completely fair for the reference.

I realise its not optimal tuning, but 22k cinebench with about 160W is pretty close to an i5-13600k with the default power limits. Be interesting to see the results once the new microcode is out.

I much prefer the new default power profile even though it hampers the chip in all core workloads. In gaming, all core clocks are unaffected, and crucially they're super cool and calm. For 90-95% of AMD's target audience with these since CCD chips, having the 'eco' mode be default is the correct choice and a great change from Zen 4.

Glad you unlocked PBO! I get why GN doesn't do it, but this shows the full potential. Although I think there is big value in a efficient cpu.

Came here from the Gamer's Nexus review where they didnt really show performance at high wattages. This is actually a pretty impressive IPC improvement from last gen when measured against the same power level. I usually undervolt my parts for efficiency so this generation is still nice for me, even though the power limit is abit restrictive for people who dgaf about power usage. (I have roof solar and I have a strict power budget after dawn).

I'm not a gamer, I'm a productivity user, software development, video, etc. I'm interested in the 9700X or 9900X simply for the lower power, I don't need 2 more FPS in games that I never play.

This is why we come here, Roman is the only reviewer that shows power draw numbers for all use cases he shows. Can you share the IDLE power numbers? The other reviewers said this was a Skylake moment for AMD (14nm+++) while brushing the efficiency gains as a nothing burger. Proper testing between 7700X and 9700X should be done at same power draws (7700X matching 9700X and vice versa). In the 5000s series AMD sold the CPUs around the most efficient profiles but as everybody complained that the bar was not high enough then they released the 7000 series overclocked from the factory. People complained that AMD was now playing the Intel game so they now released the 9000 series around their most efficient settings again just to get the same crap from the 5000 series. They really cannot win when most reviewers are "frame chasers" and have the memory of a gold fish. As a home server user, I prefer this approach from AMD as I can always decide whether or not to overclock / remove limits at my discretion.

Thanks for testing with higher power limit! Missed that in the GN review. If you're doing sff workstation system the 9950X should be a decent choice because it should survive with an air cooler. Personally waiting for X3D of course to replace my 5800X3D. Maybe you'll have a new direct die water block then :)