AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX

The AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX is a processor for big (gaming) laptops based on the Cezanne generation. The R9 5900H integrates all eight cores based on the Zen 3 microarchitecture. They are clocked at 3.3 (guaranteed base clock) to 4.6 GHz (Turbo) and support SMT for a total of 16 threads. The chip is manufactured on the modern 7 nm TSMC process. The "X" in the name indicates the overclocking capabilities of the CPU.

The new Zen 3 microarchitecture offers a significantly higher IPC (instructions per clock) compared to Zen 2. For desktop processors AMD claims 19 percent on average and in applications reviews showed around 12% gains at the same clock speed.

In addition to the eight CPU cores, the APU also integrates a Radeon RX Vega 8 integrated graphics adapter with 8 CUs and up to 2100 MHz. The dual channel memory controller supports DDR4-3200 and energy efficient LPDDR4-4266 RAM. Furthermore, 16 MB level 3 cache can be found on the chip.

Performance

The average 5900HX in our database trades blows with Intel's Core i9-11980HK, as far as multi-thread benchmark scores are concerned. While not much faster than the less power-hungry Ryzen 9 5900HS, this is still a great CPU for quality gaming laptops as well as DTRs and high-performance mini-PCs, as of mid 2022.

Thanks to its decent cooling solution and a long-term CPU power limit of 80 W, the Strix Scar 17 G733QSA-XS99 is among the fastest laptops powered by the 5900HX that we know of. It can be roughly 15% faster in CPU-bound workloads than the slowest system featuring the same chip in our database, as of August 2023.

Power consumption

This Ryzen 9 series chip has a default TDP (also known as the long-term power limit) of 45 W, a value that laptop makers are allowed to change to anything between 35 W and 54 W with clock speeds and performance changing accordingly as a result. Either way, a high-performance cooling solution is a must for a CPU like this.

The R9 5900HX is built with the 7 nm TSMC manufacturing process resulting in decent, as of late 2022, energy efficiency.

Series	AMD Cezanne (Zen 3, Ryzen 5000)
Codename	Cezanne-H (Zen 3)
Series: Cezanne (Zen 3, Ryzen 5000) Cezanne-H (Zen 3) AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX « 3.3 - 4.6 GHz 8 / 16  16 MB L3 AMD Ryzen 7 5800H 3.2 - 4.4 GHz 8 / 16  16 MB L3 AMD Ryzen 5 5600H 3.3 - 4.2 GHz 6 / 12  16 MB L3
Clock Rate	3300 - 4600 MHz
Level 1 Cache	512 KB
Level 2 Cache	4 MB
Level 3 Cache	16 MB
Number of Cores / Threads	8 / 16
Power Consumption (TDP = Thermal Design Power)	45 Watt
Manufacturing Technology	7 nm
Die Size	180 mm2
Max. Temperature	105 °C
Socket	FP6
Features	DDR4-3200/LPDDR4-4266 RAM, PCIe 3, MMX (+), SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, SSE4A, AES, AVX, AVX2, FMA3, SHA
GPU	AMD Radeon RX Vega 8 (Ryzen 4000/5000) ( - 2100 MHz)
64 Bit	64 Bit support
Architecture	x86
Announcement Date	01/07/2021
Product Link (external)	www.amd.com

Benchmarks