AMD Ryzen 9 9900X vs AMD Ryzen 7 9700X

AMD Ryzen 9 9900X

The Ryzen 9 9900X is fast desktop processor of the Granite Ridge product family that sports 12 Zen 5 cores (24 threads) running at 4.4 GHz to 5.6 GHz, PCIe 5 support and a basic RDNA 2 architecture iGPU. The Ryzen was launched in June 2024, with sales slated to start some time in August.

Architecture and Features

Like Strix Point APUs, Granite Ridge processors make use of the new Zen 5 microarchitecture. However, there are no efficient cores here; all of 9900X's cores are full Zen 5 cores. Furthermore, Granite Ridge is a multi-die design with only the CPU cores produced using a fairly modern 4 nm TSMC process. Strix Point processors are a single-die design, from what we know.

According to AMD, Zen 5 delivers a 16% IPC improvement over Zen 4 thanks to branch prediction improvements and other refinements.

Elsewhere, the 9900X has 64 MB of L3 cache and 24 direct PCIe 5 lanes (3.93 GB/s throughput per lane) with up to 12 additional PCIe 4 lanes available depending on the motherboard. It supports DDR5 RAM as fast as fast as 5,600 MT/s (up to 8,000 MT/s if overclocked).

The 9900X is unlocked for overclocking. Naturally, the AM5 socket CPU fully supports Windows 11, 64-bit Windows 10 as well as many Linux distros.

Performance

If early July leaks are any indication, the CPU delivers multi-thread performance on par with the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X and the Intel Core i7-14700K. We'll update this section once we get our hands on a system powered by the 9900X.

Graphics

The Radeon 610M comes equipped with just 128 unified shaders running at up to 2,200 MHz. Its gaming performance is slated to be extremely low and only just sufficient for pre-2020 games in resolutions such as 1024x768.

Power consumption

The CPU cores are built with TSMC's N4P process for good, as of mid 2024, power efficiency. (Apple is the leader in this regard with the second-generation 3 nm process.)

The Ryzen 7's long-term TDP is 120 W. It'll probably consume at least 170 W when under heavy short-term loads. If overclocked, the power consumption figures will increase significantly.

AMD Ryzen 7 9700X

The AMD Ryzen 7 9700X is an upper mid-range desktop CPU of the Granite Ridge product family that sports 8 Zen 5 cores (16 threads) running at 3.8 GHz to 5.5 GHz, along with PCIe 5 support and a basic RDNA 2 architecture iGPU. The Ryzen was launched in June 2024, with sales slated to start some time in August.

Architecture and Features

Like Strix Point APUs, Granite Ridge processors make use of the new Zen 5 microarchitecture. However, there are no efficient cores here; all of 9700X's cores are full Zen 5 cores with a "proper" Zen 5 implementation, not the simplified mobile version that has a lower AVX-512 performance. Furthermore, Granite Ridge is a multi-die design with only the CPU cores produced using a fairly modern 4 nm TSMC process. Strix Point processors are a single-die design, from what we know.

According to AMD, desktop Zen 5 delivers a 16% IPC uplift over Zen 4 thanks to branch prediction improvements and other refinements.

Elsewhere, the 9700X has 32 MB of L3 cache and 24 direct PCIe 5 lanes (3.93 GB/s throughput per lane) with up to 12 additional PCIe 4 lanes available depending on the motherboard. It supports DDR5 RAM as fast as 5,600 MT/s (up to 8,000 MT/s if overclocked).

The 9700X is unlocked for overclocking. Naturally, the AM5 socket CPU fully supports Windows 11, 64-bit Windows 10 as well as many Linux distros.

Performance

In our review, the Ryzen 7 delivered multi-thread benchmark scores very close to those of the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 and 375, as well as the Core i7-12700 and i7-12700K.

Graphics

The Radeon 610M comes equipped with just 128 unified shaders running at up to 2,200 MHz. While this certainly isn't a gaming GPU, it's fast enough to run some competitive titles such as Counter-Strike 2 (~50 fps at 1080p / Low) as well as older (pre-2019) titles.

It can HW-decode many popular video codecs including first and foremost AVC, HEVC, VP9, AV1.

Power consumption

The CPU cores are built with TSMC's N4P process for a good, as of mid 2024, power efficiency. (Apple is the leader in this regard with the second-generation 3 nm process.)

The Ryzen 7's long-term TDP is either 65 W or 105 W, with each user free to make their own choice. If overclocked, its power consumption figures will increase significantly.