AMD Ryzen 9 3900X And Ryzen 7 3700X Review: Zen 2 Impresses

Performance Summary: The AMD Ryzen 9 3900X and Ryzen 7 3700X performed very well throughout our entire battery of tests. In comparison to second generation Ryzen processors, performance has been improved across the board. The AMD Ryzen 9 3900X and Ryzen 7 3700X offered superior single and multi-thread performance versus their second-gen counterparts, and better latency characteristics, that allowed them occasionally overtake processors with more cores / threads in a few multi-threaded tests -- on a couple of occasions, the 12-core / 24-thread Ryzen 9 3900X even outpaced the 16-core / 32-thread Threadripper 2950X.

Performance versus Intel is more of a mixed bag, but the Ryzen 3000 series still looks strong. Single-thread performance is roughly on-par with Intel’s Coffee Lake based Core i9-9900K, depending on the workload. Although it is tight, Intel still has a small advantage here if you inspect all of the numbers. Multi-threaded scaling is a dogfight strictly in terms of absolute performance, but because AMD offers more cores per dollar, the Ryzen 3000 series is the clear winner here. The Ryzen 9 3900X crushes the similarly priced Core i9-9900K in multi-threaded workloads and hangs with Intel processors that cost much more. Heck, the Ryzen 7 3700X which costs significantly less pulled ahead of the Core i9-9900K on occasion.


The Ryzen 3000 series also took top honors in a couple of system and application level tests, like PCMark and Speedometer, while gaming performance is highly competitive, though Intel’s high-end parts still eked out a couple of wins.

Now that we’ve have a chance to test AMD’s Zen 2-based Ryzen 3000 series processors for ourselves, we are extremely impressed. AMD continues to push core counts higher in its mainstream desktop platform, while maintaining socket compatibility, and enhancing performance and power efficiency. At the same time, the company continues to be aggressive with their processor pricing and offers features, like PCI Express 4.0 and an unlocked, top-to-bottom line-up, not available with the competition. The Ryzen 9 3900X at $499 goes head to head with the Core i9-9900K, but offers clearly superior multi-threaded performance. And the $329 Ryzen 7 3700X is a very solid 8-core processor for the money.

Whether or not you’re a fan of AMD and plan to buy a Ryzen 3000 series processor, they are a clear win for all consumers. The Ryzen 3000 series is competitive across the board and offers plenty of value at every price point. Some of AMD’s board partners must have been having aneurysms when pricing their top-end $700 motherboards, but when the dust settles and availability ramps, the Ryzen 3000 series will ultimately offer more cores, more performance, and more important features per dollar and that is a very good thing. Gamers, content creators, and even your every day, mainstream users have something to look forward too with the Ryzen 3000 series, and we look forward to seeing what AMD does next.

Great Performance Relatively Low Power Many Overclocking Options Improved IPC and Latency Competitive Pricing	Higher Idle Power Wide X570 Pricing Single-Thread Still Just Behind Intel