AMD Ryzen 9 7950X
“AMD Ryzen 9 7950X is a 16-core powerhouse processor and 32 threads that can do it all for the most demanding gamers and creators.”
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It has turned into a week of scorching CPU deals, much to the delight of PC enthusiasts planning a winter upgrade.
Hot on the heels of mid-range Ryzen 7 5700X and Core i5-13600KF bargains, we’re now starting to see red-hot deals on top-end parts. The chip to catch our eye is AMD’s Ryzen 9 7950X, whose price has tumbled to £482.97 at the time of writing. That’s a whopping 37% saving, and comfortably the lowest price we’ve ever recorded.
The chip, rated by Club386 as best overall CPU, is also reduced across the pond, albeit by a smaller 19% margin, dropping down to $564.97.
Discounts on the very best processors tend to be few and far between, and such a saving will be welcomed by anyone contemplating a high-end refresh. Ryzen 9 7950X carries a 16-core, 32-thread configuration, with a lofty 5.7GHz boost clock and 170W TDP. A powerhouse in anyone’s book.
Packs a wallop
It’s worth revisiting our in-depth review to find out exactly what makes this particular CPU sing. To put the performance potential into perspective, anyone migrating from, say, a six-core Ryzen 5 3600X, can expect a monumental 300% performance uplift in multi-threaded workloads according to our own internal testing. Heck, even if you’re rocking a recent Core i9-12900K, switching over to Ryzen 9 7950X will unearth a further 38% multi-core performance. Frightening levels of firepower.
This is not merely a muscular chip for media professionals and the like. The enhanced Zen 4 architecture offers great gaming chops that work well with a graphics behemoth such as the blockbuster Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090.
Do be aware the chip will chew through copious amounts of power – it will routinely sail past the native 170W TDP – so be sure to have adequate cooling in place. You’ll likely also need a new motherboard, though that’s no bad thing as the latest-generation AM5 platform should see you through at least one or two upgrades further down the line.
At the very least, BIOS updates have made the Zen 4 ecosystem more stable, and the long boot times that plagued the platform at launch have largely been eliminated. Given the latest price drop, there’s never been a better time to bag a range-topping Ryzen.
