AMD Ryzen 7 5800X Review

The Ryzen 7 5800X is one of AMD's high-end Desktop processors. It was released in 2020 with 8 cores and 16 threads. With base clock at 4GHz, max speed at 4.8GHz, and a 105W power rating. The Ryzen 7 5800X is based on the Vermeer 7nm family and is part of the Ryzen 7 series.

Ryzen 7 5800X is also the successor of AMD's last gen Ryzen 7 3700X processor that was based on the Zen 2 and 7nm process and was released in 2019.

Increased IPC improvements, along with the massive turbo boost of 4.8GHz mean that even in single core performance – long a weak link of AMD’s processors – comes within reaching distance of rival chips.

One thing that the switch to 7nm silicon has allowed for however, is an increase in cache size. AMD is now describing its L3 and L2 cache in a combined spec of 8 x 512 kB and 32. But, because the 7nm CPU cores are contained within their own chiplets, AMD was able to pack much more in – with a whopping 8 x 512 kB and 32. This is a really big deal, as it allows for much faster performance, especially when you’re shooting for high framerates in 1080p games, and will be especially effective in old esports titles like Counter Strike: Global Offensive.

Finally, the shrink down to 7nm allows for much better energy efficiency. Because of the Zen 3 architecture, AMD Ryzen 7 4 Generation processors like the Ryzen 7 5800X and Ryzen 5 5600X should be up to 58% more efficient than comparable Intel processors. This isn’t the most noteworthy feature here, but, hey, it should translate to lower electricity bills, and in today’s economy every little bit helps, right?

It shouldn’t be too terribly surprising that a 8-core, 16-thread processor with a 4.8GHz boost clock performs like an absolute monster. The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X is straight up the fastest piece of silicon you can buy without wading into the HEDT scene – at least until moving to the Ryzen 9 5900X.

Over the last couple years, AMD has been reaching for dominance in the desktop CPU world, and with the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X, it's finally there.

AMD's Zen 3 series has landed, upping the ante with Intel in its high-stakes game for desktop PC market dominance with a well-rounded lineup of new chips that push mainstream platforms to higher core counts and more raw compute than we've ever seen. As a result, Intel's commanding presence in the enthusiast space is threatened in a way we haven't seen in over a decade.

That something is the Ryzen 7 5800X. AMD cranks the TDP dial up to 105W on this 8-core 16-thread chip, making it the high-performance counterpart to the 65W Ryzen 5 5600X, which is basically the same 7nm chip built with the Zen 3 microarchitecture, but with a lower TDP rating. That chip came away from our first look at the Zen 3 series with an Editor's Choice award, going toe-to-toe with Intel's Core i7-10700K, so it's fair to say we have high hopes for the higher-performance model. AMD still hasn't sampled the chip to the press, so we bought one at retail to put it under the microscope.

The Ryzen 7 5800X slots in beneath the Ryzen 9 5900X, which comes with 7nm compute die to yield a 12-core 24-thread part. AMD has worked wonders to reduce the impact of this sort of multi-chip arrangement, but it's fair to assume that the Ryzen 7 5800Xs single-compute-die design, paired with a higher TDP rating that facilitates more aggressive boost clocks, could actually rival the Ryzen 9 5900X in some applications – games included.

But we've also found that, after simple push-button overclocking, the Ryzen 5 5600X offers similar performance to the Ryzen 7 5800X, even when it is also overclocked. But for $70 less. The Ryzen 7 5800X is an impressive chip and offers a better mixture of performance than Intel's Core i5-10600K, no doubt, but in this case, value seekers might opt for its less expensive sibling.

We covered the deep dive details of the Zen 3 chip design in our AMD Ryzen 9 5900X and Ryzen 5 5600X review, so head there for more information on the Ryzen 7 5800X's architecture, which is identical to the Ryzen 5 5600X.

As the higher-priced version of the Ryzen 5 5600X, the Ryzen 7 5800X has higher base and Boost frequencies of 4 and 4.8 GHz, respectively. That's an increase in base frequency and a bump to boost clocks, but the real advantage should lay in the higher Package Power Tracking (PPT) envelope, which is a measurement of the maximum amount of power delivered to the socket. The Ryzen 5 5600X's PPT tops out at 65W, while the motherboard can pump up to 142W to the Ryzen 7 5800X at peak performance. That opens up much more aggressive boost behavior, on both single and multiple cores, that could widen the performance gap beyond what we see on the spec sheet.

As we've seen, gaming remains an advantage for Intel, so if squeezing out every last frame is all you care about, Intel's processors are a good choice. Much of that performance advantage will be less noticeable when gaming at higher resolutions, or if you pair the processors with a lesser graphics card.

Value seekers who aren't afraid to press the Precision Boost Overdrive button and have sufficient cooling should look to the Ryzen 5 5600X for roughly equivalent performance to the Ryzen 7 5800X, particularly if gaming factors heavily into the buying decision. That could save you money, reinforcing our decision to give the Ryzen 5 5600X an Editor's Choice award.

The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X, like the rest of AMD's Vermeer processors, is built on a 7nm manufacturing node – the smallest in a commercially available CPU. What this means for most people is lower power consumption and much improved performance at the same time.

What this all means is that the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X is an absolute beast when it comes to multi-threaded workloads, especially at this price point. If you're counting on doing some video editing or compiling one hell of an Excel spreadsheet, you're going to see firsthand a performance boost with the Ryzen 7 5800X.

Bear in mind, however, that if you already have something like the Ryzen 7 3700X, this generation doesn't offer the biggest boost in performance. You might want to wait another year or so before dropping a few hundred bucks, or even opt to splurge on a higher-end but pricier chip.

AMD has been having some trouble as of late which has made it even harder to compete with the incoming wave of Core i7 processors. That has forced the chip maker to be a little more creative and make do with their current product lines. Today we have the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X on hand, which in itself isn’t anything new. It’s basically a refreshed Ryzen 7 3700X with a clock speed boost. We say basically because it’s not a straight refresh however, there’s another change.

If you're mostly playing games on your PC, you will be happy buying either processor. Both proved to be solid options and are evenly matched with a slight advantage to the Intel chip if you don't tune up the Core i7 processor. The base performance we showed for the Ryzen 7 5800X can be achieved with $90 memory, while the Core i7-10700K will require $110 - $120 memory in order to enable the frame rates shown here. It’s not a big cost difference and right now with anything less than an RTX 2070 or Vega 64 you’ll more than likely become GPU limited.

Today we’ll be taking a closer look at the AMD Ryzen 7 5800X 8-core desktop processor that was released in Oct 2020. AMD offers the Ryzen 7 5800X without integrated graphics. It runs $399 shipped and is ideal for those that plan on using it a system with a dedicated graphics card.

The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X seems to be a decent performing chip that is readily available for $399 at your favorite retailer. The main competition for this processor is the Core i7-10700K 8-Core unlocked desktop processor with Intel UHD Graphics 630 graphics ($410 shipped).

With Ryzen 7, AMD continues to innovate on its new architecture and 7nm process. Like Ryzen 9, AMD has engineered Ryzen 7 to operate on a AM4 chipset with all the modern amenities of computing. This includes support for DDR4 RAM, the fastest NVMe SSDs and Thunderbolt 3 ports.

Now the biggest question is can AMD’s Ryzen 7 processor play games? The answer is simply yes as it got a respectable gaming score of 96% in our benchmarks.

Regardless of those external factors, the Ryzen 7 5800X proves it has the chops to be your main gaming system and a just as effective media creation platform – two things that are becoming intrinsically connected in this age of live-streaming, eSports and uploading gameplay videos.

The Ryzen 7 5800X clocks up to 4.8Ghz just as it promises on the box, and with AMD’s software you can take one of the cores all the way up to 4.9GHz. However, don’t expect to get much beyond that without seriously upgrading your cooling solution and manually tweaking voltages behind the operating system level.

That said, to squeeze out all the potential of this surprisingly potent high-end chip, you’ll want (and need) to splurge on an enthusiast-grade X470, B550, X570 motherboard.

Fresh from a successful roll-out of mainstream Ryzen 7 CPUs, AMD's attack on Intel now extends down into the high-end with its Ryzen 7 5800X processors, which the company is making available as of Oct 2020.

Like all other Vermeer chips, the Ryzen 7-series CPUs drop into any Socket AM4 motherboard. But most will find a home on boards equipped with the B450 chipset, which has provisions for overclocking and offers plenty of connectivity options. Unlike Intel, AMD plans to utilize its current socket until 2023, so upgrading to future models shouldn't require a new motherboard.