AMD's 16-core Ryzen 9 5950X CPU reportedly hits 5 GHz in benchmarks

[nanoguy]

Something to look forward to: Whether you're sticking with an AMD B450 motherboard or planning on upgrading to a 500-series board, the Ryzen 5000 series desktop CPUs are a gamer's dream, at least on paper. With the R9 5950X, AMD might finally join the 5 GHz club, and with a 16-core CPU, no less.

AMD CEO Lisa Su revealed the Ryzen 5000 series desktop processors based on the Zen 3 architecture earlier this month. At least on paper, these come with a lot of improvements such as a unified L3 cache, 19 percent average throughput improvement in terms of instructions per clock over Zen 2, and higher performance per watt.

Another of the impressive aspects of the new processors is that AMD was able to clock them 100 to 200 MHz higher than the previous generation on what's virtually the same 7 nm process node. In the case of the Ryzen 5950X, that means up to 4.9 GHz boost speeds. Intel has notably broken the 5 GHz barrier with its desktop and laptop Comet Lake flagship CPUs, but according to newly leaked benchmarks, AMD's new 16-core monster will soon join that club.

This is interesting because we've seen that Zen 2 didn't have much headroom for manual overclocking unless you're winning the silicon lottery. Even AMD admitted as much when it confirmed reviewers' findings that Precision Boost 2 in the Ryzen 3000 series is so opportunistic that it already squeezes every last ounce of performance from those CPUs.

In the case of Zen 3, it looks like the Ryzen R9 5950X is able to shoot a hair above 5 GHz, although we don't know the conditions where this result was achieved. The R9 5900X was only able to get to a maximum of 4.94 GHz, but that's still impressive given that the advertised figure is 4.8 GHz. Other than that, the benchmark results appear to confirm AMD's claim of 19 percent average IPC improvement over Zen 2.

If true, the scores could make the Ryzen 5950X the new champion of the Geekbench 5 single-core chart, replacing Intel's i9-10900K which has a score of 1412. Of course, we'll know for sure soon enough, as the Ryzen 5000 series goes up for sale on November 5 and we plan to review it.

In the meantime, those of you on the fence about whether to go with a B450 or B550 motherboard for the new CPUs, check out this article where we share our thoughts on what's the best course of action.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/87235-amd-16-core-ryzen-9-5950x-cpu-reportedly.html

 

[Carmaine]

Let's wait for reviews and benchmarks before we all start wetting our pants.

 

[winjer]

Let's wait for reviews and benchmarks before we all start wetting our pants.

Too late....

 

[Vulcanproject]

I just had someone ring me up wanting a new PC built. They are impatient but I need them to hold fire at least two weeks to see what happens. If nothing else it should hopefully crater the prices of the 3000 series.

 

[fps4ever]

Once they catch up on the gaming side it will be "even stevens" all around...let the price wars begin!

 

[jonny888]

Once they catch up on the gaming side it will be "even stevens" all around...let the price wars begin!

It would be better (for AMD) than "even stevens". It could effectively put them at equal or better with Intel in all workloads, rather than the current blow-trading they have now. Intel would no longer be able to market themselves as the gaming king, and they've already lost the ground in most of the production workloads.

 

[BadThad]

Without knowing the cooling, this isn't impressive at all IMO. That said, LN2 would probably produced a higher clock so it appears to be air/water cooling, most likely the latter.

 

[Junglist724]

Without knowing the cooling, this isn't impressive at all IMO. That said, LN2 would probably produced a higher clock so it appears to be air/water cooling, most likely the latter.

Matisse cpus already technically have a max boost that is 100MHz higher than advertised, but could rarely ever hit those frequencies. Renoir improved the situation a lot, regularly boosting 150MHz over the advertised speed. The 5950x boosting above advertised is pretty much what I expected to happen this gen.

 

[JimboJoneson]

Once they catch up on the gaming side it will be "even stevens" all around...let the price wars begin!

"Even Stevens"?

Let's, for now, assume AMD presentation and leaks are all accurate (to be verified):

Multi-core: AMD
Single core: AMD
Gaming: AMD
Available cores: AMD
Price per core: AMD (but its getting closer)
Power consumption: AMD
Cooling: AMD
Platform longevity: AMD
PCIe options: AMD
Big numbers: Intel (5.3, 10th gen, 14nm)

I guess big numbers have a hell of a lot of weight ... ?

 

[fps4ever]

"Even Stevens"?

Let's, for now, assume AMD presentation and leaks are all accurate (to be verified):

Multi-core: AMD
Single core: AMD
Gaming: AMD
Available cores: AMD
Price per core: AMD
Power consumption: AMD
Cooling: AMD
Platform longevity: AMD
PCIe options: AMD
Big numbers: Intel (5.3, 10th gen, 14nm)

I guess big numbers have a hell of a lot of weight ... ?

Don't let the fan boyism leak through. It was just an off the cuff statement. Right now top gaming numbers go to Intel. They may very well beat Intel outright but lets not get ahead of ourselves. Competition from just about as good gaming to the same or even better is a win for all consumers. In this situation parity is a good thing.

 

[JimboJoneson]

Without knowing the cooling, this isn't impressive at all IMO. That said, LN2 would probably produced a higher clock so it appears to be air/water cooling, most likely the latter.

So you are saying this "isn't impressive at all" because its "air/water cooling, most likely" that was used? A bit of an odd comment ...

It could simply also be that AMD has implemented user tweakable boost clocks, in fact I think I may have read a rumour somewhere that this will be a feature.

Do note that this is only 100mhz above advertised boost - almost nothing. Also note that some zen2 samples will boost 50-100mhz above their rated boost clocks in ideal situations for short bursts as verified by der8auers poll when he was investigating zen2 CPUs that didn't reach their advertised boost clocks, as well as anecdotal claims by some owners.

Basically this is non-news except to those who put a lot of stock into that seemingly "magical" number 5; that said, tweakable boost clocks would be a nice feature for Ryzen, if that turns out true.

 

[JimboJoneson]

Don't let the fan boyism leak through. It was just an off the cuff statement. Right now top gaming numbers go to Intel. They may very well beat Intel outright but lets not get ahead of ourselves. Competition from just about as good gaming to the same or even better is a win for all consumers. In this situation parity is a good thing.

Your post wasn't referring to "right now", but about zen3, so that was the context I responded to, disclaimed by my statement: " Let's, for now, assume AMD presentation and leaks are all accurate (to be verified): " - you might have missed that part.

 

[fps4ever]

Your post wasn't referring to "right now", but about zen3, so that was the context I responded to, disclaimed by my statement: " Let's, for now, assume AMD presentation and leaks are all accurate (to be verified): " - you might have missed that part.

Lets hope it holds true (for gaming)....

 

[Achaios]

Don't let the fan boyism leak through. It was just an off the cuff statement. Right now top gaming numbers go to Intel. They may very well beat Intel outright but lets not get ahead of ourselves. Competition from just about as good gaming to the same or even better is a win for all consumers. In this situation parity is a good thing.

Gaming isn't all about FPS. FPS fanatics represent only a segment of the gaming community, and purists are an insignificant vocal minority seen only in forums.

 

[fps4ever]

Gaming isn't all about FPS. FPS fanatics represent only a segment of the gaming community, and purists are an insignificant vocal minority seen only in forums.

I was never arguing that point. I specifically mentioned gaming.

 

[JimboJoneson]

Lets hope it holds true (for gaming)....

Doesn't really matter much, its not like they are miles apart. I don't set settings to bottleneck my CPU when I game anyway so the CPU isn't really going to matter there ... I think this is applicable to 99% of all people who play games on their PC.

Sure, a tiny niche exists and those people should pick the CPU that they feel is best in that consideration. If one can squeeze an extra 4-10% FPS in a specific scenario, and that is extremely important to them for whatever reason, then they should do that.

If AMD does take the gaming crown (to be verified), I'll still be pointing out to the AMD "enthusiasts" that the modern CPU performance doesn't matter much for 99% of people for gaming. Its not like the average person playing games owns a 2080ti or a 3080/3090, and plays at 1080p.

 

[Arbie]

Don't let the fan boyism leak through. It was just an off the cuff statement.

Too many posters here and elsewhere insist on portraying the CPU field as "still practically even". That's what Intel's floundering CPU marketeers still toss out for those who might believe it.

This seriously misleads new readers who are trying to get the picture and make informed decisions.

It's absolutely correct to call you out on such remarks. And you apparently knew better. And aren't the first to respond "I was just joking, don't be a fanboy". After speaking exactly like a fanboy.

 

[fps4ever]

Doesn't really matter much, its not like they are miles apart. I don't set settings to bottleneck my CPU when I game anyway so the CPU isn't really going to matter there ... I think this is applicable to 99% of all people who play games on their PC.

Sure, a tiny niche exists and those people should pick the CPU that they feel is best in that consideration. If one can squeeze an extra 4-10% FPS in a specific scenario, and that is extremely important to them for whatever reason, then they should do that.

If AMD does take the gaming crown (to be verified), I'll still be pointing out to the AMD "enthusiasts" that the modern CPU performance doesn't matter much for 99% of people for gaming. Its not like the average person playing games owns a 2080ti or a 3080/3090, and plays at 1080p.

They (Intel, AMD, Nvidia) sure spend a lot of time marketing and promoting to the gamer's for such a niche group. There are hundreds if not thousands of enthusiast game websites dedicated to the pc gaming world alone. It may not matter to the average gamer but they are still interested. You sure seem to be hyping up AMD for something so trivial as you say. Pot meet kettle.

 

[fps4ever]

Too many posters here and elsewhere insist on portraying the CPU field as "still practically even". That's what Intel's floundering CPU marketeers still toss out for those who might believe it.

This seriously misleads new readers who are trying to get the picture and make informed decisions.

It's absolutely correct to call you out on such remarks. And you apparently knew better. And aren't the first to respond "I was just joking".

LOL what is misleading...wtf are you a teenager?

Pray tell how is Intel so far behind? This ought to be good.

 

[JimboJoneson]

They (Intel, AMD, Nvidia) sure spend a lot of time marketing and promoting to the gamer's for such a niche group. There are hundreds if not thousands of enthusiast game websites dedicated to the pc gaming world alone. It may not matter to the average gamer but they are still interested. You sure seem to be hyping up AMD for something so trivial as you say. Pot meet kettle.

I never said "people who game are a niche group" ... what I said was people who have a 2080ti, 3080/3090 and play at 1080p with settings that purposely bottleneck the CPU (where CPU "gaming" performance becomes important) are a niche group.

Where am I "hyping" AMD for bottlenecked CPU gaming? In fact, rather the opposite, I said I will be proclaiming the same thing if zen3 steals that crown from Intel, when people on the other side start claiming how important that "CPU gaming crown" is ...

You seem to be trying to read into my posts too much to try to find fault. Relax.

 

[fps4ever]

I never said people who game aren't a niche group ... people who have a 2080ti, 3080/3090 and play at 1080p with settings that purposely bottleneck the CPU are a niche group.

Where am I "hyping" AMD for bottlenecked CPU gaming? In fact, rather the opposite, I said I will be proclaiming the same thing if zen3 steals that crown from Intel, when people on the other side start claiming the same things ...

You seem to be trying to read into my posts too much to try to find fault. Relax.

That is exactly what I was thinking about the the lengthy replies to my short statement. wow ?

 

[JimboJoneson]

That is exactly what I was thinking about the the lengthy replies to my short statement. wow ?

I only made one reply to the short initial statement, protesting your claim that after zen3, the CPUS would finally be "even steven all around" - which didn't seem quite accurate to me, nor is it the consensus among almost all CPU enthusiasts, regardless of their preference.

The rest were merely clarifications to the continued mis-reading and mis-comprehension of that, and my subsequent posts. Chill.

 

[Evernessince]

Not even sure I'll upgrade even though I have an X570 motherboard. Unless the benchmarks show some impressive performance gains all around, the pricing of the launch processors is pretty poor, especially the 5800X.

 

[fps4ever]

I only made one reply to the short initial statement, protesting your claim that after zen3, the CPUS would finally be "even steven all around" - which didn't seem quite accurate to me.

The rest were merely clarifications to the continued mis-reading and mis-comprehension of that, and my subsequent posts. Chill.

No need to clarify an off the cuff statement until you have actual evidence and your continual reading between the lines and clarify points I never argued. Again pot meet kettle. Best you stop assuming things and ask for clarification before the lengthy posts. I'm sure you are so chill you won't respond amirght?

 

[JimboJoneson]

No need to clarify an off the cuff statement until you have actual evidence and your continual reading between the lines and clarify points I never argued. Again pot meet kettle. Best you stop assuming things and ask for clarification before the lengthy posts.

Ok. Can you please clarify these things for me? Maybe I misunderstood your text ... seriously, do let me know, I don't like to misunderstand people - all I have to go on is the text that they write.