Hardware reviews are a product of their time; if we were to review Intel's first Nehalem chip today, it would be kicked to the curb, despite being an absolute game changer when it was released. Had the Ryzen 7 5700X been released at the same time as the 5900X (opens in new tab), 5800X (opens in new tab), and 5600X (opens in new tab), it would have been a very different review. But the world has come a long way since Zen 3 first graced motherboards, and there are now better choices.

Taken alone, the Ryzen 7 5700X doesn't look like such a bad buy: it's an 8-core, 16-thread Zen 3 processor with a base clock of 3.6 GHz and a maximum boost of 4.6 GHz. This is only 100MHz off the Ryzen 7 5800X's top speed and only 200MHz off the base clock; AMD chose to lower the TDP of this chip to 65W, while the 5800X has a maximum of 105W. Both chips have the same maximum operating temperature of 90°C.

One of the complaints about the original 5800X was that it did not come with an included cooler, and given the lower TDP, this is again the case. To get the most performance out of this chip, you will need to have a cooler of your own. At the very least, since this chip is unlocked, purchasing a high quality AIO cooler will help get a little more performance out of it.

Since this is a Zen 3 chip, it supports DDR4 and PCIe 4.0, both of which have been eclipsed by the launch of Alder Lake and support for DDR5 and PCIe 5.0. However, if you are going to invest $300 in a CPU, you want it to be compatible with the latest technology because it is the chip you want to keep using for several years.

I said $300, but the Ryzen 7 5700X has already seen a healthy price drop, even though it was only released in April of this year. The chip can already be had for around $250, and the price may drop even further before the Zen 4 chip is released this fall. This is not such a bad price considering that the original 5800X launched for $450, but considering that the chip can be had for around $290 now, it shows how competitive the mainstream market is right now.

Without jumping to conclusions, the problem for AMD is the Intel Core i5 12600K (open in new tab). This chip can be had for around $280, but it is completely outclassed by the Zen 3 in games and more serious tasks. For this reason, we used the Ryzen 5 5600X and a more affordable Intel chip in our comparison benchmarks.

First, looking at more serious applications, it is clear that the 5700X has an uphill battle; starting with the Cinebench R23 results, the new chip seems to do well enough compared to the 6-core 5600X, but the Core i5 12600K's capabilities, it is not far behind Alder Lake in both single-core and multi-core performance.

As for the x264 video encoding test, things aren't quite as bleak, but if that's what you want to do on your PC when you're not playing games, this is clearly only one option. At least for this amount of money.The Core i5 12600K wins in PCMark 10 as well.

The only thing the 5700X does better than Intel's chip is power consumption and operating temperature, but the 12600K shows lower idle values than AMD's chip.

Of course, the most important thing as a PC gamer is gaming performance, and here Intel chips generally win the performance crown. While some games may be more subtle than others, it is often the Alder Lake chips that lead in the latest games.

The minimums also tend to favor Intel, especially Far Cry 6, which records higher lows and a smoother experience; not that the Ryzen 7 5700X is a disadvantage for gaming, but given that the 12600K is priced about the same here and there The lead and supported technologies make the Ryzen 7 5700X a better choice for those looking to build a gaming PC now.

And in the end, it comes down to this: if you are trying to build a new gaming machine from scratch right now, this CPU is not enough; not only is Intel's mainstream chip better for the money, but if your budget is limited, the 5600X or 5600 is a better option.

However, there is one camp that should consider the 5700X. That is if you already have an AM4 motherboard and can simply drop this chip into your existing setup. AMD and various motherboard manufacturers are doing well to support these new chips in their various chipsets and motherboards. Unless your motherboard is very old, this should not be a problem.

If the Ryzen 7 5700X had been part of the original Zen 3 lineup, it would have been the chip to beat. 18 months later, this chip is only of interest to a very specific niche segment. This is what computing is all about.