AMD Ryzen 7 5700G vs AMD Ryzen 7 5800X

What a Real Gamer Thinks

George P. – Stamford, CT

AMD Ryzen has won gamers over with its AMD Ryzen series. This lineup marked AMD Ryzen return to form and more importantly provided Intel with some much needed competition by offering higher multi core counts at lower prices. In short, AMD Ryzen are now the go-to option for many gamers, and to be frank, it doesn’t seem like this is going to change anytime soon.

It has taken Intel a long time to bounce back and start offering specs that are on par with AMD Ryzen. By now the AMD Ryzen series has picked up momentum and it’s just going with it, that’s why the topic of today’s review isn’t whether or not you should get a AMD Ryzen but which one it should buy. So keep on reading because all of the info you’ll ever need to know about AMD Ryzen is coming right up. Which will be the better choice?

Much like the Intel multi core series, the Ryzen lineup is divided into the following brands AMD Ryzen 3 AMD Ryzen 5 AMD Ryzen 7 and AMD Ryzen 9. these numbers don’t actually mean a thing by the way. Intel’s marketing team just figured out that odd numbers sound much better to most people than even numbers. You might think lower power consumption would matter more.

AMD Ryzen 3 are affordable solutions that offer the lowest multi core counts. That said, these CPU are still perfectly capable of running the latest titles in day average cpu utilization. Pair them with mid-range graphics cards like the GTX 1660 and some speedy RAM and you could be running Assassin’s Creed Odyssey just shy of 60 fps on ultra high settings. Bump the settings down a bit and a stable 60fps becomes quite doable.

That said, the best value is still found in the AMD Ryzen 5. these are mid-range solutions that strike the best balance between price and performance. More importantly, AMD Ryzen 5 are the more future-proof option for reasons we’ll list when we discuss the individual specs and average cpu utilization. The AMD Ryzen 5800x are quite a bit pricier than their Ryzen 5 cousins making them less cost efficient. This is offset by the fact that you don’t really need a AMD Ryzen 5800x unless you’re building a high-end PC or workstation. These are performance-oriented that far exceed the requirements of most gamers.

Finally we have AMD Ryzen 9. We’ll be honest, you don’t really need a Ryzen 9. not unless you’re building a PC with the new RTX 3080 graphics card. These graphics cards may have been released at super consumer friendly prices but 500 bucks for a graphics card is still a little bit too much for most page gamers. In addition, the capacitors in these graphics cards have been causing some serious issues lately so perhaps it’s best to wait for the dust to settle on the new Nvidia 3000 series graphics cards before committing to them. Lower power consumption can be expected.

In any case, the point here is that AMD Ryzen 9 are simply overkill unless you’re making the most high-end PC ever. There are also Ryzen threadripper but these don’t have much in common with the standard Ryzen lineup. We prefer to think of them as their own series just like the epic CPU.

For now, let’s take a look at specs you should be familiar with and how impactful they are. As we’ve already mentioned, multi core counts are what brought AMD Ryzen back from the depths of obscurity and what propelled the company into greatness. Just looking back at what the standard for multi core counts was in the years prior to the AMD Ryzen lineup gets us shivering at the time of this video’s release. The AMD Ryzen 3 feature four cores and eight threads, the AMD Ryzen 5 come with 6 cores and 12 threads.

The AMD Ryzen 5800x pack 8 multi cores and 16 threads and the AMD Ryzen 9 sit comfortably at 12 multi cores and 24 threads except for the Ryzen 9 3950x which features a grand total of 16 cores and 32 threads. Now multi core counts are one of the most marketable specs have precisely because they’re so quantifiable. Everyone knows that six multi cores is better than 4 multi cores even if they don’t know what is better. For the short answer is multitasking each multi core and thread can only do one task at a time so having access to more multi cores and threads enables your PC to juggle more tasks at any given time.

But how impactful are multi cores and threads really? Do they cause better performance? And more importantly how impactful are they? How about the cache? Well as we’ve mentioned you can still get by that have only four cores. Those are decent. This is why the AMD Ryzen 3 are genuinely a good option for budget builds. The main reason we don’t recommend using them for mid-range builds as well is because they lack future proofing. In 2020 the sweet spot for multi core counts is 6 cores. That is why we recommend AMD Ryzen 5 to all PC builders.

AMD Ryzen 5800x with their 8 cores and 16 threads are simply overkill for now unless your thing is theoretical computer performance and billion floating point operations. Another hugely important spec as far as performance is concerned is the clock speed. This specification measured in gigahertz tells you how many operations a single core can carry out in a second so the higher the clock speed the better the performance. Although having the chipset operate at higher clock speeds will also result in more heat generation and cache and lower power consumption.

When it comes to gaming, the clock speed is arguably more important than the core count which is why Intel multi core still tends to win out in terms of in-game performance. It acurately reflect what is really happening. The latest AMD Ryzen 5 processor features base clock speeds of anywhere between 3.6 and 3.9 gigahertz while their boost clock ranges from 3.9 to 4.7 gigahertz. Now here’s the thing… unlike the Intel multi core CPU, all AMD Ryzen processor can be overclocked meaning you can set them to operate at clock speeds that are higher than normal. Conversely, their potential is lower than that of an unclocked high-end Intel core model so if you’re looking to do some serious overclocking maybe don’t get a AMD Ryzen.

But this isn’t a problem for most users. Why? Well, processor overclocking just isn’t that big of a deal for casual gamers. Processor abuse voids the warranty and it can cause the system to become unstable. What’s more, the performance boost you can get through overclocking typically isn’t all that noticeable. It’s more of a hobby that some PC enthusiasts are into than something that’s necessary or even advised. If all you’re interested in it and you’re about to buy a new Ryzen CPU processor then you absolutely do not need to overclock your CPU. All modern CPU are good enough to run all the leading titles out of the box.

Next up, we have a spec that isn’t all that popular among gamers and that is cache memory. Simply put, this is a small amount of memory that the CPU uses to store important data that it may need to access quickly. To say that cache memory doesn’t play a role in the overall performance and stability of a CPU wouldn’t exactly be right, but we can safely say that it doesn’t matter. Since most Ryzen CPU come with similar cache sizes anyway this is a spec you can safely overlook when deciding on the right CPU for your build.

The AMD Ryzen processor lineup isn’t comprised entirely of CPU, it also features a couple of APUs. What are APUs? The short answer is that APU is just a fancy term for a processor that features the CPU and GPU on the same die. In other words, APUs can be used in builds without a discrete graphics card. The recent advancements in the APU fields can finally be used for some true granite builds.

APUs will never reach fps council builds with discrete graphics cards, but this is to be expected. Nevertheless, they are still capable of reaching perfectly playable frame rates. You may have to lower the resolution or graphics in some games to get there, but you can.

For example, both the Ryzen 3 3200g processor and the Ryzen 5 3400g processor can run Fortnite at well over 60 fps at 72p on medium graphics. So if you’re working with a really tight budget this may be an answer. Just remember that APUs have lower core counts than regular Ryzen CPU processor so if you’re not planning to make use of it then getting an APU can be detrimental to overall performance.

Compatibility is one of the most important factors to keep in mind when shopping for a new procesor. After all, not every central processing unit is compatible with every motherboard. The two components need to use the same socket if they are to work together. Here’s the good news excluding, the threadripper models. All AMD Ryzens use the same AM4 socket which makes our lives so much easier when building. However, not all chipsets support all CPU so you still need to make sure that the CPU you want to get is compatible with the motherboard’s chipset. Certain CPU we’ve mentioned end in letters rather than numbers. When this is the case the letter can tell us a lot about the CPU in question. Processors that end in an x like the Ryzen 5 3600x feature a higher clock speed and better potential than others without the x designation. These CPU still don’t measure up to the unlocked Intel core models in terms of their potential.

In case you were wondering, models that end in a g like the Ryzen 5 3400g are APU’s. There are some other letter designations as well but these are very rarely used. Lastly, we need to ask ourselves whether getting the newest CPU is even necessary. Surprisingly, the answer is yes at least in most cases. This isn’t to say that you need to upgrade your CPU every time a better one comes out. Far from it! A good CPU can easily last you 5 years before it starts to struggle running the latest games. But if you already need to buy a CPU then getting the newest one is often your best bet.

The thing is CPU prices don’t depreciate all that much with age so what little scratch you’d save by opting for an older CPU often isn’t indicative of the performance you’re losing out on. This is under the assumption that you’re purchasing the CPU from the store even though it’s a last-gen model as for purchasing second-hand CPU that’s a different matter entirely. This can be worth it from a price standpoint, especially as CPU are some of the safer PC components to get used, but you should still follow all the guidelines on buying second hand hardware.

Additionally, you should look at how big of a performance gap there is between the current and last-gen CPU. The third generation of Ryzen CPU offered a sizeable performance boost when compared to second gen Ryzen CPU, but this isn’t the case with the second and first generation. The fourth generation Ryzen CPU that are set to release shortly will utilize the new ZEN3 architecture with two processors and a fast connection, so if you aren’t in a hurry it’s best to wait for the reviews to come out before committing to a 3000 series CPU. On the other hand, we also know that this will be the last generation of AMD Ryzen to utilize the AM4 socket, so if future proofing is something you value a lot you might want to skip the Ryzen 4000 and wait for the Ryzen 5000 CPU.

In conclusion, different AMD Ryzen will appeal to different users for different requirements, so there’s no one answer that we can give that will hold true for everyone. However, we can generalize, and in general the Ryzen 5 CPU stand out as the most cost effective of the bunch. They have enough power to run all of the latest titles smoothly and some left over for the sake of future proofing. Unless you’re getting a high-end GPU they won’t cause a bottleneck either, so for most users the right pick will be Ryzen 5 over an Intel Core.

But for those on a tight budget, Ryzen 3 still presents great value at a great price as do the new AMD APUs. Just make sure not to get an APU if you’re already going to buy a discrete graphics card for your PC Ryzen 7.

Ryzen 9 CPU are more geared towards professionals than gamers but a Ryzen 7 will not feel out of place in a high-end rig. Concerning which generation of Ryzen CPU you should opt for, you can never go wrong with the latest products.

Those who skipped the Ryzen 2000 series and patiently waited for the Ryzen 3000 series certainly got value but not every generational gap is going to be this huge.