AMD Ryzen 9 3900X and Ryzen 7 3700X Review: Zen 2 and 7nm Unleashed

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We tested the Threadripper 2920X in Game Mode for our game suite, and Creator Mode for our application tests.

VRMark, 3DMark

We aren't big fans of using synthetic benchmarks to measure performance, but 3DMark's DX11 and DX12 CPU tests provide useful insight into the amount of horsepower available to game engines.

The DX11 and DX12 CPU test results expose the full threaded heft of the Ryzen 3000 series processors. The Ryzen 9 3900X even manages to dethrone the overclocked Core i9-9900K in both tests.

The VRMark test benefits heavily from per-core performance, and the Ryzen 3000 processors have made great strides compared to the first- and second-gen models. You'll notice that our combined Precision Boost Overdrive and AutoOC configuration leads to slightly lower performance for the Ryzen 7 3700 in this test, while the 3900X experiences a small benefit. That's a trend that we'll see repeat in some of our application tests. We've reached out to both MSI and AMD on the matter, and will update these results when a fix becomes available.

Intel's Core i7-7920X is the only twelve-core Intel processor we have on hand for testing, so we're including it in our test pool. Be aware that this is a previous-gen model, so the newer Core i9-9920X, which is based on the same architecture, offers more performance via incremental improvements to its all-core boost frequencies. 

Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation

Ashes of the Singularity: Escalation is a computationally intense title that scales well with thread count, but clock speeds and per-core performance play a big role, as evidenced by the overclocked Core i9-9900K's commanding performance. However, both the Ryzen 9 3900X and the Ryzen 7 3700X beat the -9900K in stock trim.


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Paul Alcorn
Managing Editor: News and Emerging Tech

Paul Alcorn is the Managing Editor: News and Emerging Tech for Tom's Hardware US. He also writes news and reviews on CPUs, storage, and enterprise hardware.