Introduction
How does the AMD Ryzen 9 7900 CPU perform versus the Ryzen 9 7900X CPU? In today’s head-to-head CPU performance comparison review, we pit the Ryzen 9 7900 versus the Ryzen 9 7900X and benchmark them in both synthetic system benchmarks, as well as gaming performance to see what the real difference is between them.
If you’ve been wondering how close the Ryzen 9 7900 performs to the Ryzen 9 7900X, then this is the review for you. To go even one step further, we are also going to enable AMD Precision Boost Overdrive (PBO) on the Ryzen 9 7900 and see how close to the Ryzen 9 7900X it can perform when running PBO overclocking! Will it enable the Ryzen 9 7900 to reach Ryzen 9 7900X performance? We will find all of this out in this Ryzen 9 7900 vs Ryzen 9 7900X CPU Review.
AMD Ryzen 9 7900 Specs
On January 10th, 2023 AMD introduced a new line of power-efficient 65W processors in its new Ryzen 7000 CPU series lineup. These three new CPUs are based on the same Zen 4 architecture and AM5 socket platform as the rest of the Ryzen 7000 series CPUs but differ in that they all have a power-efficient new TDP of 65W.
These Non-X variants of the Ryzen 9 7900, Ryzen 7 7700, and Ryzen 5 7600 offer more efficient power consumption, and lowered clock speeds (versus their “X” counterparts), but retain the same cache and core and thread count. They also offer lower pricing to fit the new SKUs. They all still support DDR5 memory and PCI-Express 5.0 and operate on the AM5 platform. The table below details the main differences between the Ryzen 9 7900 and Ryzen 9 7900X that we are directly comparing in this review.
| Ryzen 9 7900 | Ryzen 9 7900X | |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture | Zen 4 | Zen 4 |
| Cores/Threads | 12/24 | 12/24 |
| Cache (L2+L3) | 76MB | 76MB |
| Base Clock | 3.7GHz | 4.7GHz |
| Turbo Clock | 5.4GHz | 5.6GHz |
| TDP | 65W | 170W |
| Cooler | AMD Wraith Prism | Not Included |
| Launch MSRP | $429 | $549 |
The MSRP at the launch of the Ryzen 9 7900 was $429 while the Ryzen 9 7900X was $549.99 at launch. However, you can find these parts for lower prices today online. As always, check the latest prices on Amazon and Newegg to see what they are going for online, they can change over time. The Ryzen 9 7900 also uniquely comes with an AMD Wraith Prism cooler in the box, something you do not get with the Ryzen 9 7900X and would require an added cost.
Installing Ryzen 9 7900
Installing the AMD Ryzen 9 7900 went flawlessly in our ASUS ROG CROSSHAIR X670E HERO AM5 platform-based motherboard based on the AMD X670E chipset. We updated the BIOS to the latest BIOS at the time of testing, which was BIOS 1202 based on AGESA 1.0.0.6. We combined it with 32GB of G.SKILL Trident Z5 Neo DDR5 F5-6000J3038F16GX2-TZ5N (32GB 6000MHz @ 30-38-38-96) memory. The Ryzen 9 7900 was cooled by an MSI MEG CORELIQUID S360 AIO Cooler. You can see the CPU-Z and HWiNFO64 readouts below.
