AMD 2nd Gen Ryzen 2 2700X Zen+ CPU Review @ [H]

Would be nice to see overclocked 7820X vs overclocked 2700X now that the 7820X is down to 400-450ish depending on the day. X299 boards are down to sub $200 now as well so the platform entry point is only maybe $100 more in total than the X470.
 
I was hoping for more. The 8700K is $300 at Microcenter, so if my new build works out in the next few months it looks like I'll be sticking with that seeing as it's solely for gaming. I don't mind settling for 95% of the performance if it's cheaper, but not when it's the same price or more.

Dollars to donuts you see sub-$300 2700Xs as soon as the newness wears off.
 
What I'm most impressed by is the gaming performance being showcased from various reviews around the web. The 2700 and family are consistently beating all Intel procs (8700k, 7820x ect) in 99th percentile and time under 60fps. This is the mathematical equivalence of a better game play experience. Really interested in looking deeper into this.
 
Man I miss living near a MC. For people without access to one, it really seems like the 2700x might be the way to go.

lived in Sunnyvale CA, with the MC just a couple of exits away and Nvidia headquarters down another exit . Now in Mesa AZ, At least we got a Fry's in Tempe, AZ, however, I get stuff delivered from Amazon for less than the price of gas running across town.

As for the review. I'm less impressed with Ryzen 2 than I thought I would be. I need an upgrade from an old I5 and had considered it for my next cpu, now I'm probably going to wait to see what intel has to offer.
 
Anyone have a link for Ryzenmaster 1.3? All I have been able to find with a quick search is 1.2. The per CCX and core OC looks interesting.
Edit- Meant to say the fastest cores. Might get better OC numbers with the less capable cores disabled.
 
Last edited:
And if you're a gamer, the 8700K still rules at this point. But if you don't game.. its a no brainer I'd think.

At least from the benchmarks that I saw today.. showed the intel still do best in gaming.
 
And if you're a gamer, the 8700K still rules at this point. But if you don't game.. its a no brainer I'd think.

At least from the benchmarks that I saw today.. showed the intel still do best in gaming.

And that wholly depends on resolution/target framerate, otherwise Amdahl's off complaining about the graphics card. It matters slightly for 1080p and marginally at best. Otherwise it's pretty much a wash.
 
Ryzen works well for mixed-use. People who game some, and work some. To the point that I can have some shit rendering or compiling in the background and go play a game while that's going on. Don't underestimate that value.
 
And grand truth to it all... these proocessors are FAST! And the .75 second difference in time here or 11 frames here, etc... you will hardly notice the difference if at all. Be happy with whatever you have or decide to get - because there will be an even better processor come out in the very near future.
 
And that wholly depends on resolution/target framerate, otherwise Amdahl's off complaining about the graphics card. It matters slightly for 1080p and marginally at best. Otherwise it's pretty much a wash.

Pretty much. Anything above 1080p and you're looking at a few frames here and there. Video card is still king at higher resolutions. If you are big into fps games and have to have the most frames possible, 8700k is going to be your best bet. For everyone else using higher resolution that just want playable framerates, Ryzen is more than viable.
 
Juangra must be taking the day off

I expected 12LP would bring 200--400MHz higher than 14LPP. Confirmed.

I said 2000-series would OC to 4.3--4.4GHz. Reviews are getting 4.2--4.3GHz. AMD claims average OC of 4.2GHz. So it is a bit worse than I expected.

I said that latency reductions would come at expense of bandwidth. Confirmed.

I expected no IPC at core level and tiny IPC changes from IF/IMC teawks. Confirmed.
 
I wonder if it would be worth it over my 4770 non k?
Looking at the latest IPC numbers and frametimes, some reviews made it look competitive with KabyLake at the same clocks. Which is why it's all the more sad that it can't hit say 4.5-4.7Ghz. If this refresh was hitting those clocks on air, this discussion wouldn't even be happening :p

Like I said before, layman users buying off-the-shelf and taking advantage of Precision Boost 2 will be very happy. IMO, i think first gen Ryzen users got the real shaft in terms of clocks and IPCs, especially when you start looking at the frame times in worst case scenarios (e.g. MMOs). Fortunately for them, the Ryzen refresh is a drop-in upgrade to their 370 boards, so maybe much ado about nothing.
I'd see if the eBay coupons come out in the next few weeks and use a 15 to 20% off coupon with a purchase from refurbforless (or other eBay sellers). CFL has enough of an overall FPS lead that I'd still argue that you shouldn't be paying the same/similar price for these Ryzen chips.
 
I expected 12LP would bring 200--400MHz higher than 14LPP. Confirmed.

I said 2000-series would OC to 4.3--4.4GHz. Reviews are getting 4.2--4.3GHz. AMD claims average OC of 4.2GHz. So it is a bit worse than I expected.

I said that latency reductions would come at expense of bandwidth. Confirmed.

I expected no IPC at core level and tiny IPC changes from IF/IMC teawks. Confirmed.

I'm seeing more bias toward 4.3GHz.

Summary so far:
Anand: 4.35
Toms: 4.3 (but used 4.2 in testing because they didn't want to exceed 1.4v - obviously not [H]ard, lol)
Kyle: 4.2 (but said he didn't try too hard with it - more in forthcoming overclocking centered article)

Guru3d got 4.4, but seems like an outlier or golden sample.

Story seems to be 4.2 is easy. 4.3 requires some screwing around. Higher than 4.3 requires silicon lottery. Higher than 4.4 requires exotic setups.

It's mildly disappointing for me. Was hoping to see 4.4 be more common.
 
I expected 12LP would bring 200--400MHz higher than 14LPP. Confirmed.

I said 2000-series would OC to 4.3--4.4GHz. Reviews are getting 4.2--4.3GHz. AMD claims average OC of 4.2GHz. So it is a bit worse than I expected.

I said that latency reductions would come at expense of bandwidth. Confirmed.

I expected no IPC at core level and tiny IPC changes from IF/IMC teawks. Confirmed.

Silicon Jesus has spoken :)
 
Ok now if my tax return could get into the bank account... might retire my 2500K as the below reviewer said it would be worth it :D /s but will really look into possibility to upgrade !

Here's my article:

Today I read some reviews of the 2700x. I have concluded that it is a much better CPU than the 7 year old 2500k. Feel free to upgrade.

;)
 
I'm seeing more bias toward 4.3GHz.

Summary so far:
Anand: 4.35
Toms: 4.3 (but used 4.2 in testing because they didn't want to exceed 1.4v - obviously not [H]ard, lol)
Kyle: 4.2 (but said he didn't try too hard with it - more in forthcoming overclocking centered article)

Guru3d got 4.4, but seems like an outlier or golden sample.

Story seems to be 4.2 is easy. 4.3 requires some screwing around. Higher than 4.3 requires silicon lottery. Higher than 4.4 requires exotic setups.

It's mildly disappointing for me. Was hoping to see 4.4 be more common.

I always ignore guru3d. I will wait to Kyle further article, but comparing what reviews are getting now with what users are getting I think I can confirm my prediction of 4.3--4.4Ghz was a bit optimistic.
 
And if you're a gamer, the 8700K still rules at this point. But if you don't game.. its a no brainer I'd think.

At least from the benchmarks that I saw today.. showed the intel still do best in gaming.

I can hardly say the same after looking at latest 1080p results. Really not much difference at this point. AMD seems to have closed the gap on gaming wining margin or error. Except for a few select games may be.
 
lived in Sunnyvale CA, with the MC just a couple of exits away and Nvidia headquarters down another exit . Now in Mesa AZ, At least we got a Fry's in Tempe, AZ, however, I get stuff delivered from Amazon for less than the price of gas running across town.

As for the review. I'm less impressed with Ryzen 2 than I thought I would be. I need an upgrade from an old I5 and had considered it for my next cpu, now I'm probably going to wait to see what intel has to offer.

Lol.. things have changed. That MC closed down a few years back. Nvidia HQ moved across the street to a new campus they just built. The old AMD HQ has closed down and moved about an exit away from Nvidia in a new shared campus setup, kind of sad seeing that the old campus address was 1 AMD way. Intel HQ is still where it was across the freeway from AMD and NVidia.
 
Lol.. things have changed. That MC closed down a few years back. Nvidia HQ moved across the street to a new campus they just built. The old AMD HQ has closed down and moved about an exit away from Nvidia in a new shared campus setup, kind of sad seeing that the old campus address was 1 AMD way. Intel HQ is still where it was across the freeway from AMD and NVidia.

I was pretty sad when MC closed down in Sunnyvale as they have pretty good cpu mobo combo, was hoping they could find a new location around Fremont but sadly that never happened.
 
I always ignore guru3d. I will wait to Kyle further article, but comparing what reviews are getting now with what users are getting I think I can confirm my prediction of 4.3--4.4Ghz was a bit optimistic.

4.3 looks to be where it's at. TheStilt was saying on Anand that AMD used Precision Boost 2 to take the CPU right up to the node limit. The lack of OC is disappointing, but I have a bit of admiration for how close to the limit AMD took their product.
 
Awesome review, told me everything I wanted to know in one graph! I'm convinced I want to do a Ryzen+ build for my personal system this year. It's time to upgrade, got the itch so bad. Going to downsize to a Micro-ATX sized case and build a nice compact and fast machine to sit on my desk with X470 motherboard and 2700X. That will be perfect for the next few years, then when Zen 3 7nm refresh of Zen 2 7nm is out post 2020, I'll upgrade again :p

Gaming will be GPU limited anyway at the settings and resolution I play at. The extra threads could really help with video transcoding, takes forever on my 4 core CPU right now.

I think my last AMD CPU was the Athlon.

This will be fun.
 
IPC results vs Summit Ridge:

YuvqEF9.png


Excluding 256b (not common for regular user), we are looking at single-digit IPC difference now. Spectre/Meltdown fixes dropped Intel a bit. PR added ~1.5% according to TheStilt (less than the 3% AMD claimed, but still something).
 
Thanks for a great review, Kyle. I haven't been as hopeful or excited about an AMD CPU since my 2500+ Barton, LOL.
 
Oh fuck it. I want to play with something new and see if I can get 4.4 out of this thing.

Went ahead and ordered one for the lulz.

Anybody want an abused 1700X @ 4.0?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Esso
like this
Great Review as always. Can't wait until the follow-up! It's really about time I pull the trigger. Haven't had an AMD chip since the Athlon days. It's nice to see AMD come out swinging!

Based on your knowledge of the chips now which chip would you say would be better for a single PC stream setup? Intel solution or AMD? I've been setting on this 4790k for a while. And was waiting to see the results of AMD's new chip.
 
Thanks for a great review, Kyle. I haven't been as hopeful or excited about an AMD CPU since my 2500+ Barton, LOL.

You weren't a fan of the X2s? I was excited over the first gen of dual cores from AMD. They were far above the dual chip Pentium D models Intel rushed out to compete with them. My fav AMD chip was probably my old 4400+, 2200MHz with a 1M L2 cache. I was so happy I could keep my browser open while gaming. I remember I could overclock it to 2600MHz, too.
 
thank you for the review Kyle o7...sorry to hear about your Intel chip however (goes to show even when they can hit the higher clocks there is a cost, in this case BOOM!)

I was number crunching based on all the various websites and such
for 2600 through 2700x 1600 through 1800x
at least on the simple scale one "gains" ~10-17% performance gain (depending on what chip vs what chip of course)
cost factor is ~5-28% increase in cost on a per core or per thread count basis
(based on CAD$ amount again depending on what chip vs what chip)

seems at the very minimum if one were to compare the 1600 vs 2600 (very similar) you gain roughly about 8% performance for around the same cost increase, but also gain some of the "features" if you plop on an x400 based board

for the 8 core models is much more tricky, but generally in the ~8% performance gain and +/- 8% cost (maybe even negative if you choose to use an aftermarket cooler)

=========================
-------------------------

as far as the clock wall, that one is very hard to say IMO at this point seeing as they are brand spanking new, who knows what AMD or the AIB partners will be able to do in a few months down the road, would be very odd indeed for any cpu maker (these days) to sell an unlocked processor that is at its limit no matter the cooler one uses (more so in that the stock cooler is almost as good as it gets beyond maybe running a wee bit warmer) let alone by forcing all cores AND locking the memory timings results in worse performance than just letting it auto calibrate and take care of its own clocks o_O

I think is likely just a matter of fine tuning things in bios/Agesa more than anything else TBH.

===========================
------------
I think they did an excellent job, got the base and boost clocks up for a small amount of extra power, got the temp sensors sorted out, added in a couple of extra features, included some very decent stock coolers, +/- the same cost Ryzen gen 1 was (and within a few $ for current pricing) the new motherboards are much spiffier, though I really do not see the point of them doing 12-14-16 phase dual 8 pin cpu power connectors if there is that limit of 4.3-4.4 all cores, that is akward as hell lol.

anyways, kudos on AMD..now I just need to think of which one to get, do not do work or VR stuff at all (currently) so the 2600/2600x seem like a nice pic for the $ and at least would not break the bank, but then again the 2700x looks VERY tempting, would raise my quick budget by ~$200 (2600 vs 2700x almost not worth it for strict gaming?

jumping from Phenom II 955 (clocked 980+ levels lower volts) 8gb 1866 ddr3..all told to "upgrade" would set me back a bit over $1k CAD (cpu-mobo-ram-OS) if did an entire top to bottom new system ~$3300 (which is nasty pricey for me at this point, stupid memory and gpu pricing absolutely does not help matters, granted this would not be over the top system, just very high end for me style upgrade)

upgrade" from this system I have built up since 2010-2011 or so give or take about $2200 paying about the same price for the "basics". decisions decisions.


damn why can't they just give me these things and I will give them an honest tell me how to test it and I get to keep it review :p
 
Cool, I am sold on giving AMD a chance again, now just need those mitx reviews to start coming out.

Thanks for the review Kyle and the [H]ardOCP team.
 
Forgot to add, I wish they did a 2500x at least as well ^.^
would cinch up the lower value market as well
not that the 2200/2400 are bad, but there does seem to be a spot open for the missing Ryzen 2500x (4 core 8 thread 65w probably could get to a base of 3.5 turbo of 4.2 or something like that for $140USD O.O)

basically getting rid of the vega part on the 2400 if need be (maybe they will do this who knows)
 
Back
Top