Ryzen 9 5950X vs Ryzen 9 7950X: Is Zen 4 worth the premium?

AMD is releasing its Zen 4-based flagship Ryzen 9 7950X chip later this month. This processor will dethrone the last-gen Ryzen 9 5950X as the best-performing Team Red chip as the company takes on Intel Alder Lake in an attempt to regain the performance crown.

The Ryzen 9 7950X comes with several improvements over the last-gen 5950X. It will utilize an all-new AM5 socket while boasting PCIe Gen 5 support and DDR5 RAM.

Alongside these upgrades, the Ryzen 7950X will also be cheaper than the last-gen 5950X at launch. While the Zen 3 flagship was introduced at a hefty $749, AMD has slashed the cost down to $699 this time around. This might make the Zen 4 chip lucrative for gamers who want a high-end build for their system.

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The Ryzen 9 7950X is bringing more performance, but it will cost a hefty premium

The branding on the Ryzen 9 processor (Image via AMD)

Although the Ryzen 9 7950X is cheaper than its last-gen equivalent, it has a few key disadvantages that give the last-gen chip an upper hand.

Ryzen 7000 series processors will introduce an all-new AM5 socket. If rumors and market trends are anything to be believed, these new chips will be much more expensive compared to the older AM4 standard.

Users can easily buy good quality AM4 motherboards for less than $100 these days. However, the cheapest AM5 motherboards will allegedly cost users at least $125.

To add to this, the upcoming lineup will only support DDR5 memory. DDR5 memory is much more expensive compared to the older DDR4 standard. Thus, gamers should be ready to cash in a bit more for the latest memory on the market.

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Do modern AAA titles need the latest Ryzen 9 in the market?

Most video games do not use more than one or two cores (Image via Call of Duty)

Spending more on more powerful hardware can be justified if the latest technology delivers more than the cheaper and older options. However, it is worth noting that the Ryzen 9 processors are a bit overkill for gaming uses.

Most modern AAA titles do not use more than one or two cores. Thus, the performance metrics mostly rely on the single-core performance metrics of these processors.

While the Ryzen 7000 lineup will significantly overhaul how much performance a single Zen 4 chip can deliver, the Ryzen 9 5950X is fast enough for gaming.

Most users will not notice the slight gap between the Ryzen 9 5950X and the Ryzen 9 7950X. Instead, opting for a faster gap with the saved money will deliver a much bigger performance gap.

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Conclusion

Both the Ryzen 9 5950X and the latest 7950X are great processors for any form of workload. However, the current market scenario, hardware availability, and pricing favor the last-gen flagship Ryzen 9 chip over what AMD is releasing later this month.

Users will save up a lot of money if they opt for the Ryzen 9 5950X. This money can be spent on a faster graphics card. Alternatively, users can also get the Ryzen 5 7600X and save almost three hundred bucks, which can be put behind a better GPU.

The Ryzen 5 7600X beats the Core i9 12900K in terms of single-core performance. Thus, gamers can safely bet on this performance-range chip.