AMD Ryzen 7 3800X versus 3700X: what's the difference?



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The latest series of Ryzen processors has been available for six weeks and yet, just a week ago, we were able to get our hands on the Ryzen 7 3800X for the first time. Due to this delay, we have received many comments asking us to review it and compare it to the 3900X, 3700X and 3600 models, which we have all examined up to now.

So what's the problem? Why was the 3800X so difficult to obtain, how does it differ from the 3700X and why has the TDP increased by more than 60% for an increase in the frequency of acceleration of 100 MHz? Apparently, everything is a matter of binning and returns that may not be as good as hoped by AMD, or maybe the demand has also played a role.

Silicon Lottery recently released Ryzen 3000 binning data, suggesting that the best silicon quality has been reserved for the 3800X. The 20% of the 20% of the most tested processors successfully passed their AVX2 stress test at 4.3 GHz, while the top 21% of the 3,700X processors were stable at 4.15 GHz. In addition, all 3800X processors passed the 4.2 GHz test, while the 3700X processors only performed at 4.05 GHz, which means that the 3800X has an additional margin of around 150 MHz for overclocking.

Silicon Lottery Results of AMD Ryzen 3000 Binning

In other words, the average 3800X processor should overclock better than the best 3700X processors, but it's still a minor difference in frequency of 6% that we're talking about, it's between the absolute worst 3700X and the absolute best 3800X processor . For more casual overclockers like us, the difference will probably be even smaller. Our 3700X seems stable in our internal resistance test and has not yet crashed once at 4.3 GHz. This is the same frequency limit as for the retail 3800X. As far as the TDP is concerned, this is confusing, but we will first review some of the performance figures and then discuss what we think is happening.

The tests you see below have been tested on the Gigabyte X570 Aorus Xtreme with 16GB of DDR4-3200 CL14 memory. The graphics card of choice for processor testing is of course the RTX 2080 Ti, so let's move on to the numbers.

Marks

First of all, we have Cinebench R20 and let's face it, we are looking at a 3% increase in multicore performance with the 3800X, but at least it's faster than the 9900K.

As far as single-core performance is concerned, we expect an increase of about 2%, which will allow the 3800X to compete with the 3900X and 9900K.

The encoding time in Premiere is reduced by 3%, which reduces our test by 12 seconds. Given what we saw in Cinebench R20, this result is not surprising.

We also see a 3% reduction in rendering time when testing with Blender Open Data, so nothing more to say really. Let's quickly see some games before we get into energy consumption and thermals.

We are really interested in the error margins in Assassin's Creed Odyssey between 3700X, 3800X and 3900X. Needless to say, they all offer a similar gaming experience in this title.

The same thing is observed in tests with Battlefield V: the 3800X is 1-2fps faster than the 3700X, thanks to a very small increase in the frequency of operation. Again, you will never notice this difference in performance.

Virtually identical performance is also seen in tests with The Division 2. We are considering similar performance to the Core i7-8700K in this title.

Finally, we have Shadow of the Tomb Raider and here, the 3800X was 2 ips / s faster than the 3700X, so let's go to the power consumption.

Here we see a 9% increase in energy consumption, which is surprising since we are only talking about a 2% to 3% increase in operating frequency. However, this increase in frequency will accompany an increase in voltage, which probably explains why the 3800X was a little more energy hungry than expected.

Due to this increased power consumption, the 3800X heats 3 degrees with the box cooler and 4 degrees with the Corsair H115i Pro. Interestingly, with the box cooler, the 3800X has a higher rate of 100 MHz, but only 75 MHz with the Corsair AIO.

By activating PBO, the 3800X was still operating at about 2 or 3 degrees warmer, but it now has only 25 to 50 MHz more than the 3700X. Therefore, if you want to turn your 3700X into 3800X, just activate the PBO mode.

Power consumption, the 3800X consumes a little more power than the 3700X, at least with regard to additional performance. We saw an improvement in performance of up to 3%, which cost us about 12% increase in energy consumption.

The margins remain substantially the same with the PBO enabled, the 3800X still consumes about 12% more power than the 3700X.

What is it?

It was not the most exciting reference session in history, but it answered the question: what's the difference?

In fact, not much. At heavy workloads, the 3800X clocks are between 100 and 150 MHz higher, which represents a 2.5 to 4% increase in frequency. This resulted in an increase in processor power consumption of about 12%, which meant that it was heating up a few degrees, which made it potentially a bit stronger.

For this slight increase in performance, AMD increased the MSRP by 21% from $ 330 to $ 400. The biggest percentage increase, if we ignore the TDP, comes from the price. And we think that's all you need to hear, you'll get at best 3% extra performance by spending 21% more of your money.

If this agreement interests you, we have a lot of old Xeon systems … you can have them at a very good price.

Let's move on, let's quickly talk about the 105w TDP, which has been increased 62% over the 65w TDP of the 3700X. AMD seems to say this essentially: with a cooler designed to dissipate 65 watts of heat, the 3700X will not operate lower than its base clock. The 3800X, which is clocked 300 MHz higher for the base, may not be able to maintain the 3.9 GHz frequency with a 65-watt cooler.

The confusion infiltrates when AMD goes from 95 watts to 105 watts with the 3800X. We admit that the 3800X might not be able to maintain a 3.9 GHz frequency with a 65-watt cooler, but it can certainly do it with a 95-watt cooler.

As far as we can judge, the TDP is a measure for OEMs who usually try to cut as much as possible. If an OEM installs a 65-watt cooler on a 95-watt piece and a buyer says, "I do not reach 3.9 GHz," then AMD can choose "Well, the manufacturer does not respond not the basic specifications of the cooler. "

In the end, we do not understand why TDP is an advertisement they advertise while it is not useful for consumers. It may be better for AMD to simply advertise the chiller classification provided with each processor, informing customers of the type of cooling performance they will need to perform the upgrade. For example, the Wraith Prism is a 105-watt cooler. Therefore, you will want a product that is rated higher than you want, if you want to upgrade, such as 150 watts.

Quick Tips: We strongly recommend that you avoid the 3800X and instead purchase the 3700X. If you feel it necessary, upgrade the cooler with the money saved. The Ryzen 5 3600 remains the king of value without exception, and the 3900X offers more hearts for productivity. The game may not benefit, as we have seen in our GPU scaling reference.

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