AMD Ryzen 7000 series vs Ryzen 5000 series – is it worth upgrading?

Does the Ryzen 7000 series do enough to warrant a change from the Ryzen 5000 series CPUs?

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AMD Ryzen 7000 series vs Ryzen 5000 series – which is better? AMD’s Ryzen 7000 series CPUs is their latest chipset, and replaces the 5000 Series. But don’t let the age put you off… the 5000 Series is still an incredible entry to AMD’s chip legacy, but how does it fare against its newer sibling? That’s what we’re here to discuss.

Here, we’ll go through the main differences between the two, before cherry-picking our favourite CPUs from each generation. If you’re short on time, one of our favourite AMD CPUs from the 5000 Series has to be the Ryzen 7 5800X3D, which is a fantastic all rounder. If you’re after something more cutting edge, we’d strongly recommend the Ryzen 7900X, a perfect companion for gaming, work or both. If you want a more detailed view into the best of what Team Red and Team Blue has to offer, check out our best CPUs for gaming.

AMD Ryzen 7000 series vs Ryzen 5000 series: Things to consider

The Ryzen 5000 series was a phenomenal CPU generation and AMD Ryzen, in general, has slowly but surely been edging its way up the CPU market share graph year-on-year. There are many things AMD changed for the 7000 series, and these things extend way beyond the CPUs themselves. Here are some things to consider before opting for a 7000 series Ryzen Zen 4 CPU. 

Motherboard socket 

The most glaringly obvious change is the motherboard socket. AM4 (Ryzen 5000 series) was compatible with the AM4 platform. Ryzen 7000 series, however, is compatible with the AM5 platform. What does this mean? Well, fundamentally it means that the new Ryzen 7000 series CPUs will not fit into the old AM4 socket. This is really only due to one factor. AMD has switched the socket architecture for AM5 to LGA, the socket architecture of choice for Intel. 

LGA stands for Land Grid Array and offers many advantages over AMDs old socket architecture, PGA, (Pin Grid Array). The main advantage is more pin density, allowing more features to be brought to the new AMD platform, like PCIe Gen 5. The AM5 socket is actually named “socket LGA 1718”, AM5 is just easier to say and stays within the naming convention of previous AMD sockets. 1710 is also 18 pins more than Intel’s latest socket LGA 1700. So, that’s one point for the 5000 series because if you’re upgrading from the 3000 series, for example, you won’t technically need a new motherboard.

DDR5 Memory 

Another thing that’s changed on the AM5 platform is the RAM. AMD opted to only support DDR5 memory on its new AM5 motherboards, and by extension, this means that the Ryzen 7000 series CPUs are DDR5-exclusive processors. Whist DDR5 memory isn’t as costly as it was a year ago, it’s still by no means cheap. This suggests the money you save opting for a cheaper CPU or motherboard may just be negated by the cost of DDR5 RAM, which is a shame. 

AMD EXPO 

AMD EXPO is AMD’s answer to Intel’s XMP. Formally known as RAMP tech, AMD EXPO is offering up to 11% better performance at 1080p thanks to optimizations. AMD also says EXPO kits are specifically optimized for Ryzen 7000 processors. AMD EXPO is an open standard, meaning AMD does not validate the kits themselves. The memory manufacturers submit their results, and if their memory meets the requirements it’s branded as EXPO-ready. In contrast, XMP is a closed standard, meaning Intel tests memory itself. 

Don’t worry though, you can still use XMP-ready DDR5 on your AM5 motherboard, and EXPO memory kits will still work for Intel CPUs, although Intel hasn’t officially stated that Intel will support AMD EXPO. 

AMD Ryzen 7000 series APUs

If you’re looking for an APU then you’re out of luck with the Ryzen 700 series, there will be no released “G” variants of the 7000 series CPUs. That’s because ALL Ryzen 7000 series have an RDNA 2-powered iGPU under the IHS. So no matter what AMD 7000 series CPU you decide to go for, you still have an iGPU component should you be looking to save a small fortune not purchasing a GPU. 

Power consumption 

Before picking up a Ryzen 7000 series CPU, it’s important to consider the TDP increases Zen 4 Ryzen 7000 series CPUs bring. There’s been a substantial increase in power compared to the Ryzen 5000 CPUs. And with that power increase comes a TDP increase. The TDP of the 7950X vs the 5950X for example is almost doubled, with a rated TDP of 170W the 7950X can actually pull anywhere up to 230W from the CPU socket. So you’re going to have to make sure you have a power supply that can handle the increased power demand. 

Cooling the Ryzen 7000 series

Despite the Ryzen 7000 series supporting a completely different CPU socket, AMD decided it was going to retain cooler compatibility between AM4 and AM5 CPUs. This means that you won’t need to change your cooler if it natively supports the AM4 CPU socket. This makes the whole ordeal of changing your motherboard a little easier. If you’re in need of an upgrade, you can check out the best cooler for the 7700 right here, and read our ASUS ROG Ryujin ii CPU cooler review if you’re after more information.

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Ryzen 7000 series Vs Ryzen 5000 series: What’s new? 

Ryzen 7000 series 5nm manufacturing process 

The AMD Ryzen 7000 series is built upon the new TSMC 5nm manufacturing process, this differs from AMD’s 5000 series CPUs as they were constructed on a 7nm process. What does all this mean? An “nm process” essentially refers to the size of the transistors within a CPU, transistors are tiny electrical logic gates that are capable of either a yes or no output. These transistors when grouped together are capable of very complex instruction calculations. And the more transistors you have packed into one space, the greater that space is at completing calculations. This is why smaller is sometimes better, the smaller transistors in the 7000 series CPUs allow more to be present inside CPU cores. Making for a more powerful CPU, with greater calculation potential. 

Ryzen 7000 series IPC increases

IPC (instructions per clock) is a measurement of a CPUs ability to complete a number of instructions every CPU cycle. This actually ties into the smaller 5nm process we mentioned in the previous section. AMD has increased IPC by up to 13% in the Ryzen 7000 series CPUs, over the previous 5000 series CPUs. This means that the 7000 series can calculate 13% more instructions per core every time the CPU completes a cycle. 

Ryzen 7000 series Cache 

Ryzen 7000 series has 1MB of L2 cache, which is doubled from the last generation, as only 512KB was present in the 5000 series CPUs. It’s obvious that better CPUs with more cores need more cache to keep those CPU cores fed. But the 7000 series CPUs have the same number of cores as the previous generation. The increase in cache is purely for better performance, and not feeding more CPU cores. 

Ryzen 7000 series clock speeds

The Ryzen 9 5950X has a base core speed of 3.4GHz and a boost speed of 4.9GHz. However, the Ryzen 9 7950X has a base speed of 4.5GHz and a boost speed of 5.7GHz. So that’s nearly a billion more cycles per second, with each cycle managing 13% more instructions. That’s some serious improvement and a real case to upgrade.

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What Ryzen 7000 series is the best?

If you’re looking to upgrade from the 5000 Series, we strongly recommend the Ryzen 9 7900X. The Ryzen 9 7900X provides excellent value and pairs well with the very best graphics cards on the market. You can read our full Ryzen 9 7900X review here.

Ryzen 9 7900X

AMD Ryzen 9 7900X

Cores

12

Threads

24

Base speed

4.7GHz

Boost speed

5.6GHz

Cache

L3 64MB

Socket

AM5

How We Review

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Pros

• Incredible performance
• High performance pew Watt
• Interesting IHS
• Cooler than other 7000 series CPUs on average

Cons

• A little pricey
• Hard to keep cool

The Ryzen 9 7900X represents a significant leap in performance on the AMD platform and is perfect for those looking to upgrade. It’s a perfect all rounder, thanks to eight cores and 16 threads. Elsewhere, it boasts an impressive clock speed of 5.6 GHz, ensuring exceptional single-core performance.

Final word

If you’re thinking about upgrading, then you won’t go wrong with the Ryzen 9 7900X. It’s cost effective, has tons of performance and is perfect for those who want to game and work on the same machine. The improvements on the previous generation are vast and so we highly recommend upgrading if you do have the cash. As AMD’s 8000 Series looms in response to Intel’s 14th Gen, we anticipate prices of these SKUs to fall over the next few months, so keep your eye out for a bargain.

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Ryzen 7000 series FAQs

When did Ryzen 7000 series release?

The AMD Ryzen 7000 series CPUs released on 27th of September 2022.

Does Ryzen 7000 series support DDR4?

No, Ryzen 7000 series CPUs are very much built for DDR5.

Does Ryzen 7000 series work on AM4?

No, AM4 is a platform built for previous Ryzen generations (Zen 3, Zen 2, Zen +, and Zen)

Is Ryzen 7000 series compatible with AM4 coolers?

Yes, Ryzen 7000 series retain cooler compatibility with AM4 despite the CPUs not physically fitting in the AM4 socket.