AMD RYZEN 7
3700X /£260 inc VAT
SUPPLIER overclockers.co.ukA
MD made some interesting tweaks to
its product stack with the introduction
of Zen 2, and one of them was the
positioning of the Ryzen 7 3700X compared with
the 2nd-gen Ryzen line-up. Like the Ryzen 7
2700X, this chip has eight cores and 16 threads,
but it also has a low TDP of just 65W.
However, the frequencies aren’t in any way
lowly. The peak single-core boost of 4.4GHz
is only 100MHz lower than that of the Ryzenthe Ryzen 9 3950X, but it’s ultimately still
noticeably slower than Intel’s mainstream
CPUs in these specific tests.
When it came to overclocking, we hit an
all-core overclock of 4.3GHz, but no higher,
despite pushing the vcore all the way to
1.425V. This is a 300MHz improvement
over the stock speed all-core boost, and just
100MHz short of the 3700X’s peak single-
core boost clock, so it’s potentially a better
option than using Precision Boost Overdrive on
this CPU. This overclock saw significant boosts
to our Handbrake test, and cut the Adobe
Premiere test time by ten seconds, while
adding nearly 400 points to the Cinebench
multi-threaded score. However, it made little
difference to gaming performance.Conclusion
The fact that the Ryzen 7 3700X now costs
just £260 means it offers even better value
than last year and, for a multi-purpose PC, it’s
the best option below £300. It falls short of
Intel in some games, but this won’t be the case
everywhere and it offers great value for multi-
threaded tasks. The Ryzen 7 3800X is only a
little faster and not worth the extra cash.SPEC
Base frequency 3.6GHz
Turbo frequency 4.4GHz
Core Zen 2
Manufacturing process 7nm
Number of cores 16 x physical (16 threads)
IGP None
Simultaneous Multithreading Ye s
Cache 32MB L3 cache, 4MB L2 cache
Memory controller Dual-channel
DDR4, up to 3200MHz
Packaging AMD Socket AM4
Thermal design power (TDP) 65W
Features Precision Boost 2, Precision Boost
Overdrive, FMA3, F16C, SHA, BMI / BMI1 + BMI2,
AVX2, AVX, AES, SSE4a, SSE4, SSE3, SSE2, SSEVERDICT
A brilliant sub-£300 all-rounder, which
offers better value for money than the
similarly priced competitors.8CORE
+ Excellent value
+ Much faster than
previous generation
+ Power-frugal8TRACK- Slower than Intel
in some games at
certain settings - Requires fast
memory for the
best performance - Not much overclocking^
headroom
PERFORMANCE
39 / 50FEATURES
13 / 15OVERALL SCORE
84 %
VALUE
32 / 35c
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7 3800X and just 200MHz lower than that of
the Ryzen 9 3900X. The all-core boost we’ve
observed was a fair bit lower than its 8-core
sibling, though, with the Ryzen 7 3800X hitting
4.2GHz as opposed to 4GHz for the 3700X in
multi-threaded tasks.
Thanks to the Zen 2 architecture, though, this
potent 8-core CPU is still very power-frugal. At
stock speed, our test system drew just 185W
from the wall with the 3700X under load,
which is lower than the draw with Intel’s Core
i5-9600K installed.
The 3700X and 3800X lack the monstrous
L3 cache of the 12 and 16-core Ryzen CPUs,
as only two Core Complexes are active, with
four cores and 16MB L3 cache apiece. Still,
32MB is a decent amount of L3 cache for
a mainstream CPU. Meanwhile, the 512KB
L2 cache per core totals 4MB and, like other
Zen 2 CPUs, there’s an improved memory
controller too, meaning speeds up to around
3600MHz can run in tandem with the CPU’s
Infinity Fabric, boosting performance.
In terms of performance, AMD’s Ryzen 7
and Ryzen 9 CPUs stormed our RealBench
tests, with huge image editing scores, and the
Ryzen 7 3700X beat the more expensive Core
i7-9700K in our video encoding and multi-
tasking tests too. A system score of 234,491
puts it ahead of the Core i7-9700K again, and
it even pipped the Core i9-10900X to the post
here, although both of Intel’s Hyper-Threaded
8-core CPUs scored higher.
Cinebench saw the 3700X yet again
outperform the Core i7-9700K, as did
Premiere Pro, where the 3700X nearly
matched the Core i9-9900KF too. The
3700X was also one of AMD’s faster CPUs
in games, being not much slower thanAMD RYZEN 7
3700X/£260 inc VAT
SUPPLIER overclockers.co.ukA
MD made some interesting tweaksto
its product stack with the introduction
of Zen 2, and one of them was the
positioning of the Ryzen 7 3700X compared with
the 2nd-gen Ryzen line-up. Like the Ryzen 7
2700X, this chip has eight cores and 16 threads,
but it also has a low TDP of just 65W.
However, the frequencies aren’t in any way
lowly. The peak single-core boost of 4.4GHz
is only 100MHz lower than that of the Ryzen
the Ryzen 9 3950X, but it’s ultimately still
noticeably slower than Intel’s mainstream
CPUs in these specific tests.
When it came to overclocking, we hit an
all-core overclock of 4.3GHz, but no higher,
despite pushing the vcore all the way to
1.425V. This is a 300MHz improvement
over the stock speed all-core boost, and just
100MHz short of the 3700X’s peak single-
core boost clock, so it’s potentially a better
option than using Precision Boost Overdrive on
this CPU. This overclock saw significant boosts
to our Handbrake test, and cut the Adobe
Premiere test time by ten seconds, while
adding nearly 400 points to the Cinebench
multi-threaded score. However, it made little
difference to gaming performance.Conclusion
The fact that the Ryzen 7 3700X now costs
just £260 means it offers even better value
than last year and, for a multi-purpose PC, it’s
the best option below £300. It falls short of
Intel in some games, but this won’t be the case
everywhere and it offers great value for multi-
threaded tasks. The Ryzen 7 3800X is only a
little faster and not worth the extra cash.SPEC
Base frequency 3.6GHz
Turbo frequency 4.4GHz
Core Zen 2
Manufacturing process 7nm
Number of cores 16 x physical (16 threads)
IGP None
Simultaneous Multithreading Ye s
Cache 32MB L3 cache, 4MB L2 cache
Memory controller Dual-channel
DDR4, up to 3200MHz
Packaging AMD Socket AM4
Thermal design power (TDP) 65W
Features Precision Boost 2, Precision Boost
Overdrive, FMA3, F16C, SHA, BMI / BMI1 + BMI2,
AVX2, AVX, AES, SSE4a, SSE4, SSE3, SSE2, SSEVERDICT
A brilliant sub-£300 all-rounder, which
offers better value for money than the
similarlypricedcompetitors.8CORE
Excellent value
Much faster than
previous generation
Power-frugal
8TRACK- Slower than Intel
in some games at
certain settings - Requires fast
memory for the
best performance - Not much overclocking
headroom
PERFORMANCE
39 / 50FEATURES
13 / 15OVERALLSCORE
84 %
VALUE
32 / 35cc
uu
sstommPP
CCA
P
PROVED
7 3800X and just 200MHz lower than that of
the Ryzen 9 3900X. The all-core boost we’ve
observed was a fair bit lower than its 8-core
sibling, though, with the Ryzen 7 3800X hitting
4.2GHz as opposed to 4GHz for the 3700X in
multi-threaded tasks.
Thanks to the Zen 2 architecture, though, this
potent 8-core CPU is still very power-frugal. At
stock speed, our test system drew just 185W
from the wall with the 3700X under load,
which is lower than the draw with Intel’s Core
i5-9600K installed.
The 3700X and 3800X lack the monstrous
L3 cache of the 12 and 16-core Ryzen CPUs,
as only two Core Complexes are active, with
four cores and 16MB L3 cache apiece. Still,
32MB is a decent amount of L3 cache for
a mainstream CPU. Meanwhile, the 512KB
L2 cache per core totals 4MB and, like other
Zen 2 CPUs, there’s an improved memory
controller too, meaning speeds up to around
3600MHz can run in tandem with the CPU’s
Infinity Fabric, boosting performance.
In terms of performance, AMD’s Ryzen 7
and Ryzen 9 CPUs stormed our RealBench
tests, with huge image editing scores, and the
Ryzen 7 3700X beat the more expensive Core
i7-9700K in our video encoding and multi-
tasking tests too. A system score of 234,491
puts it ahead of the Core i7-9700K again, and
it even pipped the Core i9-10900X to the post
here, although both of Intel’s Hyper-Threaded
8-core CPUs scored higher.
Cinebench saw the 3700X yet again
outperform the Core i7-9700K, as did
Premiere Pro, where the 3700X nearly
matched the Core i9-9900KF too. The
3700X was also one of AMD’s faster CPUs
in games, being not much slower than