2019-06-01_PC_Gamer

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Ryzen 7 2700

AMD £227

All the cores, overclocking, and excellent performance

The best AMD CPU for
overclockers is the
Ryzen 7 2700. At stock,
it’sa bitslower than the 2700X
and even the previous generation
1800X, and it’s also slower than
the i7-8700K. Add in a better
cooler and overclock and you can
erase those deficits. If you don’t
care to overclock, the Ryzen 7
2700X gets you better stock
performance for an increase in
price, and has a better cooler.
Consider this a recommendation
for either CPU, depending on
which way you lean.
The reason the 2700 is such a
great CPU for overclocking is that
it’s still fully unlocked, just like

AMD’s other Ryzen processors.

At stock, there’s a 65W power

limit in effect, which means in

heavier workloads the clockspeed

can drop to around 3.5GHz.

Overclocking can get you back up

to around 4.05-4.1GHz with

1.425V in my testing, which is only

100MHz behind the more

expensive 2700X.

For non-gaming use, it’s

basically as fast as any of Intel’s

mainstream CPUs.

Excellentperformance

Greatpricefor8-core

SlowerthanIntelinmostgames

WraithSpirelimitsOCpotential

VERDICT

SPECS CORES: 8 / THREADS: 16 / BASE CLOCK: 3.2GHZ / TURBO CLOCK: 4.1GHZ / OVERCLOCKING: YES, 4.1GHZ
TYPICAL / L3 CACHE: 16MB / TDP: 65W / PCIE 3.0 LANES: 20

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Ryzen Threadripper

2990WX AMD £1,500

A monster of a CPU, with 32 cores and 64 threads

If you’re a professional

looking for the absolute

fastest multithreaded

performance possible in a single

socket, look no further than

AMD’s Threadripper 2990WX.

Thirty-two cores at 3.0-

4.2GHz is unstoppable in the

right workloads, like scientific

calculations and 3D rendering.

But there are also weaknesses

in the many tasks that simply

don’t scale to that many cores

and threads. Gaming is one of

the weaknesses, not because

you can’t game but because you

end up with a platform that

generally loses to the Ryzen 7

desktop processors.

As an alternative to Intel’s

Core i9 products, AMD’s

Threadripper 2990WX wins out

in many professional applications,

especially in terms of value.

Currently selling for £1,500, for

multi-threaded workloads it’s up

to 33 per cent faster than the

i9-7900X. The problem is that in

gaming workloads, it’s often

slower than even 6-core Ryzen 5

parts (unless you enable Game

Mode to disable halfthecores).

32 coresatIntel’s18-coreprice

MorePCIelanes

Gamingperformanceis mediocre

Expensiveplatformandmemory

VERDICT

SPECS CORES: 32 / THREADS: 64 / BASE CLOCK: 3.0GHZ / TURBO CLOCK: 4.2GHZ / OVERCLOCKING: YES, 4.0GHZ AT

500W / L3 CACHE: 64MB / TDP: 250W / PCIE 3.0 LANES: 64

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HARDWARE

Group Test