6
5
4
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
5
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
6
HARDWARE
Group Test