As part of AMD’s third-generation Ryzen 3000 CPU line, which goes on sale July 7, the $329 AMD Ryzen 7 3700X offers exciting new features like support for the fourth-generation PCI Express interface and a whole new processor microarchitecture from AMD called Zen 2.
This new CPU may only slightly improve raw speed over the Ryzen 7 2700X from the second generation, but it has an impressive 65-watt TDP. Also, the price stays the same, and the performance was already very good for the money.
Go through our epic guide on Best AM4 CPU
- The world’s most advanced processor in the desktop PC gaming segment
- Can deliver ultra-fast 100 plus FPS performance in the world’s most popular games
- 8 Cores and 16 processing threads bundled with the AMD Wraith Prism cooler with color controlled LED support
- 4 4 GHz max Boost unlocked for overclocking 36 MB of game Cache DDR4 3200 MHz system memory specification
- For the advanced socket AM4 platform can support PCIe 4 0 on x570 motherboards. Maximum Operating Temperature (Tjmax)- 95°C
If you want to build a powerful Ryzen-based PC from scratch, the Ryzen 7 3700X is AMD’s most compelling and efficient option to Intel’s Core i7 CPUs that we’ve seen so far. It is a standard Editors’ Choice CPU.
Pros
- Only 65 watts of TDP.
- Prices are reasonable.
- PCI Express 4.0 support.
- Many L3 caches.
- It has eight cores and 16 threads, so it is multithreaded.
- Making it easy to boost.
- Good cooler box.
Cons
- Sometimes, single-core speed isn’t as good as what other chips can do.
- No visual processing built in.
At First Blush, an Incremental Improvement
The Ryzen 7 chips are no longer AMD’s general flagships, as they were in the first and second generations of Ryzen chips. This is due to a marketing change (adding a “Ryzen 9” tier) and technical improvements. The Ryzen 9 3900X is the new king. It is two steps above the Ryzen 7 3700X regarding real processing power and price. (In September, you can expect a 16-core Ryzen 9 3950X for $749.)
Even though the Ryzen 9 name is a marketing ploy, there is a technical reason why a processor line was added between the Ryzen 7 and Ryzen Threadripper lines. The Zen 2 design is used by most third-generation Ryzen CPUs (except for some new AMD APUs in the Ryzen 3000 series).
The Ryzen 3000 family will start with a higher 12-core/24-thread configuration, which is currently only found in the Editors’ Choice-winning Ryzen 9 3900X. Soon, the 16-core/32-thread 3950X will be able to beat that. But until today, most Ryzens had at most eight cores.
Here’s how the 3700X stacks up against the other Ryzen 3000s mentioned so far (all launching today except for the 3950X).
| Cores / Threads | TDP (in Watts) | Boost / Base Frequency | L2 & L3 Cache (MB) | MSRP | |
| Ryzen 9 3950X | 16 / 32 | 105 | 4.7GHz / 3.5GHz | 72MB | $758 |
| Ryzen 9 3900x | 12 / 24 | 105 | 4.6GHz / 3.8GHz | 70MB | $499 |
| Ryzen 7 3800x | 8 / 16 | 105 | 4.5GHz / 3.9GHz | 36MB | $399 |
| Ryzen 7 3700x | 8 / 16 | 65 | 4.4GHz / 3.6GHz | 36MB | $329 |
| Ryzen 5 3600x | 6 / 12 | 95 | 4.4GHz / 3.8GHz | 35MB | $249 |
| Ryzen 5 3600 | 6 / 12 | 65 | 4.2GHz / 3.6GHz | 35MB | $199 |
Like its predecessor, the Ryzen 7 3700X has eight cores and 16 threads. The Zen 2 platform gives the Ryzen 7 3700X a much bigger L3 cache (which AMD calls “GameCache” with Ryzen 3000) and the ability to use the faster PCI Express (PCIe) Gen 4 interface.
Both of these improvements will help power users prepare for the future. PCIe 4.0 means that storage drives that work with it can move data much faster and that add-on cards like graphics cards can use their speed better.
The 36MB of L3 cache, more than the Ryzen 7 2700X’s 16MB, will be more helpful to games soon. An enormous cache could mean better gaming performance because many games work better when they can reach faster memory on the chip. (More on this later.)
Based on these specs, the Ryzen 7 3700X outperforms its main competitor, the Intel Core i7-9700K. The Intel processor has eight cores.
However, its 9th Generation desktop CPUs no longer enable multithreading outside the Core i9, meaning each Core i7 chip can only handle one instruction thread per core. That now distinguishes the latest Core i7 CPUs from all Ryzen 7s.
The 9700K’s 12MB cache is smaller, and Intel processors don’t support PCIe 4.0. The Core i7-9700K costs $50 more, which is crucial if you create a new PC and manage your budget as you add additional components.
However, the Ryzen 7 3700X’s paper edge doesn’t guarantee real-world performance. The six-core/12-thread Intel Core i7-8700K outperforms the Ryzen 7 2700X, but only slightly. Single-core speed is crucial for older apps and games developed for one or two cores.
Performance Testing
Our Ryzen 7 3700X testbed uses an MSI MEG X570 Godlike X570 motherboard with a chipset fan. Even high-end gaming motherboards rarely include chipset-specific fans, but X570 boards do.
16GB of G.Skill DDR4-3600 memory, a Corsair MP600 PCI Gen 4 SSD boot drive, and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Founders Edition graphics card manage video output.
We tested at 3,600MHz. X570 supports more incredible memory speeds if you have compliant memory, and the MSI board provides an XMP profile for the RAM at that speed with a click.
Cinebench R15
Cinebench R15 is a good predictor of CPU performance on many demanding workloads. It measures CPU single-core and multicore performance. The scores are confidential figures showing the CPU’s capability to render a sophisticated 3D image.
The Ryzen 7 3700X outperforms the 2700X in Single Core and All Cores. Since the Core i7-8700K only has 12 threads, both chips exceed it in the All Cores test. The Ryzen 7 3700X is comparable to the Core i7-8700K with a single-core Cinebench score 200, while its predecessor was slower with a score of 172.
Due to its lack of thread-doubling support, we haven’t evaluated the Core i7-9700K yet, but we estimate it to perform slightly better than the Core i7-8700K it replaces for single-core applications but worse for multicore.
POV-Ray
POV-Ray is a synthetic, highly threaded rendering test that validates Cinebench findings. As expected, the Ryzen 7 3700X outperformed the Core i7-8700K in all-core and single-core tests.
Single-core speed is still vital for modern complicated apps that run on several cores. DirectX 9 games often need one or two cores. An AMD official says that more excellent core performance “lifts all sails” because manufacturing variances affect each core’s maximum performance.
iTunes
We compress music songs in an older version of iTunes to test single-core performance. This is outdated software—Apple has already announced iTunes’ extinction—and it’s single-threaded, so extra threads don’t benefit the Ryzen 7 3700X.
As with Cinebench, the Ryzen 7 3700X outperforms its predecessor in single-core performance, although not as much as the Core i7-8700K.
Handbrake & Blender
The Ryzen 7 3700X is a low-end prosumer CPU that can perform complicated content-creation workflows. The Handbrake app encoded a 12-minute 4K film to 1080p, approximately a minute slower than the Ryzen Threadripper 2950X, a 16-core CPU that costs more than twice the 3700X.
It was faster than the Core i7-8700K (eight cores and 16 threads vs six and 12) and nearly as fast as the $499 Core i9-9900K. Blender, an open-source 3D rendering program, is the same. Most current CPUs can create a cartoon flying squirrel in under a minute.
With our test file, this test shows the significant disparities between low-end and high-end chips and their commonalities. The Core i5-8400 and Threadripper 2950X completed the test in roughly 20 seconds, but the budget-desktop Ryzen 5 2400G took 34 seconds.
7-Zip
The Ryzen 7 3700X is also quick when putting things into a zip folder. Its score on the 7-Zip compression test is about the same as that of the Core i9-9900K and a lot better than that of the Core i7-8700K, but not as good as that of the Ryzen 9 and Threadripper chips.
Automatic Overclocking
The Ryzen Master tool lets you overclock the Ryzen 7 3700X in a few clicks. I got an All Cores Cinebench R15 score of 2,149 by auto-overclocking and maxing out everything. This beats the Ryzen 9 3900X’s 3 percent auto-overclocking gain.
These tests were done with the AMD Wraith stock cooling. It says that if you buy a liquid cooler and manually overclock clock frequencies, you can get even more excellent peak performance without crashing the system.
Go through our epic guide on Should I Overclock My CPU
However, considering this chip’s price/performance story and premium stock cooling, most purchasers will be satisfied with the stock performance and cooler. Our testbed does not have the Windows 10 May update installed.
Thus Ryzen Nine 3900X performance may be slightly better than shown above. (Our testing made pushing the update challenging.) Faster clock-state switching improves app launches by 6 per cent and games like Rocket League by 15 per cent, according to AMD.
How Does the AMD Ryzen 7 3700X Game?
The Ryzen 7 3700X will appeal to many individuals creating fancy gaming desktops. Still, one of the early criticisms of Ryzen CPUs was that performance dipped behind that of an identical Intel chip under specific video card and resolution combinations.
We tested a variety of games—both new and old—to determine frame rates. 3DMark Fire Strike Ultra was also run, which simulates 4K visuals. Instead of game benchmark frames per second, 3DMark reports a proprietary score.
We tested using an Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti, the highest-end consumer card. We tested CPUs on a GeForce GTX 1080, as we have for years.
1080p results are crucial. With the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti at 4K, all CPUs performed similarly (within a few frames per second)—even the most expensive GPU limits frame rates to 4K. For 4K high-resolution play with this card, a 3700X or 3900X is comparable to a similarly priced Intel.
The Ryzen 7 3700X and Ryzen 9 3900X perform similarly at 1080p. There’s no reason to pay more if you’re primarily into gaming and don’t need the Ryzen 9’s extra cores and threads for heavily threaded non-gaming programs.
You’ll usually play in GPU-limited situations if you’re a performance hound. Why buy a high-end video card and operate it at low resolution instead of maxing it out?
Extremely competitive gamers employ a high-end GPU at lower resolutions and a high-refresh-rate monitor to view games at 150fps or 200fps. Casual gamers, especially those who buy their video card for 1440p or 4K eye candy, care more about the graphics card than the CPU.
Conclusion
The Core i7-11700KF usually outperforms the Ryzen 7 3700X. It loses 16% in Full HD and 5% in QHD in games. Heavy-duty workloads and 3D rendering favor the Rocket Lake Core i7 by 15–20%. It requires much more power. Ryzen 3000, including 3700X, is efficient like Ryzen 5000.
In Adobe Premiere Pro, the older Ryzen 7 loses 20% to the Core i7-11700KF, but in DaVinci Resolve, the R7 3700X loses 4–12%. Photoshop editing is typically 20% slower—only GPU-accelerated filters like noise reduction, sharpening, and depth of field changing change slightly.
The 3700X exports uncompressed photographs in Lightroom faster than the 11700KF, but 1:1 preview generation is the same. Lightroom prefers AMD processors generally.
Affinity Photo vector graphics are inferior; even the Core i5-10400FR7 surpasses the 3700X. This is an exception, and the 3700X is best for individuals who don’t get enough multithreaded performance on the Ci5-10400F and don’t game much.
FAQs
Is Ryzen 7 3700X good for gaming?
Gaming CPUs are best. Ryzen 3700x can multitask. such as: Excellent gaming.
What is the price of 3700X in Pakistan?
Ryzen 7 3700x costs Rs. 64000.00 in Pakistan.
How much RAM does Ryzen 7 3700X need?
When you need to run some intensive tasks, you’ll likely need more than 16GB of RAM. This is where the Vengeance LPX 32GB RAM kit from Corsair comes into play, doubling the amount of system memory compared to other recommendations here.
Why is Ryzen 7 3700X so popular?
AMD Ryzen 7 3700X pros: Its single-core performance outperforms several Intel processors. It is great for gaming and productivity. Multi-threading powerhouse with 8 cores and 16 threads.
Is AMD Ryzen 7 better than i5?
Ryzen 7 7700 differs. This processor outperforms all Core i5 processors with a 65-watt TDP and a robust high-end performance.
