Core counts of mainstream desktop processors have been increasing over the past few years. The big jump was with AMD’s Ryzen 3000 series were we saw not only a 12-core chip, but also a 16-core chip! Bringing 16 cores to the mainstream is just insane! It does however provide amazing multi-core performance you won’t find in other mainstream parts and will save you money from going to HEDT route. For those who might not need quad channel memory and more PCI-Express lanes a 16-core mainstream chip would make sense. Today we will be taking a look at AMD’s Ryzen 9 5950X, which is a 16-core, 32-thread processor with a 3.4 GHz base clock and max boost clock of 4.9 GHz, 72MB of L2+L3 cache, and a TDP of 105W. It will effectively replace AMD’s Ryzen 9 3950X and bring with it AMD’s new “ZEN 3” architecture, which brings with it a 19% IPC increase, new 8-core complex, and great efficiency. Is this the ultimate mainstream desktop processor? Read on as we find out!
Special thanks to AMD for providing us with the Ryzen 9 5950X Processor to review.
Specifications
Cores: 16
Threads: 32
Base Clock: 3.4 GHz
Boost Clock: 4.9 GHz
L3 Cache: 64MB
L2 Cache: 8MB
TDP: 105W
Packaging
For the Ryzen 5000 Series AMD is changing their packaging slightly. The overall box design is pretty much the same with a large Ryzen logo in the center, a number in the bottom-right corner to let you know the series, and just simply text that says “5000 Series Processor” in the bottom-right corner. The background is sort of made to look like brushed aluminum. On the back it lets you know what is inside the box and a little bit of information on Max Boost.
The box itself is much smaller than last generation as the 7 and 9-series chips do not ship with CPU coolers. On one side it lets us know that, and on the other we can see our processor through a small window.
Opening the box up all you are going to find inside is your Ryzen 9 5900X processor, a small Ryzen case badge, and installation instructions.
Looking at the chip itself nothing really has changed. The size is still the same as it is fitting into the same AM4 socket. In the center it says AMD Ryzen and in the top left corner it says the model number.
