From 3700X To 9700X – How Much Has AMD Improved In 5 Years?

AMD has officially started to release its 9000 series of Ryzen processors for consumers. Like the previous generations, this one has the potential for an instant hit as well. Considering how well-regarded and supported, the AM5 platform is. 

But how far has AMD actually come if, let’s say, we look back to 5 years ago? They released the Ryzen 7 3700X in 2019. So in comparison, how much improved the all-new Ryzen 7 9700X is over its 5-year-old iteration.

Upgrades The Ryzen 7 9700X Has Received

From the Ryzen 7 3700X, the Ryzen 7 9700X has improved quite significantly in almost every department, the 5 years difference between the two does start to show the improvements AMD managed to gain.

Launch Prices 

Starting with launch prices, we can surely say that AMD has managed to provide more value with a lower MSRP for the Ryzen 7 9700X. On paper, the Ryzen 7 3700X does look cheaper with its $330 MSRP as compared to the $360 MSRP of the Ryzen 7 9700X. However, when we adjust the price of the Zen2 processor, the MSRP jumps to $404 due to inflation. 

Core Specifications

As far as the core specifications go, they’re largely the same, as both processors have a TDP rating of 65W and come in 8 cores & 16 threads configurations. Besides that, the 9700X works only with DDR5 memory, while the predecessor is limited to DDR4. Moreover, the 3700X boosts up to 4.4 GHz from a 3.6 GHz base clock.

Whereas, the 9700X can go up to 5.5 GHz thanks to the new Zen5 architecture and a much tighter fabrication process of 4 nm as compared to the 7 nm of the Zen2. The latest Zen5 processor also features an iGPU which was ultimately absent in pretty much all AM4 CPUs. 

Gaming Performance 

Made on the newest Zen5 architecture, the Ryzen 7 9700X offers excellent gains in efficiency but not so much in performance over the Ryzen 7 7700X, proving that AMD has made decent advancements, especially in the efficiency department. This can further be proved with the help of gaming tests that we conducted to compare the differences at both 1080p and 1440p resolutions. 

For testing purposes, we tested both CPUs across 5 different demanding titles like Alan Wake 2, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, Baldur’s Gate 3, Cyberpunk 2077, and Forza Horizon 5. At 1080p, the Ryzen 7 9700X outputs great fps numbers on screen and averages at around 153 fps, opposite to the 118 fps of 3700X. 

Similarly, at 1440p, the Ryzen 7 9700X again takes the lead with 127 fps on average whereas the Ryzen 7 3700X could only generate 106 frames. All this makes the 9700X to be roughly 29.66% faster at 1080p and 19.81% faster at 1440p resolution than the 3700X. 

Synthetic Benchmark Performance

AMD isn’t behind in synthetic workloads either and has made tremendous progress here as well if we look 5 years at the Ryzen 7 3700X’s results. During testing of Cinebench R23, it is evident that the Ryzen 7 9700X refuses to take defeat, even with the majority of this generation’s focus being on the efficiency side. 

The new Zen5 processor features nearly double the single-core performance compared to the Ryzen 7 3700X. Likewise, the Ryzen 7 9700X also generates almost double the scores than the 3700X. This tells a lot about the advancements AMD has made over the span of 5 years.     

Thermals & Power Consumption

Other than the performance, let’s see how the CPU fares in thermals and power draw, the Zen5 processor is sure equipped with extra horsepower so that’s going to play a noticeable role in all this. Nevertheless, the 9700X offers decent thermals even paired with a budget air cooler such as the Thermalright Peerless Assassin. 

The Ryzen 7 9700X peaked at around 67C temperature during the gaming tests, while the Ryzen 7 3700X remained much cooler and peaked at 56C. Additionally, in terms of average power consumption during the gaming test, the 9700X peaked at 88W. While it is significantly less than the Ryzen 7 7700X, it’s still higher than the 3700X.

Now, if we throw the performance results into the equation, the slightly higher temperature and power draw is quite justifiable, especially in comparison with the Ryzen 7 7700X. 

Great Improvements Overall

Whether it’s about value or downright stellar performance, the Ryzen 7 9700X makes sure to check all those boxes. Moreover, when comparing it with the old 3700X, it’s abundantly clear that AMD has achieved great progress in providing more value and performance to its consumers.