The Ryzen 7 7700X is a mid to high-end CPU designed for those that want a few extra cores over the 7600X, but don’t want to shell out for a 7900X. Despite being released in 2022, this AM5 Ryzen 7 CPU offers a fantastic mix of performance, productivity, and value. Because it’s part of the first generation of AM5 processors, and with the second-gen rumored to be approaching, it soon could be a great time to snag one of these for yourself. This is our Ryzen 7 7700X review.
Thanks to AMD, we have power and affordability at our fingertips, though this CPU sits in a somewhat lesser-used area of CPU lineups, it still has a lot to offer a prospective buyer. Let’s take a closer look at a CPU that doesn’t often get enough credit.
- Cores: 8
- Threads: 16
- Boost speed : Up to 5.4 GHz
- Base speed: 4.5 GHz
- L3 Cache: 32 MB
- TDP: 105W
- Platform: AMD (AM5)
The AMD Ryzen 7 7700X is a CPU that sometimes struggles to find it’s place in the world, however, it still offers a lot in terms of power and performance. It could be a little more affordable, but it does okay at filling the massive performance gap between the 7600X and the 7900X.
- Full of that good old AMD power efficiency
- Can be found cheap during big sales events
- essentially the new 7800X
- An uncommon choice next to the likes of the 7800X3D, only viable if you don’t want to game primarily
- No boxed cooler
Why we have given this CPU a 4
Whilst this CPU is powerful and comes in slightly more efficient than the 7600X, we just think it occupies an awkward spot in the market. We feel most are inclined to pick up a 7900X for productivity, or a 7800X3D for pure gaming workloads. The 7700X does stand well on it’s own, it’s just put in an awkward spot by it’s AM5 siblings.
CPU specifications
I know we gave a rundown of CPU specifications above, but it’s important to get down into the nitty gritty and understand where the performance of this CPU comes from. You can apply this knowledge to any CPU on the planet to determine its performance. But things aren’t always what they seem.
Here are the detailed specifications of the 7700X:
- Cores: 6
- Threads: 12
- Base clock speed: 4.7GHz
- Boost clock speed: 5.3GHz
- L2 Cache: 6MB
- L3 Cache: 32MB
- TDP: 105W
- Socket: AM5
- iGPU: RDNA 2 based Radeon Graphics
As you can see, Our Ryzen 7 CPU has two more multithreaded cores available to it, but it’s got a lower base speed and only a slightly higher boost speed. This will likely be done to keep the TDP down to the same baseline that the 7600X operates.
IPC is something that can be used to deduce CPU performance further, however, as both of these CPUs in our comparison are the same 5nm architecture, the IPC remains the same. We explained IPC during the review of the Ryzen 5 we did, so if you need more information on that, take a look there. Essentially, when looking at CPUs generationally, you can look at the size of the transistors (nm process) to gain further insight into a CPU’s performance.
The nm process explains all
If we take the 5000 series Zen 3 vs the 7000 series Zen 4, we can see that it’s 7nm vs 5nm.
The transistors in the 5nm architecture are smaller, meaning we can pack more of them into the same footprint. Transiters are the little yes or no logic gates that collectively process instructions in a CPU. It gets complicated, but if you take a Ryzen 5000 series CPU at 5.0GHz, and a Ryzen 7000 series CPU at 4.0GHz, it’s likely that the 7000 series will perform better thanks to the increased IPC that the smaller more numerous transistors provide, in spite of it having a lower clock speed.
The IPC increase from Ryzen 5000 to Ryzen 7000 was about 8-10% resulting in around a 35% overall uplift.
IPC just stands for instructions per clock, that is how many instructions can be completed per CPU cycle. Depending on the clock speed, these cycles can happen Billions of times a second. So you start to get into silly numbers quickly.
Speaking of Ryzen 5000 If you couple this IPC increase with the 20% memory bandwidth increase that the AM5 platform provides by supporting DDR4, then Zen 4 is poised to leave Zen 3 in the dust. IPC is complicated, but just note that it’s a crucial factor when comparing CPUs generationally, it does not matter for CPUs of the same generation unless they are from different manufacturers.
You don’t really NEED to know all this, we’ll tell you whether or not the CPU is good. It’s just good information to have if you plan to conduct your own CPU comparisons.
CPU performance
We have tested our Ryzen 7 CPU in a few synthetic and real-world scenarios, although we do like to game here at PCGuide, we have put more of a focus on productivity and workstation benchmarks. This was done to get a better feel for how the CPU would do should it be used for more productive workloads.
Firstly, we should outline the components of the benchmark rig we used to test our Ryzen 7 CPU because performance (especially in games) is attributed to more than just the CPU in your system.
| Component | Name |
| GPU | RTX 4070 Ti Super |
| Memory | Corsair Vengeance DDR5 @ 6400MHz |
| Motherboard | ASUS ROG Crosshair Extreme X670 |
| CPU cooler | Corsair Elite LCD Capellix 360MM |
| Power supply | ASUS ROG Thor 1000W |
| Case | Cooler Master Masterframe |
We paired our AMD CPU with the most up-to-date hardware to ensure the CPU can run at maximum power without being limited by lesser components.
Synthetic performance
We perform many popular synthetic benchmarks to get the widest possible scope of the CPU’s capabilities in different scenarios, we test everything from compression to photo editing, to machine learning. Let’s see how the Ryzen 7 faired in our comprehensive PCGuide benchmarking suite without further delay.
| Benchmark | Score |
| CPU Z Single | 772 points |
| CPU Z Multi | 7,983 points |
| Cinebench R23 Single | 1,995 points |
| Cinebench R23 Multi | 19,650 points |
| Geekbench Single | 3,043 points |
| Geekbench Multi | 15,989 points |
| Puget Systems photoshop | 9,033 points |
| Blender render | Monster 126.01 SPM Junkshop 87.84 SPM Classroom 65.30 SPM |
| 7 Zip Compression 32MB (10 passes) | 44.657s |
| Handbrake TOS 4K Fast 1080P encode | Average Speed 87.37 FPS Encode Time 3:26 |
as you can see, there is quite an impressive array of scores here, we’re going to break down each benchmark so you know exactly how well our AMD CPU does. Hopefully, with your use case in mind, this will help you determine whether the CPU will be right for you.
CPU-Z
CPU-Z is a baseline benchmark for all CPUs to see how they stack up against each other. Our CPU stacked up similarly in the single-core benchmarks to both the 7900X and 7600X, bar a few points due to the difference in core speed. This is because all AM5 CPUs use the same CPU cores, and are all clocked fairly close together, allowing the single-core performance across all of the CPUs to remain similar. Of course, it’s a very different story when multi-core performance comes into play.
Cinebench r23
Cinebench is everyone’s favorite table and chair simulator, and similar to Blender which we will get to in a minute, it measures the rendering performance of your CPU. The image Cinebench wants to render is incredibly information-dense and requires much more computing power than your average JPEG. Our CPU scored well in Cinebench, again achieving similar single-core scores to the other CPUs in the Ryzen 7000 series, but really letting those 2 extra cores stretch to gain a huge edge over the 7600X in multi-core performance.
Geekbench 6
Geekbench is a package benchmark software that tests the CPU in a multitude of different scenarios. These range from machine learning to compression, after which, Geekbench spits out a score based on how well the CPU did. Our Ryzen 7 CPU manages good scores stacked against the 7600X, managing to score over 2,000 more points in the multi-core benchmarks.
Puget systems Photoshop
Puget Systems is a heavy testing suite that really pushes CPUs to the limit. We have chosen the Photoshop version of the test, to see how well the 7700X holds up when working on complex image edits. Strangely enough, our data shows that the Ryzen CPU that we have is just as proficient at video editing as the 7900X is. It could be that we’re limited in another area other than CPU but as far as performance goes, it’s obviously more than capable of photo editing.
Blender
Unlike the kitchen utensil, this blender benchmark tests your CPU’s ability to render complex 3D scenes. We’re looking at a measurement of Samples per Minute or (SPM), as this is the metric that Blender uses. Here, our Ryzen CPU manages 126.01 SPM in Monster, one of the easier tests. This is a fantastic result compared to the 7600X’s score of 87.03 SPM. However, CPUs aren’t really the best at rendering, GPUs are much more suited to this kind of linear processing. To put things into perspective, our 4070 Ti Super achieves 3726 .61 SPM in Monster.
7-Zip compression test (10 passes)
The 7-Zip benchmark takes a 32MB package and puts it through 10 passes of compression and decompression, and then measures the result. Funnily enough, it seems to be that the CPUs with fewer cores tend to fare a little better in these benchmarks. The 7700X manages to complete the 10 passes in 44.65 seconds.
Handbrake Tears of Steel
A screenshot of a computer interface displaying a Ryzen 7 7700X review, including video file details such as file paths, resolution, codec, and audio settings.
Screenshot of a Ryzen 7 7700X review encoding software summary window, displaying job start and end time, duration, speed, source and output length, and file size details.
The handbrake Tears of Steel benchmark takes a 6GB video file in 4K and converts it to 1080p using a standard preset within Handbrake. The idea is to gauge how good a CPU is at encoding video. Our CPU managed the full pass at 03:26, with an average encoding speed of 86.7 FPS. More than 20FPS more than the 7600X.
Real-world benchmarks
Now that we have the productivity benchmarks out of the way, it’s time we had a little fun and see how our Ryzen 7 faires in games. You have to bear in mind, that your results may vary, GPUs do most of the heavy lifting in games unless you have the exact same setup as us, so don’t be scared if your system underperforms compared to ours.
| Game | Result |
| Days Gone | 255 FPS / 1% 84 FPS |
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 296 FPS / 1% 132 FPS |
We performed our gaming benchmarks in 1080p and low settings to ensure we were as free from GPU restriction as possible. It’s important to try and isolate the CPU performance as much as possible.
Days Gone
Days Gone is a relatively large open-world survival that has been known to hog some CPU resources, our Ruyzen CPU didn’t struggle at all here, however, managing 255 FPS average, and 1% average of 84 FPS. The game played buttery smooth and didn’t stutter at all.
Cyberpunk 2077
CP 2077 is still one of the hardest games on the PC platform to run, but that doesn’t mean anything to this CPU. In our benchmarks, the Ryzen 7 manages 296 FPS and 1% average of 132 FPS. Again, no stuttering was noticed.
What do these benchmarks mean?
We perform a comprehensive set of both synthetic and real-world gaming benchmarks to determine how well the 7700X performs in as many different workloads as possible. The synthetic portion of the benchmarks covers productivity and workstation loads whereas the real-world benchmarks cover mainly gaming.
Analyzing these benchmarks shows that our Ryzen 7 CPU is ready to go for both workstation and gaming use. There are better choices out there for both options, such as the 7800X3D for gaming and the 7900X for productivity. But if your eye is on the 7700X for either workload, and you can find it for a good price, then who are we to say no, we doubt you’ll be unhappy with your choice.
Price
This Ryzen CPU was released back in September 2022, and when it did, it retailed for $399. Nowadays, you can find the 7700X for around $300, even less if you opt for second-hand goods. Online price tracker Camelcamelcamel states that the cheapest this CPU ever was on Amazon was $279, and that was in December 2023, during the Christmas sales. (as of the time of writing)
Alternatives to the 7700X
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AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
- Cores: 8
- Threads: 16
- Boost speed : up to 5 GHz
- Base speed: 4.2 GHz
- L3 Cache: 96 MB
- TDP: 120 W
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As we mentioned before, this particular Ryzen 7 CPU is put into a strange situation within the market by its siblings. If you wanted a pure gaming CPU, you might be better off picking up a 7800X3D for its increased gaming prowess thanks to its 3D v-cache. Similarly, if you want a CPU that has a stronger multi-core performance at a better value, you might want a 7900X.
Is AM5 worth investing in?
The short answer is yes, absolutely, AM5 brings PCIe Gen 5 compatibility for both GPU and storage devices, speeding up your system in more ways than one. AM5 also uses the DDR5 memory standard as opposed to the much slower DDR4, feeding data at a much faster rate to your Ryzen CPU with a much wider bandwidth. However, all of this does come at a cost, and don’t forget, we’re still in the first generation of AM5 technology. There’s bound to be bigger advancement coming in the future.
If AM5 is something that tickles your fancy, and we don’t blame you, then you’re supporting a company that supports it’s users. I wouldn’t be surprised if AM5 is still supported 7 years into the future. After all, AM4 is still around and it’s still relevant enough for AMD to release a new CPU on it in 2024! AM5 is a fantastic investment opportunity, the speed increase over AM4 is incredible if you can front the upgrade money.
Conclusion
- Cores: 8
- Threads: 16
- Boost speed : Up to 5.4 GHz
- Base speed: 4.5 GHz
- L3 Cache: 32 MB
- TDP: 105W
- Platform: AMD (AM5)
The 7700X stands in a bit of an awkward position, on its own it can perform as a very reliable, efficient, and powerful processor, but the question is, does it just exist to bridge the gap? If you can find this CPU for a reasonable price online, say sub $280 then it might be tempting to pick up this CPU. The benchmarks do indeed indicate that it is between the 7600X and the 7900X, which is where it should be. That’s the thing it’s just very … ordinary, nothing really stands out.
If this is the CPU you want, it does offer the AMD performance and efficiency that everyone wants, and for around $280, it would be a fantastic spend. But we wouldn’t recommend striving for this CPU, as we do think that there are better options out there.
