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Can AMD’s Ryzen 7 7700 ($329) processor compete with Intel’s newest “Raptor Lake” 13th Generation chips? It has a good stock cooler and performs well enough. AMD’s Ryzen 7000-series processors were outstanding and thrilling when they first came out.

The Ryzen 9 7950X briefly held the title of fastest consumer processor in the world, and its improvements over the previous iteration were notable. The announcement of the new Ryzen 7000-series CPUs was revolutionary due to all of this.

But when Intel’s Raptor Lake processors were introduced, the market swiftly altered. In some ways, AMD’s Ryzen 7000-series CPUs have lost some of their attraction due to their superior performance and lower pricing.

While the AMD Ryzen 7 7700 is a very capable performer as a result of the new redlines that Intel has drawn, it is slower than we would anticipate for the price and falls short of its 13th Gen pricing counterpart, an overclockable Core i5 stocked with more cores as a result of Intel’s addition of Efficient cores (E-cores).

However, if you wish to use the AMD AM5 platform, its inclusion of a strong stock cooling (which the competing Core i5-13600K lacks) makes it a feasible option in its price range.

AMD Ryzen 7 7700 Specifications & Overview

Even better, all AMD CPUs are unlocked, unlike Intel processors. Therefore, there is the alluring possibility of using this less expensive AMD Ryzen 7 7700 chip at 7700X speeds. What is there to dislike?

We’re here to find out the answer to that. Let’s first discuss the feeds and speeds. The AMD Ryzen 7 is an exact replica of the 7700X variant in terms of architecture. It has the same TSMC 5nm eight-core CPU die as well as a 6nm I/O die with a small GPU that is best used as a backup in the event that you are momentarily without a proper graphics card.

It uses the same AM5 socket, supports the same DDR5 memory up to 5200 MHz, has 8 MB of L2 cache and 32 MB of L3 cache memory, and, well, you get the idea. Therefore, clocks and power consumption are two crucial areas where there are variations. 

The new non-X 7700 is rated at 3.8GHz and 5.3GHz respectively, in contrast to the Ryzen 7 7700X’s 4.5GHz base clock and 5.4GHz boost clock. If the base clock number seems like a significant decrease, keep in mind that these chips hardly never operate at those lower values when under stress.

It uses the same AM5 socket, supports the same DDR5 memory up to 5200 MHz, has 8 MB of L2 cache and 32 MB of L3 cache memory, and, well, you get the idea. Therefore, clocks and power consumption are two crucial areas where there are variations. 

The new AMD Ryzen 7 7700 is rated at 3.8GHz and 5.3GHz respectively, in contrast to the Ryzen 7 7700X’s 4.5GHz base clock and 5.4GHz boost clock. If the base clock number seems like a significant decrease, keep in mind that these chips hardly never operate at those lower values when under stress.

AMD Ryzen 7 7700 Performance & Tests

A pure CPU test, such as Cinebench 3D multi-core rendering, shows that the more expensive ‘X’ model is only about 5% faster. Just 0.25% more time is saved when Cinebench is limited to a single core. On the more costly 7700X, x264 video encoding is only 1.5% faster. 

All of this is in accordance with what we discovered, which is that the 7700X often operates at 4.9GHz whereas the new AMD Ryzen 7 7700 runs at roughly 5.15GHz under full multi-core load. Of course, there are a few anomalies. On the 7700X, rendering in Blender is around 9% faster. 

The divide in gaming is, if anything, even less. In reality, the newer, less expensive chip occasionally provides greater frame rates due to our RTX 3080 test-rig GPU running a slightly newer Nvidia driver. 

Naturally, it isn’t quicker for gaming, but it’s near enough that your choice of graphics driver version is almost probably more crucial than whether you have a AMD Ryzen 7 7700 or 7700X processor installed. The distance is really narrow.

Of course, in any case, you’re getting a fantastic gaming chip. In fact, choosing this non-X model is a definite no-brainer if you’re only comparing AMD possibilities. That is especially accurate given that it is completely unlocked.

Next, we’ll use the more demanding Cinebench, HandBrake, and Corona test suites to examine how the processor performs when rendering.

Again, it’s a similar tale where the AMD Ryzen 7 7700 behind its marginally more potent X sibling. And in games and other situations, that keeps happening. It would function about on par with a Ryzen 7 7700X that has been slightly underclocked or has eco-mode turned on. This makes the Ryzen 7 7700 quite the chip as you wouldn’t want to do that with a desktop-class processor, and it also enables overclocking.

The standard cooler that was provided helped to control temperatures to a significant extent. To replicate performance without investing in an aftermarket cooling solution, the results in the charts were obtained utilizing the supplied cooler. At a constant high load, the CPU didn’t rise above 76C and stayed there. The AMD Ryzen 7 7700 is expected to consume 90W of power.

AMD Ryzen 7 7700 General Information

Regional Availability	Global
Product Line	AMD Ryzen™ 7 Processors
Max. Boost Clock	Up to 5.3GHz
L2 Cache	8MB
Processor Technology for CPU Cores	TSMC 5nm FinFET
Thermal Solution (PIB)	AMD Wraith Prism
Launch Date	1/14/2023
Platform	Desktop
# of CPU Cores	8
Base Clock	3.8GHz
L3 Cache	32MB
Unlocked for Overclocking	Yes
Product Family	AMD Ryzen™ Processors
# of Threads	16
L1 Cache	512KB
Default TDP	65W
CPU Socket	AM5
Max. Operating Temperature (Tjmax)	95°C

AMD Ryzen 7 7700 Conclusion

This AMD Ryzen 7 7700X processor is a superb small device. Even though it sometimes gets a touch too warm for us, the performance is still impressive. By reducing clock speeds and the price of the AMD Ryzen 7 7700, AMD has accomplished something quite unique. It’s only bad that this achievement is undermined by the fact that the X version of the same chip had a market price of almost $330.

You won’t have any trouble keeping it running at lower temperatures because it’s a 65W chip that can gladly reach 90W when under heavy loads, but you’ll discover that it has less leeway for overclocking than its more power-hungry sister. This is not a problem for gaming or other chores, and the AMD Ryzen 7 7700 can handle everything for a more affordable price.