Ryzen 5 3600
On most laptops, the screen and the battery capacity will have at least as much influence on battery life as the processor does. In this case, we had two nearly identical systems, but many shoppers will be deciding from among radically different configurations of the same laptop or different models altogether. Some AMD-powered laptops that we tested in the past had heat issues, but thankfully, the Envy x360 with Ryzen 5 stayed cool throughout gtx 1080 8gb our tests. After the machine streamed a video for 15 minutes, the touchpad measured 73 degrees Fahrenheit, the keyboard hit 77.5 degrees, and the underside rose to only 88 degrees Fahrenheit. All of those marks were well below our 95-degree comfort threshold. The Ryzen 5 chip was also three times as fast as the Core i5 processor when we played the more-intensive Rise of the Tomb Raider game, providing 15 fps to the Intel chip’s 5.7 fps.
The main CPU this cycle seems to be the Ryzen , offering six high-performance Zen 2 cores and 24 lanes of PCIe 4.0 for only $199. It currently sits at #1 on the Amazon best seller list, so we put one through the paces just to see if the hype was actually real. If anything, it’s a pro that it doesn’t have integrated graphics as this way you’re not paying for something you’d never use. Zen 3 uses the same 12nm I/O Die gtx 1080 8gb paired with either one or two 8-core chiplets in an MCM (Multi-Chip Module) configuration. For the Ryzen X, the chip comes with one CCD with six cores enabled, while CPUs with 12 or 16 cores come with two chiplets. Much of Ryzen’s early success stemmed from industry-leading core counts and plenty of freebies for enthusiasts, like bundled coolers and unrestricted overclockability paired with broad compatibility.
Ryzen 3000 processors from AMD are built on the already excellent Zen-based family of CPUs. The newer Zen 2 architecture rolled out in 2019 was an essential next step for AMD, improving single and multi-core processing performance, as well as reducing overall power draw. Comparing the performance numbers of the new Ryzen 3000 series against the previous generation Ryzen CPUs shows gains in gaming and general computing. In a nutshell, the AMD Ryzen 5 is a range of 12-thread desktop processors that features a 64-bit quad and 86 Hexa-cores. Each chip within this series is based on Zen architecture, which is AMD’s third architectural design.
Strictly as a budget gaming engine, though, the $120 AMD Ryzen X frees up a hefty chunk of cash that could get shifted to a better graphics card or another stick of RAM without a ton of frame loss. Here’s what we saw in our bank of gaming tests with our GeForce RTX 2080 Ti card running the show. This top-end consumer graphics card is the primary arbiter of performance at 4K with all of the CPUs that we have laid out below. At 1080p, though, the card gets out of the way a bit more and lets the CPU differences shine.
It’s rare to find two units of the same laptop model with different CPU brands, and when you do, they won’t necessarily have matching specs. For our tests, we used HP Envy x360 laptops with 15.6-inch, 1080p displays and 1TB hard drives. The Core i5-8250U-powered model had 12GB of RAM, while the Ryzen 5-enabled unit had just 8GB of memory. But because none of our benchmarks used more than 8GB, we think that this difference probably was not influential. At press time, the Intel-powered Envy x360 was selling for $849, while its AMD-toting sibling went for $749.
The Ryzen X takes the mid-range by storm with six cores and twelve threads powered by the Zen 3 architecture fabbed on the 7nm process. That potent combination equates to a ~19% improvement in instruction per cycle throughput, making the 5600X an easy choice for our list of Best CPUs. In fact, as we’ll detail below, the Ryzen X is the most power-efficient desktop PC chip we’ve ever tested. I ran the Cinebench R23 in a loop to find out whether the turbo frequency was maintained. The HWInfo report says the max clock speed of 3996MHz was achieved throughout the test, which is a good sign. Cinebench’s single thread tests were also being worked at around the same clock speeds.
8 MBGPU–TDP65W65WPrice$68$125AMD’s latest 3000 series comes rocking a boost clock speed of 4.0GHz, allowing you to get more done at the same affordable price. Starting off with the AMD Ryzen X, we are looking at a base clock of 3.6 GHz and a boost clock of 4.1 GHz. The processor features 32 MB of cache, a 65W TDP, and a price close to $150 US. It is highly liked that AMD would choose a $149.99 US price for this specific chip.