Along with all the more unambiguous newness announced by AMD at the including the and , both of which sport AMD's latest Zen 5 architecture, AMD has something more familiar to offer. Two new variants of the Ryzen 5000 ufa888 Series, originally launched in October 2020, have been announced.
The Ryzen 9 5900XT is a 16-core chip that sits in between the existing and models, while the Ryzen 7 5800XT closely mirrors the eight-core . In theory, an eight-core CPU is the more interesting option for gamers, so let's start there.
The new 5800XT sports eight Zen 3-spec cores on a single CCD, which hooks into AMD's I/O and memory controller die. In nearly every way, the new 5800 XT is almost identical to the old 5800X. So, that's eight cores, 16 threads, 105 W TDP, 36MB of cache, the works.
If there is a snag, it's pricing. Officially, AMD originally pegged the new Ryzen 7 5800XT at $249, before claiming this was an error. So, as yet there is no official price, but while $249 wouldn't be a terrible price—especially when you consider that the 5800X launched at $449—though right now on Newegg, you can grab . We'll see what the new chip actually sells for, but if it is $249, it's not exactly moving the needle.
| Header Cell - Column 0 | AMD Ryzen 9 5900XT | AMD Ryzen 7 5800XT |
|---|---|---|
| Cores / threads | 16 (Zen 3) / 32 threads | 8 (Zen 3) / 16 threads |
| Maximum boost clock | 4.8 GHz | 4.8 GHz |
| Total L2+L3 cache | 72MB | 36MB |
| Socket | AM4 | AM4 |
| TDP | 105 W | 105 W |
While 16-core CPUs aren't necessarily natural gaming chips, the Ryzen 9 5900XT is actually the more interesting of the two new CPUs. That's because the old only offered 12 cores, you had to grab the megabucks to get 16 cores.
Again, we don't have a final price for the new 5900XT, but the originally, erroneously listed price would give you 16 cores for a list price of just $359. Back in November 2020, . Again, the snag is that you can get the (using a promo code to release the final $10) from Newegg today.
The old 5950X also has the very, very slightly higher maximum boost clock at 4.9 GHz versus 4.8 GHz. The Newegg numbers are sale prices and g2g1bet they may well reflect insider information that the new AMD chips were coming, necessitating an adjustment to keep the older models relevant.
So, the two new CPUs are hopefully going to set lower MSRP pricing because at the originally listed prices they aren't immediate bargains in terms of real-world retail compared to what's already available. Give it a different launch price and a few months, however, and that 5900XT in particular could make for a spectacular 16-core drop-in upgrade for AM4 motherboard owners.