Brief Overview

Before we get into the numbers let’s give you a quick refresher on Zen 3 and the 5950X. Zen 3 is AMD’s most important launch yet. The all-new Vermeer 7nm architecture gives us a major improvement over the previous generation. In terms of the lineup, the 5950X is the successor to the 3950X. We see some major IPC and frequency improvements with this launch.

Quick Specs

The 5900X is a sixteen-core and twenty-two thread processor. Those numbers speak for themselves, as sixteen cores are plenty for productivity purposes. It has a max TDP of 105W, which isn’t higher than the 5900X or 5800X. The base frequency is rated at 3.4GHz, and it can boost all the way up to 4.9GHz.

It has a total cache of 72MB. Individually, the L3 cache is 64MB, the L1 cache is 64K (per core), and the L2 cache is 512K (per core). For those wondering, Ryzen processors don’t have any integrated graphics, and the same is true for the 5950X. That’s common knowledge, but still worth mentioning.

How Fast Is The 5950X?

Well, we can answer that question in two words: Mind-numbingly fast. But for the sake of it, we’ll talk numbers to see how it stacks up compared to the competition if there is any. We say that because the 5950X gives us 3977MHz to work within an all-core Cinebench run. That slowly deviates due to temperature but sustains itself at 3950MHz.

That’s quite good for a sixteen-core processor sure, but what about single-core performance? Well, the highest clock measured is 5050MHz, which is a 350MHz improvement over its predecessor, the 3950X. That should paint the picture of what sort of performance we’re looking at it.

Yes, the 5950X is a major leap forward when compared to the 5950X. With that said, it also beats out any Intel processor at the moment. To reach speeds that high, you normally need to overclock the processor.

Productivity Workloads

Productivity has always been AMD’s stomping ground. In late 2020, little has changed, and AMD still manages to take the lead here. That’s not by a small bit either, as we’ll see shortly. Those sixteen cores can get quite fast, and it leaves everything in the dust in comparison. If you want to improve your workflow or your efficiency, the 5950X should help out a lot.

In V-ray, the 5950X provides31 thousand K-samples, which is a 22% improvement over the 3950X, and 12% better than the 10980XE. In the Photoshop 22 benchmark, the 5950X scores 1372 points, which is quite a bit ahead of any mainstream processor right now. In other benchmarks like Blender, Code Compilation, and 7zip compression, this processor shows anywhere from 15% to 30% improvements. 

So, yes, not everyone needs an insanely powerful sixteen-core processor like the 5950X. But for the professional video editors, music producers, designers, etc, this is quite the treat. Nothing else comes remotely close in terms of productivity.

Gaming Performance

We’re including gaming performance just for the sake of it. The 5950X performs great in games, as you would expect. However, sixteen-cores is quite a bit overkill for any videogame right now, and even in the foreseeable future. However, if you want to do build an end-all-be-all workstation/gaming rid, the 5950X does well. 

In Civilization VI we see an average turn time of 26.6 seconds. In Red Dead Redemption 2, we get 168fps when paired with a 3080. This is a 13% improvement over the previous generation. In Shadow Of The Tomb Raider, we see major gains as the 5950X is 32% faster here. It’s also 36% faster in F1 2020.

Power Consumption

You’d expect the 5950X to consume a lot of power. Well, you wouldn’t be wrong for thinking that, but it’s better than some might think. The max TDP is rated at 105W. In a Blender All-Core run, the 5950X runs at 120W at stock. The same remains true in a Cinebench run. This is 18% lower than the 5950X.

So, not only is this processor faster but it’s also more efficient than its predecessor. We can safely say that it’s a win for AMD here. Just remember it still requires proper cooling.