AMD (BRIEFLY) BACK ON TOP
TOP DOG STATUS MAY BE BRIEF
WHEN AMD’S NEW ZEN 4 PROCESSORS launched, they reached benchmarks that put AMD back on top of the leaderboards in multithreaded performance. The top dog, the Ryzen 9 7950X ($699, see review page 76) broke benchmarking world records. It has a peak clock rate of 5.7GHz on two cores but, with some cooling, can be pushed to 5.8GHz on all cores. AMD’s own overclocking team, using a Corsair AIO cooler, managed a 5.4GHz all-core boost, and claimed a world record for a 16-core Cinebench R23 benchmark at 40,498. The chips have drawn attention for their heat too, a properly toasty 95°C. Consuming over 200W doesn’t help but neither, apparently, does a thick integrated heat-spreader added to ensure compatibility with older AM4 coolers. Sadly for AMD, a reckoning with Intel’s 13th Generation chips means that Zen 4’s moment in the sun looks likely to be a brief one.–CL