The initial performance results for AMD’s 12-core Ryzen 9 9900X “Zen 5” Desktop CPU in the Cinebench R23 benchmark have been disclosed. The latest Zen 5 performance report is here where the AMD Ryzen 9 Desktop CPU, codenamed Rheinland-X competes with Intel’s Raptor Lake Core i7-14700K which features a total of 20 cores. While we have no speculation to share, AMD’s latest Ryzen CPUs show a big gain in multi-threaded workloads like Cinebench on the whole – so today here you can see us discuss this new CPU and its performance from default operation all the way up through Precision Boost Overdrive (PBO).
More About the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X ‘Zen 5’ Performance
The AMD Ryzen 9 9900X (100-000000662) is a twelve-core, twenty-four-threaded part that clocks in at a base of 4.4 GHz and boosts to as high as the even odder number – operating up to ~5.6GHz on its clock speeds for applications demanding such frequency stretches. This chip features a TDP of 120W, which sits in the lower end as compared to the 170W operating level of Ryzen 9 7900X.
While it keeps the boost clock speed as its predecessor, base clocks are down 300 MHz in stepping the Ryzen 9 9900X to fit within a TDP of just over those marks. Nonetheless, a 12-core configuration should provide some good multi-threaded performance.
The benchmark results reveal some impressive figures, as testing on a high-end X670E motherboard featuring the retail AMD Ryzen 9-9990X and an AGESA 1.2.0.x BIOS produced stellar figures in benchmarks running with fury unleashed. Running the CPU at 120W took it to the default setting, which resulted in a Cinebench R23 multi-threaded score of around 33k points. That’s a decent 14% uplift over the Ryzen 9 7900X, which you’d typically see score around within the realm of ~29K points at its 170W TDP sign that AMD has improved multi-threaded efficiency.
Turning on PBO helps the Ryzen 9 9900X performance further, and it hits a score of nearly 34,500 points with about the same gain over its predecessor. But crucially this performance jump also arrives alongside a fall in power consumption compared to Zn 4 chips. These performance levels will unfortunately likely be close to (or even exceed) the Intel Core i7-14700K, especially with upcoming BIOS updates designed to further optimize Zen 5. Other points on the horizon may include Future insights into what gaming performance this chip offers.
FAQs
What are the specs of the AMD Ryzen 9 9900X “Zen 5”?
It has 12 cores, 24 threads, a base clock of 4.4 GHz, a boost clock up to 5.6 GHz, and a 120W TDP.
How does the Ryzen 9 9900X perform in Cinebench R23?
It scores around 33,000 points at 120W, with a 20% boost to 34,500 points with PBO enabled.
