Ryzen 3 7300X leak gives us hope that AMD is planning a Zen 4 budget CPU
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AMD could get a couple of new Zen 4 processors, one of which is theoretically a Ryzen 7 7800X and the other a Ryzen 3 7300X.
These Zen 4 chips were spotted by Benchleaks on Geekbench (as VideoCardz reported, though they removed the story shortly after posting), and apparently the 7800X will make the jump to a 10-core processor, at least if the specs provided are correct. Of course, we should treat this leak with the usual caution that should be applied to any rumor.
[GB5 CPU] Unknown CPUCPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7800X (10C 20T)Min/Max/Avg: 5195/5336/5324 MHzCodename: RaphaelCPUID: A60F12 (AuthenticAMD)Scores, vs AMD 5800XSingle: 2097, +21.4%Multi: 16163, +50, 4%https://t.co/yN0iCtxQ5kOctober 26, 2022
The 7800X is seen with 10 cores and 20 threads with boost speeds up to 5.4 GHz.
As for the theoretical Ryzen 3 7300X, the Geekbench entry shows it to be a quad-core CPU with a boost up to 5GHz.
What about the Geekbench results themselves? The 7800X hits 2,097 and 16,163 for single-core and multi-core respectively. That’s just slightly less than the existing 7700X in the former, but comfortably outperforms that chip – by about 15% – in the latter, as you’d expect with a few extra cores for the 7800X.
The Ryzen 3 7300X hits 1,984 and 7,682 for single-core and multi-core, which is unsurprisingly at the back of the Ryzen 7000 family. It’s not far from the Ryzen 5 7600X for single-core though, and indeed the latter is only 7% faster. (For both points for the 7800X and 7300X, keep in mind that these are pre-release processors, so probably won’t show their full performance levels yet).
Analysis: Does a Ryzen 3 CPU for Zen 4 Really Make Sense So Early?
A 10-core Ryzen 7800X seems like an odd choice to make, perhaps considering that the 5800X was a regular 8-core CPU. As we can see from the benchmarks, in this form with two additional cores it would be a solid step beyond the 7700X and differentiate these processors more, at least in terms of multi-threaded performance.
What’s likely to get even more attention is the 7300X, and the hopeful prospect of a Ryzen 3 CPU for the Zen 4 generation coming in. This is an option that some folks looking to build budget-friendly PCs have been clamoring for, and didn’t get with the Ryzen 5000 series. (A Ryzen 5 5500 was released earlier this year, but no Ryzen 3 silicon, and there are only Ryzen 4000 Zen 2-based chips at the low end of the market for AMD).
However, will this Ryzen 3 7300X really happen? We’re not sure, and there are certainly arguments to remain skeptical here. Of course, to release such a chip, AMD would have to divert at least some production resources to produce it, and these cheaper products have ever-smaller profit margins compared to what’s on the table now. So, does it really make sense to do this so early in the game for the Ryzen 7000 family?
The other option is to use what are essentially deprecated chips for beefier chips (with cores disabled down to a quad-core CPU), but the yields are so good these days that problematic silicon like this has become relatively thin.
This means that if a Ryzen 3 7300X comes along, it most likely won’t be for a while – enough time to build up the necessary chips – and on top of that, it’s also likely to be a limited production run. (Like the situation with those old budget favorites with Ryzen 3000, the Ryzen 3 3100 and 3300X, which were hard to get hold of; more so in the latter case).
Furthermore, there’s also the consideration that jumping to Zen 4 is a pricey proposition, still with the cost of the required AM5 motherboard (and DDR5 RAM), which is yet another argument that any Ryzen 3 offering wouldn’t make much sense. as a closer-term thing (as an affordable chip, but without a comparable affordable mobo to complement it). In the longer term, of course, we’ll see those motherboard prices drop – and lower models appearing – for those looking to build a shiny new AMD-powered PC (plus DDR5 is forecast to drop further too).
In short, we recommend that any excitement around the 7300X should be tempered with a dose of probable reality here. But we’re not denying that it’s great to see a Ryzen 3 chip floating around at this stage in the game, and the CPU sighting holds some promise for the future in terms of budget PC builds. In the meantime, of course, we can look forward to cheaper Ryzen 5000 chips if that generation filters towards the exit…