AMD’s Ryzen 5000 series processors have taken the DIY desktop PC market by storm, rewriting our Best CPU for Gaming recommendations and upsetting our CPU Benchmark Hierarchy. Now AMD is bringing the benefits of its Zen 3 architecture and 7nm process to the OEM market through two lower-TDP models, the Ryzen 9 5900 and Ryzen 7 5800.
As expected, these chips are functionally the same as the 12-core 24-thread Ryzen 9 5900X and eight-core 16-thread Ryzen 7 5800X, but they come with a lower TDP rating, the results in reduced clock speeds. These trimmings allow the chips to drop into smaller chassis and operate with the lesser cooling systems we see in the OEM market.
| Zen 3 Ryzen 5000 Series Processors | RCP (MSRP) | Cores/Threads | Base/Boost Freq. | TDP | L3 Cache |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ryzen 9 5950X | $799 | 16 / 32 | 3.4 / 4.9 GHz | 105W | 64MB (2×32) |
| Ryzen 9 5900X | $549 | 12 / 24 | 3.7 / 4.8 GHz | 105W | 64MB (2×32) |
| Ryzen 9 5900 | N/A | 12 / 24 | 3.0 / 4.7 | 65W | 32MB (1×32) |
| Ryzen 7 5800X | $449 | 8 / 16 | 3.8 / 4.7 GHz | 105W | 32MB (1×32) |
| Ryzen 7 5800 | N/A | 8 / 16 | 3.4 / 4.6 | 65W | 32MB (1×32) |
| Ryzen 5 5600X | $299 | 6 / 12 | 3.7 / 4.6 GHz | 65W | 32MB (1×32) |
Remember, AMD specs a 280mm water cooler, or equivalent air cooler, as the minimum for the Ryzen 5000 105W processors, and you simply don’t see that class of cooling in the majority of OEM systems. Dialing back the TDP, and thus the cooling requirements, will help AMD squeeze more Zen 3 chips into OEM systems from the likes of HP, Lenovo, and others, though we haven’t seen any official announcements yet.
As expected with OEM chips, AMD isn’t sharing pricing for the new Ryzen models. Pre-built OEM systems comprise roughly 60% of the desktop PC market, and AMD’s continued push to bring more of those systems to market makes good business sense.
However, we’ve seen a string of OEM-exclusive AMD launches, like the Ryzen 7 Pro 4750G that we managed to find on the grey market and Threadripper 3995WX we recently reviewed, that would also make great chips for enthusiasts. It is a bit disappointing to see these lower-TDP models, which would naturally come with lower MSRPs, land in the OEM market. These chips could help address the only pain point of the Ryzen 5000 series – the chips cost more than their predecessors at retail, raising the bar for entry to the powerful Zen 3 platform.
But who knows? AMD could bring these chips to retail in the future, just like we saw with the aforementioned Threadripper Pro 3995WX. That chip landed in OEM systems first, but AMD announced today that it is coming to retail outlets, too.