AMD Ryzen 9 3900 Tested: Unreleased 65W Processor Sets World Records

[harlan4096]

The Ryzen 9 3900X brings 12 cores and 24 threads to the mainstream desktop, setting a new record for the platform, but it also brings a beastly 105W TDP. AMD still has a few Ryzen 3000 CPUs it hasn’t released, though, and the first hints of the new 12-core 24-thread Ryzen 9 3900 came with the company’s recent introduction of its PRO series. But we know a consumer version, likely with the exact same specifications as the PRO model, is coming to market, and after a quick word with a vendor, we now have the Ryzen 9 3900 and have already set a few world records.

The power-saving version of the Ryzen 9 3900X has a staggeringly low TDP of 65W. To achieve this, the processor runs at a lower base and boost speed, but otherwise, it is the same as its “X” counterpart. Like all Ryzen models, it is a fully unlocked CPU, meaning overclocking is on the menu, and has the same cache capacity and hierarchy as its bigger, faster brother, the Ryzen 9 3900X that sucks down a whopping 105W.

Stock Speeds

As a “non-X” Ryzen model, we expect the 3900’s clocks to be lower than the 3900X, and they are. The chip reported clocks in the BIOS after a fresh CMOS clear at a fairly-low 3.1 GHz base, which looks weak compared to the 3.8 GHz on the 3900X.

Reporting on clock frequency is a hot button topic with Ryzen chips at the moment, and your mileage may vary.

Once in the OS, we see that we get anywhere between 3.1 GHz and 4.35 GHz when the cores fluctuate during boost activity.

Under a heavy load, in this case the Cinebench R20 benchmark, we get boosts up and down in the range of 3.95 to 4.05 GHz average clock speed, while power consumption peaks at 160 watts during the run.
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