Review: AMD Ryzen 7 1700X (14nm Zen)

Conclusion

The launch of AMD's Ryzen processor is a significant milestone in the company's history. Such is the importance of the Zen architecture that it makes sense to step back and consider how much progress AMD has made.

This time last week, the chip manufacturer couldn't hold a candle to Intel in the high-end desktop space. The venerable Core processor has gone unchallenged for many years, and AMD's best attempts have been power-hungry parts based on ill-conceived architectures that, aside from price, have struggled to compete in any meaningful metric.

Zen is here to change all that, and while AMD won't recover lost ground overnight, it is now closer to Intel than it has been for some time. Built from the ground-up and designed to erase any memory of previous-generation parts, Ryzen shows vastly improved single-thread performance, the initial eight-core CPUs offer massive multi-thread potential, the updated AM4 platform provides all of the mod cons you'd expect, and power consumption has been reduced considerably.

Few would have bet on AMD making all the above happen in early 2017, yet despite significant signs of progress, the lingering question remains: has Ryzen done enough? Single-thread performance, while improved, still isn't a match for Intel, and the need for software optimisation in modern games puts another wrinkle into the mix.

AMD has nonetheless taken a giant leap, and while there's still work to be done, the Zen architecture has brought a renewed sense of excitement to the high-end desktop PC. Never before has this level of multi-core prowess been available at such competitive price points, and we look forward with genuine interest to the quad-core Ryzen parts to come in Q2.

Bottom line: the Ryzen 7 1700X, at £390, is easily one of AMD's best processors to date. Benchmarks are within touching distance of the range-topping 1800X and the balance of price and performance ought to give Intel food for thought. At the very least, the Core i7-6900K, at £1,000, now seems all the more outrageous.

AMD Ryzen 7 1700X

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The AMD Ryzen 7 1700X is available to purchase from Scan Computers.

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