• AMD Ryzen 5 9600X

  Cores

  6

  Threads

  12

  Architecture

  Zen 5

  Process

  TSMC 4nm, 6nm

  Socket

  AM5

  Base Clock Speed

  3.9 GHz

  This Zen 5 chip from AMD features an impressive boost clock of 5.4GHz, 6 cores and 12 threads, DDR5 support, and an astounding 65W TDP for some excellent all-around efficiency and thermal performance. For the price of just $279, it's tough to beat.

  Pros & Cons

  • Excellent performance for base model
  • Affordable pricepoint
  • 65W TDP

  • Only 6 cores/12 threads

  $279 at AMD

• AMD Ryzen 7 9700X

  Cores

  8

  Threads

  16

  Architecture

  Zen 5

  Process

  TSMC 4nm, 6nm

  Socket

  AM5

  Base Clock Speed

  3.8 GHz

  This Zen 5 AMD chip sports boost clocks of up to 5.5GHz, 8 cores and 16 threads, DDR5 support, and a deeply impressive 65W TDP for some truly best-in-class thermal performance and efficiency. If you've got $359, this is a great pick of processor.

  Pros & Cons

  • Efficient and doesn't run hot
  • Overclocking headroom
  • Great all-around performance

  • Outperformed by Intel competitors like i7-14700K

  $359 at AMD

When you're in the market for a new chip, the top Intel CPUs and greatest Ryzen processors are always worth consideration. Ryzen's latest second-generation AM5 chips, the Ryzen 5 9600X and Ryzen 7 9700X, bring some serious power to the table, but which is right for you?

Below, you'll find everything you need to know about the 9600X and 9700X.

Price, availability, and specs

Ryzen's 9000 lineup is available now

Both the 9600X and 9700X are up for sale right now, but since it's still so soon after launch at the moment, their availability in-stock may vary. Nonetheless, the 9600X retails for $279, while the 9700X retails for $359. These are retail prices, mind you, so when these CPUs have been available for a bit longer, you can expect sales and discounts to bring their prices down. Both chips manage to undercut their direct Intel competitors, like the i5-14600K and i7-14700K, even if they don't do so by a huge margin at retail prices.

• 	AMD Ryzen 5 9600X	AMD Ryzen 7 9700X
  Socket	AM5	AM5
  Cores	6	8
  Threads	12	16
  Base Clock Speed	3.9 GHz	3.8 GHz
  Boost Clock Speed	5.4 GHz	5.5 GHz
  PCIe	5.0	5.0
  Cache	38 MB	40 MB
  RAM support	DDR5-6000	DDR5-6000
  Graphics	AMD Radeon Graphics (2 cores)	AMD Radeon Graphics (2 cores)
  Architecture	Zen 5	Zen 5
  Process	TSMC 4nm, 6nm	TSMC 4nm, 6nm
  TDP	65W	65W

Thermals and architecture

4nm, Zen 5, and AM5

Both the 9600X and 9700X are Zen 5 chips that sport 4nm designs and support the AM5 platform. Zen 5 is no doubt impressive in its own right with features like AVX-512 support, but the 9000 series also comes with other improvements over the prior generation chips, like an average 22% performance-per-watt improvement, according to AMD. In short, both the 9600X and 9700X are incredibly efficient chips with equally impressive suites of features.

To be specific, the 9600X packs in 6 cores and 12 threads with a boost clock of 5.4GHz, while the 9700X offers 8 cores and 16 threads with a boost clock of 5.5GHz. Both chips manage 65W TDPs, which means they'll draw significantly less power and run considerably cooler than their Intel counterparts like the i5-14600K and i7-14700K. However, there isn't much to differentiate the 9600X and 9700X outside of core/thread counts and minor clock differences.

If you're looking for a cool, power-efficient chip, either the 9600X or 9700X will do nicely.

Performance

Tons of efficiency

As mentioned above, there are many similarities between the 9600X and 9700X, but the key ones to focus on in terms of performance come down to core/thread count and clocks. The clock difference may be rather negligible, but with an extra 2 cores and 4 threads, the 9700X has a meaningful advantage on paper when it comes to multi-core processing power. But it's not just on paper, as the benchmarks back up the paper takeaways.

We've reviewed the 9600X and 9700X, and you can check out our raw data, but the takeaway is that spread across a suite of benchmarks, including Cinebench, CPU-Z, Geekbench 6, PCMark 10, and Handbrake to name a few, the 9700X pulls ahead in terms of multi-core performance. With single core processing power, the 9700X does sometimes have a slight edge, but in other cases, it's a match for the 9600X, so we wouldn't recommend buying a 9700X for the best in single core power.

That said, if you're looking for a power-efficient, cool chip like you'll get from the Ryzen 9000 series but want to maximize your multi-core power, it's worth investing in a 9700X. However, if an extra 2 cores and 4 threads aren't a big deal to you, you'll still get most of the multi-core power of the 9700X out of the 9600X. Plus, competitors like the i7-14700K outperform both the 9600X and 9700X in multi-core performance, if you really need the best of the best in this regard.

In short, the 9700X is the better performer, but it's up to you to decide if a handful of extra cores and threads are worth a price jump from $279 to $359.

Ryzen 5 9600X vs. Ryzen 7 9700X: Verdict

At the end of the day, the 9700X is simply the better chip. It has all the efficiency and thermal performance of the 9600X plus a nice bump up to 8 cores and 16 threads, making it our overall winner. However, these specs don't tell the full story, and you may still want to buy the 9600X which is also an excellent choice.

The 9600X isn't far behind the 9700X, and you still get all the same efficiency and thermal performance courtesy of the 9000 series architecture. Most importantly, though, the 9600X will cost you well under $300 at just $279, while the 9700X will run you $359, which may not be worth it to you.