AMD’s newly released Ryzen 9 7950X is the fastest CPU you can buy. But it’s still very hard to recommend it right now with Raptor Lake’s impending release.
AMD’s Ryzen 9 7950X is the best processor I’ve tested — and it’s not even close. That might surprise you to find out considering I don’t recommend upgrading right now.
Although Ryzen 7000 is a massive boost for AMD, high prices, limited options for gamers, and Intel’s looming Raptor Lake launch makes right now the worst time to upgrade. Team Red may win the decades-old battle between AMD and Intel this generation, but it’s still too soon to tell. And there’s no rush to upgrade now.
AMD decided to release Ryzen 7000 on the same day that Intel revealed its 13th-gen Raptor Lake processors — and that may not have been a great decision in hindsight. Although Raptor Lake is mostly a refresh to the previous generation, it offers promising performance that’s on the level of or even above Ryzen 7000 in many cases — and for a lower price.
It’s a strange shift; Intel is looking like the new AMD for this generation. The Core i9-13900K is $110 cheaper than the Ryzen 9 7950X, and Intel’s numbers suggest the two processors will be highly competitive. On top of that, Raptor Lake supports most Z690 motherboards, and you still have the option between DDR4 and DDR5 (if you have a compatible motherboard). That saves even more money for the total upgrade.
