CPU by stefan @ 2017-03-12
Ryzen 7 1700 is the lowest priced octa-core AMD processor for the AM4 platform and features 3GHz base clock, with a Precision Boost + XFR to a total of 3750MHz. While at stock speeds Ryzen 7 1700 does clearly perform under the flagship, we have had a nice surprise when we did try to overclock the system, a fact that transforms it into a product with unbeatable price/performance ratio.
At first, we would like to thank AMD for sending out their AMD Ryzen™ 7 1700 octa-core processor for testing and reviewing.
“Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) is an American multinational semiconductor company based in Sunnyvale, California, United States, that develops computer processors and related technologies for business and consumer markets. While initially it manufactured its own processors, the company became fabless after GlobalFoundries was spun off in 2009. AMD's main products include microprocessors, motherboard chipsets, embedded processors and graphics processors for servers, workstations and personal computers, and embedded systems applications.
AMD is the second-largest supplier and only significant rival to Intel in the market for x86-based microprocessors. Since acquiring ATI in 2006, AMD and its competitor Nvidia have dominated the discrete Graphics Processor Unit (GPU) market.”
In this review article, we will continue our AMD Ryzen™ saga with another member of the seventh series which is the Ryzen 7 1700. The Ryzen 7 1700 was built, as the 7 1800X with eight physical cores, 16 threads and the rated TDP was lowered to an amazing value of 65W (for an octa-core SKU). The product does sport a MSRP of $329 and is aimed to go against the Intel Core i7 7700K Kaby Lake mainstream CPU.
The product naming from the Ryzen series has been carefully thought out in order to cover all market segments with SKU such as Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 3:
This SKU is also integrating the Zen architecture, which focuses on four different key areas: performance, throughput, efficiency but also scalability.
Regarding performance, the new Zen microarchitecture represents a very big leap in core execution capability versus the previous designs from the same company: Zen come with a 1.75X larger instruction scheduler window and 1.5X greater issue width and resources. This practically allows Zen to schedule and send more work into the EUs. Thanks to a new micro-op cache, Zen is allowed to bypass L2 and L3 caches when using frequently accessed micro-operations. The neural network-based branch prediction unit from the Zen microarchitecture does allow for more intelligent preparation of optimal instructions and pathways for future work.
Changes have been also made regarding the cache hierarchy with dedicated 64KB L1 instruction and data caches, we do have 512KB dedicated L2 cache per core and 8MB of L3 cache shared across four cores. The cache is enhanced with a learning prefetcher that speculatively harvests application data into the caches so they are practically available for immediate execution. These changes are assuring up to 5X greater cache bandwidth into a core. This type of design enhances the Zen architecture's throughput.
When talking about efficiency, the new Ryzen processors are built on the more power-efficient 14nm FinFET process; in more detail, the Zen architecture is using the density-optimized version of the Global Foundries 14nm FinFET process and this fact permits for smaller die sizes and lower operating voltages. The new Zen microarchitecture does incorporate some of the latest low-power design technologies:
-micro-op cache for reducing power-intensive faraway fetches
-aggressive clock gating to zero out dynamic power consumption in minimally utilized regions of the core
-a stack engine for low-power address generation into the dispatcher.
Moving on to the scalability aspect, Zen architecture does start with the CCX (CPU Complex) which is a native 4C8T module; each CCX does come with 64K L1 I-cache, 64K L1 D-cache, 512KB of dedicated L2 cache per core and 8MB of L3 cache shared across all cores. Each core that is contained in the CCX may optionally come with SMD for additional threads.
The most vital characteristics of the Ryzen™ 7 1700 processor are similar to what we have described along with the 1800X flagship:
Another aspect to remind in the product description is AMD’s SenseMI technology: a package of five related “senses” that are relying on learning algorithms and/or the command-and-control functionality of the Infinity Fabric, in order to empower AMD Ryzen processors with machine intelligence.
Thanks to the integrated network of smart sensors that are driving Precision Boost, processor power consumption can be carefully adjusted with any given workload. The telemetry data from the Power Power optimization loop does allow each Ryzen processor to inspect the characteristics of its own silicon, in order to extract individualized power management.
By using current/temperature/load information fed by the Infinity Fabric, Precision Boost is modulating an AMD Ryzen processor in 25Mhz increments; this type of granular clock speed control is offering the Ryzen processor a greater operational freedom in order to reach ideal frequency targets and at the same time allows for finer dithering at that ideal target.
XFR is kicking in when high-performance cooling systems are installed on the AMD Ryzen processors and lifts the maximum Precision Boost frequency beyond the ordinary limits. This is achieved by reading and forecasting AMD Ryzen processor’s distance to TJMax, then converting the available headroom into extra frequency. For non-X SKUs (such as the Ryzen 7 1700), XFR will add 50MHz extra to the operating frequencies, while X SKUs (such as the Ryzen 7 1800X, Ryzen 7 1700X) will add 100MHz extra to the stock operating frequency when the said conditions are met.
Every AMD Ryzen processor holds a true artificial intelligence inside which harnesses a neural network for learning in real-time the applications’ behavior and speculate on its next moves. Thanks to this feature, the AI readies vital CPU instructions in advance for tackling a new workload.
Thanks to the integrated sophisticated learning algorithms, internal patterns and behaviors of applications are understood, so they can anticipate what data is needed for fast execution in the future. Data is fed into local cache, so it is ready for immediate use.
Along with eSports, the streaming popularity has increased exponentially; at the heart of this activity lies the well-known Twitch platform that allows people at home to watch live gaming sessions but also interact in the chat room. Radeon ReLive is one of the tools that make possible broadcast of live game footage, audio, webcams, overlays and other multimedia contents to legions of fans.
Since some of the games are quite CPU-intensive to run and combining this with the fact that streaming adds quite a bit of load to the processor, we will get lots of input lag or other performance-related issues. Twitch is proposing a solution to this issue, which implies using two different PCs in order to split the workload: one system plays the game, while the second system with a capture card receives output from the GPU and serves as a dedicated broadcasting system to alleviate performance bottlenecks.
The GPU live video encoding does not seem to please the streamers since GPU encoders do need more bitrate to achieve the same quality as the CPU-based x264 encoder preconfigured on streaming packages such as OBS and XSplit so when talking about the tight 3500Kbps bitrate limits of Twitch, the GPUs are at a disadvantage.
As many situations have shown, when running CPU-intensive games, the processor does not have any more resources left for handling the streaming part on 4C4T or 4C8T CPU models so the Ryzen 7 1700 is also a welcome addition. While a set of 4C8T from the first CCX can be dedicated to run the game without any slowdowns, the second 4C8T CCX is able to dedicate its full resources to streaming, in order to produce top-flight 1080p/60 FPS/ 3500Kbps streams with much smaller compromises to the performance or input latency of the game.
The new AMD Ryzen processors would not operate by themselves, unless paired with the AM4 platform. This new platform consists of six chipsets that can be interchangeably paired with the new 1331 socket; this aspect allows motherboard manufacturers to craft different models in order to cover all market segments: entry level (A320 or A/B300), middle class (B350) and premium (X370 or X300).
These new solutions do incorporate the latest technologies such as NVMe PCIe 3.0 x4, SATA, SATA Express, dual channel DDR4, native USB 3.1 Gen 2 and more.
The Socket 1331 streamlines AMD’s socket infrastructure (AM3 and FM2+) into a single part which can host the AMD Ryzen processor, the 7th Generation APU or the future “Raven Ridge” APU based on the Zen architecture. AMD is intending on using this new socket through 2020 even with the introduction of new technologies such as DDR5 or PCI Express Generation 4.
The storage and I/O options that have been just described are extra to the SoC design of Ryzen CPU, which does also feature natively:
-4xUSB 3.1 Gen 1
-16 lanes of PCI Express Gen 3 for graphics (2x8 mGPU supported on X370)
-4x PCI-Express Gen 3 suitable for a high-speed NVMe SSD or other companion card
-4x PCI-Express Gen 3 for chipset communication (free for re-use along with X300 chipset)
Right from the introduction in December 2016, AMD had promised that all mid-range and high-end motherboards based on the mid-range B350 and high-end X370 chipsets will expose the full-range of multiplier voltage control built into the AMD Ryzen processors. Entry-level motherboards, which have weaker VRM designs, are built to run at stock speeds, so A320 chipsets are locking the voltage and multiplier adjustments.
With the presentation of the AM4 platform, we also need to clarify the cooler compatibility; AM4 comes with a wider bolt-through mounting pattern in order to accommodate the extra pins of the Socket 1331 versus the older FM2+ and AM3 designs. AMD has discussed with no less than 15 of the top cooling manufacturers such as EKWB, Phanteks, Noctua, Corsair, Cooler Master and so on in order to provide mounting kits which will enable usage of the previously-launched solutions on the new AM4 platform. What is interesting is that the current AM3/FM2+ coolers that use the clip system for attachment to the socket retention brackets are fully compatible with the AM4 platform, with no modification!
Last week, we were super excited to see at our door another AMD Ryzen bundle! This time, the bundle was a little different in terms of presentation; first, we have spotted a Ryzen 7 product box which did contain the sample (the previous kit only had the internal cardboard enclosure with the CPU shipped):
This box informs us of the fact that it includes the Ryzen processor, along with the installation instructions:
On the other side, we could spot a small window, which allows the customer to see clearly the CPU they are purchasing:
The back packaging area does come with more information regarding the manufacturer:
Besides the smaller CPU enclosure, we could spot inside a separate compartment, a placeholder for a possible CPU cooler:
The small black cardboard enclosure is familiar to fellow viewers which have read the Ryzen 7 1800X review! Besides that, we have also received a leaflet with CPU installation instructions, which holds valid for both AM3 and AM4 AMD processors:
The enclosure is provided with two small cutouts:
After removing the top packaging layer, we will get to see that the CPU along with a small case sticker are held inside a blister packaging:
A closer look at the Ryzen 7 1700 CPU does reveal a central logo that uses familiar fonts (from the presentation in December 2016). The Ryzen CPUs are using solder between the HSF and the cores, for an optimal heat conduction to the cooling system; the later experiments have proven that delidding does not bring any benefit in this case:
On the top area of the HSF, we will get to see the exact processor name:
The lower area comes with some laser-etched serial numbers:
On the backside of the CPU PCB, we will find 1331 golden pins, and its specific pin placement does not allow wrong installations on the motherboard socket:
The processor did not come alone, but with a Crosshair VI Hero motherboard:
This model is the high-end offering from ASUS and provides plenty of interfaces, but also no less than 14 power phases for supporting solid overclocks (eight for the CPU VCore, four for the CPU SoC and two for the DDR4 RAM):
Some more goodies are included in the box as bundle:
ASUS has also provided a large set of stickers, which can allow us to personalize the computer case in many ways:
What we did like about this particular motherboard is the fact that it does also support AM3 cooling systems, so you can re-use your high-performance air/water cooler from the previous build. In addition, the PCB in the middle of the AM4 socket is provided with a hole, which allows us to insert a thermal probe for even a more accurate reading:
We will not concentrate our attention too much in this article on the motherboard, because it will have a dedicated article later on. Mounting the Ryzen 7 1700 CPU inside the socket is a piece of cake:
For cooling this platform, Cooler Master has provided us with their MasterLiquid Pro 280 AIO, so we went ahead and installed the backplate along with the long screws:
After applying a bit of thermal compound, we have secured the pump into place:
The next step was to install the system inside the case, which did also meant we have had to secure the water cooling system and install the video card along with the PSU cables, extra fans, frontal panel connectors, storage drives and so on. No RAM modules were included this time, so we have re-used the ones from the previous Ryzen 7 1800X article:
Before actually diving into testing the Ryzen 7 1700 CPU, we made sure that the ASUS Crosshair VI HERO motherboard was packing the latest available BIOS. First, we did check the manufacturer’s website but we were shortly informed that a newer, internal BIOS release was available for us to use in this review: 5803. This new version fixes some of the quirks in the previous where the BIOS would automatically set the CPU voltage to fixed 1.4V when selected “Manual” option from AI Tuner, a fact that was overheating the CPU for no reason at all.
As before, we have reset the BIOS to defaults and made sure that all options inside the UEFI interface were set to “Auto”, in order to delegate the overclocking task to AMD Ryzen Master. The tool informs us that if improper settings are applied, damages may occur:
Ryzen Master is a very handy software tool from AMD, which allows adjusting the core speeds of the Ryzen processors on-the-fly, along with the core voltage, MEM VDDIO, MEM VTT or VDDCR SOC voltage. The other operations such as memory clock adjustment, core deactivation or memory latencies are requiring a system reboot after setup. You must also note that when overclocking the Ryzen 7 1700 CPU, features such as Precision Boost and XFR (which are part of SenseMI) will be disabled:
While the first “C” profile is locked for adjustments, we have four other different ones that are adjustable:
In the first stage, we have left everything on Auto on the CPU-side and dialed a 2666MHz frequency for the RAM (speed recommended by AMD to be operated on these processors). Then we ran an instance of Prime95 on all cores and monitored the CPU VCore voltages along with the temperatures. In the case of the Ryzen 7 1700 CPU, we were really surprised by the low temperatures in load, while the voltage was set at only 1.068; the cores were running at 3.2GHz at maximum stress:
Our next aim was the so-called “magical” 4GHz mark; we have started with 1.350V set in Ryzen Master and tried a run with Prime95; after a short while, the system has proven itself unstable and we got a black screen. The next step we have tried was at 1.362V, the we went up to 1.375V, further to 1.387V, even to 1.4V! The temperatures on the cores did increase quite a bit, but the system was still not Prime95-stable. As on the Ryzen 7 1800X, we gave it one more try at 1.412V, but the system did crash after about 10 minutes!
Afterwards we got one notch down at 3.9GHz on all cores and we have started with the 1.350 voltage; the system has proven itself as Prime95-stable so we have gone one-step town to 1.337 and repeated the whole process. We were really surprised to see that the system has remained fully-stable even at 1.3V which meant a maximum of 65 degrees Celsius in Prime95 for the CPU:
We have then validated the result with the CPU-Z utility:
The first CPU we will compare the Ryzen 7 1700 against is the Core i5 7600K (Kaby Lake), which can be seen as a product from Intel's lineup with one of the best price/performance ratios. In order to compare the platform with newer architectures/systems, we have used a 16GB memory kit @ 2133MHz with default timings, a KFA2 GTX 1060 OC 6GB video card, one Cooler Master 850 PSU, but also an OCZ Vector 150 240GB SSD. The platform was running on a fresh Windows 10 Anniversary installation while all hardware was mounted inside a Cooler Master ATCS 840 Tower case.
Of course, we have left the results versus the Ryzen 7 1800X inside the charts too, to serve as reference in both stock and overclocked modes.
Due to the lower stock frequencies the Ryzen 7 1700 does come with, we can see a drop in performance while rendering in CineBench R11.5, but with the processor overclocked at the same 3.9GHz as the Ryzen 7 1800X, its performance matches the flagship.
Same scenario can be found when running the updated CineBench R15 version.
While testing the well-known Blender rendering scene, we can see that the stock Ryzen 7 1700 completion time has been increased to 40.07 seconds versus 34.68 we have seen with the Ryzen 7 1800X flagship, but when overclocked, we can see that the Ryzen 7 1700 succeeds to match the more expensive variant.
In PCMark Vantage, the Ryzen 7 1800X takes the lead in both stock and overclocked modes.
PCMark 7 benchmark is telling us a similar story, Ryzen 7 1800X taking the lead….again.
In PCMark 8 and its four different usage patterns, we can see lower scores for the Ryzen 7 1700 due to lower clock rates but in overclocked mode, it succeeds to match the flagship without any issues at all!
The SuperPI 32M benchmarks is giving the crown to the Kaby Lake platform and we can notice an appreciable difference between the Ryzen 7 1700 and the Ryzen 7 1800X due to different clock speeds. When overclocked, these two SKUs do match though….
Next we do have the X265 rendering benchmark, which gives the crown to the Ryzen 7 1800X processor, in both stock and overclocked modes.
3DMark Vantage is making use of all cores so we can see a healthy increase versus the quad-core mainstream Kaby Lake processor. This is another benchmark where the Ryzen 7 1800X takes the lead, but the Ryzen 7 1700 is very close behind when all cores are clocked at 3.9GHz
3DMark 11 game benchmark is another win for the AMD platform and the flagship seems again to take the lead, with the Ryzen 7 1700 very close behind when overclocked.
3DMark 2013 gaming benchmark comes with predictable results regarding the AMD flagship, with the Ryzen 7 1700 falling behind in this benchmark, even when overclocked.
As a second stage, thanks to our colleague reviewer colleague Albrecht which has lend a hand with his database, we are going to also pit the AMD Ryzen 7 1700 against the octa-core 6900K Broadwell-E, but also the six-core 6800K Broadwell-E and check out the performance differences. In order to produce comparable results, we have used the same memory timings as he did (DDR4 at 2133C15-15-15-35 2T), while exchanging the KFA2 GTX 1060 OC 6GB video card with a HIS R9 290X 4GB (1080 GPU/ 1250 MEM) video card.
CineBench R10 is showing that the Ryzen 7 1700 still holds its own against the Core i7 6900K in multi-threading and definitely wins against the Core i7 6800K, Core i7 7700K or the Core i7 7600K.
CineBench R11 shows a similar situation for the Ryzen 7 1700, which is amazing considering its low price point.
Fritz Chess is one benchmark where the Intel platform is taking the lead and there is a difference between the Ryzen 7 1800X and the Ryzen 7 1700 of about 2000 points.
Single-core performance benchmark, the SuperPI 32M gives another crown to the Intel platforms, with the Core i7 7700K scoring the lowest time thanks to the high stock clocks.
Next we do have Handbrake, which is showing the Ryzen 7 1700 between the Core i7 6800K and the Core i7 6900K (depending on the running memory speed), which is massive!
FutureMark Firestrike Extreme and Ultra 3D benchmarks are placing the Ryzen 7 1700 between the Core i7 7700K and the Core i7 6800K.
In the HWBOT Unigine benchmark, the AMD platforms are losing against the Intel ones, but we can see a healthy increase in score with the memory running at 2666MHz.
Ashes of Singularity is another game benchmark in which Intel wins, but in 4K resolution we can see quite a bit of performance increase by just setting the memory speed at 2666MHz (AMD’s recommended memory speed for this platform).
By using the stock memory timings of the AMD-supplied kit (15-17-17-35), we will check out how the performance of the AMD Ryzen 7 1700 does scale when the memory frequency increases. For this aspect, we have included games, CineBench R15 suite for rendering, HWBOT X265 Encoding suite but also SuperPi 32M.
With the help of the AIDA64 utility, we have been able to check out the memory bandwidth differences at the speeds we have tried during the DDR scaling tests.
Well, well, well...what do we have here? Ryzen 7 1700 is AMD’s cheapest octa-core offering which is priced at $329 and is set to go against the Intel Core i7 7700K. Not only the Ryzen 7 1700 is cheaper, but is rated at a lower TDP of 65W, which is quite amazing for an eight-core sixteen threads SKU! As the results are clearly showing, this particular CPU offers a lot of power in the productivity segment such as encoding and rendering, being able to even surpass the i7 6800K in these specific tasks. Given the lower clock speeds, the Ryzen 7 1800X still wins in most of the benchmarks, but in an overclocked environment, we do really have another price/performance winner in our hands!
Speaking in more detail about overclocking, we have tried out of curiosity to see if the Ryzen 7 1700 can overclock as high as 3.9GHz, considering that the Precision Boost feature can set it as high as 3750MHz (actually 3700MHz thanks to Precision Boost and 50MHz extra from XFR) , if the specific conditions are met. Considering that the stock clocks were lower than on the Ryzen 7 1800X flagship, we thought to start with 1.350V and check Prime95 stability; the test passed with flying colors so we went further and further with the testing. We were quite surprised by the fact that stability could be reached at 1.3V, considering that the Ryzen 7 1800X flagship could run at the same speed, but at the minimum voltage at 1.325V. This tells us that the current batches are very, very good regarding the Ryzen 7 1700 and we can attain near-flagship performances for less money. When searching for stability, it seems that we have hit a wall as in the case of the Ryzen 7 1800X since we climbed to voltages as high as 1.412 without a clear improvement. Ryzen Master does not control the LLC levels of the motherboard and we will attempt overclocking again via the Crosshair VI Hero BIOS as soon as we get to the standalone mobo review.
Regarding memory overclocking, we have had a different experience versus the Ryzen 7 1800X flagship; with the 1800X, we have had no problems booting at 2933MHz but with the Ryzen 7 1700, we have had like 2-3 successful boots in ten. We do think that our sample has a weaker IMC considering that we have used the exact same motherboard and memory kit in both cases.
Regarding the system power consumption, we did record about 59.2W with the system in IDLE, 70.5W while watching 4K video content, 119W while encoding in Handbrake and 136W while gaming in Tomb Raider. With the system overclocked at 3.9GHz, we did record about 66.5W in IDLE, 75.8W while watching a 4K movie, 158W while encoding in Handbrake and also 148W while gaming in Tomb Raider.
We would like to thank again to AMD for making this review possible!