AMD Ryzen 7 2700 8-Core 65W Processor Review

By Nathan Kirsch

Final Thoughts and Conclusions

The AMD Ryzen 7 2700 is an interesting part from AMD and it was only after sitting down and looking at all the data that we could determine if this processor is worth purchasing. The AMD Ryzen 7 2700 is the lowest priced 2000-series processor that has eight cores. It costs $30 less than the Ryzen 7 2700X and has nothing disabled, so the processor itself only differs by the clock speeds. And what a difference that is with the base clock of the 2700 being 3.2 GHz and the 2700X being 3.7 GHz. The boost clock speeds are a littler closer with the Ryzen 7 2700 being 4.1 GHz and the Ryzen 7 2700X being 4.3 GHz. The thing is that you need to remember that the Ryzen 7 2700X has XFR 2.0 technology that allows only the 2700X to go up to 200 MHz beyond the rated boost frequency, while the 2700 gets at most 50 MHz over that mark. So, the Ryzen 7 2700X has much better clock speeds and the performance straight out of the box is hands down better and so it the cost for that performance.

The highlight of the AMD Ryzen 7 2700 for us was power efficiency as it had the highest performance per Watt of our recently tested processors. This 65W TDP CPU uses far less power at load than the AMD Ryzen processors with XFR technology and that is a bonus for those looking to be energy efficient. We found that the 2700 uses over 40W less power than the 2700X in Handbrake and that is significant!

If you happen to be an overclocker the AMD Ryzen 7 2700 might be something we recommend for you. The Ryzen 7 2700 is a fully unlocked processor just like the Ryzen 7 2700X and it overclcocks very well. We were able to hit 4.1 GHz on all cores with the AMD Wraith Prism CPU Cooler after a CPU Core Voltage increase. We got over 20% performance gains on multi-threaded applications with this overclock and with all cores over 4 GHz this 8-core, 16-thread processor handles most all workloads like a champ. Single threaded performance was interesting because at 4.1 GHz on all cores our performance was lower than the Ryzen 7 2700X as it has a 4.3 GHz max boost. So, overclocking all cores might not give you better single-core performance on the processor you are overclocking if you can’t match the max boost clock. That said, with the 2700X being $30 less than the 2700X might make sense for overclockers to purchase as it is the lowest priced 8-core Ryzen 7 2000 series processor and you can get decent overclocks with it.

Right now the AMD Ryzen 7 2700 8-core, 16-thread processor is available for $289.95 shipped. After looking at the performance numbers we’d recommend coughing up the extra $30 the AMD Ryzen 7 2700X processor as it’s higher stock clock speeds offer significantly better performance, it comes with a more robust CPU Cooler and we couldn’t match its single-threaded performance when all cores were overclocked as high as we could get them. We’d only recommend the 2700 to those building a smaller-form-factor (SFF) PC with limited airflow and wanted a 65W processor to avoid heat issues.

AMD Ryzen 2000 Series CPU Pricing:

The AMD Ryzen 7 2700X is still the best 8-core, 16-thread in AMD’s arsenal and its the model that we still recommend.

LR Recommended Award

Legit Bottom Line: The AMD Ryzen 7 2700 performs well, but for an extra $30 the Ryzen 7 2700X offers substantially more bang for the buck and comes with a better CPU cooler.