AMD’s turnaround: 3rd generation Ryzen 3900X with a main cache of 70MB, and a TDP of only 105W. The new generation CPU’s are packaged almost identical to the previous generation, with a combination of silver and orange, but replaced with a cardboard box, printed with scaly texture.

CPU Package Appearance

The outside packaging

The CPU package uses a semi-open design, with a transparent window like the Intel’s design

The internal package, adorned with the ‘Built To Perform, Designed to win’ slogan

The box contains the CPU, the special designed new generation Ryzen sticker and the Wraith Prism CPU cooling heatsink

The main CPU is not particularly different in appearance from the previous generation Ryzen CPU’s, but the internal structure design is completely different

In terms of heat dissipation, AMD is still quite ahead compared to Intel, Intel opting for a very basic heatsink. The Ryzen chip comes with its own RGB Wraith Prism heatsink, which is no different from the previous generation of radiators

The motherboard that we are using for our tests will be the ROG Strix X570-F from ASUS. The packaging still continues to use the previous generation Strix colour and pattern.

Motherboard Package Appearance

The attachment contains driver CD, new designed ROG sticker, do not disturb notice door sign, an instruction manual and a greeting card

The new version of the motherboard sticker and the do-not-disturb door sign are adopt the matrix dot pattern

It also contains 4 SATA cables (in the same package), an M.2 SSD screw pack, a cable tie pack, an RGB extension cable, and a thermal monitoring sensor cable

The motherboard has the same colour design as the previous generation. No wireless and Bluetooth modules are included

This motherboard uses 12+2 phases and 4+8pin input. The power chip uses ASUS’s own Digi+EPU ASP1106GGQW. The ASP1106 controller supports up to four Vcore phases And two SC phases. In order to meet the current requirements of the latest Ryzen 3000 processor, Asus has installed three power stages for each Vcore stage. With 14 pieces of SiC639. These 50 A power stages provide 150 A current per Vcore phase for ASUS. Although the result is far less complex than the real 14 phases, the power output does exist.

For I/O, the F series does not include a Wifi card. The interface provides four USB 3.2 Gen1 and four USB 3.2 Gen2 (including a Type-C). Unfortunately, the network cable interface is not 5Gbps

Compared with the Intel platform, the 3rd generation Ryzen has certain advantages on supporting PCIe buses. The CPU has a total of 24 PCIe Gen4 channels and 4 channels for chipset communication. It is specially designed for high-speed storage, and the speed is twice as fast compared to previous PCIe Gen3, and the remaining 20 channels are used to support graphics cards or SSDs. The 3rd generation Ryzen CPU natively supports 4 x USB 3.2 Gen2 ultra-fast 10Gbps connections

The Northbridge controller is manufactured in a 14nm process and has a PCIe Gen4 controller built-in. The PCIe controller from the X570 is all Gen4. The only disadvantage is that the temperature is really high

In terms of the memory compatibility, the X570 chipset has enhanced the memory compatibility, and the problem of ‘dedicated memory’ that was criticised by the previous generation has been alleviated

The SSD used in this test is the PCIe Gen4 version CORSAIR MP600

There is a metal backplate on the bottom of the heat sink, which will conflict with the rubber pads on the motherboard that prevent SSD bending

The upper part of the self-contained heat sink of SSD is too large, and it is not compatible with the heat-dissipating armour of the motherboard, and it must be removed

We installed the SSD on the M.2-2 slot. The north bridge’s cooling fan will make the SSD have better ventilation

The power supply we are using is a platinum series power supply from Seasonic to ensure a stable power provides

The heat sink that we used is a 240 AIO water-cooling kit and the AMD Wraith Prism air-cooled heatsink

Our testing bench

ROG motherboard and the sexy Wraith Prism cooler with RGB SYNC

BIOS snapshots

In the parameter comparison section, we used the Intel i9 9900K and the ASUS ROG Maximus XI Z390 platform.

In the system part, we have adopted Win10 1903 in a unified way. This version has optimised the 3rd generation Ryzen to a certain extent, and single-core gaming will have better performance.

In the driver part, after installing the latest AMD companion chipset driver, it will provide the Gen3 Ryzen exclusive UEFI Collaborative Power and Performance Control, which will speed up the CPU Turbo response time. When the load occurs, the CPU frequency increases. The reaction time will be reduced from 30ms to 1ms in the previous generation, and the speed of web browsing and software opening will be significantly improved. At the same time, we will switch the power management plan provided by AMD to High Performance and turn off the automatic overclocking.

Benchmarks

In the beginning, the CPU-Z details

CPU-Z Cache details
Level 3 cache is 4 x 16MB

CPU-Z Ram details
The memory frequency we use on the AMD platform will be lower than 3600MHz, mainly because the 3rd generation Ryzen separates the bus from the memory controller, and the FCLK frequency will be consistent with the DRAM frequency. The memory delay in this state will be minimised. With a large-capacity level 3 cache, the gaming performance will be further enhanced. When the memory frequency is greater than 3600Mhz, the BIOS will automatically divide the FCLK frequency and cut it to half. At this time, the memory delay will increase greatly, and the actual performance will decrease

CPU-Z Benchmark, compare with 9900K’s reference, single core speed, just 1% slower, but dominated the 9900K in multicore

Cinebench R15 single-core result

Cinebench R15 multi-core result

Cinebench R15 Extreme multi-core result

Cinebench R20 single-core result

Cinebench R20 multi-core result

The 3rd generation Ryzen loses out slightly to the i7 9900K in the single-core benchmark, and on multi-core, it has a strong performance, crushing the 9900K. In the multi-thread optimised 3D rendering VRAY test, the 3900X with a multi-core advantage is nearly 20s faster than 9900K.

In 3DMARK’s multiple tests, the CPU physical score of the 3900X is about 6% better than 9900K in Time Spy Extreme, and about 20% better than 9900K in Fire Strike Extreme, compared with the previous generation Thread Ripper 2950X, it also has a 10% Improvement.

Compared with SPECviewperf which pays attention to test graphics card, SPECworkstation3 is quite complete for CPU performance either. The following test is the comparison between Intel and AMD platform

Gaming test

Most games such as Assassin Creed: Odyssey which support AVX instruction set have slightly better performances on Intel than the AMD platform. However, the test results reflect the 3rd gen Ryzen has very close performance in game performance. We are witnessing massive leaps from AMD in this regard.

Heat test
we tested the CPU temperature when under full load by using AIDA64, the average temperature of the 9900K is around 75°C, 3900X is around 60°C. Under the FPU burning test, 9900K is around 104°C due to the AVX instruction set, and 3900X is around 87°C.

Power usage test
We tested the whole computer power consumption when under full load by using AIDA64, the average power consumption of the 9900K bench machine is around 240W/h, 3900X bench machine is around 175W/h. However, the single FPU burning test result is unexpected for us, 9900K generated huge power consumption due to the AVX instruction set, which is around 400W/h, and 3900X is only using around 250W/h.

Overclocking
This 3rd generation Ryzen comes with automatic overclocking settings. According to the official statement, this CPU can be stable OC about 200MHz, but in fact, we can only pull up about 80Mhz, and because the CPU default voltage is initially high that leads to manual overclocking becoming extremely difficult. Even the Ryzen Master offers a voltage limit of 1.535V, and we have not successfully increased the core frequency to 4.5Ghz at this voltage.

Summary
The performance of this AMD X570 platform is really conspicuous. ASUS’s top-level material support and the strong performance of the 3900X have shown a beautiful turnaround from an otherwise Intel dominated landscape.

In terms of price, although the price of 3900X in Australia is slightly higher than 9900K around $30, and the single-core frequency is slightly lower than 9900K, but the number of cores is 4 more, and the number of threads is 8 more. It also has a large level 3 cache and using 7nm TSMC’s new technology to greatly reduce heat and power consumption. Plus, the PCIe Gen4 support and increased memory compatibility.

This time, AMD’s sales strategy is undoubtedly successful. The powerful performance takes into account gameplay and at the same time, it provides a very stable environment and high-speed use for technicians or enthusiasts who work at home and need to do film editing, modeling, rendering, and graphic design.

However, AMD’s old rival Intel remained silent and we will have to wait and see their next move.

EPIC PC RATE SCORE: CPU 87/100

EPIC REWARD: EPIC RECOMMENDED, EDITOR’S CHOICE & EXTREME POWER

EPIC PC RATE SCORE: MOTHERBOARD 87/100

EPIC REWARD: EPIC RECOMMENDED & EDITOR’S CHOICE

EPIC PC RATE SCORE: PCIe GEN4 SSD 94/100

EPIC REWARD: EPIC RECOMMENDED & EXTREME POWER

ASUS X570-F OFFICIAL WEBSITE: HERE

AMD Ryzen 9 3900X OFFICIAL WEBSITE: HERE

CORSAIR 600P PCIe Gen4 SSD OFFICE WEBSITE: HERE

The full specification is shown as:

The package of the keyboard:

After open the front cover, the keyboard is directly shows at the front:

The out the keyboard main body, we can find the instruction menu and warranty paper under it, and the wrist support pad with plastic bag protected.

There are no attachment or gift contains in the package. USB cable is extremely thick, has been separated into two headers at the end side.

OK, Let’s go ahead to the main body of this keyboard.
Actually, this keyboard has the ‘frame-less’ design, it will be easier to keep the whole keyboard clean of dust.

The shortcut key for changing profile, RGB bright level changing key and windoes key lock. the profile change key will shows different colours when changing profiles.

The mute-sound key and the volume potentiometer are located on the top right corner

The CORSAIR LOGO indicator is actually RGB setup.

The old fasion designed tape deck buttons have been put between number pad and the volume potentiometer.

The space bar has the Anti Slippery design.

The space bar also has two satellite supporters.

OK, It’s the time to take all keycaps off and have a look for the switches.

the play buttons are designed by membrane technology

The ‘Zero’ key and other long keys are have the same support design.

This screw is hidden under this cap:

The bottom cover inside looking:

The bottom cover outside looking:

The circus board looking:

The main board controller chip for this keyboard is the entry level 32-bit 50MHz NXP LPC11U68JBD100 MCU based on ARM Cortex-M0+/M0 Cores

Now, let’s getting into the RGB area!

RGB per switch! Look closer!

The corsair logo close look

Function keys light

PER-KEY Lighting setup, customised for ‘EPIC PC’

All right! Let’s get something fun – changing a more sexy keycaps! Chrome Silver? Chrome Gold? or Chrome Red?

Chrome Silver has been selected. It’s AWESOME for the HDR looking!

We clicked-on the wrist pad, then take a look!

Single Lightup & RGB Lightup!

The USB 2.0 port at the top rear side.

Side view for the keyboard, we changed back the original white keycaps.

The Corsair iCUE software UI

Click on the keyboard icon and get into the main run-time view.

iCUE Device Setting menu: we can review the Polling rate, Light Brightness, Layout, Device memory usage and Firmware version number here.

iCUE Keyboard Profile page, we can find the default profile and the on-board other 3 profiles.

User is allowed to import and export their own customised profiles

iCUE Keyboard Macro setting page, it’s the design for a simplification perpose from the in-game complicated combinations input.

iCUE Lighting effect design page, we can setup the per-key and area colour, effect action, or even the combination of them.

Then, we decided to create a customised profile for a unique looking style!
After  research, we are finding out that the SOFTWARE PROFILE can be assigned to the specific program or game, which means when you start to run the specific program or game, the profile will automatically switch to the customised one that you set up before, but the HARDWARE PROFILE cannot be assigned because it controlled by the onboard key, which means you have to switch to the current profile that you set up and replaced before.

Both of Hardware profile and Software profile page can be customised the background picture and icon

You also can save the customised profile to the hardware profile (replace one of the three original profiles).

After the profile setup, let’s see the change! When we open the game called ‘The Matrix: Path of Neo’, keyboard light and customised key binding will show like this:

Is it Cool? Absolutely YES!

After using this keyboard a while for playing PUBG and CS-GO, this 45cN MX SPEED SWITCH is fantastic, to compare with the previous K70 RAPIDFIRE, the smooth touch feedback for new PBT keycaps has definitely better than the old designed ABS keycaps. The re-designed wrist pad has a split-area design and much softer touch feeling than the previous K70, it’s not sticky and easy to get cleaned (washable). To test the keyboard response and Key roll-over function, we played the game ‘DJMAX-Trilogy’. As Corsair mentioned ‘100% ANTI-GHOSTING WITH FULL-KEY ROLLOVER’, it’s no any conflict when playing music game and different combinations include function key are still working perfectly.

Overall, this keyboard we have to say, it has improved a lot from the previous version, but the price for this product is a bit over and similar to the K95 Platinum. So it’s not that friendly for the CP Value. Plus, there is no keycap remover inside the package, as a hi-end level mechanical gaming keyboard, no customised keycaps or other just-for-fun gifts inside the package is actually not so likable for some hardcore gamer, even a Corsair metal sticker is better than nothing, isn’t it?

ASUS, CORSAIR, COOLERMASTER, IN-WIN, LIAN-LI, RAZER, G.SKILL, GIGABYTE are attended as Vendor.

ASUS ROG BOOTH

ASUS CONFERENCE

ASUS ROG PHONE

ROG PHONE STAND

ROG PHONE STAND

ROG PHONE CONTROLLER

ROG PHONE CASE

ROG PHONE CASE

ROG PHONE CASE

ASUS MINI PC PA90

ASUS MINI PC PA90

ASUS PG35VQ

ASUS PG35VQ

ASUS PG65

ASUS THOR RGB PSU

ASUS THOR RGB PSU

ASUS THOR RGB PSU

ASUS AIO COOLER

ASUS AIO COOLER

ASUS AIO COOLER

ASUS AIO COOLER

ASUS AIO COOLER

ASUS AIO COOLER

ASUS ROG G703

ASUS ROG G703

ASUS ROG G703

ASUS ROG G703

ASUS ROG G703

ASUS ITX GAMING

ASUS VIVOBOOK PRO

ASUS VIVOBOOK PRO

ASUS VIVOBOOK PRO

ASUS VIVOBOOK PRO

NEW ROG SYSTEM

NEW ROG SYSTEM

NEW MONITORS

NEW MONITORS

NEW ROG MOUSE

CORSAIR SPEC-06

CORSAIR SPEC-06

CORSAIR 1000D

CORSAIR 1000D

CORSAIR 1000D

CORSAIR 1000D

CORSAIR 1000D

CORSAIR 1000D

CORSAIR RGB MEMORY

CORSAIR iCUE READY

CORSAIR iCUE READY

CORSAIR iCUE READY

CORSAIR iCUE READY

LIAN-LI RGB CABLE

LIAN-LI RGB CABLE

RAZER GIANT KEYBOARD

LIAN-LI RAZER CASE

INWIN TWISTED CASE

INWIN TWISTED CASE

INWIN NEW RGB FANS

INWIN TWISTED CASE

INWIN TWISTED CASE

INWIN TWISTED CASE

COOLERMASTER NEW CASE

COOLERMASTER RGB AIO

COOLERMASTER AIR COOL

COOLERMASTER RGB KB

COOLERMASTER NEW CASE

COOLERMASTER FAN WALL

COMPUTEX TAIPEI

G.SKILL MX780 MOUSE

GIGABYTE FISHTANK