1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,720 Everyone, including us, has recommended the AMD Ryzen 5700X3D 2 00:00:05,720 --> 00:00:08,920 for gaming on a budget at some point or another. 3 00:00:08,920 --> 00:00:13,040 But like, who wants to pay for a gaming PC that is out of date 4 00:00:13,040 --> 00:00:19,600 before you even click add to cart? Not you, but fortunately, there's a secret gaming CPU, 5 00:00:19,600 --> 00:00:23,560 one that goes blow for blow with the 5700X3D 6 00:00:23,560 --> 00:00:30,080 and sits on a future-ready platform and, most importantly, is cheaper. 7 00:00:30,080 --> 00:00:33,880 Meet the AMD Ryzen 5 7500F. 8 00:00:33,880 --> 00:00:38,400 We ran it through the lab's gauntlet to find out if this, off-menu CPU, 9 00:00:38,400 --> 00:00:42,920 is the one budget-minded gamers should be targeting. Just like we're targeting you, 10 00:00:42,920 --> 00:00:46,520 it's you, Howard, with this segue, to our sponsor. 11 00:00:46,520 --> 00:00:58,160 The 7500F isn't exactly new, 12 00:00:58,160 --> 00:01:03,560 so why are we covering it now? Well, the main reason is that unlike CPUs 13 00:01:03,560 --> 00:01:09,200 that come in retail boxes, this one is targeted at system builders and bulk buyers, 14 00:01:09,200 --> 00:01:12,880 and therefore has mostly flown under our radar. 15 00:01:12,880 --> 00:01:16,840 Now, you can find them on sites like New Egg, but at the time of writing, 16 00:01:16,840 --> 00:01:19,840 the most reliable place to get one for a good price 17 00:01:19,840 --> 00:01:24,600 seems to be Aliexpress, not exactly a mainstream US retailer. 18 00:01:24,600 --> 00:01:28,400 But what is it? Well, on paper, it is strikingly similar 19 00:01:28,400 --> 00:01:31,800 to a Ryzen 5 7600 non-X, 20 00:01:31,800 --> 00:01:38,720 except that it lacks onboard graphics, hence the Dash F suffix, and hence the lower price. 21 00:01:38,720 --> 00:01:42,960 There are some compromises here. Compared to the 5700X3D, 22 00:01:42,960 --> 00:01:46,160 it's got only about one third of the cash, 23 00:01:46,160 --> 00:01:50,840 none of AMD's amazing 3DV cash here, and being an OEM chip, 24 00:01:50,840 --> 00:01:55,120 it comes with no AMD direct warranty or box cooler. 25 00:01:55,120 --> 00:01:59,880 But if you're willing to live on the edge, it boosts nearly one gigahertz higher, 26 00:01:59,880 --> 00:02:04,040 uses newer Zen 4 cores, supports faster DDR5 memory, 27 00:02:04,040 --> 00:02:07,080 and sits in a more modern AM5 socket, 28 00:02:07,080 --> 00:02:12,280 giving us room to upgrade it in the future. Let's see how these differences manifest in gaming. 29 00:02:12,320 --> 00:02:15,920 Starting with our test that best isolate CPU performance, 30 00:02:15,920 --> 00:02:22,600 the 7500F does pretty darn well. It trails the 7600X and 5700X3D in games like 31 00:02:22,600 --> 00:02:28,040 Saber Punk and Shadow the Tomb Raider, but on average, it remains within striking distance, 32 00:02:28,040 --> 00:02:32,120 falling short by a smaller gap than the price difference between those chips. 33 00:02:32,120 --> 00:02:36,680 And that's kind of the worst case scenario. In games where clock speed is king, like Rocket League, 34 00:02:36,680 --> 00:02:40,560 these 7500F sees a big lead of over 24% 35 00:02:40,560 --> 00:02:43,920 over its primary competitor. And I say primary competitor, 36 00:02:43,920 --> 00:02:48,960 because Intel still exists for now, but it's hard to call them competition. 37 00:02:48,960 --> 00:02:52,880 When we throw in some similarly priced chips from Team Blue on the chart, 38 00:02:52,880 --> 00:03:00,400 they do not put up a fight. Not a single one beats our 7500F even once. 39 00:03:01,680 --> 00:03:05,080 Even worse, our other secret value gaming monster, 40 00:03:05,080 --> 00:03:08,480 the Ryzen 8400F, gets in on the beatdown too. 41 00:03:08,520 --> 00:03:12,160 Often available for just over $90. 42 00:03:12,160 --> 00:03:17,360 Sometimes cheaper. This almost an 8600G, but without the iGPU, 43 00:03:17,360 --> 00:03:22,360 beats the more expensive 1300F in all but one of our tests. 44 00:03:22,400 --> 00:03:27,800 Even then, it was a draw for 1% lows, which I still consider to be a win. 45 00:03:27,800 --> 00:03:31,280 Even considering that the 8400F is on average 46 00:03:31,280 --> 00:03:34,920 about 20% slower than the 7500F, 47 00:03:34,920 --> 00:03:39,160 and even occasionally falls behind the older 5600X in games like F1, 48 00:03:39,160 --> 00:03:42,880 the price to performance of this little fella 49 00:03:42,880 --> 00:03:46,720 is kind of outstanding. And that positive look continues 50 00:03:46,720 --> 00:03:51,800 when we match our CPUs with GPUs that might be a little more price appropriate. 51 00:03:51,800 --> 00:03:56,400 Price appropriate. Like this quality stretchy wicking button-up sports shirt 52 00:03:56,400 --> 00:04:02,960 from LTTstore.com. Breach! As soon as we switch to a more reasonable 4060-class GPU, 53 00:04:02,960 --> 00:04:07,880 both the 8400F and 7500F make us question why gamers are even bothering 54 00:04:07,880 --> 00:04:12,800 with gaming CPUs at all. The 8400 does show its limitations more often, 55 00:04:12,800 --> 00:04:16,120 but the 7500F stays remarkably close 56 00:04:16,120 --> 00:04:21,560 to the old budget gaming king, even pulling slightly ahead overall at 1440P, 57 00:04:21,560 --> 00:04:25,160 and matching the gold standard for PC gaming, 58 00:04:25,160 --> 00:04:28,960 the 9800X3D in Cyberpunk and F124. 59 00:04:28,960 --> 00:04:32,440 Of course, a lot of this changes once we swap out our GPU, 60 00:04:32,440 --> 00:04:37,360 which we know from a lot of audience surveys, is the most likely upgrade to an existing system. 61 00:04:37,360 --> 00:04:43,160 Paired with a 4070 Super, the 8400 starts to fall behind, especially at 1080P, 62 00:04:43,160 --> 00:04:48,160 where on average, the 9800X3D beats its 1% lows by 41%, 63 00:04:49,040 --> 00:04:52,960 which is a lot, even considering that it costs five times as much. 64 00:04:52,960 --> 00:04:57,400 And remember, it's more fair to compare the total system price 65 00:04:57,400 --> 00:05:02,400 versus the price of individual components when evaluating bang for the buck of a new PC purchase. 66 00:05:02,400 --> 00:05:08,200 Focusing back in on our head-to-head showdown between the 7500F and the 5700X3D, 67 00:05:08,200 --> 00:05:13,680 they trade blows with each other, performing about 15% better than the 8400F, 68 00:05:13,680 --> 00:05:16,720 with the 7500F taking F1 in Rocket League 69 00:05:16,720 --> 00:05:20,040 and the 5700X3D holding strong in Cyberpunk 70 00:05:20,040 --> 00:05:25,120 and Shadow the Tomb Raider. As we jump to 1440P, the results are same-same, 71 00:05:25,120 --> 00:05:28,600 but with smaller gaps. And by the time we make it all the way to 4K, 72 00:05:28,600 --> 00:05:32,280 we're so GPU bound that even the 8400F 73 00:05:32,280 --> 00:05:35,320 is back within a margin of error of the gold standard. 74 00:05:35,320 --> 00:05:39,640 Now, this is where we had planned to end our testing, but then we thought, okay, 75 00:05:39,640 --> 00:05:42,640 but what if we switch over to an RTX 4090 76 00:05:42,640 --> 00:05:47,820 for some legitimate 4K gaming? That would obviously be a pretty imbalanced choice, 77 00:05:47,820 --> 00:05:54,000 given that the MSRP of that GPU is more than 10 times the cost of our 7500F, 78 00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:57,400 but wouldn't you know it, the little F gin that could 79 00:05:59,240 --> 00:06:02,400 is breathing down the neck of the 9800X3D 80 00:06:02,400 --> 00:06:06,960 in most games with the 1% lows of City Skylines 2 81 00:06:06,960 --> 00:06:10,040 being the only really meaningful performance difference 82 00:06:10,040 --> 00:06:14,640 across our UHD gaming testing. But what does all of that mean? 83 00:06:14,640 --> 00:06:21,200 Well, first of all, while this isn't really news, it means, hot damn Intel, y'all need to get it together. 84 00:06:21,200 --> 00:06:24,680 While AMD has dominated the CPU gaming performance charts 85 00:06:24,720 --> 00:06:31,040 at both the mid-end and high-end for a while, their budget lineup has withered to almost nothing, 86 00:06:31,040 --> 00:06:35,760 leaving an opportunity for Intel. An opportunity they should have taken while they had it, 87 00:06:35,760 --> 00:06:39,640 because now, with these two stealthy budget risings, 88 00:06:39,640 --> 00:06:42,640 it's hard to see a single bright spot for Team Blue. 89 00:06:42,640 --> 00:06:46,920 I mean, we didn't even include the latest generation of Core Ultra chips in our testing, 90 00:06:46,920 --> 00:06:50,440 because there aren't any Core Ultra CPUs 91 00:06:50,440 --> 00:06:54,360 and compatible motherboards that are in a comparable price bracket. 92 00:06:54,360 --> 00:07:00,640 That means that any Intel budget purchase is gonna be on a dead platform, yonkers. 93 00:07:01,640 --> 00:07:07,760 But what about compared to AMD's own products? Should you be considering these effing cool chips? 94 00:07:07,760 --> 00:07:11,640 Well, yeah, both offer strong real-world performance, 95 00:07:11,640 --> 00:07:18,080 as long as you can find one for the right price. And while I lean more towards recommending the 7500F 96 00:07:18,080 --> 00:07:24,880 as a long-term proposition for gamers, the 8400F is one of very few quality 97 00:07:24,880 --> 00:07:29,840 sub-$100 processors these days, and could be a great way to game today 98 00:07:29,840 --> 00:07:35,600 if you're on a strict budget. Just be aware that someday, and that day may never come. 99 00:07:35,600 --> 00:07:39,280 Being limited to eight PCIe Gen4 lanes for your GPU 100 00:07:39,280 --> 00:07:44,880 may make you feel the pinch, making this one the less future-proof of our options. 101 00:07:44,880 --> 00:07:48,400 Though, of course, that won't matter if the only future-proofing you care about 102 00:07:48,440 --> 00:07:53,440 is putting something new in your AM5 socket, sometime between now and 2027, 103 00:07:53,440 --> 00:07:56,920 when AMD says that this platform will be abandoned. 104 00:07:56,920 --> 00:08:02,680 Oh, and there is one more thing. While AliExpress is pretty reliable these days, 105 00:08:02,680 --> 00:08:06,600 we actually ordered a second chip off of Newegg just to make sure, 106 00:08:06,600 --> 00:08:12,960 and we found that both were equally genuine, import tariffs could impact the viability of these CPUs 107 00:08:12,960 --> 00:08:17,240 for our American neighbors. Wait, sorry, did I say one more thing? 108 00:08:17,240 --> 00:08:21,560 I meant two more things, and the second is this segue to our sponsor. 109 00:08:22,440 --> 00:08:28,100 If you're looking for a GPU to pair with your new CPU, we've reviewed a ton of GPUs recently 110 00:08:28,100 --> 00:08:31,520 with the AMD RX9070 and 9070XT 111 00:08:31,520 --> 00:08:34,920 looking like a pretty solid match for the 7500F, 112 00:08:34,920 --> 00:08:39,720 as long as you can get it at a fair price. Or actually, maybe the Intel B580. 113 00:08:39,720 --> 00:08:42,840 Wow, what a hellfroze over system that would be. 114 00:08:42,840 --> 00:08:44,760 AMD CPU Intel GPU.