A year to the day after releasing its landmark 3rd-gen Ryzen desktop CPUs, AMD has released a trio of new 'XT' processors that take advantage of manufacturing improvements to hit higher clock speeds. Two chips, the Ryzen 5 3600XT and Ryzen 9 3900XT, get a 100MHz frequency boost, while the Ryzen 7 3800XT is 200MHz faster than its 'X' equivalent. Otherwise, the models are more or less identical - the same core counts, cache sizes and overall architecture. We've been testing the Ryzen 7 and 9 models for the past week, and we think that they're a definite boon for anyone planning a Ryzen build - but perhaps not for the reasons you'd expect.
Before we get into the results of our content creation and game testing, let's briefly set the scene. One of the most critical things to know about these new models is that they are a supplement to the existing third-gen Ryzen lineup, rather than a (partial) replacement. That means that the older models - 3600X, the 3800X and the 3900X - will stay on the market, at least for the immediate future. While both the 'X' released a year ago and the 'XT' models releasing now actually share exactly the same recommended retail price, the original processors have naturally become cheaper over time, so in actuality there's a sizeable gap between the two lines. Here's how things currently shape up, as of early July 2020:
So in the UK, there's a £45 premium in the case of the 3600XT, £120 (!) for the 3800XT and £90 for the 3900XT. Things are a bit different in the US, where the price differentials look to be closer to $25 for the 3600XT, $70 for the 3800XT and $80 for the 3900XT. These margins will fluctuate over time, especially just after the initial launch period, so be sure to check the current prices yourself if you're trying to decide between an 'X' or an 'XT'. Fundamentally though, the question remains the same: how much is an extra 100 or 200MHz worth? What extra performance can a clock speed bump of this size provide?
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