AMD's new Zen+ CPUs, the Ryzen 5 2600X and the Ryzen 7 2700X, have made their way to Geekbench and seem to have posted some impressive scores in comparison with their previous generation counterparts. The increased single-core and multi-core scores seem to be a result of some of the improvements on the original Zen architecture in this optimization cycle.

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The upcoming Ryzen 7 2700X and the Ryzen 5 2600X have started showing up on Geekbench and the first benchmark results are impressive to say the least. Both the CPUs are part of the AMD Zen+ microarchitecture — an iterative improvement, which is part of the Optimization phase of AMD's Inflection-Optimization cycle or semi tick-tock cycle. Lets have a look at the scores to understand the implications of these chips for desktop computing this year.

AMD Ryzen 7 2700X Geekbench scores

According to the Geekbench listing for the Ryzen 7 2700X, the test bed consisted of an Asus Crosshair VI Hero motherboard based on the X370 chipset. The only limiting factor in this test is the usage of the slower 16 GB DDR4-2400 RAM, which did affect the single-core scores to some extent. The 2700X is listed as an 8C/16T CPU with a base clock of 3.70 GHz. We had already known this by now so no big surprises here with regards to the CPU itself.

We expected overall better performance with the Ryzen 7 2700X and the scores didn't seem to disappoint. The Ryzen 7 2700X posted a single-core score of 4,746 and a multi-core score of 24,772 on Geekbench. This puts it squarely between an Intel Core i7-8700K (25,813 multi) and the Core i7-8700 (22,967 multi). The Ryzen 7 2700X is a direct successor to last year's Zen-based Ryzen 7 1700X. When one does a generation-to-generation comparison with the Ryzen 7 1800X, which had posted scores of 4,249 single and 21,981 multi, it is seen that the Zen+ - based 2700X has at least a 13% generation-to-generation performance improvement over Zen and a cool 18% improvement over its direct predecessor, the Ryzen 7 1700X (21,026 multi).

AMD Ryzen 5 2600X Geekbench scores

Details about the mid-range Ryzen 5 2600X have been scarce and it is only now that we are getting to see information about the new chip. However, we did see the Ryzen 5 2600 in the wild a month ago and that had a 3.40 GHz base clock. The Geekbench entry for the 2600X shows it to be a 6C/12T CPU with a base clock of 3.60 GHz — 200 MHz higher than the Zen-based Ryzen 5 1600X. The CPU was tested on an X370 chipset-based Asus Prime X370-Pro motherboard. The test bed here, however, seems to have used the faster 16 GB DDR4-3200 RAM.

Like the Ryzen 7 2700X, the Ryzen 5 2600X seems to be no slouch when it comes to posting impressive numbers in the Geekbench test. In the single-core test, the 2600X posted a score of 4,781 slightly beating the 2700X despite having lower clocks. This can be attributed to the DDR4-3200 RAM used in this case. In multi-core, the 2600X scored 22,235. The 2600X offers a large performance improvement — 19% more than the Zen-based 1600X (18,757 multi) even though both sport the same base clocks. The increased performance can therefore be attributed to the new eXtended Frequency Range (XFR) 2.0 and Precision Boost 2.0 technologies that could help the 2600X post higher scores at higher clock frequencies over sustained loads. The numbers posted by the 2600X seem even more impressive when considering that the fact that it even beats the stock Ryzen 7 1800X in raw scores.

Zen+ — An improvement in the right direction

It is clear that AMD is not resting on its laurels and the Zen+ generation could be just what the doctor ordered before Zen2 is unleashed on us in 2019. Single-core performance is still Intel's strong point and the equivalent 'Coffee Lake' chips such as Core i7-8700/8700K and the Core i5-8600/8600K will continue to post higher FPS scores but AMD is mighty close and has the potential to give Intel's offerings a run for their money.

While Zen+ will continue to support the existing 300-series motherboards, features such as XFR 2.0 and Precision Boost 2.0 would require new hardware features that are likely to be a part of the X470 boards, which are slated to make their debut alongside the Ryzen 2 portfolio this April.

It will surely be a treat to take these bad boys for a spin and watch them crunch numbers like there is no tomorrow.