First off, I enjoy building SFF (small form factor) type builds.
The current generation of CPU's were more power hungry, which resulted in more heat to dissipate. Trying to cool a Ryzen 9 7900X on a CPU cooler rated for max 100W is quite difficult, so therefore you have to go towards cases like the NZXT H1 V2.
This particular chip allows you to not only have near identical performance to the Ryzen 9 7900X with PBO, but also gives you SFF allowable performance at a lower wattage that still provides you power.
So far today using this has been great, and I recommend this chip to anyone that wants a newer generation chip without the abismal power draws that have been required as of late.
Edit 1/17:
From normal use I have seen no difference between this model and the X model. I had both chips in my NZXT H1 V2, liquid metal as the thermal application, and by far the non X model does much better in this type of SFF build. It still will boost, however if you are like me, work from home, and use this all day long in most cases, you aren't going to want the CPU blasting at full power over the entire work day.
Quick note: temps are much better, my fan curve was not changed and the temperature is a lot more tolerable compared to the X version, so my CPU radiator fan does not spool up as much as it did with the X. I let it hover between 50C-65C for daily use and the fans are quiet, with the X the fan was at half or more RPM constantly to keep it at around this temperature and would sometimes hover in the 70's. So, if you are temperature concious then the non-x version is great.
With that said I am pleased with the product. I do feel though this model needed to be priced at $399, as we have seen the 7900X is selling at this time around $425 on sale.
Again, I will reiterate, the allowances in this chip should have been more prevalent in the X version, as I feel like we were kind of ripped off slightly this generation on CPU's and GPU's.
Edit 1/20:
This will be my final edit. I am boosting to around 5.5 MHz with the wattage anywhere from 60-90W. My temperatures are sustaining on load no more than 68C on a single 140mm AIO in the NZXT H1 V2. This is great, I am maintaining the frequency, but with a much lower power draw.
One item I would recommend is getting an aftermarket chip mounting plate for this chip, weirdly it did make a difference for this chip, around 1-2C lower than the stock MOBO chip mount. I'm using the following mount: Thermalright ASF-Black AM5 CPU Holder, Corrective Anti-Bending Fixing Frame, AM5 Full-fit Fixed Non-Marking Mounter, AM5 Anti-Bending Contact Frame, CPU Cooler Standard, I am also using the following paste: Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut Thermal Grease - 1 Gram Set + 3 Applicators + Pads - Liquid Metal Thermal Paste for Cooling The CPU, GPU Value Pack.
So far so good, would recommend, and again this is what the first chip should have been - AMD is trying too much to be intel, sure make your server chips, but we buy AMD for efficiency, not brute power in most cases. Sure, there is threadripper, but most of us are casual users. Regardless, this is the chip we all wanted, it's powerful, efficient, and over-clockable.
| Processor | 3.7 GHz ryzen_9 |
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