AMD’s high-performance streak continues at Zen 3. These chips are the third or fourth iteration of their modern desktop processors (or fifth, depending on who counts), and they offer remarkable performance. In this episode, we look at what’s changed in Zen 3, how important is CPU power for tasks such as animation and video editing?

Along with the Zen 2, AMD introduced the concept of “chiplets”: a small disc processor dies, and they connect to each other to form the final chip. Zen 2 CPUs used an “I / O Die” chip that handled data transfer using one or two “CCD” chiplets containing up to 8 processor cores. In Zen 2, these “CCDs” or “Core Complex Dyes” are divided into “Core Complexes” – CCX that connects 4 processor cores to each other. This modular system allows the Zen 2 scale from 4 core to 64 core 3990X on the Raison 3 3100 without fundamentally modifying the architecture.

But there were no design compromises. Each 4-core CCX shared some cache memory, and while data transfer between cores in a CCX could be faster, moving bits between CCXs would increase latency and slow down the system. In Z3, AMD mainly merges CCX and CCD, grouping the chips into clusters of 8 cores, all of which share 32 MB of L3 cache memory. This, along with several other minor enhancements, allows data to flow through the CPU without dips or interruptions.

Our test indicates that it worked by delivering the fastest single and multicore scores we’ve ever seen on the flagship 16-core 5950X, Cinebench (outside of workstation-grade chips). Notably, it does so without a huge jump in power consumption. However, our tests also showed that revenue for high CPU power is declining in most media applications. Few applications will scale to 16 cores, and in many cases, including Adobe and Da Vinci Resolve, a powerful GPU can make a big difference these days. If you want to build the most powerful system you can, the $ 799 5950X is definitely a chip to consider, but if you are on a budget, you may want to spend your money elsewhere.

Check out the full video for more information.