AMD Ryzen Eco Mode Deep-Dive & Benchmarks on R9 7950X (Zen 4)

AMD Ryzen 7000 CPUs on Zen 4, including the R7 7700X, R5 7600X, R9 7900X, and Ryzen 9 7950X, have an optional "Eco Mode" feature in BIOS that can be enabled for power savings. There will be a cost to performance, naturally, but the goal is to minimize the negative trade-off and maximize the power savings (and reduction of heat). In this video, we're benchmarking the preset Eco Mode options (65W vs. 105W vs. Stock/170W) on an AMD Ryzen 9 7950X CPU. The tests mostly focus on a focused list of parts -- namely, the new Ryzen parts -- with a few showings vs. Intel's i9-13900K CPU.

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TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Explaining AMD Eco Mode on Zen 4
01:37 - When You'd Use Eco Mode
03:19 - Precision Boost Overdrive vs. Eco Mode vs. PB2
05:41 - Eco Limits Defined
06:37 - TDP IS NOT POWER CONSUMPTION
08:55 - Benchmarks: Power Consumption All-Core
09:57 - Single-Core Power Consumption
10:35 - Frequency Changes (Eco Mode On vs. Off, 105W & 65W)
11:32 - Frequency Stability Over Time
12:17 - Thermal Test Setup
13:35 - Thermal Benchmarks (7950X Stock vs. Eco Mode)
14:47 - Power Efficiency Benchmarks
16:06 - Blender Render Speed Benchmarks
17:27 - Chromium Code Compile CPU Benchmarks (Eco Mode)
18:13 - File Compression & Decompression Testing
19:46 - Adobe Photoshop CPU Benchmarks (7950X 65W vs. 105W vs. Stock)
20:30 - Adobe Premiere CPU Benchmarks in AMD Eco Mode
21:10 - Gaming on Eco Mode Discussion
21:57 - GTA V Eco Mode Benchmarks on AMD Ryzen 7000
22:36 - CSGO AMD Zen 4 Eco Mode Benchmarks
23:28 - Far Cry 6 CPU Benchmarks
23:50 - Final Fantasy XIV CPU Benchmarks in Eco Mode
24:16 - Additional Gaming Benchmarks
24:46 - Conclusion: Eco Mode on AMD Ryzen

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Host, Test Lead, Copy Editing: Steve Burke
Testing, Copy QC: Patrick Lathan
Writing: Jeremy Clayton
Video Editing: Mike Gaglione
Camera & Lighting: Andrew Coleman

[grantbaxter]

Steve needs to let himself go on eco mode for a few days!

[andyastrand]

Agree with those conclusions 105W definitely seems the way to go, but can we appreciate that chip in 65W mode managed to run all 16 cores at 4GHz and did it at only 19 degrees above ambient. That seems mad. The mobile versions of these chips are surely going to be monsters.

[Zosu]

With all vendors pushing their products hard out of the box it seems opting in for efficiency is something that’s going to be more commonplace. These efficiency results bode well for Zen 4 mobile!

[Nerthym]

105W seems like no-brainer for code compilation for the sake of maybe less noise. Thanks for benchmaking this stuff.

[stratcaster]

I understand that GN is usually looking at hardware from a more traditional sense, hence constantly reminding that "300MHz all core". But the reason why many people look at these ECO modes is that the thermals and system noise concerns overcome the significance of the performance.
For me, it's not that you "lose 300MHz all core and that's a lot", but rather you "lose 6% of the core clock while reducing 50% power consumption". That's a truly impressive and disproportionate improvement. Personally, I care about these things because I am an ITX gamer nowadays, and there is a limited thermal budget for the system and a limited noise budget for my own sanity. My logic in looking at this is "what's the best performer at certain wattage that my cooling system can handle", and from that point, even a 20-30% weaker than stock 7950X is still within consideration. Although realistically, the best performance-to-cost ratio probably lies somewhere around a TDP limited 7700X or a 13700K for gaming.

[Scarlet_Soul]

The eco modes are honestly what I've found most impressive about this generation of CPU's

[gamergod]

if you'd just adjust the PBO curve offset or PPT limits manually rather than using the Eco preset, I'm sure you can get results within 1-2% of the top results while still reducing power and thermals massively. also, remember that it's not always just about the cost of energy. being able to half the output of your 700 Watt "room heater" is a blessing during hot summers.

[OneAngrehCat]

As a rule of thumb for all Zen 4, you can put ECO mode on with PBO and recover all your power, or just ECO mode alone at 50% of the stock power. You lose 5% of the top performance at worst and consume 50% of the power and gain dozens of degrees of thermals. It's a complete win for me.

7600x and 7700x -> 65W
7900x and 7950x -> 105W

[ronjatter]

AMD should intoduce a 7950E processor. It could be exactly the same but with default 105w tdp. If they saved the better quality binned dies for this the performance would be about the same as well.

[alexmills]

I think dropping 30C is something most people would want and notice far more than the 5% slower CPU. With how fast the CPU is, I think it make sense for most users like that.

[Sybertek]

105w Eco Mode is looking pretty damn good at this point. Wonderful video!

[mrm]

I would love to see benchmarks between different CPUs (Intel and AMD) limited to the same power limit.

[paulgoulette]

Perfect timing! I was waiting for someone to do a deep dive on ECO mode...great video! I will be building a 7950X in the next month or so...and will run it in ECO mode. Makes a lot of sense not to drive the CPU so hard for such small gains.

[ProHyperMaster]

17:17 is impressive how the 7950X in 65W ECO mode performs better than the 5950X stock 8' vs 9.4' (16:16) and given the efficiency chart 11.8W vs 18.9W (15:15) if you want the maximum performance with the minimum power draw is an option, in fact with that efficiency I wouldn’t be surprise if we see 16 core CPUs in laptops soon

[hyrenaj]

105W looks like a great balance of speed and efficiency while 65W would be good for really big tasks where you can leave the computer on for an extended period of time (say overnight or out for a meal or whatever).

[earnistse]

Efficiency is something I believe is a mark of great generational improvement. All the companies can just blast powers each gen to get more performance but getting more performance or getting the same performance as last gen but consuming less power is something truly amazing these days.

[garrettkajmowicz]

65W Eco mode is more likely to be interesting for the datacenter where power costs, density and cooling matter a lot more.

[HigherMammal]

Thanks for all the hard work Steve & GN team. As a graphic designer with a 6 year old entry-level CPU, this has felt like the year to start fresh with AM5, and I'd been waiting on eco-mode reviews to pick between the 7950 or 7900 and find a sweet spot that works for me so this gives me a clear answer.

[robeckel]

This is just what I was looking for. I'd be interested in seeing an undervolting video, as well. A comparison with the 13900K in an "Eco" mode and undervolted would also be interesting. I'm a big proponent of performance per watt.

[netiturtle]

105w Eco mode + mild undervolt would further increase the efficiency, including scenarios where only single or few cores get stressed. With no loss in performance, except when all or most cores are stressed