AMD Ryzen 7 2700, 8 Cores and 16 Processing Threads Unlocked Processor with Wraith Spire LED Cooler

I've been getting more and more into video production lately both at home and creating training videos for customers at work. I've been looking for something with enough multicore beef to allow me to do very high quality software encoding and my old 7700k wasn't quite cutting it in some projects. After building a few cheaper Ryzen 5 gaming systems for friends and coming away impressed, I decided to take a chance on AMD myself. I have to say, I don't regret it. This CPU powers through multi-threaded workloads with ease and keeps the 1080Ti fed plenty well enough for my 4k60Hz monitor when gaming. If you plan on pushing clock speeds though, plan on spending for an aftermarket cooler or just go for the 2700x if the price is close enough. The Wraith Spire is pretty good for 'free' cooler, but Ryzen tends to hit a thermal wall pretty quickly at about 3.8-4Ghz depending on your luck in the silicon lottery. For my needs though, the spire is fine and it's an attractive, compact cooler. My particular chip was able to hit 3.8Ghz on all cores with the voltage set to 1.21 (all boost/performance options in ASUS BIOS enabled also) and that pretty much maxes out the spire's thermal capacity. All higher clocks needed exponentially more voltage (thus heat) and are a no-go without a very large air cooler or AIO. Aida64 was stable for 3 hours and posted an average temp of 85 celsius with one very brief random spike to 92. Blender and any video projects I've done so far have not managed to get the CPU nearly this hot (usually never worse than 75 celsius with occasional 80 spike). Gaming doesn't stress the CPU too much, particularly at 4K60Hz and after a couple hours of 64 player action in Battlefield, my temps never exceeded 62 celsius. Overall, great chip. Also got one for my father shortly after purchasing the first and his was able to hit 4Ghz (all cores) on the stock cooler at similar temps to mine @ 3.8.

Pros:If you're in need of a CPU with great multi-threading performance, then go no further than a Ryzen 7. Great bang for the buck.Included CPU cooler is sufficient (10x better than Intel's) for a non-overclocked 2700.Sips power at stock settings. My PC with 2x 980ti's and a full custom water loop pulls only around 50W at idle. That includes the monitor, keyboard, accessories, etc.At full load, it doesn't go much above 120W at stock settings (complete system with CPU load that is).I get much less stuttering game play than with my i5 4670K @ 4.5Ghz. That would peg to near 90-100% at that speed in GTA V and Assassins Creed Origins. Now I'm at roughly 40-50% with the 2700, with better frame times, and smoother game play.Cons:Must have gotten a dud with the overclocking performance on this guy. I can't go above 4.050Ghz on this processor at 1.3875V. I don't want to go much higher than 1.4V, but putting this up to that doesn't' get me even 4.075Ghz, so it isn't worth it for me. You won't be able to get up to that voltage on the stock cooler, as it just doesn't have the capacity for that. It just goes right to 95C at those settings with the stock cooler. Isn't a problem for me, but still something to note for someone else hoping to get good overclocks with this CPU's box cooler.Other thoughts:I picked this up for $225 on Prime Day this year, and couldn't be happier with the performance for that price. For a full price of $290, its a harder sell because the 2700X is only $30 more, includes a CPU cooler that can handle a good overclock, and does overclock a bit better than the 2700. With the above mentioned settings and a full custom loop, the CPU doesn't go above 75C under full CPU load after about 2 hours.My best Cinebench R15 score was 1818 @ 4.050Ghz with a set of 16GB 3200Mhz RAM. I was hoping to see if I could get up to 1850-1900, but I couldn't get there without extreme voltages. Pretty satisfied with the upgrade over my i5 with its best score 636 though. Almost tripled performance in this regard.I was a little skeptical about getting my memory that wasn't tuned for AMD systems up to the advertised speed of 3200Mhz, but it took with no problems! AMD has really upped their compatibility and stability with memory over the last gen Ryzen, which is good because it really helps with latency times in the infinity fabric using higher speed memory.This CPU should last me a good 5+ years, assuming AMD doesn't come out with something that's a lot better that will go into my motherboard with Zen2 or Zen2+.My recommendation is that if you're looking to overclock, and don't already have a CPU cooler capable of doing this, then I would save another $30 and get a 2700X instead. However, if this goes on sale for anything less than $280, then it becomes a much better buy. Performance is within 5-10% when overclocked. If you're not overclocking, and looking for a workhorse that sips power, then this is it.My system:Ryzen 7 2700 @ 4.050Ghz 1.3875VGigabyte X470 Aorus Gaming 7 WiFi16GB of G.Skill Ripjaws V @ 3200Mhz, 1.35V2x Asus 980ti's in SLICorsair HX850 PSU500GB SanDisk SSD2TB WD Green HDDFull Custom Water Loop