800 dollar CPU tested on 70 dollar motherboard

A new YouTube video shows that AMD's Ryzen 9 5950X can be run on a cheap A320 mainboard without any problems. Overclocking is also shown, but the additional performance doesn't really matter in Cinebench R23.

A wide variety of processors are compatible with the socket AM4, which is now almost five years old. While Bulldozer APUs and the first Zen processors with a maximum of eight cores initially found space on the socket, even the current Ryzen 5000 processors are still compatible with the corresponding mainboards. Boards with B350 or X370 chipsets cannot (yet) be used with Ryzen 5000 CPUs due to the lack of software, but this is possible with mainboards with the old and cheap A320 chipset.

The compatibility of the current AMD's high-end processoran and an old, cheap AM4 mainboard is 100% real. As a new video from the Tech Epiphany YouTube channel shows, a Ryzen 9 5950X that currently costs 730 dollars can be operated with a 70 dollar mainboard from Asus without any problems. Specifically, the µATX board Asus Prime A320M-K was used, which relies on a 4+2 power supply without a VRM cooler. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-NhpgiYBKA&ab_channel=TechEpiphany

With regard to the TDP, it is not too unusual that newer processors are still compatible with old AM4 mainboards. Ryzen 7 1800X came out with a TDP of 95 watts - and the Ryzen 9 5950X is just a little bit higher with a TDP of 105 watts. It was AMD's first top model. Additionally, we can see in the YouTube video that the system that was used here was overclocked. Instead of DDR4-3200, as intended by the CPU and mainboard, the system was operated with DDR4-4000. In parallel, AMD's Infinity Fabric was also operated at 2.0 GHz.

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Results from the benchmarks showed that it achieved 25,079 points in the multi-core and 1,631 points in the single-core score in Cinebench R23. The single-core performance is on the expected level, but the Ryzen 9 5950X actually does a little better in the multi-core benchmark.

Unfortunately, the video does not reveal whether the loss of performance is due to insufficient cooling by the boxed cooler used, or to a drop in the power supply. In practice, however, only very few users are likely to operate a new high-end processor with such an old and cheap mainboard. In order to avoid performance losses due to the power supply, you should probably invest a little more money here or at least pay attention to the use of a top blower.