AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D Review: AMD Takes Back the Gaming Crown with 3D V-Cache

AMD’s $699 Ryzen 9 7950X3D has a 16-core thread stack that may deal with the heaviest productiveness workloads, whereas being specifically designed for players who need a blast in CPU-limited video games. The brand new chip contains the corporate’s second-generation 3D V-Cache know-how that unlocks 128MB of L3 cache, a mix of sixteen Zen 4 cores and the corporate’s quickest gaming efficiency in the marketplace. In our exams, the 7950X3D topped our listing of the perfect CPUs for gaming, beating Intel’s quickest chip, the 6GHz Core i9-13900KS, by a median of 13% and by as much as 40%+ in some video games.

The 7950X3D makes use of AMD’s newest 3D chip stacking know-how referred to as 3D V-Cache to offer an unimaginable 128MB L3 cache. Just like the Zen 3 Ryzen 7 5800X3D, AMD’s first X3D chip, the additional L3 cache comes due to a 3D stacked SRAM chip on prime of the processor mixed with hybrid coupling, which takes gaming to new heights in lots of video games. AMD additionally has a brand new thread concentrating on method designed to assist the good points apply extra evenly throughout a variety of video games.

The primary-generation 3D V-Cache chip gave AMD a lead over Intel’s rival processors and made it a necessary chip for players, nevertheless it struggled with some productiveness purposes as a consequence of its eight-core restrict and comparatively low enhance frequency. AMD’s new 16-core Ryzen 9 7950X3D, the primary 3D V-Cache chip to make use of two compute chips, boosts productiveness purposes and a better enhance of 5.7GHz, an enormous enchancment over the earlier technology’s 4.5GHz peak. gives the frequency.

Intel’s Raptor Lake lately took the gaming efficiency crown from AMD’s Zen 4 Ryzen 7000 chips, however AMD is now pushing the X3D offensive, which is available in 8-, 12-, and 16-core variants, all from $449 to $699. expanded with three alternating chips. It comes with the corporate’s newest Zen 4 structure etched on the 5nm course of. These chips are present in AM5 motherboards that assist the most recent connectivity applied sciences similar to DDR5 and PCIe 5.0 and deal with one other shortcoming of the primary technology mannequin. AMD additionally unlocked the chip for fundamental overclocking and undervoltage.

The 7950X3D is the top-of-the-line mannequin, however we have not examined the $599 12-core Ryzen 9 7900X3D, which may also launch tomorrow — AMD does not plan to pattern this chip for printing. Nevertheless, if historical past is any indication, the 7900X3D ought to provide almost the identical gaming efficiency because the costlier 7950X3D. The $449 octa-core Ryzen 7 7800X3D is coming in late April, and that is undoubtedly the chip to beat: AMD tells us 3D V-Cache will provide the lion’s share of gaming efficiency, nevertheless it comes at a way more reasonably priced worth level.

There are some trade-offs, although – some video games do not make the most of 3D V-Cache, and the chip is not as quick as competing Intel chips in productiveness purposes. The 7950X3D additionally suffers from most of the woes we have seen within the newly launched AM5 platform — the motherboard ecosystem is costlier than Intel’s choices, and the stringent DDR5 requirement raises prices considerably in comparison with Intel’s DDR4-friendly platform.

In fact, worth is not all that vital for high-end gaming methods such as you’ll be constructing across the 7950X3D, and the chip attracts a lot much less energy than Intel’s Raptor Lake. This implies you may get a cooler, quieter machine with the quickest gaming processor cash should purchase, and you will do effectively in different CPU benchmarks. Intel has no comparable know-how to extend L3 cache capability, so the 7950X3D will maintain the gaming title for this technology of processors. We additionally discovered some new particulars about AMD’s second-generation 3D V-Cache know-how. Let’s take a better look.