AMD’s $699 Ryzen 9 7950X3D is purpose-built for gamers looking to blow up CPU-limited games while having a threaded weight of 16 cores capable of handling the heaviest productivity workloads. increase. The new chip features 16 Zen 4 cores and the company’s 2nd generation 3D V-Cache technology that unlocks 128MB of L3 cache for the fastest gaming performance available on the market. increase. In our tests, the 7950X3D outperformed Intel’s fastest chip, the 6 GHz Core i9-13900KS, by 13% on average and up to 40% more in some games, taking the top spot on our list of best CPUs for gaming Did.
The 7950X3D uses AMD’s most advanced 3D chip stacking technology called 3D V-Cache to enable a staggering 128MB of L3 cache. Like AMD’s first X3D chip, the Zen 3 Ryzen 7 5800X3D, additional L3 cache is provided thanks to hybrid-bonded fused 3D stacked SRAM chiplets on top of the processor, powering games across many titles. Accelerate to new heights. AMD also has new thread targeting technology designed to apply gains more evenly across different games.
First-generation 3D V-Cache chips put AMD ahead of competing processors from Intel and solidified it as the go-to chip for gamers, but its 8-core limit and relatively low boost frequency AMD’s new 16-core Ryzen 9 7950X3D is the first 3D V-Cache chip to adopt two compute chiplets, boosting productivity apps and running at 5.7 GHz allows for higher boost frequencies. This is a huge improvement from his 4.5 GHz peak in the previous generation.
| price | Cores/Threads (P+E) | P-Core Base/Boost Clock (GHz) | Cache (L2/L3) | TDP/PBP/MTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ryzen 9 7950X3D | $699 | 16/32 | 4.2/5.7 | 144MB (16+128) | 120W/162W |
| Ryzen 9 7900X3D | $599 | 12/24 | 4.4/5.6 | 140MB (12+132) | 120W/162W |
| Ryzen 7 7800X3D | $449 | 8/16 | 4.2/5.0 | 104MB (8+96) | 120W/162W |
| Ryzen7 5800X3D | $348 | 8/16 | 3.4/4.5 | 104MB (8+96) | 105W |
Intel’s Raptor Lake recently took the gaming performance crown from AMD’s Zen 4 Ryzen 7000 chips, but AMD now has a 3 that comes in 8, 12 and 16 core flavors ranging from $449 to $699. Extending X3D attacks with one chip. It comes with the company’s latest Zen 4 architecture etched on the 5nm process. These chips are dropped onto AM5 motherboards that support the latest connectivity technologies such as DDR5 and PCIe 5.0, addressing another shortcoming of the 1st Gen models. AMD has also unlocked the chip for basic overclocking and undervolting.
The 7950X3D is the top-of-the-line model, but we haven’t tested the 12-core $599 Ryzen 9 7900X3D, which also launches tomorrow. AMD has no plans to sample and press that chip. However, if history is to show, the 7900X3D should offer roughly the same gaming performance as the more expensive 7950X3D. The $449 8-core Ryzen 7 7800X3D will launch in his second half of April. This would definitely be a chip to beat. .
However, there are some tradeoffs — some games don’t benefit from 3D V-Cache, and the chip isn’t as fast as competing Intel chips in productivity apps. It suffers from many of the problems found in . The motherboard ecosystem is more expensive than Intel’s offerings, and DDR5’s stringent requirements add significantly to the cost compared to Intel’s DDR4-capable platforms.
Of course, with a top-of-the-line gaming system like the one built around the 7950X3D, price isn’t all that important. The chip also consumes a lot less power than Intel’s Raptor Lake. That means you get a cooler, quieter machine with the fastest gaming processor money can buy, while performing well on other CPU benchmarks. Intel doesn’t have a comparable technology to increase L3 cache capacity, so the 7950X3D will keep the gaming titles for this generation of processors. We also dug into some new details about AMD’s 2nd Gen 3D V-Cache technology. Let’s take a closer look.
AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D Pricing and Specifications
| street/suggested retail price | Cores/Threads (P+E) | P-Core Base/Boost Clock (GHz) | E-Core Base/Boost Clock (GHz) | Cache (L2/L3) | TDP/PBP/MTP | memory | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ryzen 9 7950X3D | $699 | 16/32 | 4.2/5.7 | 144MB (16+128) | 120W/162W | DDR5-5200 | |
| Core i9-13900KS | $699 | 24/32 (8+16) | 3.0 / 6.0 | 2.2/4.3 | 68MB (32+36) | 150W/253W/320W | DDR4-3200 / DDR5-5600 |
| Core i9-13900K/KF | $589 (K) – $564 (KF) | 24/32 (8+16) | 3.0 / 5.8 | 2.2/4.3 | 68MB (32+36) | 125W/253W | DDR4-3200 / DDR5-5600 |
| Ryzen 9 7950X | $579 ($699) | 16/32 | 4.5/5.7 | – | 80MB (16+64) | 170W/230W | DDR5-5200 |
| Ryzen 9 7900X3D | $599 | 12/24 | 4.4/5.6 | 140MB (12+132) | 120W/162W | DDR5-5200 | |
| Ryzen 9 7900X | $419 ($549) | 12/24 | 4.7/5.6 | – | 76MB (12+64) | 170W/230W | DDR5-5200 |
| Core i7-13700K/KF | $409 (K) – $384 (KF) | 16/24 (8+8) | 3.4/5.4 | 2.5/4.2 | 54MB (24+30) | 125W/253W | DDR4-3200 / DDR5-5600 |
| Ryzen 7 7800X3D | $449 | 8/16 | 4.2/5.0 | 104MB (8+96) | 120W/162W | DDR5-5200 | |
| Ryzen7 5800X3D | $348 ($449) | 8/16 | 3.4/4.5 | 104MB (8+96) | 105W | DDR4-3200 | |
| Ryzen 7 7700X | $349 ($399) | 8/16 | 4.5/5.4 | – | 40MB (8+32) | 105W/142W | DDR5-5200 |
The Ryzen 9 7950X3D has 16 cores and 32 threads and will only run on the AM5 platform. On the surface, the 7950X3D looks just like the Ryzen 9 7950X with an extra L3 cache chiplet and some extra silicon and software tuning. As before, the 3D stacked SRAM L3 chip weighs 64MB, so the 7950X3D has 144MB of total cache, of which 128MB is the L3 cache that boosts games.
AMD’s Zen 4 3D V-Cache processors come with 8, 12 and 16 cores, all with a base TPD of 120W and a PPT of up to 162W. In other words, the 7950X3D’s rating is 68W lower than the standard 7950X’s 170W/230W rating, which impacts heavy work. Adding a cache chiplet can result in a slightly higher operating temperature, so the reduction is not at all surprising. That’s lower than the 90C limit of the generation 5800X3D.
AMD has significantly improved boost speeds with the new X3D models. The 7950X3D boosts to 5.7 GHz, well above the previous generation’s peak of his 5800X3D, his 4.5 GHz, and the same as his 7950X in stock. The base clock is 200 MHz lower compared to the 7950X. This is the necessary response for lower power envelopes. No cooler is bundled with the chip — AMD recommends his 280mm or larger water cooler for the Ryzen 7000X3D processor.
AMD only allowed memory and Infinity Fabric overclocking on the previous generation 5800X3D, but now it also allows both Precision Boost Overdrive (PBO) and Curve Optimizer for automatic overclocking. AMD still doesn’t allow direct frequency overclocking due to his one voltage limitation on the chiplet.
The $599 12-core 24-thread Ryzen 9 7900X3D peaks at 5.6 GHz, the same as the standard 7900X, but the base clock drops a relatively small 300 MHz. The chip has 104MB of cache, with 96MB split as L3.
The $449 Ryzen 7 7800X3D is a single CCD chip that rivals the 1st Gen Ryzen 7 5800X3D, but is powered by the much faster Zen 4 architecture. The 8-core 16-thread 7800X3D has 96MB of L3 cache, the same number of cores and cache as the previous Zen 3. The 7800X3D has a base clock of 4.2 GHz and a boost of 5.0 GHz, both higher than the 5800X3D’s 3.4 GHz base and 4.5 GHz boost.
Both the 7950X3D and 7900X3D have two 8-core Core Compute Die (CCD) chiplets, making it the first time AMD has introduced 3D V-Cache technology to a multi-CCD processor. The image above shows AMD only mounting a single 7nm SRAM chiplet on top of one 8-core CCD, leaving the other CCD bare.
This allows chiplets without 3D stacked SRAM to run at full speed and provides the higher boost clocks mentioned in the spec sheet for frequency-critical applications. SRAM stacked CCDs, on the other hand, run at slightly lower clock rates than the chip’s rated boost, but still meet the needs of applications that emphasize low-latency access, such as gaming. The chip itself has a peak of 1.4V, allowing for higher boost clocks, but the CCD with 3D V-cache has a ~1.1V limit to keep heat down.
Even just fusing SRAM into a single CCD reduces manufacturing costs. This is because the hybrid bonding process and additional chiplets make this an expensive technology. AMD also states that using two V-Cache chiplets doesn’t provide enough performance boost to justify the extra cost.
In any case, the new design requires a combination of new chipset drivers and Windows Xbox Game Bar to put threads for different types of workloads onto the correct chiplets. Unfortunately, AMD didn’t share many details about their new 2nd Gen 3D V-Cache hardware implementation, but we discovered a lot of new details at a recent tech conference. For more information on the 2nd Gen 3D V-Cache hardware, please visit: Then proceed to gaming benchmarks.
