AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D review

pcgamer.com:

This is the one we've been waiting for: the first true gaming chip of AMD's new Zen 5 processor range. We all knew this Ryzen 7 9800X3D was coming—back when the Ryzen 9000-series CPUs launched in August there was a notable alphanumeric string missing in the list of Ryzen 9 9950X, Ryzen 9 9900X, and Ryzen 7 9700X. This chip was obvious by its omission, as it was by the performance and reception of the mighty Ryzen 7 7800X3D in the last generation. Thankfully we've not had to wait as long to see this new cache-heavy gaming CPU land in our lab, coming hot on the heels of the not-so-popular Zen 5 chips.

The 3D V-Cache feature, a tacked-on extra layer of L3 cache essentially designed to improve gaming performance, has now reached its second-generation stage. And, while that does make the Ryzen 7 9800X3D a much better chip, it might also somewhat devalue its position as the de facto processor if you want peak performance from your PC on all counts.

That's because we finally know what the «really cool differentiator» that AMD was talking about at Computex actually is. The new design of the 3D cache structure has basically taken away most of the compromising factors of adding in a whole other bit of silicon into the now-traditional chiplet design, effectively removing the raw processing downsides. And that could potentially make one of the other expected second-gen X3D chips the one that we really want.

And now I'm wondering if that's why we've seen the Ryzen 7 9800X3D ahead of either the Ryzen 9 9950X3D or even a rumoured Ryzen 9 9900X3D. Certainly in the Zen 4 generation, the Ryzen 9 7950X3D was the first to land, so it's interesting to note that's switched around as we move through the 9000-series releases.

The Ryzen 7 9800X3D is a fantastic gaming CPU, there is no getting away from that. And, right now, it's absolutely the processor that I would recommend anyone aiming for peak PC gaming frame rates to go for. The heart of the 3D V-Cache feature, in its basic ethos, is