AMD's greatest gaming CPU won't be beaten by AMD's latest gaming CPU, and that's according to AMD
We touched on AMD's plans for future CPUs with 3D V-cache based on its latest Zen 5 CPUs, otherwise known as the Ryzen 9000 series, last week. But it's interesting to note that AMD itself says that its existing Ryzen 7000 X3D chips with 3D V-cache will remain the fastest gaming CPUs around, even with the arrival of Zen 5 technology.
Speaking to Tom's Hardware, AMD's Senior Technical Marketing Manager of Consumer Processors Donny Woligroski confirmed that Ryzen 9000 will not quite knock the Ryzen 7 7800X3D off its gaming perch. When asked if the hot new Ryzen 9000 CPUs would be the fastest gaming CPUs yet, he had this to say:
«Is it the fastest in gaming? It's faster than the competition in our tests. X3D is still the king of the hill, but by a much smaller margin than typically between X3D and non-X3D. So a 7800X3D would, yes, be faster than 9700X, but maybe not by as much as you would expect.»
You might think that's surprising. After all, the new Zen 5 architecture delivers a 16% increase in IPC according to AMD. But that's an average figure, not a flat 16% with all software in all situations.
Moreover, this is not unprecedented. When AMD rolled out its then-new Ryzen 7000 CPUs a couple of years ago, the old Ryzen 7 5800X3D likewise retained its gaming crown until the 7800X3D came along with its own V-cache-accelerated gaming gumption.
That's because extra cache memory can make a particularly big difference in games. Indeed, in some titles, the 7800X3D can be over 35% faster than its closest non-X3D sibling, the 7700X. Admittedly, that's a best case scenario. But many games are boosted by around 20% or more and you're usually looking at a minimum improvement, where the CPU is the bottleneck, of about 15%.
In that context, it's not a huge surprise that even the new Zen 5 architecture isn't enough to see off that tasty V-cache gaming boost. As for what to expect from the Ryzen 9000 with 3D V-cache, we explained last week that AMD isn't providing any details other
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