The first 3D V-Cache Zen 5 chip could arrive just in time to spoil Intel's Arrow Lake party but whenever it does appear, you can be sure it won't be cheap

pcgamer.com:

With just over a week left to go before Intel's Core Ultra 200S series of processors hits desktop PCs around the world, you'd be forgiven for thinking that this will be all the big news on the CPU front until CES 2025. Rumour has it, though, that AMD is planning to gatecrash the Arrow Lake bunfight by launching the Ryzen 7 9800X3D, the first 3D V-Cache equipped Zen 5 chip, to make PC gamers everywhere go wholesale Team Red.

I say rumour but what I really mean is one post on Chiphell's forums (via X user Harukaze5719). Normally I'd completely ignore such ramblings but it's not the first time I've heard such a claim being made, even though AMD is being incredibly tight-lipped about it all.

The official release date of Intel's Arrow Lake lineup is 24 October and we already know that the best of the bunch, the Core Ultra 9 285K, won't be as good in gaming as its current-gen Core i9 14900K. And that's because Intel said so, although you'll have to wait for our review to see what the truth of the matter is really like.

Given that we recommend the Ryzen 7 7800X3D is actually the best gaming CPU you can buy, even though the Core i9 14900K is sometimes better, it would seem that AMD isn't going to lose that crown. But just to make sure, it's claimed Team Red will announce the first Zen 5 processor to sport 3D V-Cache on 25 October, with retail availability coming in the first week of November.

It certainly makes sense to do this, if the chip is already ready to ship, because while AMD already rules the roost in gaming performance, any opportunity to showcase how much better it is than Intel should be grabbed with both hands.

But with no gaming competition coming from Intel, AMD is also free to stick whatever price tag it likes on the Ryzen 7 9800X3D, simply because it knows it will sell like hot cakes on a winter day. Then again, Zen 5 chips haven't been selling particularly well so far, mostly because the last-gen Zen 4 models aren't that much slower but they are an awful