AMD is expected to expand its Ryzen 9000 lineup by introducing the Ryzen 7 9800X3D, the first model featuring 3D V-Cache technology. According to leaks from the Chiphell forum, the new CPU might be officially announced on October 25th, just one day after Intel’s Core Ultra 200 “Arrow Lake-S” processors debut on October 24th.
Although AMD has previously hinted at the release of Ryzen 9000X3D chips, no official specifications or details have been released. All current information comes from leaks and speculation from industry insiders.
The timing of AMD’s announcement appears strategic, as it would come right after Intel’s highly anticipated launch, setting up a head-to-head competition between AMD’s 3D V-Cache powered CPUs and Intel’s latest Arrow Lake-S processors. If the rumors hold, we expect a heated rivalry between the Ryzen 7 9800X3D and Intel’s Core Ultra 200 lineup in the high-performance CPU market.
Ryzen 7 9800X3D price and clock
According to the latest unofficial reports, the Ryzen 7 9800X3D is expected to hit retail during the first week of November. This would be followed by an expansion of the lineup in early 2024 with the announcement of the Ryzen 9 9950X3D, likely to coincide with CES in January, and its release by the end of the first quarter of the year.
The Ryzen 7 9800X3D is rumored to feature higher clock speeds than its predecessor, the Ryzen 7 7800X3D. For context, the 7800X3D operates at base and boost clocks of 4.2 GHz and 5.0 GHz, respectively, so the 9800X3D is expected to surpass these speeds, offering a notable performance boost with the new Zen 5 architecture and 3D V-Cache technology.
As for pricing, the insider notes that the Ryzen 7 9800X3D “will not be cheap.” Although the exact price hasn’t been confirmed, it will likely exceed the $449 launch price of the Ryzen 7 7800X3D, making it a premium offering for high-performance enthusiasts.
Ryzen 9000X3D vs Ryzen 7000X3D in Gaming
Leaked synthetic benchmarks and performance comparisons, particularly from MSI and HardwareLuxx, offer a glimpse into the potential of the upcoming Ryzen 7 9800X3D and Ryzen 9 9950X3D CPUs. Both CPUs maintain the core counts typical of their predecessors, with the Ryzen 7 9800X3D featuring 8 cores and 16 threads and the Ryzen 9 9950X3D expected to have 16 cores.
Performance Leaks:
- In Far Cry 6, the Ryzen 7 9800X3D appears to outperform the Ryzen 7 7800X3D by about 13%, which suggests solid improvements in specific gaming scenarios.
- However, the two CPUs are effectively tied in Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Black Myth: Wukong, indicating that the performance boost might vary significantly depending on the game or application.
As for the Ryzen 9 9950X3D, the leaked comparisons suggest modest gains over the Ryzen 9 7950X3D, with performance improvements ranging between 2% and 11%. These differences were observed in games tested at 1080p using an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090, which minimizes GPU bottlenecks to better highlight CPU differences.
Possible Reasons for Modest Gains:
The relatively moderate performance increases, especially for the Ryzen 9 9950X3D, may be attributed to a low IPC (instructions per clock) improvement in the Zen 5 architecture compared to the Ryzen 7000 series.
- While the 3D V-Cache technology substantially boosts specific workloads (like gaming), the overall gains across all applications may be tempered by architectural constraints.
These early leaks suggest that while the Ryzen 9000X3D chips, especially the 9800X3D, will deliver meaningful improvements in some gaming workloads, the performance increases might not be as dramatic across all scenarios.
For users primarily focused on gaming, these chips should still offer one of the best options on the market, particularly when paired with top-end GPUs like the RTX 4090.
