The long-awaited successor to the highly popular and performant AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D CPU has finally been revealed. TheRyzen 7 9800X3Duses 2nd Gen AMD 3D V-Cache technology that first made an appearance with the Ryzen 5000 series of CPUs and carried over to the Ryzen 7000 series. It slots between theRyzen 7 9700Xand the Ryzen 9 9900X with specifications much closer to the 9700X but the power draw of the more powerful 9900X.
For now, the Ryzen 7 9800X3D is the only X3D SKU that has been announced, but more can be expected in the near future. The new processor, according to AMD, boasts an8% gaming performance improvement compared to the Ryzen 7 7800X3Dand a more considerable20% performance improvement over the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K CPU. The company states that the new CPU delivers better minimum frame rates even though the average frame rate in games remains the same. This translates to a moreconsistent and stutter-free gaming experience.
Ryzen 7 9800X3D Specifications and Performance
AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D
The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D is the first X3D chip in the Ryzen 9000 series of CPUs, bringing an improved L3 cache compared to even the more expensive offerings. The CPU features 96MB L3 cache and a 120W TDP. There are eight cores and 16 threads with a boost clock speed of 5.2 GHz. The new CPU can deliver better 1% low performance in games for a more consistant experience.
Based on the Zen5 architecture, the 9800X3D comes with eight cores and 16 threads. It has a base clock speed of 4.7 GHz and can boost up to 5.2 GHz. These numbers, on paper, are similar to the cheaper Ryzen 7 9700X. However, the core/thread count and clock speeds have never been the selling point of these X3D chips as where they excel is the cache. While the Ryzen 7 9700X comes with 32MB of L3 cache and the Ryzen 9 9900X doubles that, they both fall behind the9800X3D’s 96MB L3 cache.
This time around, the position of the 64MB cache memory has been changed compared to the 7800X3D to bring it closer to the cooling solution,keeping the Zen5 cores cooler. This also enables higher overclocking performance.
As for the default TDP, the 9800X3D comes in at 120W, the same as the 9900X. You still get the integrated AMD Radeon Graphics and support for the latest AMD technologies.
While it’s too early to tell, AMD has shared some performance numbers for reference when it comes to real world gaming performance improvements.
In its testing, AMD found that inThe Last Of Us: Part 1, the Ryzen 7 9800X3D showed a 31% higher 1% low frame rate compared to the competition, which in this case was the Intel Core i9-14900K.
The Ryzen 7 7800X3D is still regarded as one of the best gaming CPUs on the market and, seeing as how the Ryzen 7 9800X3D builds on top of that solid platform, it wouldn’t be a surprise if the newer chip became the new king of gaming CPUs.
Ryzen 7 9800X3D Price and Availability
The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D has been priced at $479, putting it $30 over the launch price of the 7800X3D. Interestingly, at the time of writing, theprice for the 7800X3D seems to have gone upto around $480. This should change around when the 9800X3D launches on November 7.
