The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D is here and it’s exactly what we’d expect. Better said, it is a great eight-core processor as it uses Zen 5 along with 3D V-Cache. Realistically, this is a gaming processor and today, with the embargo lifted, you’ll probably find it considered the new king of gaming on most sites, especially at low resolutions where CPU bottlenecks are more pronounced are. In our article, we take a quick look at how it compares to non-gaming tasks.

AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D Overview

We’ve covered the AMD Zen 5 microarchitecture a few times already. Please feel free to read more about it. The AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D takes the Zen 5 core in the AM5 platform of the AMD Ryzen 9000 series and adds 64MB of 3D V-Cache at a TDP of 120W.

If your goal is simply to get an 8-core, 16-thread processor with a higher clock speed, the AMD Ryzen 7 9700X is probably the better option right now. On the other hand, a large number of applications can take advantage of the larger cache, which can make the new Ryzen 7 9800X3D a better option.

AMD calls this its 2nd generation AMD 3D V-Cache technology. The new method of adding the 64MB L3 cache chip to the bottom allows for better thermal conductivity to the cooler, ensuring higher clock speeds and overclocking capabilities.

Here’s the detailed shot AMD sent us.

AMD Ryzen 9000 sold

The new 64MB L3 cache chip is located under the Zen 5 CCD. This means the Zen 5 CCD is on the cooling solution side of the package.

This 64MB plus the 32MB on the CCD equals 96MB of L3 cache. The 104MB figure equals 96MB plus 1MB of L2 cache per core for a total of 8MB of L2.

Another big advantage for many is that it is an AM5 socket CPU. We use a relatively fancy ASRock X870E Taichi motherboard, but purchasing a cooler was easy as we have AM5 compatible coolers. The ecosystem is definitely ready for the new chips and at 120W these are far from the hottest chips we’ve seen recently.

Next, let’s discuss our test configuration.