Back in June AMD announced their Ryzen 9000 Series CPUs with the 9950X, 9900X, 9700X, and 9600X. The Ryzen 9 9950X and Ryzen 9 9900X hit reviews and later stores in August. The Zen 5 based CPUs have been popular, but like with the 7000 Series there has been a large group waiting to see what Intel would have to offer and even more importantly to see AMD's introduction of their 3D V-Cache based offers and last week they finally lifted the cover on the new Ryzen 7 9800X3D processor. With the new 2^nd generation 3D V-Cache and the Zen 5 architecture, they teased that they were seeing an average of 8% gaming performance improvement compared to the previous generation and 20% average over the competition people have been excited. Well, today’s the day, the embargo’s lifted and we can finally dive into performance testing the new Ryzen 7 9800X3D to see if AMDs teasing was true so let’s not waste any more time and get to it!

Product Name: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D

Review Sample Provided by: AMD

Written by: Wes Compton

Amazon Affiliate Link: HERE

 

What is the Ryzen 7 9800X3D

The biggest change for the Ryzen 7 9800X3D is AMD moving the 3D V-Cache from on top of the cores where they had it for the original 5800X3D and the 7800X3D and 7950X3D and this time around put it under the cores. The original design put the heat-sensitive V-Cache between the CPU cores and the heatspreader which insulated the CPU and prevented overclocking as well. This can be seen in the specifications for the 9800X3D which have it running a 5.2 Ghz max boost and a base block of 4.2 Ghz. That new base clock is half a Ghz higher than the 7800X3D. The 9800X3D has 8 cores and 16 threads just like the 7800X3D and like the Ryzen 7 9700X. In fact, beyond the clock speed improvements the Ryzen 7 9800X3D shares a lot of specs with the previous Ryzen 7 7800X3D including the same 120 Watt TDP and 162 Watt default socket power. They have the same EDC and TDC as well but the 9800X3D does have increased voltages now that the 3D VC-Cache is moved.

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Specifications	Ryzen 7 9800X3D	Ryzen 7 7800X3D	Ryzen 7 9700X
Cores/Threads	8/16	8/16	8/16
Max Boost	5.2 Ghz	5.0 Ghz	5.5 Ghz
Base Clock	4.7 Ghz	4.2 Ghz	3.8 Ghz
L2 Cahe	8 x 1MB	8 x 1MB	8 x 1MB
L3 Cache	96 MB	96 MB	32 MB
TDP / cTDP	120W	120W	65W (105W cTDP)
Default Socket Power (PPT)	162W	162W	88W
Max Current (EDC)	180A	180A	65W: 150A 105W cTDP: 170A
Max Current, Thermally Limited (TDC)	120A	120A	65W: 75A 105W cTDP: 110A
TjMax	95c
Stock/Auto Voltage Range (Active Core)	Nominal 1.28-1.31 – max 1.4V	Nominal 1.1V,  max 1.2V	Nominal 1.28-1.31 – max 1.4V
Typical Loaded Temperatures	70-90c
Boost Algorithm	Precision Boost 2
Recommended Cooler	240-280mm liquid (or equivalent)		Mid-Frame Tower Cooler (or equivalent)
Max Memory Speed (Non-OC)	DDR5-5600 (2x16GB)	DDR5-5200 (2x16GB)	DDR5-5600 (2x16GB)
ECC Support	Enabled in-silicon, support varies by motherboard

 

The box for the Ryzen 7 9800X3D was similar to what I saw with the 9700X and 9600X with the CPu featured in the middle with a window and the square and triangle shapes around it. For the Ryzen 7 9800X3D however, they did go with a silver, not the darker grey I saw on the other CPUs, and in the left triangle, they have an orange badge highlighting the 3D V-Cache. Inside the box, you get the CPU in the standard tray along with a Ryzen 7 sticker and a certificate of authenticity which has information on the three-year warranty and the installation instructions. They have a black plastic tray also in the box that keeps the clear tray centered for the front window. There is also a paper advertising for the Red Team. The Ryzen 7 9800X3D itself has the same X-like heatspreader design that all of the AM5 CPUs have had. These look cool but they are a magnet for getting thermal paste in them, so be careful there. It's nothing new, but I do like that AMD etches the big AMD Ryzen branding on with a bold Ryzen 7 9800X3D model name as well. It’s easier to spot than what Intel does with their CPUs. It also has a QR code and of course, your serial number and manufacturer information are all on there as well.

In addition to the Ryzen 7 9800X3D, AMD sent over a full kit for testing so I did get pictures of everything. That included an Asus ROG Crosshair X870E Hero motherboard a 1TB Samsung 990 Pro SSD, and a pair of G-Skill Trident Z5 Neo RGB memory. That memory kit runs at 6000 MT/s and is a 2x16GB kit. You can see the full testing setup in the next section, but spoilers I did pair it up with an RTX 4090 Founders Edition for our testing.