Three new processors to put the pressure on Intel and its famous Raptor Lake once again.
Launched a little less than a year ago, the Ryzen 7 5800X3D was a surprise for more than one technology lover. Logically based on the architecture of the Ryzen 7 5800X, the beast consisted of 8 Zen 3 cores for a total of 16 threads. It claimed an identical TDP - at 105 Watts - but had to deal with significantly lower operating frequencies: we were talking about 3.4 / 4.5 GHz base / boost on the 5800X3D while the 5800X reached 3.8 / 4.7 GHz. The interest of the processor was however elsewhere, in this technology of 3D Vertical Cache which allowed AMD to pile up - in the most literal way - layers of cache memory in order to increase significantly the quantity: from 32 MB of combined L2+L3 cache on the 5800X, we passed to 96 MB on the 5800X3D.
A quantity of cache that allowed most of the time to compensate for the slightly lower operating frequencies and that even offered a very appreciable increase in performance in the vast majority of video games as well as in some very specific applications. That's all it took for AMD to claim the coveted crown of "most powerful processor in video games", which Intel had just stolen from it with the best Alder Lake processor, the Core i9-12900K, released a few months earlier.
Last fall, the same battle pitted Intel (Raptor Lake) against AMD (Ryzen 7000) and if the latter had lost the first round, it seems decided to continue the confrontation, bringing back to the forefront the 3D Vertical Cache technology. At the last CES in Las Vegas, AMD announced the "upcoming" release of three processors using this recent technology: the Ryzen 9 7950X3D, the Ryzen 9 7900X3D and the Ryzen 7 7800X3D. AMD was thus significantly increasing the sail and took advantage of the opportunity to integrate 3DV into its most high-end processors.
Today, we know a little more since the American company has taken the trouble to communicate the latest useful information: the price of its chips and their exact release date. Surprisingly enough, there will be two waves of release. On February 28, AMD will distribute the Ryzen 9 7950X3D and the Ryzen 9 7900X3D. They both have the main characteristics of the "X" models with the same number of cores and identical operating frequencies. On the other hand, the TDP is significantly reduced (120 versus 170 Watts) and, of course, the cache is greatly increased: we go from 80 and 76 MB to 144 and 140 MB! The 7950X3D will be billed at 699 dollars and the 7900X3D at 599 dollars.
It is only a little more than a month later that we will arrive the Ryzen 7 7800X3D. For the time being, it will not be possible to directly oppose a model "X", there is no 7800X. Its closest predecessor is the Ryzen 7 700X: they have the same number of cores (8), but the TDP of the 7800X3D is significantly higher (120 against 105 Watts) while the operating frequencies are lower (5.4 GHz against 5 GHz). Of course, the cache has improved significantly: 104 MB against 40 MB on the 7700X. Finally, it should be noted that the price increases by 50 dollars: from 399 dollars for the 7700X to 449 dollars for the 7800X3D.
