Product: AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
Type: Desktop CPU
Price: $449 USD
Availability: April 6, 2023
Link: amd.com/en/products/apu/amd-ryzen-7-7800x3d

If you’re building a new PC for playing games, choosing the right parts that offer the most in-game bang for your real-world bucks makes sense. Even though graphics cards take up the bulk of the spotlight in the PC gaming hardware stage, everything from memory to motherboards, storage, and CPU matters.

Last year we had the opportunity to check out and review a few of the latest CPUs from AMD with the launch of the impressive Zen 4 architecture-based Ryzen 7000 series, with the new range of processors delivering exceptional results across the board. For creators and PC gamers, the boost to single-core and multi-threaded performance and the new efficient 5nm architecture present the sort of generational leap you’d expect - plus a little more for good measure.

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"It’s all about 3D V-Cache and how AMD’s innovative 3D vertical cache brings massive improvements to game performance above all else."

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What exactly does the addition of 3D bring to the table, specifically with the highly anticipated release of the AMD Ryzen 7800X3D? Well, it’s all about 3D V-Cache and how AMD’s innovative 3D vertical cache brings massive improvements to game performance above all else.

Not that you need to know how 3D stacking of cache works, nor do we fully grasp exactly how it works - but the effects were already seen with the impressive AMD Ryzen 5800X3D from a few years ago.

When looking at a CPU for pure gaming performance, especially when paired with a 1080p or 1440p display, the AMD Ryzen 5800X3D is still considered one of the best in price, performance, and overall efficiency. So it’s no wonder the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D has been one of the most talked about CPU launches for PC gaming.

To borrow a 3D V-Cache term, how does it stack up? And what does the Zen 4 architecture of the AMD Ryzen 7000 series bring to the world of 3D processors? Let’s find out.

AMD Ryzen 7000X3D Series Primer… Now in 3D

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The following is applicable to all AMD Ryzen 7000X3D series GPUs

Like all things computing, desktop CPUs have made major strides over the past few decades. As things have shrunk, more complex bits of silicon have arrived on the scene, and one of the most impressive in recent times has been AMD’s Ryzen range. Multi-core, multi-thread processors where major architectural advances and node sizes have appeared with each new generation. The new Ryzen 7000 series, including the Ryzen 7000X3D range, is built using cutting-edge TSMC 5N. Which means we’re now at George-Costanza-after-swimming-in-the-pool level of shrinkage. Significant.

The new node and increased clock speeds of the new Zen 4 architecture that debuted in 2022 resulted in a double-digit gain in IPC, which is shorthand for instructions per cycle/clock. This isn’t something you really need to get a handle on or understand; it’s simply a measure of raw CPU power. Like how the Emperor views the Dark Side of the Force. So a 13% bump is pretty big. Zen 4 processors also pushed clock speeds to new impressive heights.

The arrival of the Ryzen 7000 and 7000X3D series has also seen the arrival of the new AM5 motherboard standard, which supports both PCIe Gen 5 for storage and graphics and the latest in DDR5 memory specs. The latter is the standard for AM5 and the Ryzen 7000 Series, as there is no support for DDR4. On the plus side, DDR5 prices have dropped significantly since the launch of AM5 in 2022.

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"AMD’s Ryzen 7000X3D processors are built using the same Zen 4 architecture but with the addition of a 3D vertical cache to help create the world’s fastest gaming processors."

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AMD’s Ryzen 7000X3D processors are built using the same Zen 4 architecture but with the addition of a 3D vertical cache to help create the world’s fastest gaming processors. Because we’re dealing with silicon full of transistors so tiny you’d need advanced gear just to make sense of their layout, the 3D stacking of 3D V-Cache leads to things being closer together and communication happening much faster than a traditional 2D setup. Of course, there’s a lot more science to it than that.

Really, it’s fitting that the jump to 2D and 3D leads to improved gaming performance - mirroring the very history of the medium we know and love. For gamers, the increase in clock speeds (up to 5.0 GHz for the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D) and the increase in cache (data handling) are the main drawcards.

The Specs and Test System

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AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D

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Cores/Threads: 8/16
Max Boost: 5.0 GHz
Base Clock: 4.2 GHz
Cache: 104MB
TDP: 120W

Test System

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Cooler: Corsair H100i RGB Pro XT
Motherboard: MSI MAG X670E Carbon WiFi
Memory: Corsair DOMINATOR PLATINUM RGB DDR5 DRAM 5200MHz
Storage: Kingston FURY Renegade PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD
Graphics: GeForce RTX 4090 Founders Edition

Performance Report

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Cinebench R23 is a popular benchmarking tool that really pushes a CPU, testing its capabilities by rendering a complex 3D image. It’s the benchmarking equivalent of creating a single second of footage from the latest Pixar animated movie, so it doubles as a nice little reminder that it takes a lot of computing grunt to deliver modern entertainment. Cinebench R23 features two tests, one that renders using a single core and another that uses all cores.

Here we see the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D fall behind the non-3D AMD Ryzen 7900X variant in single-thread performance. Granted, we’re not quite at the level where we have a full test bench set up with access to countless CPUs - so this review will compare these two Ryzen CPUs. Still, the results align with what we’ve seen elsewhere, where the non-3D Ryzen 7000 CPUs outperform the 3D variants in productivity tasks but fall behind in gaming.

This isn’t a cause for alarm or concern and is expected based on the overall lower core clock speeds of the 7000X3D range compared to the non-3D models. This benchmark is specifically tuned for clock speeds and overclocking, which aren’t the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D’s strong suit.

Things improve some when it comes to multi-thread performance, but again pure CPU performance isn’t where the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D shines - it's with cache and how that affects gaming.

And here, the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D offers impressive results compared to even the high-end Ryzen 9 7900X - with double-digit performance gains with better overall efficiency. The games tested for this review cover a range of genres and underlying technology - from the cutting-edge racing of F1 22 to the cinematic action of Horizon Zero Dawn.

It’s safe to say that these results point to the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D being one of the most powerful gaming CPUs currently available. And it does so by being more efficient than something like the non-3D Ryzen 9 7950X and Intel’s flagship Core i9 13900K with a total power draw of 120W.

A Zen Garden

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Bringing things full circle, if you’re building a new gaming PC and are looking for a CPU that will deliver some of the best performance, it’s hard to look past the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D. Not only because it’s one of the most powerful gaming CPUs on the market today and competes and outperforms far more expensive options from both AMD and Intel. But it is also far more efficient, with cooler temps and lower power draw.

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"It’s safe to say that these results point to the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D being one of the most powerful gaming CPUs currently available. And it does so by being more efficient than something like the non-3D Ryzen 9 7900X and Intel’s flagship Core i9 13900K."

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The clock speeds hold it back when looking at more traditional productivity and creator workloads, especially when stacked against the non-3D versions of the Ryzen 7000 series of CPUs, but there’s no doubt that this CPU is custom-made for high-end gaming. And for us, that makes it an absolute winner.