AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
The AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D is AMD’s latest and greatest CPU when it comes to gaming. With an excellent and highly efficient gaming performance that tops the charts currently, the Ryzen 7 7800X3D is here to stay and has a crown to claim thanks to its 3D V-Cache-enabled prowess when it comes to gaming on a PC.The octa-core CPU currently happens to be the fastest in the business for gaming even as it leads efficiency charts at the top, making it a very sought-after gaming upgrade.
AMD Ryzen 7 9700X
The AMD Ryzen 7 9700X is a mid-tier offering in the latest Ryzen 9000 series of CPUs, and it brings eight cores, 16 threads, and a boost clock speed of 5.5 GHz. The new chip is more efficient than its previous generation counterpart, and it supports more DDR5 RAM clocked at 5600 MHz.
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AMD’s Ryzen 9000 series CPUs are now out, ranging from the budget-centric Ryzen 5 9600X to the high-end 16-core Ryzen 9 9950X CPU, all of which leverage the newer Zen 5 architecture. AMD’s Zen 5 architecture offers a 16% gain in IPC counts, making for considerably better single-threaded performance and double-digit power efficiency gains.
Why Is The Ryzen 7 7800X3D the CPU To Compare With AMD’s 9700X Offering?
All of this translates directly to better performance per watt while offering increases in performance versus the last-generation Ryzen 7000 series CPUs that come in similar configurations with Zen 4 cores. Most gamers, however, would fixate on the octa-core Ryzen 7 9700X instead, given it being easier to compare versus its peers with most modern CPUs.
There are reasons for this, including but not limited to the fact that octa-core CPUs are considered the current in-favor offerings for gaming when it comes to AMD. Part of this is due to Intel’s current high-end unlocked CPU offerings offering a maximum of 8 performance cores (also called P-Cores) with varying E-core (efficient core) configurations that range from 4 to as much as 16 depending on the generation and performance class of CPU being considered.
Likewise, AMD’s last generation Ryzen 7 7700X CPU is a capable all-rounder that does well when it comes to gaming and productivity alike across the board. However, much of its limelight is stolen by AMD’s X3D release that came a bit later, the Ryzen 7 7800X3D, which offers a powerful octa-core Zen 4-based configuration with a large stacked L3 cache that allows it to lead charts comfortably even after AMD’s 9000 series CPUs are out.
That brings us to the question: Is the AMD Ryzen 7 9700X a worthy upgrade when you compare it to the much more popular Ryzen 7 7800X3D?
X3D-Infused Gaming Powerhouse
The AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D is arguably Team Red’s biggest achievement when it comes to catering to gamers on the CPU front. It offers 8 fast Zen 4 cores, a large 96MB L3 cache, and unlike its predecessor, the Ryzen 7 5800X3D, some degree of overclocking via Precision Boost Overdrive (PBO) that allows AMD to push it higher where the thermals allow for it.
It is, somewhat unsurprisingly for proponents of the last-generation 3D V-Cache CPU, one of the most efficient CPUs for gaming, regularly consuming less than 50W of power while running most modern titles at the highest frame rates possible thanks to its large L3 cache advantage.
At the same time, the Ryzen 7 7800X3D offers somewhat lackluster performance in productivity tasks, even versus the much cheaper Ryzen 7 7700X that offers a similar configuration sans the stacked 3D V-Cache offering, and thanks to the thermal headroom the added cache takes up, comes with a lower Tjmax (maximum temperature for the CPU before it thermally throttles) than other Ryzen CPUs at 89 degrees versus 95 degrees Celsius.
Zen 5 Prowess And Efficiency On Display
AMD’s Ryzen 7 9700X offers the newer Zen 5 architecture that delivers a purported increase in IPC counts of up to 16% for certain workloads. This is particularly on display in applications that leverage the AVX-512 instruction set, where Zen 5’s performance gains are more easily on display.
While the 9700X is faster than its predecessor, the 7700X, the difference in single-core performance does not translate to an overwhelming victory in games, even as the older Ryzen 7 7800X3D thrashes AMD’s newer offering soundly when it comes to games.
Despite this, AMD’s newest CPU does offer better performance and significantly better efficiency, allowing it to offer a TDP limit of 65W and a max power draw of 88W. However, it can be tweaked to go considerably higher currently with performance gains to match.
With multi-core performance to match its single-core offerings, it happens to be faster in most thread-heavy software needs while also offering some of the highest performance per watt numbers of any octa-core CPU to date, considerably pushed ahead of both the Ryzen 7 7700X and Ryzen 7 7800X3D here.
However, the 9700X, despite its better single-core performance and excellent efficiency, does have a relatively high asking price of $359 for the CPU, currently making it a considerably expensive offering core for core versus most of its alternatives.
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16
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3.8GHz
5.0GHz
5.5GHz
8MB
96MB
32MB
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~$367
~$359
2955
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16451
17886
While AMD’s Ryzen 7 7800X3D sees its larger 96MB L3 cache dwarf the Ryzen 7 9700X’s 32MB offering, the recently released Zen 5-based CPU does command a lead in multiple other departments that directly translate to it being considered a significant upgrade.
Despite this, to a certain degree, reviewers have been mixed at best about AMD’s latest endeavor, highlighting its superior efficiency and performance-per-clock gains, but also pointing out that AMD’s older X3D CPU continues to age well in gaming and remains undefeated in the bulk of titles it is tested on, against both Intel and AMD’s counterparts.
AMD has also not been quiet on this matter, highlighting some crucial information that was previously not available to end users:performance improvements are upcoming, and are not limited to Zen 5 only - Zen 4 and Zen 3 CPUs are also expected to benefit.
While it remains to be seen how much performance benefits are in play for Zen 5 in particular and how much the 9700X gains directly, the bulk of the listed gains as per AMD revolve in games that see anywhere from 13% to a 3% gain depending on the title (based on a limited published list currently) but the Procyon Office benchmark also registers a 6% gain, something that bodes well for Zen 5-based 9700X and possibly to the same degree, the Zen 4-based 7800X3D.
AMD’s Ryzen 7 7700X: An Overlooked Zen 4-Based Alternative
While most users in the market for a new octa-core CPU from AMD for their gaming or productivity needs are searching for either the gaming-centric Ryzen 7 7800X3D or the power-efficient Ryzen 7 9700X, a 3rd CPU does offer better value for money than both in certain situations.
AMD Ryzen 7 7700X
A Capable Zen 4 Alternative
The AMD Ryzen 7 7700x is an excellent octacore processor with 16 threads in tow. It is quite similar to the fastest gaming CPU on the market, the Ryzen 7800X3D and offers similar productivity performance even as the latter takes the lead in games thanks to its larger L3 cache.
Introducing the AMD Ryzen 7 7700X CPU, a capable Zen 4 CPU that does better than the Ryzen 7 7800X3D in productivity and holds its own versus most CPUs in gaming even though both of the options listed above do considerably beat it in that department, with the 9700X also being a superior, albeit more expensive option for one’s AM5-based motherboard.
For users who need 8 cores but are budget-restricted, the 7700X comes well under $300, unlike the 7800X3D and the 9700X, which trade closer to $400 than $300 at the time of writing. The AMD Ryzen 7 7700X is not going to win gaming, efficiency, or performance awards amongst its other octa-core siblings, given how they are currently positioned.
It might, however, be the most price-conscious pick of all 3, making it a great CPU to hold the line for users intending to build or upgrade their PC in chunks, even as it offers acceptable performance in productivity and gaming versus both of its alternatives that score higher in their respective areas of focus.
Verdict: Know Your Use Case To Get the Most ‘Zen’ Out Of Your Purchase
Unlike Intel’s CPU offerings where more cores are nearly always accompanied by higher clock speeds and bumps upward in gaming performance, AMD’s offerings are a more complex set to examine. On paper, a few years ago, the Ryzen 7 7800X3D would be considered much slower than the higher-clocked Ryzen 7 9700X, and a higher-core, higher-clocked alternative would nearly always be preferred without a second glance.
The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D demonstrated strong consumer demand for a ‘specialist’ CPU for gaming and also that the extended L3 cache AMD’s CPU offered translated directly to a large benefit in the overwhelming majority of games. AMD’s Ryzen 7 7800X3D is just the next iteration of that, offering more overclocking potential, faster Zen 4 cores and access to faster RAM, all of which combined make for a very lethal CPU that tops charts even as its predecessor remains difficult to keep off the charts nearly two and a half years later.
It also comes at a time when most of its competition continues to push for higher clocks, higher thermal envelopes, and therefore more power and cooling requirements than most if not all of its competition.
At the same time, AMD’s latest and greatest octa-core CPU, the Zen 5-based Ryzen 7 9700X, is no slouch. It offers excellent performance and even better performance per watt as improvements, extending AMD’s IPC lead this generation.. All of this even as it runs cooler than the competition and overclockers are yet to push to its limits on regular hardware, given how young the architecture is currently.
The 9700X is great for productivity and runs cooler than its competition. It makes great sense for productivity-centric users looking for an efficient CPU that can be air-cooled or be used in a smaller SFF case without having to account for thermal issues. It offers superior single-core performance versus its peers and delivers its ask even as AMD claims more performance will be unlocked in upcoming Windows updates.
This is credible given how the 9700X currently performs in Linux, which seems to be considerably better in harnessing Zen 5’s new, wider branch prediction performance potential at the time of writing. For those on a fence or unable to decide, the AMD Ryzen 7 7700X is also a credible performer that trades at a 20-30% discount versus its peers for those on a stricter budget or those eyeing a potential X3D upgrade in the near future.
FAQ
Q: How much L3 cache does the Ryzen 7 9700X have?
AMD’s Ryzen 7 9700X offers 32MB of L3 cache. There is no current X3D equivalent CPU announced with a higher L3 cache offering at the time of writing.
Q: Do I need DDR5 RAM for the new AMD Ryzen CPUs?
Yes, more recently AMD CPU lineups, including those from the 7000, 8000, and 9000 series of desktop CPUs require DDR5 RAM as a prerequisite for their respective socket (AM5) motherboards.
