AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D And 7900X3D V-Cache CPUs Show Up Early At A Major US Retailer
Tomorrow marks the retail release of AMD's refreshed Ryzen 7000 series processors with 3D V-cache, including the flagship Ryzen 9 7950X3D. It looks like retailers are ready to go once the sales embargo lifts too, as at least two of the three upcoming SKUs already have listings prepared at Newegg—all that's left is to update the stock status and flip the switch.
The two listings include the aforementioned Ryzen 9 7950X3D and the Ryzen 9 7900X3D. What about the Ryzen 7 7800X3D? It doesn't look like Newegg has prepared a retail listing yet (or nobody has discovered it), which makes sense—unlike the two higher-end entries, the mid-range Ryzen 7 7800X doesn't release to retail until April 6, 2023.
In essence, you're not supposed to see these listings yet as they're not up for preorder. However, prominent leaker @momomo_us posted a couple of Newegg links on Twitter, as well as an image of the same two SKUs appearing at a retailer overseas.
This is an important launch for a number a reasons. For one, these are the first and perhaps only Zen 4 processors to feature stacked 3D V-cache, which as we saw with the previous generation Ryzen 7 5800X3D, it gives meaningful boost to gaming performance (depending on the title and other factors).
Secondly, AMD decided to bolt on a heap of 3D V-cache to its top consumer chip this round instead of just a single mid-range offering. The Ryzen 9 7950X3D shares the same 16-core and 32-thread configuration as the Ryzen 9 7950X, but with twice the amount of L3 cache at a whopping 128MB versus a still-generous 64MB.
The caveat is that this comes at the expense of a slower base clock with the Ryzen 9 7950X3D running at 4.2GHz instead of 4.5GHz. However, the max boost clock remains the same at 5.7GHz, as does the amount of L1 and L2 cache, at 1MB and 16MB, respectively.
While Newegg's listings don't reveal street pricing, the MSRP for the Ryzen 9 7950X3D sits at $699. Meanwhile, you can find the Ryzen 9 7950X (no V-cache) on sale for $579 at Amazon right now, so you're looking at $120 for the added cache (if actual pricing sticks to the MSRP).
The next chip down the Zen 4 3D V-cache ladder is the Ryzen 9 7900X3D, and that too is prepped for launch at Newegg. This one is a 12-core/24-thread processor with a 4.4GHz base clock, 5.6GHz max boost clock, 768K of L1 cache, 12MB of L2 cache, and 128MB of L3 cache.
Those specs are mostly similar to the Ryzen 9 7900X, except the standard model without V-cache sports a faster 4.7GHz base clock and half the amount of L3 cache at 64MB. The MSRP is set at $599.
Finally, AMD is also releasing a Ryzen 7 7800X3D in a couple of months. This one is an 8-core/16-thread chip with a 4.2GHz base clock, 5GHz max boost clock, and 96MB of L3 cache, along with an MSRP of $449.
All three chips sport a 120W TDP, which in the case of the Ryzen 9 variants is 50W below the regular models without 3D V-cache. If you're planning to upgrade your Zen 4 platform to one of these SKUs, check for a BIOS update from your motherboard manufacturer and grab the latest chipset driver as well.
