AMD confirms Ryzen 7000X3D release date and pricing

Following the somewhat lackluster debut and a lackluster response from Intel, AMD first lowered the asking prices for the Ryzen 7000 series, and now announces the Ryzen 7000X3D, the gaming-optimized version of the new processor series.

Like the Ryzen 7 5800X3D, AMD’s new processors are highlighted with 3D stacked V-Cache, a rather expensive and as yet untapped technology by rival Intel that can deliver up to 30% higher performance in applications heavily dependent on the fastest access to RAM, such as PC gaming and some media encoding applications.

Specifically, the new V-Cache allows “sticking” an additional 64MB of L3 cache on top of the 32MB provided by the Ryzen 7000 processor architecture, bringing L3 memory to a respectable 96MB, or 128MB if we’re referring to AMD processors with more than 8 cores.

The new Ryzen 7000X3D family will include three processor models: the Ryzen 9 7950X3D, Ryzen 9 7900X3D, and Ryzen 7 7800X3D, priced at $699, $599, and $449.

Without predicting a winner, we could say that the “budget” Ryzen 9 7800X3D solution would offer the best performance/price ratio, followed by the 7900X3D for buyers who want optimal gaming performance at a good price. On the other hand, for the Ryzen 9 7950X3D opinions are somewhat divided, with the $699 priced processor applying V-Cache technology only to the first CCD, meaning that the second 8-core cluster comes with a “conventional” L3 configuration. Coupled with the fact that the 7950X3D has a 300MHz lower base frequency than the original 7950X, it follows that performance might even drop in certain heavy usage scenarios.

According to AMD, release dates for the Ryzen 7000X3D series have been set for February 28 for the 7950X3D and 7900X3D series, and April 6 for the more affordable Ryzen 7 7800X3D.