In most CPU tests, however, the cache is not that helpful, and this is what paints the worst picture of the Ryzen 9 7950X3D. Out of all of our CPUs tests, the Ryzen 9 7950X3D is beaten by the Ryzen 9 7950X in all of them except one. That one is the single-threaded POV-Ray 3.7 test, and admittedly that's within the margin of error. When trying to come to an overall assessment of these chips' relative performance, it's better to look at the measurable performance gains between chips across different tests. This makes for a much more sensible average when all is said and done than averaging absolute scores where one CPU test with one very large result can badly skew a final average. Cache has been an essential and highly influential part of computers for decades now, and its importance is unquestionable. What is questionable, however, and what has been questioned since the beginning, is how much cache is enough. Some argue that you can never have enough, but this is illogical. More cache means a larger, or in this case, an extra, chip—and that leads to higher costs. Past a certain point, it becomes questionable if the CPU will even be able to use or take advantage of all the cache you have.

When it comes to the Intel Core i9-13900K, it too outperforms the 7950X3D in single core performance, with the 7950X3D running about 12% slower than the 13900K on average. The difference between the two tightens on multicore performance, with the 7950X3D running about 5% slower in multicore on average. Starting with the Ryzen 7000 series, AMD began adding low-power IGPs to all of its Ryzen desktop processors. (Before, it was limited to the subset known as the G-series.) But this has been a bittersweet change since its introduction. Make sure the BIOS is up to date and the Default BIOS options will be optimal for X3D, however the specific settings you can confirm are set correct are: CPPC = Auto / CStates & DFStates = Auto. If you didn't change these, they should be set correctly anyway. I’ve tested something like 30+ games in my Steam, Battle.net, Origin, GOG, Ms-Store, Ubisoft and everything was recognised and worked without issue. It's simply the best gaming CPU by performance you can buy on the consumer market and that's not likely to change for the rest of this processor generation, at the very least.The latest CPUs in the AMD Ryzen 7000 Series are here. Teased at CES 2023, the X3D Ryzen 9 models are finally hitting the shelves!As of April 6 th, we now also have an X3D Ryzen 7 model too!

The Xbox Game Bar contains a KGL (known good list) of games that it detects when active, thus triggering Game Mode (you can also instruct the game bar to recognize unknown games and/or other applications as games). The driver communicates with the Windows Game Mode feature, which becomes active when the Xbox Game Bar detects a game is running. You are good to go, no further efforts required and no messing about with third party apps like Process Lasso unless you want more control, more on this below.

MORE POSTS BY Emily Haylock

Curious as to what games are struggling to run on PC and also what PCs are struggling to run games? Also, are those affected games also having issues on consoles? If the CPU utilisation gets high enough, you may find that one or more cores on the inactive CCD wake up and become active and begin work. This is normal and expected and exactly how the CPU is designed. It offers extra performance vs keeping highly utilised cores to one CCD, which is what happens to those poor folks using Process Lasso. People that advocate for apps like Process Lasso often think this is a bug and it hurts performance, it doesn't, It helps performance. Thoroughly tested on a 4090 and a 7900 XTX over many games and settings. The fact performance of X3D CPU is all over the place bothers me too. Yes it's fast in -some- games, but then you get less overall performance in several important applications. If I just used my PC for gaming, I would have bought a console, I don't like the idea of having to make a trade-off with X3D CPU.

The heat produced by the 3D V-Cache forced AMD to lower the max operating temperature of the processor from 95 degrees C on the Ryzen 9 7950X to 89 degrees C on the Ryzen 9 7950X3D. A corresponding reduction in thermal design power (TDP) rating also occurred, with the Ryzen 9 7950X having a 170-watt (W) TDP and the Ryzen 9 7950X3D having a 120W TDP. If we're talking about this being AMD's take on the perfect gaming processor, we need to step outside of the 1080p gaming environment. We traditionally test at this lower resolution for our CPU game benchmarking so we are able to highlight the difference in performance down to the actual processors. As you go higher in the resolution scale you end up relying ever more on the power of the graphics card, to the point where you cease being able to discern meaningful performance deltas between chip architectures.

Verdict: Cache Grab, But No Clean Getaway

Update Windows game bar via the Windows Store. It usually needs to be updated twice, same for all MS Store apps so restart the MS Store mid way through and update again.