We’re curious as to why AMD restrained power so much when a 170W TDP and associated 220W PPT is fine for 7950X. Is it really a case of ensuring an extra 64MB of L3 cache doesn’t overheat, or is there something more sinister going on? Putting our conjecturing hat on, equipping X3D with the standard 170W TDP would make regular 7950X redundant. Product positioning and all that. 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.

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D | NVIDIA RTX 4090 | Custom Gaming PC AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D | NVIDIA RTX 4090 | Custom Gaming PC

Retail processors with a 65W TDP will come equipped with a default cooler in the box, which should be plenty, especially if you are using it for work, casual gaming, or internet browsing. However, for more power-hungry applications and advanced processors, such as the 3D V-Cache series, you’ll need to have a reliable and efficient cooler that can keep it performing at optimum temperatures. The cores, and by extension operating system, are oblivious to the bonding of extra L3. X3D appears and largely performs like a triple-dense L3 monster. We say largely as there is a minor overhead of four cycles in accessing the upper cache, but that’s a pretty good return all things considered. 3D V-Cache as implemented on Zen 3, which is the same as Zen 4 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. If you are using your PC for light gaming, internet browsing, or watching YouTube, you won’t need a hefty custom water-cooling system. An air CPU cooler will be plenty. However, if you’re looking to enjoy the latest AAA titles, want to start streaming, or run more intensive applications, you will need powerful cooling in the form of an AiO or custom water-cooled loop. The lower power consumption measured during Adobe Premiere and Cinebench gives the Ryzen 9 7950X3D better overall performance per watt and slightly better overall energy efficiency. This is hurt by the high idle power consumption, however, which never drops below 97W with the system sitting idle at the desktop for prolonged periods. This latter issue may be resolved with a BIOS or driver update, though.

Join the AMD Red Team!

This difference is even more telling when it comes to gaming performance. Compared to the 7950X, the 7950X3D performs like it is fully one to two generations ahead of its non-3D V-Cache counterpart with roughly 20% to 25% better gaming performance at 1080p. Likewise, when it comes to the Intel Core i9-13900K, the 7950X3D lands about 16% to 19% faster on average, but some games will perform substantially better, and the 7950X3D is never that far behind the 13900K when it does occasionally lose out. You won’t be able to split the first dozen processors when playing this game, but it sure feels good knowing you have the best CPU for the job. System scores are middling more than impressive, as these synthetic tests rely heavily on peak frequency. Surely it’s real games that count… Gaming The Ryzen 9 7900X3D has also been crafted for high-performance gaming and creating. Its cache capacity is 140MB, paired with twelve cores, twenty-four threads, and boost speeds up to 5.6GHz.

AMD Ryzen 9 7950X 16 Core AM5 CPU/Processor - Scan AMD Ryzen 9 7950X 16 Core AM5 CPU/Processor - Scan

When it comes to the synthetic benchmarks, there's very little difference between the 7950X3D and the 7950X. Both chips are phenomenal multitaskers, and though the 7950X has consistently stronger single core scores than the 7950X3D, the 7950X3D performs better with multi core performance than its non-3D V-Cache counterpart. No responsibility is taken for the correctness of this information. The listed offers do not constitute legally binding advertising claims of the merchants. 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! Not the start we had expected. After numerous runs, we couldn’t get 7950X3D past the scores recorded by single-CCD 5800X3D. Multiple Intel chips are faster, too, and perusing AMD’s supporting documentation shows X3D a fair bit slower than rival Intel Core i9-13900KS.

The Hitches in AMD's Plan

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. Editors' Note, March 2, 2023: Some scrutiny by Tom's Hardware scrutiny by Tom's Hardware and online commenters pointed out that our integrated graphics (IGP) testing numbers for the earlier Ryzen 9 7950X chip were unnaturally low; this was likely due to early-driver issues that only became evident with this review of the 7950X3D, and made the 7950X3D's IGP look like a leap forward by comparison. We have retested the Ryzen 9 7950X and updated the numbers in the IGP testing table here and in that original review, and made minor tweaks to this article's intro and IGP Testing section to reflect the new numbers. We'll also be retesting the IGPs on the Ryzen 7 7700 and 7700X in the coming days. The original, fundamental conclusions we made about this chip, though, have not changed.] Performance is in line with expectations of a 120W part, though there’s no escaping the fact regular 170W 7950X is the superior chip for demanding multi-threaded work. Great multi-thread performance meets a very acceptable TDP. Result is a high placing on this graph which divides the multi-core Cinebench score by system-wide power consumption.

AMD Ryzen 9 7000 Series Socket AM5 Processors - SCAN UK AMD Ryzen 9 7000 Series Socket AM5 Processors - SCAN UK

The score in 3DMark obtained by the Ryzen 9 7950X3D is slightly lower than the one obtained by the Ryzen 9 7950X, but by so slim of a margin that it's essentially a tie. These two chips tie in other tests as well but, in F1 22, the Ryzen 9 7950X3D holds a decisive advantage over its similarly named counterpart while also narrowly passing the Intel competition. Leveraging the same technology we first witnessed with the impressive Ryzen 7 5800X3D, suffusing more L3 cache is inherently more difficult on two-CCD processors such as the review Ryzen 9 7950X3D and 7900X3D. The asymmetrical design and restrained power budget work well enough to deliver the same level of overall gaming performance as MadWattage™ Core i9-13900KS, which is a feat in itself. Having the on-chip integrated graphics present is highly useful for troubleshooting and, if you aren’t going to run games, it can save you from having to buy a display adapter, which cuts costs. The IGP that AMD opted to use on its processors, however, is relatively weak. The last-gen Ryzen 7 5700G has the fastest IGP of any desktop CPU, and while we don’t necessarily need that much performance in every desktop CPU, it’s too bad AMD opted for as weak an IGP as it did. AMD’s decision to add extra cache to only one of these chips is somewhat unconventional, as the two CCXs will have different performance characteristics as a result, but there’s a logical reason behind it. The added cache chip and its position on top of one of the CCXs introduce power and heat considerations to the CPU that didn’t exist before.In terms of power draw, the minimum I recorded for the 13900K is a meager 2.882W, and it could hover around this for hours if you're not using your computer thanks to its energy-efficient hybrid-core design. Meanwhile, the 7950X3D is still slurping up just over eight times as much power as a baseline. Looking into further games reveals 7950X3D doesn’t have the benchmark wow factor of 5800X3D. That’s because Intel’s latest Raptor Lake architecture has moved the gaming needle to the right, limiting X3D’s comparative gains.