Let’s talk cache

Jacob Roach / Digital TrendsThe difference between the Ryzen 7 5800X and Ryzen 7 5800X3D is an additional 64MB of L3 cache. That might not sound like a huge deal — the Ryzen 9 5900X and Ryzen 9 5950X have 64MB of cache on their own — but it’s a showcase of AMD’s new 3D V-Cache technology, and it’s pretty important.

　　AMD isn’t just adding more cache. It’s stacking the cache on top of the chip by shaving down the die and passing through connections directly. That means the Ryzen 7 5800X3D is able to access a massive pool of cache at breakneck speed, all while maintaining the size of a standard Ryzen 5000 processor.

　　It’s billed as a gaming CPU, and cache isn’t usually a big discussion point when it comes to games. But by stacking 64MB on top of the 32MB already on the Ryzen 7 5800X, AMD is giving the CPU a lot more room to process instructions without fetching them from system memory. Anyone who has used Ryzen 5000 before knows that memory speed plays a big role in gaming performance, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that a boosted cache represents a big performance gain, too.

　　What’s important to know is that your OS sees the cache as a shared 96MB pool, not as separate 32MB and 64MB chunks. Adding more cache always increases latency, and as many early Windows 11 adopters learned, cache latency is a killer in games. AMD says that the performance gains vastly offset that increased latency, however, which shows up in my test results.

　　

Performance

Jacob Roach / Digital TrendsI didn’t focus too much attention on general CPU performance because we’ve been here before. The Ryzen 7 5800X3D isn’t a great option for general processor performance. It’s slower clock speed and eight cores mean it falls vastly short of the flagships it can compete with in games.

　　It’s not a bad option, but even the Ryzen 7 5800X would be a better choice if you’re not concerned with gaming. You can see how the 3D-stacked model takes a loss in single-core performance in both Cinebench and Geekbench compared to the Ryzen 9 5950X. All of AMD’s Ryzen 5000 processors fall within a certain range in these benchmarks, but the Ryzen 7 5800X3D’s slower clock speed mean it trails the pack.

　　

	AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D	AMD Ryzen 9 5950X	Intel Core i9-12900K
Cinebench R23 single-core	1,460	1,531	1,989
Cinebench R23 multi-core	14,544	27,328	27,344
Geekbench 5 single-core	1,588	1,726	2,036
Geekbench 5 multi-core	10,209	14,239	18,259
Handbrake (seconds, lower is better)	69	58	47
PugetBench for Premiere Pro	882	992	1,066

　　Multi-core performance isn’t great either because there are only eight cores, and they top out at around 4.3GHz based on my testing. The only oddball was PugetBench, where I was hopeful the increased cache would give the Ryzen 7 5800X3D a leg up. It doesn’t.

　　

Gaming performance

Image used with permission by copyright holderNow for what the Ryzen 7 5800X3D is all about: Gaming. You can see the Geomean results above, showing how the processor stacks up on average to other flagships. I ran all of my tests at 1080p with an RTX 3090 and 32GB of DDR4-3200 memory, short of Halo Infinite, which I ran with an RTX 3070. For settings, there’s a mix of High to Ultra depending on the game.

　　The Ryzen 7 5800X3D dominates as the fastest gaming CPU you can buy. It was 6.4% faster than the Ryzen 9 5950X, while still maintaining a respectable 1.7% lead over Intel’s Core i9-12900K. Keep in mind that both the Core i9-12900K and Ryzen 9 5950X are $150 to $200 more expensive, so this is a seriously impressive feat.

　　Getting down to specifics, the Ryzen 7 5800X3D maintained a lead in most of the games I tested. The CPU-intensive Far Cry 6 is one to call out, with the Ryzen 7 5800X3D offering a massive 27.8% lead over the Ryzen 9 5950X. The same is true in Fortnite, which is the type of game that should benefit a lot from additional cache. That translates into a 12.6% lead over the Ryzen 9, but parity with the Core i9-12900K.

　　

	AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D	AMD Ryzen 9 5950X	Intel Core i9-12900K
3D Mark Time Spy	17,078	17,922	19,396
Red Dead Redemption 2	119 fps	127 fps	132 fps
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla	121 fps	119 fps	118 fps
Forza Horizon 4	247 fps	234 fps	250 fps
Fortnite	205 fps	182 fps	205 fps
Halo Infinite	127 fps	119 fps	113 fps
Cyberpunk 2077	128 fps	128 fps	122 fps
Far Cry 6	147 fps	115 fps	141 fps
Civilization VI (turn time, lower is better)	6.6 seconds	7.5 seconds	7.3 seconds

　　The gains aren’t always as stark, particularly in GPU-limited games. It seems graphically demanding open-world games don’t benefit as much from the additional cache, as evidenced by Red Dead Redemption 2 and Cyberpunk 2077. Forza Horizon 4 was the odd one out, with a solid 6% increase over the Ryzen 9 5950X.

　　The Ryzen 7 5800X3D is a sign of what’s to come.

　　In a test like 3D Mark Time Spy, the processor doesn’t show its power. But in real games, like in Civilization VI’s turn time benchmark, the Ryzen 7 5800X3D offers big improvements. AMD is offering better gaming performance for less money, with fewer cores and a slower clock speed.

　　If nothing else, the Ryzen 7 5800X3D is a sign of what’s to come. Although there are outliers, it’s clear that additional cache offers improvements in games beyond the IPC chase that’s been going on for the better part of 30 years.

　　

Power, heat, and clock speed

Jacob Roach / Digital TrendsThe extra cache isn’t free on the Ryzen 7 5800X3D. Although it doesn’t draw nearly as much power as the Core i9-12900KS, it gets a little toasty. During a multi-core Cinebench R23 run, the chip peaked at 86 degrees Celsius under a 240mm all-in-one liquid cooler. During the run, however, it only pulled 101 watts at its peak.

　　That’s not a dangerous temperature for brief, intense workloads like Cinebench. However, it shows why AMD chose to disable overclocking on this chip. The all-core frequency during this run was 4.35GHz, and pushing it any higher would bump right up against the chip’s maximum operating temperature of 90 degrees.

　　In the single-core test, the processor reached 4.45GHz while consuming significantly less power — just shy of 36W at its peak. Temperatures were much better, too, peaking at 52 degrees Celsius. This is more in line with what you should expect out of the Ryzen 7 5800X3D, with temperatures nearing 60 degrees Celsius with most workloads.

　　We’re a far cry from the power and heat levels of Intel’s competing processors, but the Ryzen 7 5800X3D still runs a bit hotter than the rest of the Ryzen 5000 range. You don’t need to invest in a new CPU cooler, but it’s something to keep in mind.

　　

Our take

The Ryzen 7 5800X3D delivers on AMD’s promise of releasing the world’s fastest gaming CPU. It’s rare we see a CPU specifically tuned for gaming, but AMD shows that a design goal like that works. Of course, it loses the race in the Cinebench/Geekbench battle, but for gamers, that doesn’t matter.

　　

Are there any alternatives?

There’s nothing quite like the Ryzen 7 5800X3D due to its unique packaging technology and massive pool of L3 cache. The closest thing would be either the Ryzen 9 5950X or Ryzen 9 5900X with their 64MB pools. In terms of performance, Intel’s Core i9-12900K gets close, but it’s around $150 more expensive and still not as fast in games.

　　

How long will it last?

This is the killer. The Ryzen 7 5800X3D is the last CPU to use AMD’s AM4 socket, so upgrading now means that you’ll need to buy a new motherboard when you swap your CPU in the future. It should last for several years in gaming, but if AMD applies this technology to its next-gen chips, we’ll likely see even larger jumps in gaming performance.

　　

Should you buy it?

Yes, but only with the understanding that you’ll need a new motherboard down the line. As impressive as it is, the Ryzen 7 5800X3D is a little tough to recommend simply based on the time it launched and where future CPU generations are headed.