AMD’s Ryzen 7000X3D processors are set to be released in February, the company told us at CES 2023, but we now have an alleged release date for the supercharged chips that will be of great interest to gamers — which is February 14th.
OC3D (Opens in a new tab) I spotted that this release date was shared via the official web page for the Ryzen 7 7800X3D on AMD’s site, but looking at the page now that information has been removed (not before the screenshot).
So, we can assume this was an accidental leak by an AMD employee that’s less than cautious, though we need to be a little careful about assuming the screenshot is real, as it always has been. All we have is a photo here, and as we know, photos can be manipulated.
However, it appears that OC3D took the screen itself, as the image source is attributed to AMD and not to a third party, so it seems unlikely that it was a fabrication.
Come February 14th, then, we’ll see not only the Ryzen 7 7800X3D, but also the 7900X3D and 7950X3D. All of these chips will use 3D V-Cache to greatly improve gaming performance, as we saw with the Zen 3 family’s 5800X3D.
Analysis: Say it with roses, or chocolate…or a 3D V-Cache?
So, the launch date will be Valentine’s Day, but do we like AMD’s pricing? That remained to be seen. On the other hand, late last year saw price cuts on still-fresh vanilla Ryzen 7000 CPUs, and aftermarket sales weren’t great to begin with. However, that was partly a reflection of the overall cost of the upgrade, considering the necessary AM5 motherboard (no wallet-friendly options) and the need for DDR5 RAM (unlike Raptor Lake, you can’t use DDR4, and DDR5 is still fairly pricey). .
Now that there are more affordable AM5 motherboards out there (and even cheaper ones shouldn’t be out of reach), and gamers are likely to be eager to get their hands on a piece of the Zen 4 3D V-Cache move, we can expect AMD to push harder. A little off with the pricing here. Time will tell, but in any case, Ryzen 9 cycles on X3D are clearly going to be very expensive, anyway.
Aside from the potential hole they might blow in your wallet, the other troubling concern about the top-tier Ryzen 9 X3D models is how Windows handles their new design. In short, these CPUs have two CCDs (chiplets), but only one has a 3D V-Cache on top – the other one runs at a faster boost speed instead. Now, some games will benefit from more cache, and others will find higher clocks to be a blessing, so any given game should be orchestrated to favor the proper CCD that is best for it.
Could this lead to glitches and performance issues? Microsoft and AMD are working closely to ensure this doesn’t happen in Windows games, but of course, we’ll only know when we get these processors in for review. It’s not too long now, and we can’t wait to see how they perform, and how much of a threat the new X3D CPUs will pose to Intel’s powerful Raptor Lake lineup.