AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D Review

AMD first announced the X3D versions of its latest Ryzen 7000 series of CPUs in the opening keynote address at CES 2023 back in January 2023. The X3D CPUs are largely identical to the regular Ryzen 7000 series CPUs with the new Zen 4 core architecture, DDR5 RAM and PCIe Gen 5 support on the AM5 socket. As part of the reveal, the company claimed that the second generation 3D V-Cache will turn Ryzen 7000X3D CPUs into “the fastest gaming processors in the world.” The company did not reveal the launch date of the 3D V-Cache parts during the keynote.

Days later, AMD briefly posted a launch date of February 14 and took it down. Then, at the start of February, AMD shared the official launch dates of the X3D CPUs, with the Ryzen 9 7900X3D and Ryzen 9 7950X3D scheduled to release on February 28. The global release date of the Ryzen 7 7800X3D was scheduled for April 6, 2023. This was a little more than six months after the launch of the initial Ryzen 7000 CPUs. At the start, the 7800X3D was selling around INR 46,000 with slight price variation depending on the retailer in question.

Like the first-generation X3D CPU lineup with 3D V-Cache, the second generation also aims at offering impressive gaming performance without breaking the bank account of the buyer. While the Ryzen 9 parts were aimed at buyers who require extra cores for both gaming and productivity needs, Ryzen 7, on the other hand, offers more reasonable performance for gamers with the 7800X3D.

Does the 3D V-Cache help in improving the gaming performance of the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D? Let’s check out the answer to this question and more in our comprehensive review:

Specifications of the Ryzen 7 7800X3D and the test setup

Before we discuss the gaming performance of the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D, let’s outline the specifications of teh CPU first.

Here is the complete component list for our test-bench to review the 7800X3D:

Performance and Benchmarks for the 7800X3D

Gaming Performance

Let’s dive into the gaming performance of the Ryzen 7 7800X3D CPU when combined with the AMD Radeon 7900XTX GPU with RDNA 3 architecture. We ran 14 AAA games to get a sense of the performance of the CPU. This list of games includes Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Borderlands 3, Control, Cyberpunk 2077, Doom Eternal, Far Cry New Dawn, and Forza Horizon 5. Other games include Gears of War 5, GTA 5, Hitman 3, Horizon Zero Dawn, Red Dead Redemption 2, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, and A Total War Saga: TROY. We ran all these games at 1080p resolution while set on highest graphics settings without v-sync and motion blur.

It may seem unfair to show game performance at 1080p resolution for a combination of Ryzen 7 7800X3D CPU and Radeon 7900XTX GPU. At the same time, it makes it easier for you to check the difference in performance when you check out our older reviews for desktop CPUs (and GPUs). This same metric ensures that you can easily figure out the difference between the performance of a desktop setup and the highest end of gaming laptops that IGN India has reviewed in the past.

Now, coming back to the gaming performance, while the level of gaming performance is dependent on the GPU, it also shows how well the CPU can support it. As per our benchmarks, the 7800X3D CPU can easily run the most demanding games at a minimum average fps of 143 (Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order). This means that such a setup would be the right one for a 144Hz refresh rate capable gaming monitor or TV. In fact, this setup is also capable of offering an enjoyable experience to anyone looking to game in 2K resolution and a satisfactory one at 4K.

Benchmarks

While synthetic benchmarks don’t paint a comprehensive picture of the real-world performance of a CPU, they do work well for comparisons. As you can easily see in the Geekbench 5 and Cinebench R23 single core tests, the 7800X3D scored about 8-11 percent less than the top-end 7950X. This difference is perfectly fine given the difference in power requirements, price, and clock-speeds between these two processors. Similarly, the 8 percent score difference between Intel Core i9 13900K and 7800X3D in Geekbench 5 single core is also in-line with power, price, and clock-speeds.

On the multi-core performance side, it is only natural that a CPU with 8 cores and 16 threads can’t come anywhere close to CPUs with 16 (7950X) or 24 cores (13900K). Here, the difference ranges from 45 percent (13900K) to 43 percent (7950X) in Geekbench 5 and 75 percent (13900K) and 70 percent (7950X) in Cinebench R23. At the same time, the 7800X3D pulled ahead of its competition in benchmark tests like PCMark 10 that evaluate the processors in regular, day-to-day tasks.

Thermals and power performance

When looking at the thermal aspect of the Ryzen 7 7800X3D, similar to any other core computing component such as CPUs or GPUs, the question is not about if thermal throttling occurs, but rather when it occurs. While it did experience thermal throttling with peak temperatures of 88.4 degrees Celsius (even reaching 89.4 degrees during a 20-minute-long Cinebench R23 multi-core benchmark), the Ryzen 7 7800X3D managed to maintain an average of 4.4GHz core clocks, well above the 4.2GHz base clock.

Talking about power draw, the CPU ships with a default TDP of 120W. However, the real-world performance with max of 82.9W on the CPU Package Power metric (83.6W in 20-minute-long Cinebench R23 multi-core benchmark) is beyond impressive. On average, the CPU Package Power was around 54W. While this won’t really matter much in India where the power price is relatively inexpensive (INR 8 per unit for a monthly consumption of more than 1200 units in New Delhi), it does matter in terms of heat output. A cooler, efficient system would ensure that gamers are comfortable during long gaming sessions without the need for additional cooling using a room AC.

V-Cache and its impact on gaming

While we don’t have definitive comparisons in this review to outline the benefits of V-Cache, as we have tested older CPUs on different GPUs, anecdotal evidence from other more comprehensive reviews by independent creators does point towards the advantages of V-Cache for gaming.

According to AMD, V-Cache allows the company to stack up the cache vertically on the CPU die to increase the cache size without increasing the actual die size. Larger the cache size means larger the data that CPU can store in this space. Larger the data stored during gaming means lesser the need to transfer the data from RAM or the SSD storage. This data can range from texture assets to other assets of the game.

For instance, the 7800X3D features 96MB L3 cache, which is even more than 64MB on the regular 7950X. The 7950X3D comes with a massive 128MB L3 cache, which is double the L3 cache on the non-X3D CPU, as mentioned earlier. At the same time, 3D V-Cache is not perfect even in its second generation with lower clock-speeds and no large scope for over-clocking. Regardless, these downsides are worth it when we look at the performance across the board.

Competition and options

Currently, the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D is available from a minimum of INR 42,399 at PrimeABGB and Vedant Computers to the maximum of INR 45,499 on SMC International. Stores like Vedant Computers are also offering AMD Starfield Game Bundle to make things interesting until September 30, 2023 (Starfield starts at INR 4,999 in India).

While the 7800X3D would mean higher costs with a new AM5 Motherboard along with DDR5 RAM, it is likely that this AM5 board will last you several generations as per the track record of AM4 and past AMD promises. Currently, decent budget AM5 B650 motherboards are available for anywhere from INR 15k to 25k, depending on the features you need. B650E boards put the price from INR 25k to INR 35k.

For RAM, 16GB DDR5 kits with 5200MT/s or 6000MT/s are available for around INR 4-5.5k. If you are looking for even faster RAM, then 32GB DDR5 kits with 7000MT/s or 7200MT/s are available from INR 17k to 35k.

Checking the competition, the Intel Core i7 13700K and KF are currently available from INR 35k to INR 37k depending on the store. It is also worth noting that a refresh of the 13th-gen Intel Raptor Lake CPUs is rumoured to hit the market in a few months. If you are an Intel user with a preference, you could wait for the launch before making the final call.

However, given the performance, 7800X3D is closer to i9 13900K or KF which is available from INR 51k to INR 53k. On the AMD side, the 7900X3D and 7950X are available around the same range of INR 52k to 53k.

Despite the price difference between the 7800X3D and 13900K and the resulting savings not being enough for a budget B650 motherboard and a decent DDR5 kit, the long-term savings with multi-generation CPU support and better performance still make the 7800X3D a better value proposition.