AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D Review: Speed Gains at a Power Cost
▼ Summary
– AMD’s 3D V-Cache technology, first launched in 2022, adds 64MB of L3 cache to existing desktop processor designs to significantly boost performance in cache-sensitive applications like gaming.
– Over four generations, AMD has reduced the technology’s initial drawbacks by increasing CPU core counts, improving power efficiency, and restoring overclocking features.
– The newly announced Ryzen 7 9850X3D is a minor upgrade, essentially a Ryzen 7 9800X3D with a 400 MHz higher turbo boost speed, launching at $499.
– This chip’s boost clock now exceeds its non-V-Cache equivalent, the Ryzen 7 9700X, closing a key performance gap, though a significant price difference remains.
– For the Ryzen 9000 X3D series, AMD repositioned the 3D V-Cache stack beneath the CPU silicon, improving thermal performance by bringing the cores closer to the cooling solution.
The AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D represents the latest evolution of a proven formula, delivering tangible speed gains for gamers and specific applications, though these benefits come with a measurable trade-off in power consumption. This processor builds upon four years of refinement to AMD’s 3D V-Cache technology, a design philosophy that consistently enhances performance by integrating a substantial 64MB of additional L3 cache onto an existing desktop CPU architecture. The result is a chip that excels in scenarios where large cache pools are advantageous, with gaming performance seeing the most significant and reliable uplift.
Essentially, the new Ryzen 7 9850X3D is a modest refresh of its predecessor. For a launch price of $499, you are getting what is fundamentally last year’s Ryzen 7 9800X3D with one key adjustment: an increased maximum turbo boost clock speed of 5.6GHz, which is 400 MHz higher. While this doesn’t constitute a ground-up redesign, the boost is noteworthy because it now exceeds the turbo clock of the Ryzen 7 9700X, the closest non-V-Cache counterpart, by 100 MHz. This increment effectively eliminates the last major performance differential between the V-Cache and standard Ryzen models in this tier, though a significant price gap persists, with the 9700X retailing for approximately $329.
This clock speed alignment also means the 9850X3D’s behavior in certain aspects more closely mirrors that of the 9700X, a distinction that may not concern its core gaming audience but does separate it from being characterized as merely a faster version of the 9800X3D.
A critical architectural shift defines this generation. For the Ryzen 9000 series X3D chips, AMD repositioned the 3D V-Cache stack. Instead of placing it on top of the CPU cores, the additional cache is now situated beneath the primary silicon. This engineering change offers a practical thermal advantage by bringing the actual CPU cores into closer proximity with the cooling solution, whether that’s a traditional heatsink or an all-in-one liquid cooler, theoretically making them more straightforward to keep at optimal temperatures.
(Source: Ars Technica)
