AMD Ryzen 9 7900X3D’s first benchmark scores are great, but leave me wanting more
It seems that the 12-core Ryzen 9 7900X3D is already out in the wild, or at least in the hands of reviewers according to recently published benchmark results for the CPU.
According to VideoCardz, the processor had been found in the Ashes of the Singularity benchmark database, where it was tested with the GeForce RTX 4090 GPU using the Crazy 1080p preset. That particular configuration scored 8900, 9000, and 9100 points over three iterations of the benchmark test.
While these numbers do give us a good idea as to how powerful the CPU is, Ashes of the Singularity itself isn’t a great benchmark test, unfortunately, as there is too much variation in its scoring. In this case, it’s best to wait for other benchmark scores to emerge before making a final decision on the performance of the CPU.
The Ryzen 9 7900X3D — which is one of three Zen 4 desktop processors AMD is releasing in the next several weeks — has 12 cores and 24 threads with a boost frequency of 5.6 GHz, but the kicker is that it will have AMD’s 3D V-Cache tech. These processors will feature a stacked silicon die with 64MB of additional cache, which will boost certain workloads like gaming significantly.
Benefits and boons of the AMD Ryzen 7000X3D family
The AMD Ryzen 7000X3D family is poised to take off, aiming right for its competition: Intel’s 13th-gen processors. And though its first scores with the Ashes of the Singularity benchmark are too fuzzy to really measure the CPU directly, it still gives us a great idea of roughly where it lies. Especially when paired with an equally powerful GPU, the CPU arms race between Team Blue and Team Red is definitely heating up.
What could also be heating up is your wallet. There were price cuts made after the base Ryzen 7000-series CPUs launched, so we could be seeing at least somewhat reasonable prices for the 3D V-Cache versions eventually, but at $599 for the Ryzen 9 7900X3D, Intel’s Core i9-13900K still holds a major price advantage. AMD might be able to resist the pressure to drop prices though since higher consumer demand for the exclusive gaming-friendly cache technology is a certainty.
The other issue, which AMD and Microsoft are working to mitigate, stems from the CPUs’ design itself. This series comes with two CCDs (chiplets), with one having the 3D V-Cache on top while the other runs with a faster boost speed. Depending on the game, some might benefit from the extra cache and others won’t, so each game will need to have the proper CCD assigned to them that works best.
In the end, I want to see more direct CPU core benchmarks like CineBench R23 or Geekbench 5 to really get a sense of how powerful the chip is, but with a February 28 release date, I won’t have to wait too long to find out.
