The Professional Gamers League (PGL) showcased its newly upgraded tournament rig specification prior to the kick-off of their (still ongoing) CS2 Major Copenhagen 2024 esports event. As reported, over a week ago, competitors have been treated to modern systems decked out with AMD's popular gaming-oriented Ryzen 7 7800X3D CPU and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 graphics cards, while BenQ's ZOWIE XL2566K 24.5" 360 Hz gaming monitor delivers a superfast visual feed. A hefty chunk of change has been spent on new hardware, but expensive cutting-edge tech can falter. Virtus.pro team member—Jame—experienced a major software crash during a match against rival group, G2.

PCGamesN noted that this frustrating incident ended the affected team's chance to grab a substantial cash reward. Their report put a spotlight on this unfortunate moment: "in the second round of a best of three, Virtus Pro were a few rounds away from qualifying for the playoffs, only for their aspirations to be squashed through no fault of their own...Jame experiences a graphics card driver crash that irrecoverably steers the round in G2's favor, culminating in Virtus Pro losing the match 11-13. Virtus Pro would then go on to lose the subsequent tie-break match as the round was not replayed. In effect, the graphics card driver crash partly cost the team their chance at winning an eventual $1.25 million prize pool." PGL revealed, via a social media post, that officials are doing some detective work: "we wish to clarify the situation involving Jame during the second map, Inferno, in the series against G2. A technical malfunction occurred due to an NVIDIA driver crash, resulting in a game crash. We are continuing our investigation into the matter." The new tournament rigs were "meticulously optimized" and tested in the weeks leading up to CS2 Major Copenhagen 2024—it is believed that the driver crash was a random anomaly. PGL and NVIDIA are currently working on a way to "identify and fix the issue."

Last week, the Professional Gamers League (PGL) announced an interesting overhaul of tournament hardware—new systems will be fitted with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 graphics cards, then hooked up to BenQ ZOWIE XL2566K 24.5" 360 Hz gaming monitors. Their previous generation machines were (initially) designed around AMD's Ryzen 9 5950X processor, but the organization is leaving AM4 platforms behind: "PGL is excited to announce that our team has fully optimized upgraded gaming PCs in partnership with Afromnazareth, and we are ready to deliver an unparalleled esports experience at the PGL CS2 Major Copenhagen 2024. At the heart of this cutting-edge setup is the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D processor, explicitly chosen for its exceptional performance capabilities and ability to handle the demands of CS2. This processor is renowned for its superior gaming performance, offering players the speed, power, and efficiency required to perform at the highest levels of competition."

The Ryzen 7 5800X3D is a more straightforward upgrade—as an easy drop-in for the PGL's older AM4 platform machines, but a leap into new ecosystems will grant a bit of future-proofing. Team Red is expected to support AM5 across a couple of processor generations. PGL did upgrade systems with 5800X3D CPUs, due to player feedback—according to Tom's Hardware: "there was some discontent among players with the previous configuration with the Ryzen 9 5950X because, while the chip sports 16 Zen 3 execution cores, Counter-Strike 2 doesn't exploit the processor's prowess. Some players criticized PGL's poor processor choice for previous events, claiming lousy frame rates." Performance connoisseurs will be pleased to hear about the tournament organizer's new push into modern platforms—Silviu Stroie, PGL CEO, stated: "we have meticulously optimized this bespoke gaming setup to ensure that every participant experiences CS2 in the highest fidelity without compromise. The AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D CPU stands out as a game-changer in the esports arena, promising to elevate the competitive play of CS2 to new heights."

AMD's flagship desktop processor, the Ryzen 9 7950X3D, saw an impressive retailer-level price-cut, sending its street-price down to $565 on Newegg, or nearly $135 (19%) below its launch price of $700. The processor is listed at $595, but a $30 discount coupon sends the price down to $565. It's not just Newegg, even Amazon US has the chip listed at $591, with a $26 discount coupon sending it down to $565. The Ryzen 9 7950X3D is about 1% slower than the 7800X3D at gaming, but is still about as fast as the Core i9-14900K at gaming; and its 8 additional "Zen 4" cores helps shore up productivity performance over the 7800X3D.

Price-cuts to the Ryzen 9 7950X3D can be seen as a move to greet last week's launch of the Intel Core i9-14900KS, an enthusiast-magnet for its up to 6.20 GHz clock-speeds, and overclocking headroom; but in our testing, the new chip barely beats the Ryzen 7 7800X3D in gaming; although is 2% faster than the regular i9-14900K at both gaming- and productivity.

Bethesda on February 20 released the 1.9.67 path update for Starfield, which adds support for AMD FSR 3.0 performance enhancement, including frame generation. To celebrate this update, the game's developers are giving away an ultra-rare Collector's Edition bundle of Starfield-themed flagship AMD hardware. The bundle includes an AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX with a special paint-job; and an AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D, which remains the fastest desktop processor for gaming. The RX 7900 XTX Starfield Collector's Edition card features a special cooler shroud and backplate design with design elements from the game; including some anodized aluminium fins in its heatsink in the game's colors. The Giveaway is open to residents of the US, Canada (excluding Quebec), Mexico, the UK, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg. You don't need to purchase the game or any AMD hardware to be eligible. Simply follow the Starfield Twitter account, and reply to the Giveaway announcement tweet. One winner will be randomly chosen. Find all Giveaway rules here.

MAINGEAR, the leader in premium-quality, high-performance gaming PCs, announces its 2024 preconfigured MG-1 gaming PCs, featuring the latest NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40-Series SUPER GPUs. Designed to redefine the gaming experience, these newly announced pre-configured systems, starting at $1,199, offer enhanced performance, diverse options, more memory, larger SSD capacities, and can be had with Windows 11 Pro.

"Refreshing the MG-1 Series to feature the latest gaming hardware and components represents our ongoing commitment to delivering cutting-edge gaming experiences. With the latest Intel & AMD processors, NVIDIA GPUs, including the new SUPERs, and a broader range of options in the MG-1, MAINGEAR continues to set the standard for gaming excellence." - Wallace Santos, CEO of MAINGEAR.

At the 2023 International CES, Intel had announced its 65 W (locked) 13th Gen Core "Raptor Lake" desktop processors, but the star of the show then was the enthusiast-segment Core i9-13900KS Limited Edition processor. A picture of what is allegedly the i9-14900KS, suggests that Intel might repeat its last year's CES announcements, with the i9-14900KS. Last time around, they had the claim to launch the world's first 6 GHz processor, something that is also the latest maximum boost frequency of the current i9-14900K, so it remains to be see what the i9-14900KS brings to the table. A 6 GHz all-core boost for the P-cores, or a speed bump that lets it finally beat the $350 Ryzen 7 7800X3D at gaming? We'll find out next week in Vegas.

As a part of its promotional deal with Bethesda for the upcoming Starfield game, AMD has announced a limited edition release of both its Radeon RX 7900 XTX graphics card and its Ryzen 7 7800X3D CPU. The latter is in all fairness a bit dull as far as limited editions go, as the only thing really limited is the packaging the CPU comes in. Despite being a limited production run of only 500 units, AMD didn't bother adding any extra marking on the CPU itself, making it less of a collectors edition than it could've been.

On the other hand, the Radeon RX 7900 XTX Starfield Special Edition gets a custom white shroud with a lot of little quirky bits of text on the card and an overall different feel to it compared to AMD's reference design cards. Again, we're looking at a limited run of 500 cards here too and it's not clear if these will be numbered or not. Neither product will be available to buy though, so the only way to get your hands on one or the other, is to enter one of multiple giveaways that either AMD or its partners will host in the near future. There's a video after the break with more details.

AMD's cheapest Zen 4 X3D processor is shaping up to be its most popular. Sales numbers from Germany's Mindfactory posted by TechEpiphany seemingly shows the recently launched Ryzen 7 7800X3D outselling last year's Ryzen 7 5800X3D nearly 2:1, with 4,720 7800X3Ds selling to the 5800X3D's 2,510 over a few week period. While these figures show sales for only a single region, evidence for this momentum is reflected in other regional retailers as well as some global outlets. On Amazon, for example, the 7800X3D has made a frequent appearance on the top 10 best selling CPUs list, with the rest of the Zen 4 lineup trailing well behind. Newegg reports the 7800X3D to be among the top 5 best selling CPUs on the site at time of writing. Microcenter also shows the 7800X3D and 5800X3D side-by-side in seventh and eighth places respectively for popularity.

Despite recent troubles with the AM5 platform and Zen 4 X3D processors, the Ryzen 7 7800X3D is proving to be quite a success for AMD. The 7800X3D in our review was shown to be one of the most efficient processors we've ever tested, and offered gaming performance at or near the top of the charts across the gauntlet of games and resolutions thrown at it. The staggered release of the 7000X3D lineup, with the 7950X3D and 7900X3D launching first and the 7800X3D launching later, gave early signals that AMD knew what they had and wanted to push as many early adopters away from the better value chip as they could. Pricing for the Ryzen 7 7800X3D has been steady since it released, however we've already seen retailers offering discounts on the Ryzen 9 7950X3D and Ryzen 9 7900X3D, as they presumably struggle to sell as well as the more aggressively positioned 7800X3D.

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700X has been discounted down to $294.99 in the US, which actually makes it less expensive than the Ryzen 7 7700 (non-X). Since it launched at $399.99 and later pushed down to $329.99, the latest discount makes it quite a catch. In Europe, the price is still holding at around €320, depending on the region, although it has been seen at €309 earlier.

The AMD Ryzen 7 7700X is an 8-core/16-thread Zen 4 CPU with 40 MB of cache and a 105 W TDP. It works at 4.5 GHz base and 5.4 GHz Turbo clocks. As spotted by Videocardz, the discount was available on both Amazon and Newegg but the one on Amazon has either been removed or ended and now holds at $339. It is possible that it was a limited deal coming directly from AMD. The next step is the Ryzen 7 7800X3D, but the price has not budged from $449.

Earlier this month, AMD wrapped up the launch of its incredible Ryzen 7000X3D processor series, which storms the company's gaming performance competitiveness against Intel back to the top, setting it up for the crucial Spring-Summer season, when PC gamers tend to upgrade and play the latest games. The 3D Vertical Cache memory deployed on the Ryzen 9 7950X3D, 7900X3D, and Ryzen 7 7800X3D, supercharges the gaming performance of these processors, and our testing has shown that the 7800X3D is all that an elite gaming PC build needs if all you're doing is playing games with some domestic productivity on the side; whereas the 7950X3D is for those into heavy content creation and application workloads besides gaming, which means AMD levels up to Intel on both fronts.

We have extensively covered the technical aspects of what 3D Vertical Cache is, and how it works, in our reviews of the 7950X3D and 7800X3D. It is a fast 64 MB slice of SRAM cache stacked on top of the 32 MB on-die L3 cache of "Zen 4" chiplets, which extends the L3 cache size to 96 MB. This has a profound impact on gaming workloads, as the CPU cores have more amount of game data at much lower latency than DRAM. As part of our coverage of the Ryzen 7000X3D processor series, we had the opportunity to interview AMD on some of the technical aspects of Ryzen 7000X3D processor series. We also took the opportunity to ask a few general questions about the Ryzen 7000 desktop processor series itself. You can also catch our interview with Robert Hallock, the former technical marketing head, for some additional questions that you may find relevant.

AMD announced today the third processor, Ryzen 7 7800X3D, to the lineup of AMD Ryzen 7000 Series processors with AMD 3D V-Cache Technology that will be compatible with all MSI's X670, B650 and A620 motherboards. The new Ryzen 7 7800X3D features 8 cores and 16 threads, 96 MB L3 cache and 120 W TDP as well which is definitely the best value choice for gamers.

At the same time, MSI is pleased to present the extraordinary performance of Ryzen 7 7800X3D, powered by MSI's exclusive BIOS features - Enhanced Mode Boost, High-Efficiency Mode and Memory Context Restore. All MSI 600 series motherboards support these functions with AGESA COMBO PI 1.0.0.6.

A newest leak shows more game benchmarks for the Ryzen 7 7800X3D CPU that is scheduled to launch on April 6th. This time around, the results come from, what appears to be MSI's own internal testing results, claiming that optimizations can bring anywhere between 9 and 12 percent higher game performance compared to stock settings.

The list includes a total of eight games, tested at stock, EXPO DDR5-600, EXPO DDR5-6000 + High-Efficiency Mode, and EXPO DDR5-6000 + High-Efficiency Mode + Enhanced Mode Boost 3, showing gains of anywhere between 2 and 4 percent. The two modes are MSI profiles for Precision Boost Overdrive.

AMD has revealed more Ryzen 7 7800X3D gaming benchmarks ahead of the official launch scheduled for April 6th. AMD has previously shared some results comparing this 8-core/16-thread Ryzen 7000X3D series SKU with Intel's Core i9-13900K or the predecessor, the Ryzen 7 5800X3D, showing up to 24 and 30 percent performance increase.

Now, a new slide has been leaked online, which is a part of AMD's Ryzen 7 7800X3D review guide, comparing it once again with the Intel Core i9-13900K, but going head to head in several more games. At 1080p resolution and high settings, the Ryzen 7 7800X3D is anywhere from 2 to 31 percent faster, but there are several games where the Core i9-13900K is also faster, such as CS:GO.

AMD's hotly anticipated gaming CPU, the Ryzen 7 7800X3D "Zen 4," which launches early-April, is beginning to show up in online benchmark databases. The 8-core/16-thread processor has 64 MB of 3D Vertical Cache, which takes its L3 cache size up to an impressive 96 MB, and total cache up to 104 MB. The chip is showing up on the SiSoftware SANDRA online database, where it was tested on an MSI MEG X670E Ace motherboard. It obtained a score of 395.07 GOPS, with 527.56 GIPS dhrystone INT, 552.04 GIPS dhrystone long; 316 GFLOP/s whetstone single-precision floating point, and 264.71 GFLOP/s whetstone double-precision floating point.

The score puts it at roughly 37% faster than the Ryzen 7 5800X3D "Zen 3," although it's somewhere between its other 8-core "Zen 4" compatriots, the 7700X and 7700. The 7800X3D, much like its predecessor, is expected to perform either on-par or slightly worse than the 7700X in frequency/IPC dependent "lightweight" tasks, but zoom past in cache-favoring workloads such as gaming. Its predecessor, the 5800X3D, beat the fastest Intel processor of its time, the i9-12900K, so the 7800X3D has its task cut out—to beat the i9-13900K in gaming.

Those that are waiting for the Ryzen 7 7800X3D are in luck as the April 6th launch is just around the corner, and although we knew that the US launch price is set at $449, AMD did not give out any details about the price in Europe. Thankfully, first listings have started to appear, showing it in some stores at €530. Earlier, Computerbase gave an estimated price of around €509, considering that other two SKUs, the Ryzen 9 7950X3D and the Ryzen 9 7900X3D, both are 13 percent more expensive in Europe.

As spotted earlier by Videocardz, the Ryzen 7 7800X3D has appeared in Slovenia, listed at €530, which is pretty close to the estimated price. Another listing from Germany shows it listed at €607, which is a bit more expensive. This comes as a surprise considering that the tax in Slovenia is 22 percent, while in Germany it is set at 19 percent. Of course, some stores will try to add the early adopters tax as well, raising the price well above the MSRP, as the Ryzen 7 7800X3D could be quite popular.

AMD has finally released some of the official gaming benchmark for its 8-core Ryzen 7 7800X3D processor that should be coming in April, and, now that AMD has released some of the first gaming benchmarks, it appears that it outperforms the Intel Core i9-13900K by up to 24 percent. Officially, AMD is putting the Ryzen 7 7800X3D against the Intel Core i7-13700K, leaving the Core i9-13900K and the Core i9-13900KS to its 16- and 12-core Ryzen 7000X3D SKUs.

Although some of its Ryzen 7000X3D series chips are available as of February 28th, namely the Ryzen 9 7950X3D and the Ryzen 9 7900X3D, AMD has pushed back the launch of its 8-core/16-thread Ryzen 7 7800X3D. This was quite a surprise and a big letdown, especially due to its tempting $449 price tag. One of the reasons might be the fact that the Ryzen 7 7800X3D is simply too good and might put a lot of pressure on even AMD's own SKUs, let alone Intel's lineup.

GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd, a leading manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards, and hardware solutions, announced today that GIGABYTE X670, B650 motherboard lineup with advanced configuration provides a perfect match for the latest AMD Raphael X3D processors with 3D V-Cache technology. This match delivers remarkable improvements on gaming performance for building ultimate gaming systems.

AMD first launched 3D V-Cache technology on Ryzen 7 5800X3D processors in 2022 and made it one of the best gaming CPUs. Now AMD brings 3D V-Cache technology to Zen 4 and introduces AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D, Ryzen 9 7900X3D, and upcoming Ryzen 7 7800X3D processors with superior gaming performance. This new generation 3D V-Cache CPUs with more cores also raise L3 cache up to 128 MB, and boost gaming performance thanks to the extra 64 MB cache of 3D V-Cache.

GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd, a leading manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards, and hardware solutions, announced today that GIGABYTE X670, B650 motherboard lineup with advanced configuration provides a perfect match for the latest AMD Raphael X3D processors with 3D V-Cache technology. This match delivers remarkable improvements on gaming performance for building ultimate gaming systems.

AMD first launched 3D V-Cache technology on Ryzen 7 5800X3D processors in 2022 and made it one of the best gaming CPUs. Now AMD brings 3D V-Cache technology to Zen4 and introduces AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D, Ryzen 9 7900X3D, and upcoming Ryzen 7 7800X3D processors with superior gaming performance. This new generation 3D V-Cache CPUs with more cores also raise L3 cache up to 128 MB, and boost gaming performance up to 50% thanks to the extra 64 MB cache of 3D V-Cache.

AMD today announced the retail channel pricing of its upcoming Ryzen 7000X3D "Zen 4" line of high-performance Socket AM5 desktop processors. These processors introduce the 3D Vertical Cache (3DV cache) technology, which the company claims has a significant impact on gaming performance, making them perform competitively with 13th Gen Core "Raptor Lake" processors, including the fastest i9-13900K, and possibly even the i9-13900KS. AMD announced retail availability from February 28, 2023 for the Ryzen 9 7950X3D and 7900X3D. The Ryzen 7 7800X3D launches on April 6, 2023.

The Ryzen 7 7800X3D 8-core/16-thread processor is priced at USD $449. The 12-core/24-thread Ryzen 9 7900X3D is priced at $599. The flagship 16-core/32-thread Ryzen 9 7950X3D is priced at $699. The 7800X3D launches at a $50 higher price than the $399 price that the Ryzen 7 7700X launched at, before settling down at $349. The 7900X3D launches at $599, which again is a $50 premium over the launch price of the Ryzen 9 7900X—currently going for $475. The top-dog 7950X3D launches at the same $699 price that the 7950X launched at, which has its price slashed all the way down to $575.A video presentation by AMD follows.

The product pages of the upcoming AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D and Ryzen 7 7800X3D "Zen 4" processors went online, which say that the two chips are unlocked for overclocking. This normally implies that the processor has an unlocked base-clock multiplier, which makes it easy to overclock. The previous-generation Ryzen 7 5800X3D processors came with locked base-clock multipliers, making them complicated to overclock. Both the 16-core/32-thread 7950X3D and the 8-core/16-thread 7800X3D come with a TDP rating of 120 W, which for the 7950X3D is significantly lower than the 170 W that the 7950X is rated at. It's also worth noting that the T-junction max (TJmax) value is lower, at just 89°C, compared to 95°C of the 7950X and 7700X.

Slated for a February 2023 market release, the two chips introduce stacked 3D vertical cache technology (3DV cache). The 7800X3D comes with 64 MB of 3DV cache stacked on top of the 32 MB of on-die L3 cache, taking its L3 cache size to 96 MB, and total cache (L2+L3) to 104 MB. On the other hand, the 7950X3D and the 12-core/24-thread 7900X3D only come with the 3DV cache memory on one of the two "Zen 4" CCDs. The first CCD has 96 MB of L3 cache (including the 3DV cache), while the second CCD is a standard "Zen 4" CCD with just 32 MB of on-die L3 cache. For these chips, the L3 cache adds up to 128 MB, and total cache to 140 MB for the 7900X3D, and 144 MB for the 7950X3D.Update Jan 24th: AMD updated their product pages to remove this field altogether. It looks like we'll have to wait a bit for AMD to finalize its specs.

AMD today announced its Ryzen 7000X3D "Zen 4" desktop processors with 3D Vertical Cache technology. With these, the company is claiming to have the world's fastest processors for gaming. The company claims to have beaten the Intel Core i9-13900K "Raptor Lake" in gaming, by a margin it feels comfortable to remain competitive with against even the upcoming Core i9-13900KS. At the heart of these processors is the new "Zen 4" 3D Vertical Cache (3DV cache) CCD, which features 64 MB of L3 cache stacked on top of the region of the "Zen 4" CCD that has the on-die 32 MB L3 cache. The 3DV cache runs at the same speed as the on-die L3 cache, and is contiguous with it. The CPU cores see 96 MB of transparent addressable L3 cache.

3DV cache is proven to have a profound impact on gaming performance with the Ryzen 7 5800X3D "Zen 3" processor that helped it beat "Alder Lake" in gaming workloads despite "Zen 3" being a generationally older microarchitecture; and AMD claims to have repeated this magic with the 7000X3D "Zen 4" series, enabling it to beat Intel "Raptor Lake." Unlike with the 5800X3D, AMD don't intend to make gaming performance a trade-off for multi-threaded creator performance, and so it is introducing even 12-core and 16-core SKUs, so you get gaming performance alongside plenty of muscle for creator workloads.