Technology & Positioning
Gamers rejoice! This is the moment you've been waiting for. Today we're allowed to share our performance review for the Ryzen 7 9800X3D—AMD's most anticipated CPU this year. Hot on the heels of Intel's Arrow Lake release, AMD is pushing out their newest processor for gamers, and it's extremely impressive. Our testing confirms—this is the fastest gaming CPU you can buy. For the uninformed reader it may be somewhat surprising that a processor with "only" eight cores is able to achieve such a feat. AMD's secret sauce is the 3D V-Cache it introduced a few years back with the 5800X3D, refined with the 7800X3D, and now we have the second generation on the 9800X3D. As expected, the 9800X3D uses AMD's new Zen 5 microarchitecture, which brings improvements across the board, especially in single-threaded performance. Pairing those powerful CCDs with a 64 MB cache layer is a match made in heaven. The additional capacity is seamlessly and automatically integrated into the processor's L3 cache. This makes the cache grow from 32 MB to 96 MB. With the increased capacity, important data can be kept right inside the CPU. As a result, costly trips to the main memory can be avoided. This provides a significant performance boost, depending on the application of course.

At this time the 9800X3D is the only X3D processor that's being released, but I'm sure that AMD is preparing other models, too, probably 9900X3D and 9950X3D, not sure about a 9600/9700X3D. From a design perspective, for gamers, the 9800X3D is the "sweet spot." It uses a single CCD in the full eight-core configuration. This ensures that games have plenty of cores and threads available for their workloads while avoiding the latency hit of a dual CCD design that's required for 12- and 16-core AM5 processors.

Application Performance
While general application performance isn't the main focus of the 9800X3D it's still something that's important to test. Many creators don't just game, but they also run compute-intensive applications, which was a bit of a weakness of the X3D family, because Intel's Raptor Lake offered better application performance and close-enough gaming perf. With the 9800X3D, AMD has successfully addressed that. The 9800X3D is 18% faster than its predecessor, which is a significant improvement. In some applications, the gains are even more substantial. In certain compute-heavy tasks, we're seeing improvements of 25 to 30%—very impressive. Compared to the 9700X, the 9800X3D is 6% faster, and it's just 12% behind the 9900X. Modern high-end processors with increased core counts are faster still, as expected, 9950X: +25%, 7950X3D: +16%, 14900K: +20%. Intel's recently released Arrow Lake Core Ultra 200 Series does pretty well in applications, the cheaper 245K is only 4% slower, the 265K leads the 9800X3D by 13%, at almost $100 less, the $110 more expensive 285K bumps this to 22%. If Arrow Lake hadn't fizzled out for gaming, it would end up pretty competitive. Compared to Intel's offerings, AMD Zen 5 simplifies thread scheduling, because there is just a single core type, not P-Cores and E-Cores like on Intel. AMD also has support for the AVX512 instruction set, which is beneficial for a handful of specialized applications, but a total non-issue for the general consumer. Intel on the other hand has introduced an NPU for AI acceleration with Arrow Lake, which is missing on Zen 5 desktop processors. That's not a problem either, because at the moment most AI experiences are cloud-based or run on the CPU/GPU.

Gaming Performance
Gaming is what the 9800X3D was made for, and results are impressive. The Ryzen 7 9800X3D is at the top of the FPS charts in every single game, wow! At the common 1080p resolution, the performance uplift over the 9700X and the rest of the Zen 5 family is a whopping 11%. Compared to Intel's new flagship, the Core Ultra 9 285K, the gap is 13%. Intel's previous-gen Raptor Lake is still a formidable gaming series, the 9800X3D is just 7% faster, but 7% is quite a lot in the gaming category. Compared to the 7800X3D, at 1080p the 9800X3D has a 3.4% lead, 6% in the academic 720p resolution—not a lot, but still noteworthy. Of course, differences vary between games, and the biggest gains can be seen in titles where the increased L3 cache size makes major parts of the engine fit into cache. It's also important that the game is somewhat CPU limited. At the highly GPU-bound 4K scenario, even with an RTX 4090, the differences between the top processors are minimal, and they will all offer a fantastic gaming experience. If you don't have to own the best, and want to smartly manage your budget, it might make sense to opt for a more affordable CPU and spend the savings on a faster graphics card, where you are getting more FPS for your money. Interesting gaming CPUs are Ryzen 9600X ($250), 7700X ($280), 14600K ($260), 13700K ($280) these are all considerably more affordable than the $480 9800X3D, of course not nearly as sexy, no bragging rights, but they'll get the job done, and you can buy a one-tier faster GPU.

Integrated Graphics
While the RDNA 2 integrated graphics are not a main selling point of the Ryzen 9800X3D, we've still tested it. Performance for non-gaming tasks is good, you'll be able to run all productivity, office, web browsing and media playback apps easily. From a technical perspective, this is the same iGPU as on Ryzen 7000 and 9000 processors, because AMD is using the same IO die, where the iGPU lives. In gaming, the iGPU performance is identical to that of the Ryzen 7000. The added 3D V-Cache doesn't make any difference for iGPU performance. AMD has always made it clear that the iGPU is not for serious gaming, so no complaints here.

Power Consumption
AMD has designed the 9800X3D with a TDP of 120 W, which makes a lot of sense—gamers aren't afraid of using big cooling solutions. AMD's other single-CCD Zen 5 processors, the 9700X and 9600X both come with a 65 W TDP, which helps with efficiency and cooling, but limits performance in some cases. While that does mean that the 9800X3D will consume more power than those models, you are getting additional performance at the same time, and this aligns well with the X3D high-end gaming positioning. Single-threaded power draw of the 9800X3D is a little bit higher than the 9700X/9600X, probably because the 3D V-Cache die consumes extra power, the differences are small though. In applications, we measured an average of 88 watts for AMD's new processor. This is good and similar to many competing CPUs. However, it is about 25 watts higher than the 9600X/9700X, and has essentially doubled when compared against the 7800X3D. These models have a lower power limit, as mentioned before, and will throttle in heavy workloads, yielding lower performance. With Arrow Lake, Intel has focused on bringing down power consumption, and they succeeded, but the 9800X3D is still more efficient in gaming scenarios. Probably the most interesting result is 7800X3D vs 9800X3D in gaming. AMD's new processor requires 65 watts, which is quite good. However, the 7800X3D remains the undisputed king of gaming efficiency, using only 46 watts. This excellent efficiency is achieved because it is clocked lower and runs at a lower voltage to protect the cache die. These factors both contribute to its improved energy efficiency.

Cooling Requirements
When AMD designed Socket AM5, they wanted to ensure cooler compatibility with Socket AM4, which means a thicker IHS had to be used, which made cooling more difficult. AMD is also using a 95°C thermal limit, at which the processor will reduce frequency to avoid overheating. Intel raised their limit to 105°C with Arrow Lake, manual tuning allows 115°C, which simplifies cooling greatly, and it's all covered under warranty. I'm happy to report that cooling the 9800X3D is pretty easy. Even with air cooling you'll be able to stay under 95°C, even at full load. Games aren't putting out that much heat anyway, so it might even make sense to allow some thermal throttling in the most demanding apps and use a smaller/quieter/cheaper cooling solution with the 9800X3D.

Overclocking
Overclocking the previous X3D processors was locked, you could mess around with BCLK or PBO to gain a few percent, also memory clocks and timings, but your options were limited. The Ryzen 7 9800X3D on the other hand is fully unlocked—you get pretty much the same dials of the other Zen 5 processors. The only thing that's missing on my ASUS Hero is positive CPU voltage offset, negative works, this could be a bug though. Setting a fixed voltage is possible, and overclocking with PBO, too, including Curve Optimizer. The classic all-core overclock approach didn't yield significant improvements for us, the maximum stable frequency was 5.3 GHz all-core, which is pretty much identical to the 5.22 GHz that the processor runs out of the box, even with all cores loaded, with much better energy efficiency. What worked better for us was using PBO to improve the 9800X3D boosting behavior. The gains weren't massive, 3% in apps, 1% in gaming, but it's still tempting enough for tweakers to play around with. We also tested running memory at 8000 MT/s, but it wasn't stable. However, DDR5-6200 at a 1:1 ratio with CL28 worked well. It seems this is the better path, but the performance gains weren't massive here either. This suggests that AMD has already optimized most of the processor's performance straight out of the box.

Platform
Intel's Arrow Lake platform was a disappointment, reminding me a bit of the troubles we had with Zen 1. Reviewing the 9800X3D was a breeze on the other hand—everything worked, no issues, no constant BIOS updates. No doubt, AMD did a great job building a mature platform over the years. As expected, you get support for PCI Gen 5 SSDs and graphics, Wi-Fi 7, USB4 (on many motherboards, which can be kinda expensive). Ryzen 9800X3D will run great on any AM5 motherboard, even the most affordable ones—there's no reason to pay the absurd prices of some X870E boards. While AMD's platform has no support for CUDIMMs, it can run the modules in a compatibility mode that bypasses the clock driver IC on the memory, which could be an upgrade path for you. Given how memory scaling works on Zen 5, it doesn't make much sense to go for superfast, expensive kits, and you should rather focus on a 1:1 memory divider at 6000/6200/6400. AMD recommended testing on Windows 11 23H2, which is what we did. Currently, 24H2 just has too many bugs, and it looks like Microsoft isn't exactly fast at getting those fixed.

Pricing & Alternatives
AMD wants $480 for the Ryzen 7 9800X3D, which is A LOT of money for an eight-core processor. No doubt, it has the wow-factor for gaming performance, but it's still an eye-watering price, considering you can get the 24c/32t Intel 14900K for less, and the 9700X is $150 cheaper at $330. As mentioned before, for gaming, there are plenty of alternatives that are more affordable, but of course they are not "the best"—which is something many gamers desire. Not long ago, the 7800X3D was selling for $320, which feels like a steal, considering it's $476 now, barely cheaper than the 9800X3D. If your focus is on both applications and gaming, then the 9800X3D might still be a good choice if you are willing to gain gaming FPS for a loss in applications performance. The other direction works, too, of course. Especially when gaming at 4K, the FPS differences are so small that a CPU with more cores might be worth it, especially if you work with applications where time is money.

I'm proud to announce that I'm choosing Ryzen 7 9800X3D to power my new GPU Test System. This is what I'll be testing NVIDIA's new GeForce 50 Series with.

Upcoming Releases
Intel's flagship Arrow Lake CPUs launched earlier this month, the non-K 65 W models are expected to be announced at CES in January. For gamers this won't change much, unless Intel and Microsoft can find and fix some performance issues on Arrow Lake. AMD's Zen 5 non-X3D stack seems pretty complete at this time, but some additional X3D SKUs are missing. Maybe these will be announced at CES. Especially for creators, who desire both application and gaming performance these could be interesting, maybe we'll even see a model with 3D V-Cache on both CCDs.