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When we reviewed the recent 16-core AMD Ryzen 9 7950X3D CPU we loved it to pieces, however we told you to wait until we got our hands on the Ryzen 7 7800X3D. We were confident the 8-core 3D Zen 4 would be good and we knew it would be cheaper than Ryzen 9, and now you're going to find out whether we were correct.
Time Stamps
00:00 Start
01:28 Introduction / Unboxing
02:11 Specs / Details / Pricing
05:01 Test Platforms
07:24 First run and some problems
09:05 Charts / power / temps
11:36 Gaming Benchmarks
16:10 Leo discusses the results – closing thoughts
Specification of AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
- Number of CPU Cores: 8
- Number of Threads: 16
- Max. Boost Clock: Up to 5.0GHz
- Base Clock: 4.2GHz
- L1 Cache: 512KB
- L2 Cache: 8MB
- L3 Cache: 96MB
- Default TDP: 120W
- Processor Technology for CPU Cores: TSMC 5nm FinFET
- CPU Socket: AM5
- System Memory Type: DDR5
- Memory Channels: 2
Understanding the basics about the new AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D is nice and straightforward. AMD has taken a Zen 4 Ryzen 7 7700X with its IO die and 8-core chiplet, added a slab of 3D cache on top of the chiplet, adjusted the clock speed and power limit downwards and then increased the price. We have seen in our reviews of the Ryzen 7 5800X3D and Ryzen 9 7950X3D that the extra L3 cache yields dramatic benefits in gaming.
Unlike the Ryzen 9 7950X3D and Ryzen 9 7900X3D which each have two chiplets (one with 3D cache and one without) there is no need for any funny business with the chipset drivers to help the system to figure out which chiplet should be used to process a particular task. Having said that, you can see in our screen grabs that the chipset drivers are doing a fair amount of work behind the scenes.
Test Systems:
AMD AM5 Processors: AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D, Ryzen 7 7700X, Ryzen 9 7950X3D and 7950X.
Motherboard: Asus ROG Crosshair X670E Hero BIOS 0925
Memory: 32GB G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB DDR5-6000
AMD AM4 Processor: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D
Motherboard: Gigabyte B550 Aorus Master BIOS F16b
Memory: 32GB Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4-3600
Intel LGA1700 Processors: Intel Core i9-13900K, Core i7-13700K and Core i5-13600K.
Motherboard: MSI MPG Z790 Carbon WiFi BIOS 1.4
Memory: 32GB G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB DDR5-6000
CPU Cooler: Corsair H150i Elite LCD
Graphics card: Gigabyte GeForce RTX 4080 Gaming OC 16GB GDDR6X
Power supply: Seasonic Vertex GX-1200
SSD: 500GB Sabrent Rocket 4.0 M.2 NVMe
OS: Windows 11
We used three test platforms for comparison testing to support AMD AM4, AMD AM5 and Intel LGA 1700
Cinebench R23 Multi Core
In Cinebench R23 Multi Core the new Ryzen 7 does a competent job but is held back by its relatively lowly clock speed of 4.8GHz on all cores.
Cinebench R23 Single Core
It is a similar story in Cinebench R23 Single Core where the Ryzen 7 7800X3D delivers modest performance that fails to set the world alight.
Blender v3 Classroom
Blender v3 Classroom is another test that pounds the CPU and once again we see results that are perfectly Ok without being anything special.
Power Consumption
The flip side of modest CPU performance is low power draw but even so we did not expect the Ryzen 7 7800X3D would draw less than 100W, falling way short of the nominal 120W TDP.
CPU Temperature
The other benefit of low CPU power draw is low CPU temperature. This is a virtuous circle that helps your PC hardware to lead a long and happy life.
AIDA64 Memory Bandwidth
The Ryzen 7 7800X3D exhibits familiar behaviour in our memory benchmark and falls only slightly behind the Ryzen 7 7700X. On the one hand we have the benefit of DDR5 memory while on the other we are held back by the single chiplet configuration of the Ryzen 7. We can see the dual chiplet Ryzen 9 CPUs do much better in this test while Intel fills the top three places.
Borderlands 3 at 1440p
In gaming we start with Borderlands 3 at 1440p and immediately see the new Ryzen 7 leaping to the top of the chart, demonstrating how 8-cores and loads of cache is a match made in heaven.
Borderlands 3 at 1080p
Turning down the resolution to 1080p increases the winning margin for the Ryzen 7 7800X3D.
Far Cry 6 at 1440p
In Far Cry 6 at 1440p we see another win for the 3D Ryzen 7 where it beats the other CPUs by a fair margin.
Far Cry 6 at 1080p
Far Cry 6 at 1080p is barely any faster than 1440p however the results remain the same with another win for AMD.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider at 1440p
In Shadow of the Tomb Raider at 1440p we see some big numbers as the frame rate passes 300 however the win remains solidly with Ryzen 7 7800X3D.
Shadow of the Tomb Raider at 1080p
Once again AMD 3D CPUs take the top three places in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, this time at 1080p.
Watch Dogs Legion at 1440p
Watch Dogs Legion at 1440p is a closer battle than the other tests however Zen 4 3D sits at the top. We are surprised to see the regular Ryzen 7 7700X in third place.
Watch Dogs Legion at 1080p
And we round out our gaming tests with Watch Dogs Legion at 1080p and yet another win for Ryzen 7 7800X3D.
AMD has carefully chosen a niche for the Ryzen 7 7800X3D as ‘The Perfect Gaming Processor' and we struggle to argue with their thinking as it is very good indeed at its job. By contrast the Ryzen 9 7950X3D is described by AMD as ‘The Ultimate Processor for Gamers and Creators' and we feel that is also a fair description.
In our video we expressed a small amount of annoyance as it seems to us that AMD created that point of separation by running the Ryzen 7 7800X3D at an unnecessarily low clock speed. The 95W power draw is hugely impressive but also seems to give a hint about market segmentation.
Any gamer building a new PC should seriously consider both the Ryzen 7 7800X3D and also the Intel Core i5 -13600K. They both deliver stellar results but go about the job in different ways.
In both instances you will need a new motherboard and most likely some DDR5 memory and that is where you need to dig into the hardware reviews to ensure you come up with a sensible plan. The first wave of AMD AM5 motherboards tended to be expensive however you can now shop on a reasonable budget without going crazy and that is very good news.
You will be able to buy the AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D for $449 (expected to be £479), with availability from April 6th.
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Pros:
- Ryzen 7 7800X3D is impressively efficient.
- Zen 4 with 3D cache delivers huge gaming performance.
- Ryzen 7 3D doesn’t require fancy chipset drivers to deliver performance.
Cons:
- Price looks steep. Core i7-13700K is now available at £410.
- The 95W power draw seems artificially low for a Ryzen 7 CPU.
- You will need to budget for an AM5 motherboard and DDR5 RAM.
KitGuru says: Ryzen 7 7800X3D. Damn it’s good.
